Podcast: Why Everything Will Become an NFT | Andrew Steinwold & John Crain

Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos sit with Andrew Steinwold and John Crain to get a breakdown on the history of NFTs and what the future holds for them.

by Brianna Beckford /
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In the latest episode of Empire, Blockworks’ co-founder Jason Yanowitz and co-host Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Andrew Steinwold Managing Partner at Sfermion & John Crain CEO of SuperRare Labs.

Andrew & John saw the potential of NFTs years before most in 2018, just after Crypto Kitties broke the Ethereum blockchain. We decided to invite them to Empire to discuss the explosive growth in NFTs throughout 2020/21, how the industry has developed since their introduction around 2018 and what is the future for the NFT market.

Plus, listen in to get their thoughts on:

  • Intellectual property laws in the NFT market
  • How 2020 sparked parabolic NFT adoption
  • and so much more!

Check out what they had to say in the video below. 👇

About the show

Empire is a twice-a-week show. On Thursdays, Jason interviews crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Friday’s weekly round-up episodes feature co-host, Santiago Roel Santos and cover the top news from the past week.

For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of Empire as a How I Built This for the bitcoin and crypto industry.

Subscribe to Empire today on Apple or Spotify. Watch episodes on YouTube.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


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Kinetiq has established itself as Hyperliquid's dominant liquid staking protocol, holding 82.5% of LST market share with $610M in TVL. The protocol is now expanding beyond its kHYPE staking core into higher take-rate verticals: iHYPE for institutional custody rails, Launch for HIP-3 capital formation, and Markets for builder-deployed perpetuals. We view Markets, launching Jan. 12, as the highest-potential product line given its mechanically scalable, activity-linked unit economics. Near-term revenue remains anchored by kHYPE's KIP-2 fee schedule (~$1.6M annualized), while Markets provides embedded optionality if HIP-3 economics normalize post-Growth Mode. KNTQ's setup is relatively clean: zero insider unlocks until November 2026, 6.2% buyback yield from staking revenue, and cleared airdrop overhang. Risks center on unproven Markets execution, declining kHYPE TVL despite ongoing incentives, and competition from Hyperliquid's native initiatives.

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