Crypto boxing match: Bankless founder pummels Synthetix founder

Author: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily

On October 11 local time (morning of October 12 Beijing time), Synthetix founder Kain Warwick and Bankless co-founder David Hoffman engaged in a live physical fight in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The match was jointly hosted by Permissionless and martial arts livestreaming platform Karate Combat. Permissionless is the current cryptocurrency-themed conference co-hosted by Bankless and Blockworks in Salt Lake City, which distributed free fight tickets to attendees holding conference passes.

From a marketing perspective, it's easy to understand why David chose to participate; as for Kain, he had previously made a $500,000 wager with David over the scale of Bankless' sponsorship (essentially an investment) in his new project infinex.

Around 10:40 a.m. Beijing time, both fighters entered the arena. Judging from physical stats and crowd support, Kain appeared noticeably larger, but David enjoyed greater popularity among the audience.

Around 10:44 a.m., the bout officially began. The match consisted of two rounds and lasted less than eight minutes including the rest period, concluding by 10:52 a.m.—but the action was nothing short of "dramatic."

In the first round, both fighters started cautiously. The physically stronger Kain (in white shorts) gained slight upper hand early on, briefly pinning down David (in black shorts) and landing punches.

However, during the second round, perhaps due to superior stamina, David made a comeback, knocking Kain down twice and ultimately claiming victory.

The showdown between two well-known figures in the industry attracted widespread market attention. Beyond numerous community members cheering them on via livestreams—complete with uniquely crypto-style chants like “He’s getting liquidated!” when one fighter was knocked down—the prediction market Polymarket opened a betting pool on the matchup as early as September 24. By publication time, trading volume in this pool had approached $60,000.

Historical data shows that Kain Warwick, who has long cultivated a "fighting maniac" persona, maintained leading odds before the match, with predicted win rates consistently above 60% in recent days.

As early as August, Kain challenged his longtime rival Su Zhu to a fight, but was rejected.

• Odaily note: The feud between Kain and Su Zhu dates back years—to 2021, when Su Zhu announced abandoning Ethereum, sparking a public argument between the two on X.

Prior to the match, Kain posted photos of his physique yesterday, announcing he had completed weigh-in and was ready to fight. This display of confidence further rallied Kain supporters on Polymarket.

In contrast, David took a quieter approach—though he didn’t post any muscle photos, he wrote on X: “Everyone overlooks the fact that I have more fighting experience and training time.”

The final result proved David wasn’t bluffing—he walked away with the win, and his backers on Polymarket completed a dramatic comeback. (The author personally made a small profit of 5 U here—time to chase the next meme coin.)

After the fight, David delivered a victory speech and teased a full recap next Monday, suggesting he now has bragging rights for at least a year.