Weekly Roundup 03/20/26 (Vanity Fair fiasco, SEC token taxonomy, tokenized deposits) (EP.709)

Bullish:

• $STRIPE - Stripe is making strategic moves in payments with Tempo blockchain and Bridge acquisition, positioning to challenge Visa and Mastercard as a third network powered by public blockchains and stablecoins.

  • “I think Stripe is just making all the right moves when it comes to payments. I think they have a real shot of taking on Visa and Mastercard.”

    Matt·22:48

  • “If you combine Tempo with what they have with Bridge and then you add the cards, they're, you know, they're going to be playing in that market as well. I think there's a real possibility that they emerge as almost a third network here, and it's going to be powered by public blockchains, stablecoins riding on tempo, basically.”

    Matt·22:56

  • “Especially as I think there was a judicial decision recently that will challenge interchange and plus AgenTic payments. If I had to pick one company, it would be Stripe.”

    Nick·23:13

Bearish:

• $OPENSEA - OpenSea raised at over $13 billion valuation but has lost relevance, recently canceled token sale, and leadership appeared poorly in Vanity Fair spread.

  • “What, you know, OpenSea, what they raised at a north of a $13,000,000,000 valuation. I don't hear much about OpenSea these days and they just canceled their token sale.”

    Matt·6:13

  • “So yeah, I mean, it's just really bad timing to cancel your token sale and then do a photo shoot where you're appearing in like couture with your wife.”

    Nick·6:22