Show notes
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:"Ian Goodfellow on Inventing GANs""THE PEOPLE ARE IN THE COMPUTER—PART I" on Alec Radford (most popular piece of 2025)"The Ultraintelligent Machine and Gaberbocchus Common Room" by Jasia Reichardt and Our 100th article"Drifella III: Room for Complexity" - 4,000+ word deep dive on Evil Biscuit's classic"Parker Ito and Evil Biscuit on Possessed Spirits""Standout Artwork of 2025"Chapters 📖:00:00 Intro + agenda01:29 Big takeaway: digital art’s institutionalization04:23 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/XTZ13:30 What brings collectors back? (liquidity + catalysts)23:08 Fairs & infra: Art Basel, minting tech, new spaces26:00 Platforms reposition: Art Blocks + fxhash30:08 “Worlds” as the frame (protocol stacks + world models)42:07 AI art maturity: from hype to diffusion44:23 Le Random focus: Raster + collecting strategy49:30 Q4 editorial shift: Friday pods + agility50:45 Favorites of 2025: kickoff50:56 Favorite group shows58:56 Favorite releases: Claude/Gemini/Marble → vibe coding1:07:54 Favorite solo works1:17:46 Favorite artist picks1:27:23 Looking ahead to 20261:38:11 Outro