Hello everyone, Maceo here.

Dennis Walker, an author, said this to me at Howard University, in the middle of a longer answer: "The dollar is not your friend because the dollar is losing value every day." Watch the moment he said it: https://wethem.xyz/watch/the-dollar-is-not-your-friend-an-author-on-power-howard#t=536

A dollar from January 2020 bought about 77 cents' worth this August. Prices rose 29.9 percent from January 2020 to August 2026. That figure is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' own price index.

Walker's piece is leading our homepage right now. It came out of two days at the Black Blockchain Summit at Howard University. I asked students, a professor and others about inflation and money. The dollar came up again and again. Not the same way twice.

Here is the range of what people talked about. Freshmen and computer science students learned what Bitcoin is, and why the dollar keeps losing value. A CPA told me about the day his bank closed his account. Four engineering seniors asked about NFTs and money. Danielle Toval explained stablecoins, and who gets the yield. A journalism professor talked about trust.

It went past money too. A pre-med student told me why Black doctors matter. A senior talked about growing comfortable in her Blackness. A man who served 12 years in prison is now building legal tech. Silas, from Benin, talked about what to know before you come to America. A table of four argued that Black America and Africa have both been fed lies. And on the Metro home, one rider said the hope is bigger than the fear.

I asked Walker our one question too, the way I put it that day: "If you could ask people around the globe one question, or you could deploy the We Them Media citizen journalism network on your behalf, what question would you want to ask the world?" His question: "if they really believe that it's possible to achieve power to control our own destinies." His own answer: "I think it is." Both at https://wethem.xyz/watch/the-dollar-is-not-your-friend-an-author-on-power-howard#t=1018

People ask me what crypto has to do with inflation. I start with the dollar. Inflation is prices going up because the value of the dollar is going down, and the dollar goes down because people can print dollars. When they print more, "your piece of the pie is smaller. Your dollars are worth less." Your dollars go less far at the store, and your wages do not track with that. The Federal Reserve's own measure of the money supply, M2, rose about 51 percent from January 2020 to August 2026, the same months behind the 77 cents above.

Bitcoin was designed as an answer: "if they can print money and I have to work for it, where does that leave me?" Its code fixes the supply at just under 21 million. Nobody can print more.

My caution is the one I gave Ricasso, a muralist, on day 1: "You don't have to buy Bitcoin hoping it goes up. But I think it's worth considering, what am I doing in case the dollar goes down? Because that could ruin your life." https://wethem.xyz/watch/scam-man-ricasso-on-crypto-and-inflation-howard#t=515 I don't think it's about Bitcoin. The question is what money built for us looks like. Pro-crypto, not pro-crypto, I am pro people knowing what is going on.

Four Shorts where it gets said well, then one longer piece:

What's So Good About Bitcoin? Carmelo, a Howard University freshman, asks it, and I answer with money printing and the 21 million. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eys0BSuqgzQ

Is It Illegal to Print Money? Amaziah, a Howard University broadcast journalism major, says printing money is illegal. For you, I tell him, but not for the Federal Reserve. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S1637EAVKtY

Inflation, Explained With Peach Cobbler. CJ Kelly, a CPA, on day 2: "inflation is an influx of anything." Two bites are great. Too much hurts. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8bncYSzT2xk

What Hyperinflation Would Do Here. Chris, a Howard University computer science student, and me on working people: "Don't let them print you into poverty." https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-MtvtL0qoNo

Four minutes from New York, not a Short: a builder argues Bitcoin hedges currency debasement, not inflation, and points to 2022, when the Federal Reserve started raising rates and Bitcoin fell about 60 percent by the end of the year. I told him debasement is a good word. https://wethem.xyz/watch/bitcoin-hedges-debasement-not-inflation#t=107

Since the last issue, forty-one new long pieces and ninety-four new Shorts went public. That is as of Saturday morning, 3 October. Eighteen of the long pieces are from the summit at Howard University. Fifteen are from ETHConf in New York, filmed in June. The rest: four from the Streamer University line, one from Russ and Sirsu in Manhattan, one from Abuja, and two sessions of my Crypto Clarity class. The archive now holds 287 pieces from 16 countries, as of 3 October 2026.

Here is Kamal's crypto brief, in his own words, checked against the sources since he wrote it:

News never stops in the blockchain and crypto world. With bitcoin trending up (it rose 10.6 percent from 17 to 27 September, by Kraken's daily closes), part of the focus is moving away from AI and back to cryptocurrencies, but this time it is different. Traditional financial institutions are no longer hiding their presence and are letting it be known that they have a hand in the markets. They not only want to create products for Wall Street, but they also want to operate on chain.

Greetings, I am Kamal Hubbard, a lawyer by training who is certified in Fraud Examination, Cybersecurity, and Decentralized Finance. I spent two years conducting individual research on Bitcoin and blockchain technology before entering a position in cryptocurrencies. I have had conversations with the SEC, CFTC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and provided legislator education on this subject matter in Sacramento. I have also had the privilege of testifying before California's Senate Banking Committee on the basics of blockchain and Bitcoin. I had the opportunity to serve as part of the Blockchain Advocacy Coalition in support of California bills AB 2658 and SB 838, which provided a definition of "blockchain" under California state law and allowed businesses to transfer equity using distributed ledgers. I also worked on a team that launched the first celebrity endorsed token and lobbied Congress around the notion of blockchain commodities in 2018. I have also written three books on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized finance.

Clearly, I can talk about this topic for hours, and now that mainstream crypto news outlets are up against mainstream news bureaus, the space is absolutely flooded with stories and content on what's going on in the industry. That said, allow me to cut to the chase and share with you some of the top stories that came my way this week:

The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issues FAQs on crypto assets and transactions. What is this: its staff issued FAQs on crypto on September 25, 2026 (updated September 28), outlining guidance on how liquid staking, token buybacks, and other issues work against the Howey test and other federal securities law. They are staff FAQs, not a rule or a statement of the Commission. Why it matters: with the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate, the SEC is looking to establish as much regulatory framework and guidance as it can, to let the domestic crypto market grow without the grey areas that lead to heavy sanctions. https://www.sec.gov/about/divisions-offices/division-corporation-finance/faqs-crypto-assets

A $387 million exchange hack. What is this: on September 24, 2026, one of the large crypto exchanges detected a breach of its systems; the losses to its hot and warm wallets came to about $387.5 million, by the exchange's own notices and a later status report. Who did it: its CEO said the IP behavioral patterns and on-chain signatures are consistent with techniques used by DPRK-linked hacker groups. How it happened: the two investigations the exchange commissioned later found the attacker had first gained unauthorized access to third-party security products it used. Decrypt has the full story (search Decrypt for the $387M exchange hack of 24 September).

Polymarket continues to destabilize our society (just kidding, I think). Prediction markets are continuing to gain attention from the clarity of recent regulatory standards, coupled with the proceeds of big marketing budgets, as a result of some people wagering more than what they can afford. Regardless, LeBron James has come under fire for his role in endorsing Polymarket, a deal reported at $15 million a year, more than the little under $4 million he is expected to earn this season under his two-year, $8 million contract with the 76ers (Front Office Sports; Polymarket declined to comment). It's so bad that Draymond Green is defending King James for his recent business partnership. As if a household name promoting Polymarket wasn't enough to make you question what is wrong with our society, you may want to look at a line on Polymarket's offshore platform betting on bank failures. Bloomberg reported on September 25 that it has raised concerns among bank regulators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. FDIC officials looked at whether their own ethics rules kept insiders from trading on it, and decided the existing rules were strong enough. Unfortunately, there are too many people who focus on the rise of prediction markets as a new form of sports betting, when in reality they serve as a barometer for what people expect of the future, and which futures they notice, fear, dismiss, or treat as actionable.

Draymond standing up for LeBron: https://frontofficesports.com/article/draymond-green-lebron-polymarket-deal/

The pay comparison: https://frontofficesports.com/article/lebron-james-polymarket-deal-worth-15-million-year/

FDIC fears this, Bloomberg's report: https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/polymarket-wagers-bank-failures-trigger-165851456.html

Also, if you are interested in learning more about prediction markets and other aspects of blockchain, crypto, and decentralized finance (DeFi), pick up a copy of DeFi for the Diaspora here: wethem.xyz/defi-for-the-diaspora

– Kamal

Three more worth your time, all from Howard University:

Stablecoins explained, and who gets the yield. Danielle Toval, from Houston, nineteen minutes. https://wethem.xyz/watch/stablecoins-explained-and-who-gets-the-yield-howard

A journalism professor on crypto and inflation. Ingrid Sturgis, sixteen minutes. https://wethem.xyz/watch/ingrid-sturgis-crypto-inflation-trust-howard

Bitcoin as a hedge against a weakening dollar. Joe, a Howard University junior in sports management, seven minutes. https://wethem.xyz/watch/bitcoin-hedge-weakening-dollar-howard

Everything from Howard University, eighteen pieces, is on the site: https://wethem.xyz/portfolio#p-black-blockchain-summit. The fifteen new ETHConf pieces are here, with the rest from that week: https://wethem.xyz/ethconf

One thing to do: explore the site and tell me what you find. Your feedback has made a huge difference. We have been working on how everything is organized, and I want to know if it works. Three questions, if you have five minutes:

1. Can you find a conversation from a city you care about in two clicks?

2. Did search find what you were looking for?

3. Where did you get stuck or stop?

Start at https://wethem.xyz and reply to this email with what you notice. Every page also has a "Something wrong here?" button at the foot.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

I appreciate you.

– Maceo