Scott Melker’s answer to a basic question about crypto in 2026 was blunt: buy Bitcoin.
In a long interview written by When Shift Happens and translated by Baihua Blockchain, Melker laid out a view of the market that leaves little room for glamour. He argued that the era when ordinary participants could reliably get rich by hopping from one altcoin to another is over, and that most people who are not building companies or watching markets all day would be better served by buying Bitcoin and holding it.
Why he thinks dollar-cost averaging Bitcoin beats trading
Asked what someone can achieve in crypto through enough effort and persistence, Melker did not offer a sweeping promise. He said success depends on who the person is, and added that most people do not learn from mistakes. For that reason, he said, most people will not succeed. He also said that if he were simply an average market participant still trying to trade crypto from the trenches, he likely would not succeed either.
When the host asked whether someone could still succeed in crypto in 2026 and beyond without becoming an entrepreneur, Melker’s response was short: yes, by buying Bitcoin.
He described the biggest investment myth as the belief that people can outperform the market through trading. One turning point for him came during his early altcoin-trading period, when he switched the display unit on his portfolio from dollars to Bitcoin and realized that after all the activity, his Bitcoin balance was flat or even lower. That experience changed the way he viewed active trading.
Melker linked that lesson to broader investing. Whether the benchmark is Bitcoin or the S&P 500, he said many people assume active positioning will beat a simple, repetitive accumulation strategy. His view is the opposite. He called that process boring, but in a good way. For younger participants, he said, boring can feel unattractive because they want excitement. With age, boring becomes useful because it frees time and attention that would otherwise be spent on speculation, constant research, and chasing every new white paper.
The host then raised a familiar pattern among retail traders: people look at Bitcoin’s volatility and think they can buy one move, sell another, and buy back lower. Melker’s answer stayed consistent. Buy, hold, dollar-cost average, and do not interrupt compounding.
He said one of the most dangerous beliefs in investing is the idea of selling now and buying back lower later. In practice, he said, once the market reaches the target level, many investors decide to wait for an even deeper drop. He used Bitcoin at $80,000 as an example. People say they will buy at $70,000, but if the price reaches $71,000, fear often takes over and they start looking for $50,000 or even $30,000. In his view, the same people who wait for the perfect lower entry often end up buying in a wave of FOMO near tops and cutting positions when they finally panic.
His conclusion was simple: ordinary investors should not assume they can time the market better than the smartest players, especially without the same information and tools. In his words, they should not trade this asset.
When the host asked again how ordinary people could build wealth through crypto in 2026 and after, Melker returned to the same point. Buy Bitcoin. He said crypto is no longer a quick-rich game in the way many people remember it. He does not expect another 2017-style alt season in which holdings could jump 20x and capital could rotate endlessly into the next winner. That phase, he said, is over. The opportunity has not disappeared, but the path is slower and less exciting. He also noted that many people who got rich quickly in earlier cycles later lost most of what they made, because getting wealthy and staying wealthy are very different tasks.
From entrepreneur and DJ to media operator
Melker also spent part of the interview looking back at how he got here. He said he started his first company at 22 partly because he did not want to wear a suit. That did not last. When he later had to sell business intelligence and data analytics services, the suit came back. Once he moved into crypto, he decided he was done with formalwear and would stick to his Zara T-shirts.
The host pointed to Melker’s constant optimism and asked where it came from. Melker said he believes things get better, and that optimists eventually win, much like bulls do in markets over long periods. Bears, he argued, need very sharp timing and are only right for limited stretches. Even when they are temporarily correct, they still lose the bigger picture if the long-term direction is up. He extended that argument to life itself, saying the world, taken broadly, keeps improving.
Asked whether there were things in life that never worked out and simply had to be abandoned, Melker said there were a million of them. Most of what he has tried failed, he said, and outsiders usually only see the successful part. He mentioned failed small businesses, ideas that lasted only a month or two, ventures that were moderately successful but never took off, and music projects that consumed time and money without getting anywhere. He said he sees those episodes as falling forward.
On identity, Melker said he is just a normal person, someone with ADHD who has always done many things at once. Once he finds something worth focusing on, he can become deeply absorbed in it until the next obsession appears. He described himself as optimistic and said he likes people and likes talking, which is why he sees his current work as one of the best jobs possible. He compared it to being paid to go to college, except each class is a one-on-one conversation with one of the best minds in a field.
The host compared podcasting to compounding, saying a basic setup of cameras, microphones, and furniture can, if sustained, build enormous value over time. Melker agreed. He said media compounds the way other efforts do: one guest’s willingness to appear creates credibility that helps secure the next guest.
On his own move from DJ work into crypto media, Melker said DJs are often natural tinkerers. They work nights, have free daytime hours, and often have cash on hand. He entered crypto in late 2016 and early 2017, during what he described as the first real alt season and the ICO boom. Someone he knew showed him the process: buy Bitcoin, send it to Bittrex, then buy Ripple. Once people started making money, the story spread. He also said chart work connected with the same part of his brain that was drawn to music production. Drawing lines and building structure felt formulaic to him, similar to working inside Logic, Ableton, or Pro Tools.
Melker said he did make a lot of money trading, but he attributed much of that to timing. Once he looked at his Bitcoin-denominated results, he realized he would often have done better simply by holding Bitcoin. He also said trading did not fit his life. He has a family, children, and other responsibilities, and he does not have the kind of mind that can watch markets 24/7/365. That, he said, turned trading into a real burden.
There was no single moment when he decided to move beyond trading. He said the shift happened organically. He began talking about his trades on Twitter and lost about half the audience he had built from music. But enough of those followers remained interested in crypto. He then started a free newsletter, moved from writing twice a week to writing daily, and later expanded into podcasting and YouTube after people encouraged him to do so. He said his personality makes it hard for him to say no to new things.
When asked when he realized that personal branding could change the game, Melker said branding matters, but a high-quality brand and a good reputation matter more. He said the 2022 bear market made that clear. In his view, reputation and brand are close to everything in this industry, especially on Twitter, where many cartoon-avatar accounts are willing to destroy their own credibility for compensation. Anyone planning to stay in crypto for a long time, he said, has to move carefully.
On the goal of his media company, Melker said it has stayed the same for a long time: bring Bitcoin into the mainstream. He said plainly that he believes people should own Bitcoin and considers it the most important financial asset in history.
His view of 2026: crypto is not dead, it is being rebuilt
When the host asked whether crypto would still matter in 2026, Melker said it matters more than ever.
He said the strange part of the current moment is that real change is happening just as many people turn deeply bearish. In his view, that reaction says more about the assets people chose to hold than about crypto itself. Many of the tokens they believed in have fallen hard, and that has exposed a deeper structural problem.
Melker argued that there is a major disconnect between many tokens and the underlying fundamentals of the projects attached to them. A lot of what is happening in the industry, he said, is not easily investable through liquid tokens. On top of that, many projects never needed tokens in the first place. Even projects that might need them often failed to design tokenomics that direct value back to token holders. The result, he said, is that investors may be holding what is effectively a lottery ticket with a project’s name on it while the company or equity holders benefit from the real economics.
For him, that does not mean crypto is dead. It means the market is changing, and the next version will need to be rebuilt in a way that ties value more directly to real token utility.
For people who do not want to start businesses and only want exposure as investors, his prescription did not change. Buy Bitcoin and keep living your life. He said he has never been a Bitcoin maximalist, but he still sees Bitcoin as the cleanest and most effective approach for most people. Take some portion of cash flow, recognize that inflation and money creation are real, buy some Bitcoin, and give it time.
He also noted that many people entered crypto through DOGE, NFTs, or meme coins, but said most of those things will not last.
Portfolio breakdown: 80% Bitcoin, 10% Ether, 10% Solana
The host asked Melker how he allocates the money he earns each month, and Melker answered directly.
He said he buys Bitcoin. He also mentioned an algorithm called Arch Public, adding that he is a shareholder. According to Melker, the system is designed to buy dips more effectively and aims to secure better prices on a given day or week than a plain dollar-cost averaging approach.
As for his current portfolio, he said it is roughly 80% Bitcoin, 10% Ether, and 10% Solana. His rationale is institutional demand and institutional adoption. In his reading of the market, the sector is splitting in two: assets that have institutional access and adoption, and lower-quality tokens further down the rankings.
His process is to use business-generated cash flow to buy and hold those assets over time. For Ether and Solana, he said he uses yield-generating tactics such as buying pullbacks and selling rallies, then rolls that cash flow back into Bitcoin.
He drew a distinction between Bitcoin and newer Layer 1 assets. There is too much disruption and too much technological turnover, he said, to call the newer names forever assets. Bitcoin, in his view, has crossed that line already. He said that is why he has an issue with so-called Bitcoin treasury companies: you cannot outperform Bitcoin simply by buying Bitcoin. A better model, he argued, is to run a business, generate cash flow, and use that to accumulate Bitcoin rather than relying on financial engineering.
Yield, Voyager, and why he is cautious on DeFi risk
The interview then turned to yield products. Melker’s tone became much more cautious.
He said he was one of Voyager’s major creditors and was hurt badly by the yield trap there. Because of that experience, he believes the market still carries severe PTSD around yield products. For him, the key questions are where the yield comes from, how the product is structured, and whether the risks are clearly disclosed.
He also pointed to the long list of hacks and security failures in DeFi over the years. He said that more than $10 billion left platforms over the past year because people feared systemic risk. In an environment where malicious actors and AI-driven attack surfaces are both broad, he said, putting large amounts of capital at risk in exchange for thin yields no longer makes much sense.
Media strategy shifted toward institutions and the TradFi bridge
When asked how he plans to take his crypto media business to the next level, Melker said he made a strategic decision several years ago to focus on the bridge between crypto and traditional finance, with institutional adoption at the center.
That shift changed the kind of content he produces. He now focuses more on interviewing institutional executives and major industry figures. It also changed the audience. Instead of primarily reaching twenty-something degens, he said, he now speaks more to high-net-worth viewers with jobs, families, ETF exposure, and an asset-allocation mindset.
Melker said he currently owns and hosts what he described as the first daily crypto show across Yahoo’s network. He added that Yahoo’s traffic is much larger than CNBC’s, and said the platform wants less suit-and-tie news delivery and more personality and authenticity.
The host briefly inserted a subscription pitch, saying 71% of regular viewers had not subscribed, then mentioned that the connection for this interview came through Ran. Melker acknowledged that and recalled the introduction.
How the 2022 bear market changed him
Asked what the 2022 bear market taught him, Melker said almost everything he does now is a result of those lessons.
Many of them, he said, were things he already knew but had not fully accepted. The biggest one was simple: if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. That is one reason he has no interest anymore in the kind of high-yield CeFi products that once drew so much attention. He said he now prefers slowing down, sticking to regular accumulation, and focusing mostly on Bitcoin.
Melker said he is now 49 years old and has young children, and no longer has the appetite for volatility that he once had. He wants life to be boring in a constructive sense, with his investing style aligned to the kind of life he wants to live.
The host asked whether that approach has been financially better. Melker said yes, then described what he sees as a major psychological problem in portfolio management: people compare themselves to the highest mark their portfolio ever touched. If a portfolio starts at $100,000, rises to $1 million in a week, and falls to $200,000 the week after, many people experience it as losing $800,000 rather than doubling the initial capital by $100,000. He said he is done thinking that way.
Melker said he no longer even tracks his portfolio in that manner and has deleted all of his tracking software. The number on the screen, he said, does not feel real. What he cares about now is how much cash flow he earns each month and how much Bitcoin that cash flow can buy.
His most memorable interview and the "Bitcoin and chill" philosophy
Asked which interview surprised him most in a positive way, Melker pointed to his first conversation with Michael Saylor in September or October 2020, around the time MicroStrategy first bought Bitcoin. The interview lasted two hours, and Melker said Saylor’s comments were striking. When Melker asked why a billionaire would make that move, Saylor framed it not as a straightforward financial decision but as a decision tied to belief systems and legacy.
On his long-term goals in media and investing, Melker again said the mission has not changed: bring Bitcoin into the mainstream. Once someone understands central banks, the US government, and the nature of money creation, he said, Bitcoin’s price swings stop looking like the main issue. He sees it as a superior store of value.
He wrapped that view in a phrase he used several times in the interview: “Bitcoin and chill.” His point was that people do not need to hunt for the next meme-coin craze. They can buy some Bitcoin and relax.
When the host asked about his ultimate goal in life, Melker answered with one word: freedom. He said he is happy to work very hard, but only on his own terms. That allows him to be present as a parent and husband, to go skiing or traveling if he wants, and to pick up his children from school and go biking. He said his kids are six years old and that he does not miss their games or recitals. Being his own boss, in his view, unlocked that control over time. He added that he does not want to stop working because he loves what he does.
As for the biggest risk facing people who do not own Bitcoin, Melker said it is staying trapped on the hamster wheel of life while inflation and irresponsible monetary policy erode the value of their effort. Without some form of hard asset, he said, people get outrun by inflation no matter what officials say. He lowered the threshold dramatically, saying that even buying $10 or $20 worth of Bitcoin or another hard asset each month is a step toward adapting to monetary expansion.
At the end of the interview, the host asked him to offer reasons for optimism to people discouraged by the market. Melker said many participants treat the current correction as the worst environment they have ever seen, but he called that recency bias. Anyone who lived through the collapses of 2021 and 2022, when people questioned whether the industry would survive at all, should see the present very differently.
He then listed what he sees as the strongest signs of progress: Bitcoin ETFs exist, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and even Jamie Dimon are talking about blockchain and Bitcoin, institutional adoption is broadening, strategic Bitcoin reserve discussions are taking place, and tokenization is gaining traction. In his view, this is the best period the industry has ever had.
He closed with one more return to the same idea. Over long stretches, Bitcoin is often flat and uneventful, and much of its annual upside tends to arrive in roughly 10 days. The priority, he said, is simply to stay in the market and “Bitcoin and chill.”