Blockchain's disruption will not impact all of finance equally. Trading firms are safe because market making is a fundamental need. However, intermediaries like banks, exchanges, and custodians face an existential threat as their core function—managing ledgers and access—is directly replaced by blockchain's "private key and a ledger" infrastructure.
The next evolution of finance will break away from the traditional "portfolio and search box" interface. Instead, trading will be embedded directly into new contexts and "modalities." Examples include trading via Telegram bots, placing micro-bets on live sports via a TV interface, or interacting with prediction markets directly within a news article.
Multicoin's Kyle Samani gave up on Ethereum in 2017 after its leadership failed to present a clear scaling plan. He perceived a culture that was "to their core culturally oblivious" to the urgent need for a solution. This perceived failure in execution and focus, at the peak of Ethereum's dominance, directly motivated his firm to aggressively seek alternatives.
Multicoin's conviction in Solana came from underwriting its founder, Anatoly Yakovenko. Unlike competitors focused on academic breakthroughs, Yakovenko prioritized shipping code and explicitly avoided trying to solve unsolved computer science problems. This pragmatic, execution-focused approach was the key differentiator that earned Multicoin's bet in the crowded Layer-1 race.
Kyle Samani has completely abandoned the thesis that crypto's future lies in non-financial consumer dApps (Web3). He now believes the thesis is "just wrong." Instead, crypto's primary role in developed nations will be as invisible financial plumbing, while its main user-facing application is for international users who need access to stablecoins.
Kyle Samani is "intellectually short" Bitcoin because he sees it as an unproductive asset. He argues platforms like Ethereum and Solana offer the same core benefits—a fixed, code-defined supply—while also being economically productive. This makes them a superior long-term asset class from a first-principles perspective, despite his firm holding some Bitcoin financially.
Multicoin's central thesis is that crypto's ultimate purpose is creating "Internet Capital Markets"—the ability to trade any asset, from anywhere, 24/7, via any software. This broad vision of permissionless, programmable finance is seen as the most significant long-term impact of blockchain, destined to supersede more niche consumer applications or "Web3" concepts.