In this end-of-year episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random’s Editor-in-Chief) is joined by thefunnyguys (Le Random CEO) and Collection Lead Conrad House to look back on 2025: its biggest storylines, their favorites of the year and what they’re watching in 2026.
They unpack a defining tension of the year: as crypto-native attention and prices stayed weak, institutional and traditional-art adoption of digital art kept accelerating. The conversation moves through platform and ecosystem shifts (VVV’s rise, Verse as gallery infrastructure, Art Blocks nearing the end of AB 500, Fxhash’s next chapter). Next is a discussion of “worlds”—protocol stacks getting richer, more modular, and increasingly entangled with AI, physical spaces and simulation.
They close with Le Random highlights (including Raster and a more nimble publishing rhythm), personal favorites of the year, and a forward look at Node Foundation in Palo Alto, Canyon in New York, Colección Solo in Madrid, and Zero 10’s next iteration in Hong Kong.
Mentioned:
Chapters 📖:
00:00 Intro + agenda
01:29 Big takeaway: digital art’s institutionalization
04:23 NFTs fade in crypto, rise in trad art (two camps)
07:12 Capitulation vs institutional growth (NFT categories)
09:53 Macro check: S&P vs ETH/BTC/XTZ
13:30 What brings collectors back? (liquidity + catalysts)
23:08 Fairs & infra: Art Basel, minting tech, new spaces
26:00 Platforms reposition: Art Blocks + fxhash
30:08 “Worlds” as the frame (protocol stacks + world models)
42:07 AI art maturity: from hype to diffusion
44:23 Le Random focus: Raster + collecting strategy
49:30 Q4 editorial shift: Friday pods + agility
50:45 Favorites of 2025: kickoff
50:56 Favorite group shows
58:56 Favorite releases: Claude/Gemini/Marble → vibe coding
1:07:54 Favorite solo works
1:17:46 Favorite artist picks
1:27:23 Looking ahead to 2026
1:38:11 Outro