The street's best takes on crypto — without the timeline.

Omar argues Western Union's stablecoin strategy—launching USDPT on Solana this quarter alongside an offramp network and consumer card—offers its best path to survival by converting ~$500M in daily pre-funding float into real-time settlement and unlocking hundreds of millions more trapped across correspondent banking. If the business gains traction, WU reprices materially or becomes an acquisition target for Circle, which could roll it into Arc and consolidate merchant and consumer payment flows across a unified chain.

Hyperliquid Strategies ($PURR)

ZJ argues PURR is structurally different from other digital asset treasuries because Hyperliquid generated $857M in 2025 fees with $837M flowing to buyback-and-burn, creating a deflationary token dynamic (~19M bought back annually versus ~7M emitted), while carrying zero debt and zero preferreds unlike Strategy. Base case values PURR at $10.59 by 2030 (+63% over 5 years) on $76 HYPE at 20x P/E and 1.1x NAV; bull case reaches $20.84 (+220%) at $127 HYPE and 1.3x NAV.

Figure Technology: Smoke And Mirrors From A Fast-And-Loose Lender Masquerading As A Blockchain Darling

Morpheus Research's 4-month investigation concludes Figure Technology is a $7.7 billion home equity lender masquerading as a blockchain innovator, with exaggerated or fabricated claims about blockchain-enabled advantages. The company's loan origination system doesn't use blockchain technology—it relies on third-party tools like Plaid and CoreLogic, contradicting repeated executive claims that loans are "native" to blockchain. Figure's blockchain projects including Figure Connect, Democratized Prime, and YLDS have either stalled or are internally propped up, while aggressive underwriting practices reminiscent of pre-2008 lending—full-draw requirements, lax title checks, automated valuations without appraisals—are driving delinquencies to 5.46% in 2025 versus 1.79% for Bank of America, alongside insider stock dumps totaling $120 million despite lock-up agreements.

CoreWeave's $6B Jane Street contract is the largest-ever AI cloud deal with a non-AI-lab customer — validates Rittenhouse's February thesis that CRWV's long-term success depends on diversifying beyond hyperscalers and AI labs toward enterprises. Analog: AWS's early cloud-native-startup focus before enterprise proliferation. Signal for $NBIS too, which has been emphasizing the same enterprise pivot.

Western Union's Stablecoin Bet

WU announced USDPT, a USD-pegged stablecoin on Solana via Anchorage Digital Bank (summer). Stock at ~5x P/E, 10%+ dividend yield — priced as value trap. $3.45B in settlement balances could compress cross-border cycles from days to minutes. WU's 'last mile' (hundreds of thousands of retail locations, compliance across 200+ countries) is the irreplaceable edge; GENIUS Act raises the compliance bar but makes WU's infra more valuable. Digital transactions +13% in Q4 2025 (39% of consumer volume). $500M Intermex acquisition adds 6M LatAm customers. Re-rate thesis: from dividend play to digital-payments infra (peers trade 10x+).

STRC: The Biggest Catalyst We Have for DeFi Revival

DeFi yields are in survival mode — Aave stables 2%, Ethena/Sky under 4%, Pendle PTs can't clear 6%. STRC (Strategy's perpetual preferred, 11.5% monthly dividend, backed by 767K+ BTC) breaks the ceiling. Three protocols bring it onchain: Apyx Finance ($121M supply; apxUSD/apyUSD), Saturn Credit ($44.6M TVL in under a month; USDat/sUSDat), Buck ($2.2M). Flywheel: deposits → protocols buy STRC → Strategy issues shares → buys BTC → attention flows back to DeFi. This is the catalyst that brings liquidity back onchain.

Market is overlooking $GLXY's Helios datacenter business because it doesn't trust $CRWV will fulfill its 15-year, $1B/yr contract for the first 800MW. Gab argues Helios is priced at zero in the stock today — so if CRWV delivers, there's a meaningful mispricing inside a crypto-native equity. Asymmetric setup on the equity side of the AI-compute trade.