We built Perp of Fortune: hand $100 to Claude, let it pick any perp at maximum leverage, and watch it ride for the entire episode. It chose $DRAM — an AI-memory index — at 20x, and immediately started funding the AI hardware supercycle. We may have found the recursive loop.

Then Tyler makes his contrarian case that self-custody will never scale to normal people, we trace the custodial honey-trap from Mt. Gox to FTX to today's Bitcoin treasury companies, and we break down why MicroStrategy's "Stretch" — a ~$100 "stable" yield product Saylor reportedly cooked up with ChatGPT — looks headed for a slow bleed to its 4% floor.

Bitcoin, AI, and questionable decisions, from three guys earmarked for the permanent underclass. Real money, high leverage — this is NOT financial advice. Our own opinions, not our employers'.

(0:00) Cold open: we let an AI gamble our money

(0:54) The Pico recovery

(3:45) Main event: Perp of Fortune

(12:08) Claude goes rogue - the $DRAM trade

(19:00) Contrarian Corner: self-custody won't scale

(34:17) The custodial honey-trap (Gox -> FTX -> ?)

(42:29) MicroStrategy & the Stretch problem

(57:10) Confession: my emergency fund went into Stretch

(1:00:53) The endgame: is MSTR just a $64B ETF?

(1:07:36) What actually moves Bitcoin?

(1:14:54) Outro + next week (all three in person)

(1:15:35) Next time on Permanent Underpod

Glossary — Perp: a leveraged crypto bet with no expiry. Liquidation: when leverage wipes your stake. Hyperliquid: the perp exchange Claude trades on. $DRAM: a Hyperliquid index perp tracking AI-memory prices. Self-custody: holding your own crypto via private keys. MicroStrategy (MSTR): a company that issues stock/debt to buy Bitcoin. Stretch (STRC): MSTR's "stable" ~$100 yield product. mNAV: a treasury company's value vs. the Bitcoin it holds. Claude: Anthropic's AI agent, here wired to pick and open the trade.

Subscribe — Ep 4: all three in person, agentic payments for real this time, and Jackson's contrarian take finally comes due.

The U.S. government forced the best AI on Earth offline three days after launch — so we spent a week mourning Fable. Meanwhile retail 100x leverage went legal, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon went to war with Coinbase, and Chris reports live from a stablecoin conference in Mexico City. Oh, and Pico survived the mushrooms.Bitcoin, stablecoins, perps, and AI, from three guys earmarked for the permanent underclass. Not financial advice — our own opinions, not our employers'.GlossaryClaude — Anthropic's AI coding agent (CLI/desktop), how the guys "edit" the podFable — Anthropic's latest model; pulled from the market by government order (with "Mythos")Opus — Anthropic's prior model line, the one we're stuck on nowPerps (perpetual futures) — leveraged crypto bets with no expiry; a "funding rate" keeps the price honestStablecoin — a crypto token pegged to $1; the GENIUS Act is the US law regulating themRent-seeking — making money from a protected position rather than by creating value0:00 Cold open (teaser)0:29 Welcome - the empty chair moved (Chris is remote)2:53 Housekeeping: we heard you (Ep 1 fixes)5:42 The Pico update (he made it)10:58 The lottery tickets, revisited13:32 Boots on the ground: the stablecoin conference16:25 Jamie Dimon vs. the GENIUS Act (rent-seeking)24:56 Will we ever pay in stablecoins? (US vs. the world)35:07 Main event: perpetual futures54:08 Permanent-underclass update: Fable 5 yanked1:04:28 Outro + Ep 3 tease 1:05:48 End card / next timeSubscribe — Ep 3: Contrarian Corner, agentic payments for realOpen source repohttps://github.com/jacksoncook/permanent-underpod

Welcome to the first episode of the Permanent Underpod! We talk about what we know: AI, stablecoins, and Bitcoin. We are an AI-first podcast poised to please you with technical chats. Comment topics you'd like to hear us cover in our next episode.

0:00 Cold open (teaser)

0:39 Welcome + meet the hosts

4:31 The first crypto we ever bought

10:10 Pico update - why Tyler is remote

12:32 The news: crypto shakeout + the AI rotation

26:41 Claude Fable 5 - are we cooked?

45:20 If we couldn't work at computers...

49:55 The confessional: biggest bag fumbles

58:00 Contrarian corner: stablecoins to zero?

1:11:30 The Vitalik sighting

1:13:23 The lottery tickets (ft. Claude)

1:22:32 Bonus: naming the pod

1:24:10 End card / next week