Presented by
ZKsync Shutdown - ZKsync lite to shut down in 2026 as Matter Labs moves on.
Robinhood Expansion - Robinhood expands crypto offerings with futures, staking, and stock tokens.
Case Closed - ONDO token gains as SEC ends investigation into RWA tokenization platform.
New here? Ask Copilot up to 5 free queries per day with Messari Basic.
In this week’s episode, Messari’s Enterprise team use the newly released State of AI Report as a launchpad to assess where crypto x AI actually stands today. They dig into the rise of decentralized inference and data networks (from 42 Network to Grass and Shaga), the emerging role of crypto rails in agentic and usage-based payments, and how much real revenue is quietly flowing through these systems.
The conversation then pivots to Monad’s high-profile launch, whether we really need another performance L1, and the broader debate over L1 valuations, blockspace as a commodity, and where value should ultimately accrue between infra and apps.
They close with a look at new on-chain capital formation via launchpads like Jupiter’s DTF and MetadAO’s futarchy-driven ownership coins, making this episode a sharp checkpoint for anyone tracking the intersection of AI, L1s, and on-chain markets heading into the next cycle.
Watch the full discussion on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Messari's protocol reports give you a deep dive on the foundation and state of top crypto protocols, including key metrics and notable events. See the complete list of protocol reports here and get a preview of our latest report below.
Layer-1 smart contract blockchain using Liquid Proof-of-Stake (LPoS) for consensus
Token: XTZ (tez) is the native asset used for staking (“baking”), delegation, governance, and fees on L1 and on the Tezos-based L2
Tezos L1 transactions rose 21.5% QoQ; contract calls also increased, signaling healthier base-layer activity
L1 fees climbed 16.9% QoQ to 17,460 XTZ, while Etherlink L2 fees fell 36.7% QoQ to 50,220 XTZ as its Kernel 4.1 upgrade doubled gas throughput and lowered effective costs
VeChainThor is a Layer-1 smart contract platform launched in 2017, focused on real-world enterprise and sustainability use cases
Daily active addresses: +85.2% QoQ to 62.8k; daily new addresses: +54.4% QoQ to 40.9k
+32.3% QoQ to 370k, ending a two-quarter decline and reflecting broader onchain usage
~81.5% of gas now from EVM-based transactions, with EVM gas consumption up ~51% QoQ
High-performance L1 for real-time apps: Somnia targets internet-scale throughput, sub-second finality, and ultra-low fees to support gaming, social, and interactive digital worlds
After a 6-month testnet (10B+ txs, 118M wallets), launched mainnet and the SOMI token, ending Q3 with a $112M market cap
Averaged 14.3M daily transactions in September and generated 199k SOMI in fees, showing meaningful retention beyond airdrop farming
From Our Sponsor
Kalshi’s recent growth has been sharp and well-documented. Over the past six months, monthly notional volume increased 775%, from $664.4 million in May to $5.81 billion in November. Over the same period, open interest (OI) rose 266%, from $91.6 million on May 31 to $335.3 million on Nov. 30.
It took until August for Kalshi to surpass Polymarket in weekly notional trading volume, but since then, it hasn’t looked back. Kalshi has led 12 of the past 14 weeks. That stretch aligns closely with one catalyst: on Aug. 19, Kalshi partnered with Robinhood to allow users to trade on NFL and college football outcomes directly through the Robinhood Prediction Markets Hub.
The partnership marked a breakthrough in two key ways. First, it improved accessibility for non-crypto-native users by allowing them to trade prediction markets directly through their Robinhood accounts, no onchain experience required. Second, it gave U.S. users a legal, regulated way to trade on sports outcomes via prediction markets, which Polymarket didn’t offer at the time.
However, the more significant shift happened under the hood. The surge in volume hasn’t been partially powered by sports…it’s been almost entirely driven by it. In November, 90.5% ($5.23 billion) of Kalshi’s volume came from sports markets. OI showed the same trend: as of Nov. 30, 44.6% ($149.4 million) of OI was in sports markets, making it the platform’s leading sector on both metrics.
This isn’t inherently good or bad. Sports markets have long been embedded in U.S. culture, and Kalshi earns fees on market orders regardless of a market’s sector, but sports flows are seasonal, and the largest driver, American football, has the shortest window of all. Kalshi’s breakout moment has been during peak football season, which raises the question: Can it sustain this momentum once that season ends?
The team has already started building beyond the gridiron. On Oct. 17, Robinhood expanded Kalshi prediction market offerings to include political and macroeconomic markets like tariffs, Fed policy, spending cuts, and more. On Dec. 3, CNN announced a partnership with Kalshi to integrate prediction markets into its newsroom, followed by a similar announcement from CNBC on Dec. 4.
These are the right moves. They expand the range of non-sports prediction markets available to users and increase visibility in mainstream media channels. CNN and CNBC, in particular, put Kalshi in front of audiences that likely haven’t interacted with prediction markets before. But so far, sports has been king. Whether that changes heading into 2026 depends on whether users bring the same trading volume to these new markets that they’ve brought to football.
The product is scaling. But the next step isn’t just more growth, it’s sector diversification.
