This week, we're back with Daniel Shapiro from Blockworks Research for our annual deep dive into Chainlink $LINK. The partnerships are massive, the tech is cutting-edge, yet the price is flat. We investigate: Is this the "AWS of Finance" moment, or a value trap?

🏦 DeFi vs. The World: Forget the crypto casino. We uncover why the world's largest institutions are racing to move trillions of dollars on-chain, from instant settlements to banking the unbanked.

⚡ The Great Bridge: Chainlink isn't replacing Swift, it’s supercharging it. Discover why partnerships with MasterCard, BlackRock, and the DTCC are the ultimate signal that the "Internet of Contracts" is finally here.

🤖 The Oracle for AI: As autonomous agents rise, they need truth. We explore a futuristic thesis: Could Chainlink become the verification layer for the entire AI economy?

💰 The Investor’s Dilemma: Why do the smartest analysts love LINK while the market ignores it? We tackle the psychology of holding infrastructure plays and whether you should buy the dream or wait for the revenue.

📊 The 2026 Inflection Point: With new regulations (Genius Act, Clarity Act) and the Trump administration support, we map out Sergey Nazarov’s timeline. Is the "show me the money" era finally approaching?

🎯 Trillion Dollar Opportunity: We debate the ultimate bull case: is comparing Chainlink to a 1999 investment in Microsoft and Nvidia valid, or is Krzysztof overdosing on hopium?

You can find more from Daniel Shapiro at: x.com/_dshap

Segments:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

04:08 What is DeFi Really Worth?

10:46 Chainlink's Year of Announcements

20:32 Swift Partnership and CRE Launch

32:19 Market Corruption and Blockchain Transparency

37:29 The Management Question: Trust Without Disclosure

45:26 Comparing Chainlink to Tech Giants

52:15 AI, Consensus Computing, and New Use Cases

01:03:57 Competition and the Layer One Debate

01:13:30 The Investor's Playbook: When to Buy

01:20:15 Final Thoughts and Annual Check-In Tradition

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If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠

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SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:

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Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.

Get 15% off any premium plan with:

https://fiscal.ai/wildlife

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Monkey’s “Zen, Nietzsche, How to Live” Substack:

http://firephilosophy.substack.com

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To use the same portfolio tracking tool as Luke, check-out:

⁠https://www.portseido.com/?fpr=lukehallard

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Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation

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Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?

- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game

- Discover the world's leading companies

- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst

- Learn how to start investing

- Essential investing principles to boost your returns

Keywords

Chainlink, LINK token, Real World Assets, RWA Crypto, Tokenization, DeFi 2025, Blockworks Research, Daniel Shapiro, Sergey Nazarov, Swift Blockchain, DTCC Crypto, Crypto Infrastructure, Altcoin Gem, Crypto Investing Strategy, Chainlink Price Prediction, Web3 Oracle, BlackRock Crypto, Institutional Adoption

Welcome to the Deep Investing Jungle! This week, the Badger is furious, the Monkey is pivoting, and the robots are taking over our research workflow. Here is what we're covering under the jungle canopy:

🎰 The Gamification of Debt: Luke unleashes his claws on a new Silicon Valley startup backed by a16z that turns credit card debt into a sweepstakes. Is this the most morally bankrupt business model we’ve seen yet?

📉 The PayPal Pivot: Krzysztof admits defeat on his PayPal thesis. We break down the psychology of selling at a loss to buy a high-conviction winner, and why he moved his bananas into UiPath. $PATH $PYPL

🤖 Alpha Alert: Stop drowning in tabs. The Monkey reveals his new "NotebookLM" workflow that uses AI to synthesize hours of earnings calls and reports into instant insights. This is a game-changer for retail investors.

🚀 Rocket Rumors: Is SpaceX about to IPO? We discuss the latest whispers, plus a critical update on the AST SpaceMobile vs. Starlink duopoly and the upcoming launch. $ASTS

🥂 Holiday Hijinks: Mark your calendars for the Wall Street Wildlife Holiday Live Stream, plus our first-ever real-world meetup in Vegas!

Segments:

00:00 Introduction - Covered App Controversy

03:20 The Predatory Business Model Exposed

12:46 Gambling Ethics & PolyMarket

19:10 Monkey's PayPal Trade: Avoiding Sunk Cost Fallacy

32:00 AI Research Workflow Revolution with Notebook LM

47:10 SpaceX IPO Rumors Analyzed

54:18 AST SpaceMobile Duopoly Developments

55:50 How to Make a New Investor at Christmas

01:00:20 Holiday Livestream Plans

01:03:27 Vegas Meetup Announcement

**********

If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠

**********

SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:

https://wallstreetwildlife.com

**********

Follow us at:

⁠⁠x.com/7LukeHallard

⁠x.com/7FlyingPlatypus

**********

Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.

Get 15% off any premium plan with:

https://fiscal.ai/wildlife

**********

Monkey’s “Zen, Nietzsche, How to Live” Substack:

http://firephilosophy.substack.com

**********

To use the same portfolio tracking tool as Luke, check-out:

⁠https://www.portseido.com/?fpr=lukehallard

**********

Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation

**********

Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?

- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game

- Discover the world's leading companies

- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst

- Learn how to start investing

- Essential investing principles to boost your returns

Keywords

Wall Street Wildlife, Investing Podcast, Covered Startup, Predatory Lending, Gamification of Debt, Andreesen Horowitz, PayPal Stock Analysis, PYPL stock, UiPath Stock, PATH stock, Sunk Cost Fallacy, NotebookLM for Investors, AI Investing Tools, SpaceX IPO, Starlink vs ASTS, AST SpaceMobile, Robinhood Gold, Stock Market News 2025.

🎁 Stop Buying Landfill, Start Building Empires. This holiday season, ditch the plastic toys that end up in the trash by January. We show you how a simple $200 investment today can compound into college tuition, a house deposit, or a debt-free future.

💰 Stocks > Socks: The 30-Minute Setup. We break down the exact steps to open custodial accounts (UGMA and Junior ISAs) and start investing for the kids in your life. It's easier than you think — you can literally set this up while listening to this episode.

⏰ Time is the Ultimate Superpower. Starting at age 3 versus age 30 changes the math entirely. We analyze how Gold has performed vs. the S&P 500 over the last 15 years, and prove why the stock market crushes almost every other asset class over time.

📚 The "One & Done" Portfolio: VOO vs VWRP For the complete investing rookie: We reveal exactly which index funds to buy. We keep it dead simple — one account, one investment, life-changing results.

🎯 Advanced Mode: Ownership Thinking For kids 8+, learn how to use brands they already love (like Lululemon, Apple, and Roblox) to teach them how to think like owners, not just consumers. $AAPL $RBLX $LULU

👨‍👩‍👧 The Family Wealth Team. How to coordinate with grandparents, aunts, and uncles to contribute to one investment account instead of drowning your house in more plastic junk.

🚀 The 18-22 Year Old Playbook. A special shoutout to the young adults: How to open your first brokerage account and start your wealth-building journey immediately.

Here's our custom ChatGPT prompt to make the setup foolproof!

Paste the following into your preferred AI model. Don't forget to update the three user context variables to specify your country, investment amount, and child's age!

"You are an expert, meticulous financial assistant providing high-quality, actionable, step-by-step guidance on setting up an investment account for a minor.

**GOAL:** Generate a structured, compliance-aware, step-by-step guide for setting up a tax-advantaged investment account for my child.

**USER CONTEXT:**

1. **Country:** UK

2. **Target Initial Investment:** £500

3. **Child's Age:** 5 years old

**CONSTRAINTS & OUTPUT FORMAT:**

1. **Audience:** Treat the user as financially literate, but an investing beginner.

2. **Output Structure:** The response MUST be a detailed, numbered step-by-step process.

3. **Broker Recommendation:** Provide three recommended brokers that operate in the specified market, provide the recommended account type, and offer the recommended product. Prioritise low fees.

4. **Execution Detail:** For the 'Investment Step', provide the exact order type (e.g., market order, limit order), the specific investment amount (using the amount provided above), and a concise one-sentence justification for the chosen investment product (VWRP/VOO/etc.) based on global diversification and low-cost passive tracking.

5. **Next Action:** The final step must be titled "Post-Setup & Long-Term Action" and must mention setting up a recurring contribution (e.g., monthly direct debit) AND the critical action of checking the account's dividend/distribution setting (e.g., for UK: ensure it is an 'Accumulating' share class).

**Generate the full, detailed, step-by-step setup guide now.**"

Segments:

00:00 Introduction: Stocks Are Better Than Socks

02:00 Why Material Gifts Fail

06:58 Gold vs S&P 500: Why Stocks Win Long-Term

13:45 Getting Started: US Custodial Accounts (Fidelity/Schwab)

16:13 UK Version: Junior ISA Setup (AJ Bell)

21:54 What to Buy: VOO and VWRP Explained

26:35 Advanced: Stock Picking with Kids

34:45 Investment Accounts for 18-22 Year Olds (plus adults!)

37:57 The Nintendo Gift Combo Strategy

41:00 Final Call to Action

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Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation

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