Dose of Alpha

The S&P 500 didn't tokenize. They didn't lend. They went straight to Hyperliquid — and made $2.5 million on a Monday. In Episode 7 of Dose of Alpha, Eric Waisanen breaks down what he actually learned at the Digital Asset Summit in New York: TradFi isn't here to validate crypto. They're here to win. And they're playing a completely different game than anyone expected. Eric and Bryan unpack the mechanics behind why institutions are skipping DEXs and lending markets entirely, what the Jelly attack reveals about the fragility underneath Hyperliquid's explosive growth, and why the rise of prop AMMs and synthetic liquidity is quietly recreating every exploit and edge case traditional finance spent decades learning the hard way. This one gets spicy. They steelman perps, strawman DEXs, dig into auto-deleveraging, contagion risk (Terra Luna → Ethena → Tether), and make the case that onchain rate discovery isn't just a DeFi thesis anymore— it's the next global financial primitive. 🔑 Topics covered: 0:00 S&P 500 Skips DeFi and Goes Straight to Hyperliquid 3:11 Why Perps Beat Spot: The Strawman Debate 6:52 The Jelly Attack Explained (and the Mr. Humpy Parallel) 11:24 Auto-Deleveraging, Bad Debt, and How Hyperliquid Manages Risk 17:16 Prop AMMs, Synthetic Liquidity, and the New MEV 20:54 Contagion Risk: From Terra Luna to Athena to Tether 23:37 TradFi Isn't Here to Validate You — They're Here to Win 27:41 When to Use Perps vs. Spot vs. Lending (Asset-by-Asset Breakdown) 34:11 Funding Rate Arbitrage and the $500K Data Gap Nobody's Filling 38:44 Onchain Rate Discovery Is the Future of Global Finance More alpha drops soon. 🌐 Alpha Growth: alphagrowth.io 📲 Follow Eric: @EricWaisanen | Follow Bryan: @bryancolligan | @alphagrowth1#DoseOfAlpha #Hyperliquid #DeFi #Perpetuals #RateDiscovery #TradFi The Alpha Growth team is excited to bring you real-time intel from the DeFi front lines, each week as we release new episodes. Stay tuned for more! And don't forget to comment and share your thoughts with us on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠X⁠⁠. Bring RWAs onchain with Alpha Growth in 2026: ⁠⁠alphagrowth.io⁠⁠. Subscribe for more unfiltered DeFi intel, market maneuvers, and alpha drops! Like & comment your biggest takeaway.

What if your AI agent could out-trade institutional desks — from your laptop? In Episode 5 of Dose of Alpha, Bryan Colligan sits down with Taariq Lewis, founder of Seren DB and a crypto OG since 2013, to break down the "Open Claw" world: a future where locally-running AI agents autonomously research, execute, and report on trades — no middlemen, no managed accounts, no waiting on a fund. They cover the rise of autonomous trading agents, why LLMs are powerful but untrustworthy ("they lie"), how AI is the key that finally gets grandma on-chain, and what happens to knowledge workers when agents don't need sleep. 🔑 Topics covered: 0:00 Intro to Taariq Lewis & Seren DB 1:18 From early crypto to AI Agents 3:19 The Open Claw World explained 6:05 Bypassing UI — bringing non-crypto users onchain 8:30 Skills: AI prompts as functional programs 1 4:10 Security risks, scams & LLMs lies 18:17 Human displacement by agents 22:31 Agent-to-agent economies & synthetic currencies 26:00 PolyMarket bots & alpha strategies 27:30 Compute-backed currencies 31:30 Smart Beta: shorting SaaS & infrastructure 38:07 Tokenizing skills for non-crypto users 40:44 How to get started with Seren 🌐 Learn more: serendb.com | 🔗 AlphaGrowth: alphagrowth.io 📲 Follow Bryan: @bryancolligan | @alphagrowth1 More alpha drops soon. #DoseOfAlpha

Join Alpha Growth CEO Bryan Colligan and DeFi Strategist Eric Waisanen for Ep. 4: Steer & Automation, as Alpha Growth interviews Steer Protocol on the newest podcast episode of: "Dose of Alpha." Real-time intel from the DeFi front lines. Colligan and Waisanen share unfiltered perspectives exploring decentralized finance, market maneuvers, TradFi convergence, and the enduring importance of crypto in today's political and economic landscape. Today they interview Derek Barrera of Steer Protocol, diving into Carry Trades, Hooks, Rehypothecation, and all things automation: What is a vault? What is Matador? Whether you're leveraging, farming yield, issuing tokens, or deepening your understanding of DeFi's core primitives, this episode delivers packed alpha straight from the DeFi trenches. Straight from the mouths of the builders. Chapters: Chapters: 0:00 Introduction to Derek Barrera and Steer Protocol 1:12 Lessons from Market Crashes and Volatility 2:31 The Founding and Evolution of Steer Protocol 4:10 Understanding ALMs and Uniswap V3 Liquidity 6:05 Innovations in V4 Hooks and Permissioned Pools 8:36 Solving Liquidity Challenges for RWAs 11:21 Security and Avoiding Rebalancing Exploits 14:15 Why Options are the Next Big Unlock 15:57 Global Rate Discovery and On-Chain Lending 21:19 Deep Dive into Matador: AVM Inside the EVM 27:30 Optimizing Market Microstructures and Inventory 30:00 Bitcoin Carry Trades and Vault Infrastructure 33:14 The Future of Tokenized Real-World Assets 38:00 The Five-Year Vision for On-Chain Finance The Alpha Growth team is excited to bring you real-time intel from the DeFi front lines, each week as we release new episodes. Stay tuned for more! And don't forget to comment and share your thoughts with us on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠X⁠⁠. Bring RWAs onchain with Alpha Growth in 2026: ⁠⁠alphagrowth.io⁠⁠. Subscribe for more unfiltered DeFi intel, market maneuvers, and alpha drops! Like & comment your biggest takeaway. Or continue the conversation with us on X!

Join Alpha Growth CEO Bryan Colligan and DeFi Strategist Eric Waisanen for Ep. 3: Money Markets vs. CDPs of Alpha Growth's newest podcast: "Dose of Alpha." Get real-time intel from the DeFi front lines. Colligan and Waisanen share unfiltered perspectives exploring decentralized finance, market maneuvers, TradFi convergence, and the enduring importance of crypto in today's political and economic landscape. Dive deep into DeFi lending with a no-BS breakdown of Money Markets vs. CDPs (Collateralized Debt Positions) – which is better, when to use each, and why CDPs might be underrated infrastructure for protocols and long-term holders. In this Episode, Bryan and Eric unpack: The evolution from early Tether/Bitfinex synthetics to MakerDAO (now Sky/USDS) and modern CDPs like Liquity's BOLD Why money markets (Aave, Morpho, Compound) are straightforward, efficient, and ideal for high-frequency trading CDP strengths: No counterparty needed, potentially lower long-term borrow rates, superior peg stability in extreme volatility (e.g., the October 10, 2025 flash crash – triggered by tariff news – wiped out $19B+ in liquidations but showed CDPs holding strong while centralized systems cracked) Risks exposed: Peg maintenance & redemptions, bad debt in generalized vs isolated markets, liquidation cascades, oracle reliability Carry trades & structured products using CDPs for real yield on BTC/ETH/staked assets – borrow cheap, earn more elsewhere Who wins: High-frequency users → money markets; long-term holders, carry traders, and protocols building liquidity → CDPs Whether you're leveraging, farming yield, issuing tokens, or deepening your understanding of DeFi's core primitives, this episode delivers packed alpha straight from the trenches. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:24 Defining Money Markets and CDPs 3:48 The Evolution of CDPs and MakerDAO 5:53 Peg Maintenance and Liquidity Challenges 8:06 Financial Analogies for Lending 8:54 Bad Debt and Bankruptcy in DeFi 11:36 Isolated vs. Generalized Lending Markets 14:55 Comparing Risks Between CDPs and Money Markets 17:14 Choosing Between Money Markets and CDPs 21:22 Hidden Risks in Lending 23:25 Understanding Carry Trades and Structured Products The Alpha Growth team is excited to bring you real-time intel from the DeFi front lines, each week as we release new episodes. Stay tuned for more! And don't forget to comment and share your thoughts with us on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠X⁠⁠. Bring RWAs onchain with Alpha Growth in 2026:  ⁠⁠alphagrowth.io⁠⁠. Subscribe for more unfiltered DeFi intel, market maneuvers, and alpha drops! Like & comment your biggest takeaway – money markets or CDPs for you?

Alpha Growth CEO Bryan Colligan and DeFi Strategist Eric Waisanen get deep into the weeds with Alpha Growth's latest podcast: Dose of Alpha- Episode #2: Risk: Are You A Gambler or Investor? In each episode Colligan and Waisanen share unfiltered perspectives exploring decentralized finance, market maneuvers, TradFi convergence, and the enduring importance of crypto in today's political and economic landscape.  Episode #2 brings some incredible questions and answers as Bryan and Eric discuss Risk: What is risk? How do you price it? What kind of risks do you see in DeFi? How does that differ from what you see in TradFi? Classifying types of risk, government bailouts in crypto, and the fiasco that was October 10th (10/10). It's a great episode. If you enjoy it, share it with a friend. Chapters 0:00 Defining and Pricing Risk 1:10 Risk Vs. Reward, in DeFi and TradFi 2:02 Types of Risk 4:53 Speedrunning Traditional Finance 6:25 Government Bailouts and Crypto 7:19 Flight to Quality 8:16 Gambling vs. Investing: The Role of Expected Value 10:49 Scopes of EV 12:47 Risks in the Structured Products We're Building 13:09 Liquidations & Time Duration Risk 17:59 APRs and Risk-Adjusted Returns 20:18 Restaking Presentation at ETH Denver 22:23 Case Study: Analyzing October 10th 25:31 Fractional Reserves and Systemic Contagion 28:19 Centralization Risks and the Future of Risk Management The Alpha Growth team is excited to bring you real-time intel from the DeFi front lines, each week as we release new episodes. Stay tuned for more! And don't forget to comment and share your thoughts with us on YouTube, Spotify, and X. Bring RWAs onchain with Alpha Growth in 2026:  alphagrowth.io. Episode 2 Links: Am I A Degenerate Gambler Quiz Insurance & Reinusrance Through Restaking From Eric Waisanen Alpha Growth

Join CEO Bryan Colligan and DeFi Strategist Eric Waisanen for the premiere episode of Alpha Growth's newest podcast: "Dose of Alpha." Where you'll hear real-time intel from the DeFi front lines. Colligan and Waisanen share unfiltered perspectives exploring decentralized finance, market maneuvers, TradFi convergence, and the enduring importance of crypto in today's political and economic landscape. In this Episode, you'll hear them discussing: their journeys into crypto, where they think crypto is headed in the coming years, crypto's role in economic freedom and efficiency, as well as philosophical concepts like: tools of freedom, philosophy of technology, private property, freedom and intellectual progress. Get ready for a deep dive, because it's about to get heady.