E132: SEC goes after crypto giants, Sequoia splits, LIV/PGA, Messi's deal + LIVE Q&A!
David Friedberg (host), Jason Calacanis (host), David Sacks (host), Chamath Palihapitiya (host), Narrator, David Friedberg (host), Jason Calacanis (host), Chamath Palihapitiya (host), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Narrator
In this episode of All-In Podcast, featuring David Friedberg and Jason Calacanis, E132: SEC goes after crypto giants, Sequoia splits, LIV/PGA, Messi's deal + LIVE Q&A! explores sEC targets crypto, Sequoia restructures, sports money rewrites power dynamics The episode opens with politics and media, focusing on RFK Jr.’s crossover appeal to Republicans, his positions on censorship, COVID vaccines, and the border, and the backlash Chamath and Sacks receive for supporting him. The core of the show centers on the SEC’s aggressive actions against Binance and Coinbase, what that means for crypto’s future in the U.S., and how regulation, investor protection, and government control over fiat intersect. They then dissect Sequoia Capital’s decision to spin out its China and India operations as emblematic of de‑globalization, geopolitical pressure, and internal strategy shifts, before pivoting to the economics of sports: LIV–PGA’s controversial merger and Lionel Messi’s innovative MLS deal that treats him as a content/equity partner, not just an athlete. A live Q&A segment closes the show, touching on AI’s impact on jobs and education, deepfakes, banking risk, venture’s role in politics, and how investors are thinking about AI opportunities.
SEC targets crypto, Sequoia restructures, sports money rewrites power dynamics
The episode opens with politics and media, focusing on RFK Jr.’s crossover appeal to Republicans, his positions on censorship, COVID vaccines, and the border, and the backlash Chamath and Sacks receive for supporting him. The core of the show centers on the SEC’s aggressive actions against Binance and Coinbase, what that means for crypto’s future in the U.S., and how regulation, investor protection, and government control over fiat intersect. They then dissect Sequoia Capital’s decision to spin out its China and India operations as emblematic of de‑globalization, geopolitical pressure, and internal strategy shifts, before pivoting to the economics of sports: LIV–PGA’s controversial merger and Lionel Messi’s innovative MLS deal that treats him as a content/equity partner, not just an athlete. A live Q&A segment closes the show, touching on AI’s impact on jobs and education, deepfakes, banking risk, venture’s role in politics, and how investors are thinking about AI opportunities.
Key Takeaways
The SEC is signaling that operating a broad, retail-facing crypto exchange in the U.S. may be effectively impossible under current rules.
Binance is being hit for commingling funds and registration issues, while Coinbase—seen by the hosts as a ‘good actor’—is accused of listing unregistered securities without a clear path to registration, leading Sacks and Chamath to argue Gensler is de facto trying to shut U. ...
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Two dynamics can coexist: many crypto players broke securities rules, and key regulators still want to protect the primacy of fiat.
Jason emphasizes that founders and exchanges chose not to treat many tokens as securities restricted to accredited investors, while Sacks and Chamath argue figures like Elizabeth Warren and Gensler also view crypto as an unacceptable competitor to government-controlled money and spending flexibility.
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Policy changes like testing-based accreditation could unlock broader retail access to risky assets, including crypto.
J-Cal points to a House bill allowing any American to become accredited by passing a test, arguing this would let average investors legally buy volatile assets (such as tokens) while acknowledging the risks—analogous to getting a driver’s license or choosing to gamble.
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Sequoia’s China and India spinouts reflect both de-globalization and internal strategy/risk management, not just ‘getting too big.’
Chamath frames the moves as part retrenchment after missteps (mega-funds, evergreen structure) and a rational jettisoning of China as ‘uninvestable’ for Americans, while Sacks and J-Cal also highlight rising U. ...
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Sports economics are shifting from league-first to star-as-equity-partner, changing how top talent negotiates.
The LIV–PGA deal exposes the PGA’s hypocrisy after moralizing against Saudi money, while Messi’s MLS move—trading a massive Saudi salary for Apple TV revenue share, Adidas upside, and likely equity-style economics—illustrates athletes increasingly being treated like content platforms and equity creators, not just salaried labor.
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Future professional athlete contracts are likely to include phantom equity and media revenue participation, not just salaries.
Chamath argues NBA and other stars should negotiate shadow equity tied to franchise value growth, just as Messi did with media/merch rev share; this could align incentives, keep stars with teams longer, and mirror private-company phantom equity plans used in large family-owned businesses.
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AI will transform work through specialized displacement and massive productivity gains, but broad ‘doom’ is overhyped in the near term.
The Q&A panel suggests specific niches like radiology or long-haul trucking are clearly threatened, but most professions will adapt; the real opportunity lies in combining large language models with domain-specific computational models and proprietary data, and young people should focus on durable skills (math, biology, communication, entrepreneurship) that can leverage AI rather than be replaced by it.
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Notable Quotes
“It’s not up to the chairman of the SEC to say that Americans should not be holding crypto.”
— David Sacks
“Two things can be true at the same time: they broke the rules and the government doesn’t want to give up control of fiat.”
— Jason Calacanis
“I think China is largely uninvestable for the next 30 or 40 years.”
— Chamath Palihapitiya
“Messi is not an athlete in this deal… he is an elite content creator.”
— Chamath Palihapitiya
“The dynamics are changing. It will no longer be a capital–labor situation; capital is merging with labor, and labor is becoming the equity.”
— David Friedberg
Questions Answered in This Episode
If the SEC effectively drives major crypto exchanges offshore, what realistic regulatory framework could balance innovation, investor protection, and monetary sovereignty in the U.S.?
The episode opens with politics and media, focusing on RFK Jr. ...
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How should LPs and founders interpret Sequoia’s China and India spinouts when thinking about global expansion, especially around AI and semiconductors in restricted jurisdictions?
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To what extent is the LIV–PGA merger and Messi’s MLS deal a template for other leagues, and what would it take for players’ unions to actually secure phantom equity or league-level rev share?
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Given AI’s rapid commoditization of foundational models, what types of proprietary datasets or domain-specific computational models will create sustainable moats for new startups?
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How should universities and students rethink majors and curricula in light of AI—balancing durable quantitative skills with soft skills like leadership and communication that the hosts see as resilient?
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Transcript Preview
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the All-In Podcast. I'm your moderator for the week, Dave Friedberg, not the world's greatest moderator. This show is going to be a bit of a shortened version. At the backend of the pod today, we actually are gonna show some Q&A from Jason's launch summit, which he held in Napa Valley this week. Great event. Thanks for having us up there, J-Cal.
Thanks for coming.
Great speakers, great content, and we did a live Q&A for the All-In pod with the audience there, which we'll transition to about halfway through- through the show today. J-Cal, thanks for your hospitality.
Oh. Yeah.
Thanks for throwing the-
Thanks for coming.
... the fun birthday party, the poker night. We had a great time.
I still don't know what I was doing there.
You were meeting some of your LPs- (laughs)
(laughs)
... who you'd never met before. (laughs)
It was like a dog and pony show. J-Cal was using us as some sort of-
(laughs)
... dog and pony show to raise money.
Sacks, did you really have LPs there that you had never met?
No.
Yes. (laughs)
Hold on a second. I had one LP there who I have definitely met many times before.
Okay. She told us she'd never met you. She wanted an introduction.
(laughs)
So, maybe she's getting into the spirit of All-In and joking with you, but you had a three-hour meeting with one of your LPs. At least I heard. She talked about it the next day.
I did, for a while, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, she said she had, like, two or three hours with you.
Chamath, are you with us today? What's going on?
You there, buddy? Chamath was very drunk, by the way. He brought up his own wine. He started margaritas at two o'clock.
He showed up dr-... Well, he was drunk by the time we got there.
What?
He- he showed up at, like,-
Day drinking Chamath?
... 2:00 in the afternoon. He was day drinking margaritas in the sun.
Oh.
And then we showed up and he was, like, falling asleep by the time we were done with the stage session.
I love you guys. Back to the show.
Yeah. (laughs)
Back to the show.
(laughs)
He's our back...
I'm here.
We're going all in. Let your winners ride. Rain man, David Sachs. We're going all in. And I said we open source it to the fans and they've just gone crazy with it. Love you guys. Queen of Quinoa. Going all in.
You know, by the way, politics is one of these incredible things where you see the meanest people come out of the woodwork when you even feign support for somebody that they don't support.
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