Unchained

Thank you to our Sponsor, Uniswap! Ethereum Fusaka is live, Infinex has embarked on its token sale, Hyperliquid is bolstering its HIP-3 markets and there is drama in Solana’s DeFi land. In this episode of Uneasy Money, hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monahan delve into the significance and implications of the Fusaka upgrade and the controversy surrounding Infinex's token sale. They also take a look at the promise and risks of Hyperliquid's buzzing perp futures markets on tokenized equities and Kamino's controversial response to competition from Jupiter. In addition, they touch on Anthropic's smart contract study and the recent Yearn Finance exploit. Hosts: Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix Taylor Monahan, Security at MetaMask Links: Unchained: Cheaper Fees and No More Free Lunch for Layer 2s? Inside Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade Ethereum’s Layer 1 Lacks a Perp DEX. Synthetix Intends to Change That HIP-3 Records $500 Million in Daily Volume Uneasy Money: Hyperliquid’s Dilemma After 10/10: Protect Itself or Its Users? Uneasy Money: ICOs Are Back and Why Airdrops Are Instantly Dumped Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction ⚡️ 01:32 How Ethereum's shipping cadence has changed ⛽️ 9:36 Will Ethereum gas fees spike again? ⚔️ 12:26 Infinex's token sale controversy 💡 12:54 Kain explains the reasoning behind Infinex's ICO model 💥 18:47 What's driving the Infinex ICO controversy 🧏 24:11 How Hyperliquid's HIP-3 upgrade is changing DeFi participation 🤔 25:58 Are Hyperliquid's tokenized equities perps asking for SEC trouble? 🤺 38:48 Kamino v. Jupiter drama 🧐 44:59 Does Solana’s commercial tilt encourage more “gloves off” competition? 👀 50:51 Will Kamino users exit en masse? ❕️51:32 Anthropic's smart contract study coincides with Yearn Finance hack 💡 54:40 How AI can help bolster crypto security Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner cover crypto’s biggest moments. This week we’re joined by Kevin from the Monad Foundation as we dig into the most chaotic token launch of the year. Monad goes live, CT explodes, and the tokenomics wars come roaring back — vesting, float, FDV, and why everything “just keeps going down.” We break down whether the world actually needs another L1, how hype creates impossible expectations, and how Kevin and the Monad team are handling the spotlight — and the hate. Then we shift to security chaos: Yearn’s underflow hack, Anthropic’s AI discovering real smart contract vulnerabilities, and “post-quantum” panic sweeping Crypto Twitter. Plus: BTC volatility, MicroStrategy drama, and prediction markets suddenly going mainstream. Show highlights 🔹 Monad’s explosive token launch — hype, backlash, and why it became CT’s main character of the week. 🔹 Kevin joins to break down the launch mechanics, the expectations, and what the team actually prepared for. 🔹 “Low float, high FDV” returns — why vesting debates reignited and why tokens keep sliding despite higher floats. 🔹 Do we really need another L1? The crew dissects infrastructure fatigue, tribalism, and what counts as real differentiation. 🔹 Why hype almost guarantees disappointment — and why early sentiment rarely predicts long-term outcomes. 🔹 Handling the hate — Kevin explains how the team reframes attention, survives the noise, and stays focused post-launch. 🔹 Yearn Sonic exploit — a simple underflow bug hits an OG DeFi protocol, reigniting security concerns. 🔹 AI finds zero-days — Anthropic’s agents discover new smart-contract vulnerabilities and spark an AI security arms race. 🔹 Quantum panic — why “post-quantum” became CT’s latest engagement meta and what it actually means for chains. 🔹 Macro shakeups — BTC volatility, MicroStrategy flirting with NAV, and equities demolishing crypto returns. 🔹 Prediction markets breakout — Polymarket’s US launch, Kalshi’s mega raise, and Robinhood bringing event contracts in-house. 🔹 Long-tail opportunity — why prediction markets may extend far beyond politics and sports to everything people care about. Hosts: ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Kevin McCordic, Director of Growth at Monad Foundation ⁠Disclosures⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:21 Monad: Hype, Hate & Week-One Reality 06:08 Vesting, Float & the “Low Float, High FDV” Meta 17:27 Do We Need Another L1? 25:08 Public Perception, Expectations & Narrative Cycles 35:54 Yearn’s yETH Exploit & Anthropic’s Exploit Agents 44:06 MSTR at NAV & Equities Leaving Crypto Behind 48:06 Polymarket vs. Kalshi vs. Robinhood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ethereum for the first time ever has rolled out a second major upgrade within a year. Fusaka has gone live less than six months after Pectra. In this Unchained podcast episode, Offchain Labs Prysm Team Ethereum Cored Developer Preston Van Loon joins Protocol Watch founder Christine D. Kim to unpack how Fusaka would make transactions cheaper, improve the UX for users and impact layer 2 chain operators. They also discuss the relatively short time to deployment and how this is impacting client and layer 2 teams. Preston also explains why he is less nervous about Fusaka than he was about Pectra and the indicators of success. Plus what comes next after the hard fork. Thank you to our sponsors! Uniswap Mantle Guests: Christine D. Kim, Host of Ready for Merge Podcast and writer of ​​ACD After Hours Preston Van Loon, Ethereum Core Developer working at Prysm by Offchain Labs Previous appearances on Unchained: How Will ETH React to Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade? Links: Unchained: Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade Clears Final Test Before December Launch Ethereum Gave Away Too Much for Too Long. Will Its Pivot Be Enough? Timestamps: 🚀 0:00 Introduction 👀 4:39 How Fusaka is scaling Ethereum's data layer without imposing big hardware requirements 💡 11:44 How Fusaka is “a big stepping stone” to Ethereum's proto-danksharding vision 💥 15:08 Why the Fusaka launch timeline is a significant milestone for Ethereum developers 🫆 17:12 How Fusaka will make signing transactions easier 👀 18:37 How Fusaka will impact layer 2 operators 🤔 22:49 Are layer 2 chains ready for Fusaka? ⁉️ 29:30 Can L2s benefit from PeerDAS without features like backfilling? 🤔 32:41 Did developers have enough time to prepare for Fusaka? 🫣 34:31 Do faster development timelines impact client diversity? 🧏 40:24 What should have been done differently with Fusaka preparations 📽 42:27 The best way to watch the Fusaka upgrade in real time 💡 44:20 Why Preston is less nervous about Fusaka than Pectra 🚦46:01 Indicators of Fusaka success 📝 46:45 Preston's risk assessment for blob parameter only hard forks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsor, Uniswap! Class action lawsuits targeting crypto firms are on the rise. While observers often brush off the cases as opportunistic, they may be more of an existential threat than many think. In this episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos of StarkWare, and Vy Le of Veda unpack what class action suits are and why they may be more of a threat to crypto than enforcement actions. Katherine breaks down the derivative case against Coinbase while Jessi explains why Binance has “bad facts” in the Hamas case. Meanwhile, Vy explains why the tussle over prediction markets like Kalshi by state gambling regulators could make it to the Supreme Court. Plus, China's crypto crackdown and the CME's outage. Hosts: Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda Links: Unchained: DEX in the City: Insider Trading and Crypto: What the Law Actually Says DEX in the City: Are Prediction Markets Gambling, and Who Should Regulate Them? Why Crypto Market Structure May Not Pass Until 2027: DEX in the City Mistrial Declared After ‘MEV Brothers’ Accused of $25 Million Exploit Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction 🤔 3:21 What is a class action? 💥 7:23 Why class action suits may be more dangerous for crypto than enforcement actions 💡 10:27 How the courts are trying to prevent class action abuse 🚦 11:57 The policy aspect to class action lawsuits 👀 14:05 What’s interesting about the Coinbase derivative lawsuit 📝 16:27 Why Binance has "bad facts" in the Hamas suit, per Jessi 👀 21:45 Why Kalshi's Nevada case could make it to the Supreme Court 💡 27:18 Vy highlights Kalshi's strongest argument in the Nevada case 🫠 28:34 Why crypto cases are difficult to try in front of juries 🤔 33:10 What does it mean to ban crypto? ❕️34:42 What is driving the crypto crackdown in India and China 🧏 42:38 How the CME's recent outage highlights the need for decentralization 💥 45:54 Good news pieces for the week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday’s selloff rattled the entire market—Bitcoin, equities, commodities, you name it. But beneath the volatility, something more structural may be happening. In this week’s Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, Chris Perkins, and B+B OG previous host Alex Kruger break down one of the most confusing macro weeks of the year. They debate why high-beta assets snapped, whether a rotation into quality is underway, why institutions seem unfazed even as retail stays skittish, and share initial thoughts on Vanguard finally allowing clients to buy crypto. The crew also unpacks Strategy’s chaotic comments about selling BTC, the Clarity Act’s political hurdles, the CME outage that exposed systemic fragility, and the never-ending debate over Tether—profitability, reserves, and what institutions actually want from a stablecoin issuer. Sponsors: Uniswap Mantle Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Alex Kruger, founder of Asgard Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 💥 2:13 What triggered Monday’s selloff—and why Chris is still long-term bullish 🤔 6:57 Why Alex was a bit surprised about this week’s volatility 🔄 12:37 Is there a rotation out of risk and into higher-quality assets? 🗯️ 15:11 The chaos after Strategy CEO floated selling BTC to fund dividends 🏢 18:33 Which types of companies Ram thinks are positioned to win in the near term 📺 22:39 Why Polymarket appearing on 60 Minutes is a positive signal for the industry 🏛️ 25:37 Why passing the Clarity Act will require far more political work 🧠 31:30 Why markets feel like a “Rorschach test”—and whether Fed cuts are actually coming 📉 36:06 Why Alex says we’re entering a new era for the Federal Reserve 💵 42:40 Tether’s balance-sheet drama—and what kind of stablecoin institutions will really choose ⚠️ 52:36 How the CME outage exposed dangerous single points of failure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This episode is a special one: Haseeb reads his new essay, In Defense of Exponentials, a manifesto pushing back against the rising financial cynicism dominating CT. He breaks down why new chains launch into unprecedented hate, why revenue-based valuation models misunderstand the nature of exponential technologies, and why believing in ETH, SOL, and open financial systems still makes sense. It’s a zoom-out moment for the space — a reminder that crypto’s exponential arc is far from over. Show highlights 🔹 Chain Hate Era — New L1s like Monad, Tempo, and MegaETH now launch into hostility, not indifference, reflecting a major psychological shift in crypto. 🔹 Financial Cynicism — CT has moved from “nothing has value” nihilism to “everything is overvalued” cynicism, insisting L1s trade 5–10× too high. 🔹 Revenue Meta = Linear Thinking — P/E ratios, REV metrics, and exchange-style valuation models misprice blockchains by treating exponentials like steady-state businesses. 🔹 Probability Premium — L1s are priced like biotech: a 1–5% chance of becoming the next ETH/SOL rationally supports multi-billion valuations. 🔹 The No-Prize Fallacy — CT’s new belief: even if a challenger chain wins, the prize is worthless because “ETH and SOL won’t be worth $300B anyway.” 🔹 Amazon Regime Misread — Amazon took 22 years to show profit; judging crypto on revenue today is the same error—arguing P/E ratios in an exponential curve. 🔹 Open Always Wins — Crypto turns money into a file format—24/7, global, permissionless—and every industry in history has eventually yielded to openness. 🔹 Believe in the Exponential — The core thesis: zoom out. Crypto’s exponential is still early, and long-term conviction is the edge everyone has forgotten. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly In Defense of Exponentials by Haseeb Qureshi 🔗 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/1994110900454949263 ⁠⁠Disclosures Timestamps 0:00 In Defense of Exponentials 01:05 The Cure is Worse than the Disease 07:10 Feeling the Exponential 16:23 So what exactly am I arguing?⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap! Nick O’Neill has become one of crypto’s biggest viral sensations over the past year with his “Choose Rich Nick” persona. But beyond a content creator, he is a business man and developer. In this Thanksgiving/Black Friday episode of Unchained, he discusses how he stumbled into internet fame, the man behind the persona and how he intends to become the Barstool Sports of crypto and NFTs. He also delves into what really happened at the controversial Avalanche yacht party and what it was like being viewed as “gay” for doing theater as a child. Plus how he feels about attacks on his looks and the secret to his success. Guest: Nick O’Neill, CEO & Co-Founder of BoDoggos Links: Unchained: Avalanche’s Unlocked Supply of AVAX Set to Increase by $350 Million Coinbase Buys Cobie’s ‘Up Only’ NFT and Echo in $375 Million Deal Timestamps: 🚀 0:00 Introduction 🧏 1:42 How Nick stumbled into internet fame 🤔 9:16 Who is “Choose Rich Nick” actually? 💡 12:23 Where Nick draws the line with the ‘Choose Rich’ persona 💥 13:22 How Nick wants to create the Barstool Sports of crypto and NFTs 💃16:33 Nick explains the “hot girlfriend” arc and drama 🤯 20:31 What REALLY happened at the Avalanche yacht party 📽 30:06 How Nick got into crypto 😕 35:08 Nick on being viewed as “gay” for doing theater as a child 💡 38:43 How Nick feels about the jabs at his looks 🧠 43:25 The most important ingredient to his success Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap! In this episode of Uneasy Money, hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monahan discuss Monad's mainnet launch performance and how its ICO strategy may have proven solid in the end. They also delve into MegaETH's botched TVL campaign with Kain explaining why scrambling is bad for projects. In addition, they dissect Polymarket's CFTC greenlight, Klarna's stablecoin launch, Cardano's chain split and Berachain's secret Brevan Howard deal. Hosts: Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix Taylor Monahan, Security at MetaMask Links: Unchained: Monad Co-Founder Defends Token Sale After Slow Uptake MegaETH Aborts $1B Cap Raise After Multisig Error Triggers Chaos Polymarket Gets CFTC Green Light to Operate in the US Klarna Launches Stablecoin Built on Stripe’s Tempo Chain Cardano Founder Contacts FBI After Dev’s ‘Careless’ Test Splits Chain Uneasy Money: ICOs Are Back and Why Airdrops Are Instantly Dumped Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction 📈 2:08 Monad's post-mainnet launch performance 🫣 6:57 Will Binance regret not listing Monad? 💡 12:57 How Monad's ICO strategy impacted its launch 🧠 16:00 Lessons from MegaETH's botched TVL campaign 🫠 21:53 How the MegaETH TVL campaign could have been worse 💥 22:32 Why Polymarket's CFTC greenlight is a big deal 🤔 30:32 Why Klarna's stablecoin launch raises eyebrows 🤯 36:35 What happened with Cardano? 👀 39:33 Will AI kill all our chains? 😕 48:24 Why Berachain's Brevan Howard deal is weird Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Insider trading has become a hot topic in crypto in recent months from questionable digital asset treasury stock trades to suspiciously timed asset trades amid news-led market volatility. But do people really know what it means? In this episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos of StarkWare and Vy Le of Veda explore the complexities of insider trading law and how blockchain technology can make it easier to detect. They also delve into how AI agents impact market dynamics, the problem with regulators not being able to hold crypto and how insider trading law would differ from centralized to decentralized platforms. Plus Katherine talks about the future of front running and Vy explains how DATs should approach insider trading policy.Hosts: Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda Links: Unchained: Why the Black Friday Whale’s $192 Million Crypto Trade Was Legal Insider Trading? Yep, But the Real Story Is Securities The Department of Justice Goes After Its First NFT Insider Trading Case SEC and FINRA Scrutinize 200 Crypto-Treasury Firms: Report How the x402 Standard Is Enabling AI Agents to Pay Each Other Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction 🌫 01:25 Why insider trading is not as clear cut as many think ⚡️18:21 How blockchain has made insider trading detection easier 💡 20:15 Why Katherine sees the crypto front-running landscape changing as tokenization takes off 🤔 23:35 Do AI agents unfairly affect market balance? 🧱 25:38 The problem with regulators not being able to hold crypto ⚠️ 30:20 How DATs are in a tricky spot as regards insider trading 💡 33:25 Vy explains how DATs should approach insider trading policy 🚨 36:08 How insider trading controls work in TradFi 💥 42:06 How insider trading policy would differ from CeFi to DeFi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crypto funding rounds often look glamorous from the outside: big name investors, big valuations, big narratives. But behind the scenes, the terms can look very different — and sometimes, radically so. In this episode of Bits + Bips, host Steve Ehrlich sits down with reporter Jack Kubinec, who broke the story about Berachain’s Series B and one of the most unusual terms we’ve seen in a major token deal: a lead investor receiving the right to ask for its entire $25 million investment back, for up to a year after Berachain’s token launched. Jack walks through what the documents show, why lawyers say the clause is extremely rare, and how a refund right like this could impact other investors, and even trigger MFN clauses. They also unpack Berachain’s market struggles since TGE, the state of the Nova Digital fund inside Brevan Howard, and the transparency questions this episode raises across crypto venture investing. Read the full story here on Unchained Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap! Host: Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guest: Jack Kubinec, Crypto Journalist and Podcast Host Timestamps: 0:00 — Start 0:25 — Steve introduces Jack 2:24 — What the documents reveal 5:17 — Why Brevan Howard’s refund is a big problem 9:21 — How refund clauses really work 14:09 — Jack’s interactions with the Bera team and how Smokey responded to the story 19:29 — Why the MFN clause is key 26:19 — How Breva Howard Digital didn’t actually invest in Bera 30:18 — What investors should learn from a deal like this Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins dig into a macro environment that’s suddenly turning more supportive: QT ending, institutions stepping in, improving liquidity signals, and major catalysts across global markets. But while the setup may be bullish, one corner of crypto isn’t participating at all: DATs, which Ram calls “a death spiral.” The hosts debate whether altcoins can recover, whether Strategy pushed its structure too far, if banks’ unrealized losses still matter, and why the return of ICO-style launches may say more about regulation than mania. Show highlights: 0:00 Intro 3:16 Why Ram says we are still in goldilocks economy 5:07 What is missing in the markets according to Chris and how retail is so hurt 11:07 Why the dollar has been on an uptrend, contrary to what people think 13:17 The importance of banks sitting on so much unrealized losses 18:24 Nvidia’s earnings and whether we are in a buying opportunity 22:21 Whether banks will be negatively affected by stablecoins growth or they are fine 25:05 What Austin and Ram disagree on whether the 50-year mortgage is good 28:25 Whether MSTR should be excluded from the MSCI index 32:56 Why Ram is “very bearish on DATs” and the importance of their operating businesses 45:19 Why Chris finds it fascinating the revival of the ICOs 51:19 Whether there’s a new operations choke point going on in crypto Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Links: Unchained: MON Rallies 40% After Mainnet Launch Fortune: Suddenly, the Fed interest rate cut in December looks like it is very much back on the table Nvidia didn’t save the market. What’s next for the AI trade? The Index Exclusion That Ends an Era: How MicroStrategy’s Exile Redefines Corporate Finance Saylor fights back Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ethereum Foundation last month said it was taking its privacy efforts a step further. It announced the Privacy Cluster, a group of 47 coordinators, cryptographers, engineers and researchers with one mission: to make privacy “a first-class property of the Ethereum Ecosystem.” At Ethereum DevConnect, the EF's Andy Guzman and Oskar Thorén join Unchained to discuss the formation of the group in the context of Zcash's recent resurgence, why privacy is important for crypto and the motivations behind Ethereum's recent push. They also delve into the difference between the current privacy push and past efforts, as well as how it could unlock new use cases and the reaction of institutions. Additionally, they talk about competition with Zcash, reveal implementation timelines and delve into the impact on crypto data analysis. Thank you to our sponsor ⁠Uniswap⁠! Guests: Andy Guzman, PSE Lead at Ethereum Foundation Oskar Thorén, Technical Lead of IPTF (Institutional Privacy Task Force) at Ethereum Foundation Links: Unchained: Ethereum Foundation Launches ‘Privacy Cluster’ Vitalik Unveils New Ethereum Privacy Toolkit ‘Kohaku’ Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action With Aztec’s Ignition Chain Launched, Will Ethereum Have Decentralized Privacy? Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction 🥷1:33 What is the Ethereum Foundation Privacy Cluster? 🤔 3:49 Did Zcash's resurgence inspire the launch of the Privacy Cluster? 📽 6:29 How the Privacy Stewards of Ethereum has grown over the years 🔗 8:39 How the Institutional Privacy Task Force's got started 💡 10:10 Why privacy is important in crypto 🔮 13:54 What is driving Ethereum's recent privacy push 📝 15:21 Andy and Oskar discuss their backgrounds 🤔 16:48 The difference between Ethereum's current privacy efforts and past efforts like Tornado Cash 🤞18:43 How Ethereum's privacy push could unlock new use cases 🛣 25:09 Andy and Oskar outline different approaches to privacy 🤔 29:52 What are private reads and writes? 👀 35:16 Why Andy says adopting onchain privacy is a question of risk for institutions 🫆 36:39 Why private identities are important 🤔 40:13 What happens if identity proofs are stolen 📺 43:27 How the Ethereum Foundation wants to improve privacy experience 🧏 45:44 How the IPTF’s role is unique ⁉️ 47:51 What is Kohaku? 👀 51:02 Is Ethereum competing with Zcash? 💡 1:01:29 The Ethereum Foundation's thoughts on private viewing keys 🗓 1:03:44 Implementation timeline 🔮 1:05:50 How the crypto privacy push could impact blockchain data analysis 💥 1:08:46 Final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out our sponsor Uniswap! Fresh off the launch of Ignition Chain, Aztec’s co-founders Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews discuss why they’re rolling out a privacy-preserving L2 now, how they’re approaching decentralization from the start, and why they chose a token sale instead of the airdrop model. They also explain why they believe most L2s have evolved into “parasitic” ecosystems, how Aztec plans to avoid those incentives, what the AZTEC token is meant to do, and what’s changed in the broader privacy renaissance across crypto. Guests: Zac Williamson, Cofounder of Aztec Network Joe Andrews, Co-founder and President of Aztec Network Links: Unchained: Vitalik Unveils New Ethereum Privacy Toolkit 'Kohaku' ETH's HTTP Moment? How Ethereum Interop Layer Hopes to Fix L2 Fragmentation Zcash Developer Reveals Q4 Roadmap What’s the Best Way for Ethereum to Grow? Justin Drake and Martin Köppelmann Debate Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action CoinDesk: Privacy-Focused Aztec Network's Ignition Chain Lights Up Timestamps: 🎙️ 0:00 Introduction 🚀 1:30 Why Aztec launched Ignition Chain and how it works 🔒 6:01 How Aztec’s privacy model differs from Ethereum’s efforts — and from Zcash ⏱️ 15:52 Why Aztec has large block times 💸 17:28 Are fees expensive on Aztec? 👥 22:04 Zac & Joe’s backstory — and how Aztec was born 🏗️ 25:21 Why they built an L2 on Ethereum instead of a standalone chain 🤝 28:38 Whether Aztec competes with — or complements — Ethereum privacy tools like Kohaku 🎯 31:40 Who Aztec is for and the use cases they’re targeting 🆔 34:50 What ZK Passport is and why it matters 🌅 35:57 Whether the privacy renaissance surprised them 🕶️ 39:42 What private DeFi on Aztec could unlock ⚡ 43:36 Why Zac says most L2s are “parasitic” and why Aztec isn’t 🛠️ 46:07 How Aztec plans to decentralize from day one 🪙 50:15 The role of the AZTEC token and details on the upcoming ICO 🎯 53:25 How they aim to run a “fair” token sale 🌍 59:20 Why most countries, even the U.S., can participate in the ICO 💻 1:00:22 Why Aztec built its own programming language ⚖️ 1:07:29 Whether the Tornado Cash case made them hesitant to ship privacy tools 📱 1:11:48 The apps Zac and Joe are most excited about on Aztec 🎮 1:16:31 Why Zac is bullish on ZK-powered onchain games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Walrus President Donald Trump's pick for chair, Mike Selig, has cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee just as lawmakers look set to hand over crypto oversight to the agency. In this episode, former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo joins Unchained Executive Editor Steven Ehrlich to unpack Selig's Senate hearing. Chris shares his experience working with Mike, why the CFTC should get more resources to handle crypto and crypto's unique commodity trading structure. He also touches on the challenges the agency could face regulating crypto, whether exchanges should be allowed to continue performing several functions under one umbrella, the timeline for CLARITY and the regulatory path ahead for prediction markets. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guest: J. Christopher Giancarlo, Former Commissioner of the CTFC Links: Unchained: Prospective CFTC Chair Says It’s ‘Vitally Important to Have a Cop On The Beat’ in Crypto Senate Committee Shares Bipartisan Draft on Crypto Market Structure Bill The Chopping Block: When Wall Street Meets DeFi — How Equity Perps and RWAs Redefine Leverage On-Chain DEX in the City: Are Prediction Markets Gambling, and Who Should Regulate Them? Polymarket Quietly Relaunches in U.S. in Beta Mode: Report Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction ⚡️1:41 Chris details his experience working with Mike Selig 🤔 6:34 Does the CFTC have enough resources to handle crypto? 📽 10:34 Crypto’s unique commodity trading structure 🧱 13:37 The challenges the CFTC could face with crypto's unique trading structure 🤔 15:15 Should crypto exchanges remain vertically integrated? 💡17:25 How DeFi should be regulated 🧏 20:46 Why Chris says crypto perps do not need new laws 🔮 24:49 Mike's confirmation timeline 💥 25:46 Why prediction markets are important 👀 27:57 Why Chris compares the regulatory trajectory of prediction markets to Uber 💡 28:57 What regulations could look like for prediction markets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out our sponsor Uniswap! Bitcoin keeps drifting lower — and traders are asking the same question: where’s the floor? Host Steve Ehrlich brings on Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research, to walk through Bitcoin’s technical setup, ETF flows, institutional positioning, and why the recent selloff looks different from past dips. Markus lays out the metrics he’s watching, the levels that matter, and why the path downward may still be the path of least resistance. He also shares his views on Ethereum, altcoins, digital asset treasuries, and why some investors are stepping away from risk entirely. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guest: Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Introduction 📉 1:39 Why Markus is not optimistic about the current market 🐻 3:23 How he defines a bear market — and why we may already be in one 📊 8:02 The key metric institutions are watching and Bitcoin’s next support level 🔁 13:14 How to spot when a real rebound might be forming 🪙 17:29 Markus’ views on ETH and what catalysts could matter ⚠️ 19:57 Why Markus warns that “you don’t want to be exposed to anything” 🏦 22:10 Digital asset treasuries and what ETF flows are signaling 🧱 28:54How staking inside ETFs threatens DATs 🔮 34:35 What Markus expects to happen by year-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chopping Block unpacks crypto’s DATpocalypse — NAVs collapsing, volumes drying up, and consolidation on the horizon. Plus: Vitalik sparks a wave of quantum panic, what Q-Day really means for Bitcoin and smart-contract chains, and why “qubits per share” might become the next great crypto meme. Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This episode opens with the DATpocalypse: almost every DAT is now below NAV, volumes have collapsed outside Bitmine and MicroStrategy, and the market is finally confronting what happens when issuances outrun demand. We get into consolidation talk, preferred-share experiments, capital-structure pivots, and whether any DAT should actually be selling crypto to buy back shares at a discount. Then we shift into quantum mania. Vitalik’s “2028” comment lit up Q-Day fears, and we separate genuine hardware progress from pure panic. We discuss why post-quantum upgrades are simple for Bitcoin but brutal for stateful chains, and how hype alone could trigger a wave of “quantum-resistant” speculation. And yes — the running gag: DATs using quantum machines to steal Satoshi’s coins. Tough markets, weird narratives, and institutions quietly holding the line. Let’s get into it. Show highlights 🔹 DATpocalypse — Most DATs now trade below NAV; Bitmine and MicroStrategy dominate the only real volume. 🔹 Supply & Demand — Issuances outpaced buyers; M/NAV compresses toward 1 across the entire class. 🔹 Consolidation watch — Sub-scale DATs may merge to form multi-billion-dollar vehicles that can compete. 🔹 New financing era — Preferreds, debt, and MicroStrategy-style capital engineering become the next playbook. 🔹 Buyback dilemma — Trading at 0.5× NAV suggests selling crypto to buy shares—if liquidity exists. 🔹 Retail gone, institutions steady — Tokens follow the 4-year retail cycle; equity deals reflect institutional conviction. 🔹 Token vs equity split — Depressed token markets contrast with mega equity raises like Kraken’s $20B round. 🔹 AI distraction — Retail rotates into Nvidia/AI stocks, starving page-2 tokens of attention. 🔹 Quantum mania — Vitalik’s “2028” comment triggers Q-Day fears, despite quantum still being far from breaking ECC. 🔹 Post-quantum headaches — Bitcoin is easy to migrate; Ethereum/Solana transitions will be complex and messy. 🔹 Q-Day = Y2K energy — Expect years of hype and “quantum-resistant” pumps before reality catches up. 🔹 Qubits-per-share meme — DATs running quantum computers to steal Satoshi coins becomes the episode’s running gag. Hosts: ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly ⁠Disclosures Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:14 BTC Breaks Down 02:52 DATpocalypse Begins 05:01 DAT Playbooks & Buybacks 20:48 Equity Boom, Token Bust 28:00 Retail vs. Institutions 34:01 Quantum Panic Hits Crypto 41:45 Post-Quantum Problems 46:32 Road to Q-Day & Y2K Vibes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Uneasy Money, hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monohan explore how the recent ICO boom compares with the 2017 era. They share stories of some of the big names from the past, including Kain's struggles after raising 30,000 ETH at the cycle top. Plus Luca shares what it takes for founders to thrive in crypto. They also unpack the “FUD” surrounding Hyperliquid following the infamous Oct. 10 crypto crash. Moreover, they discussed what Multicoin's investment in Ethena revealed about Kyle Samani, and potential black swan risks facing the project. Hosts: Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix Taylor Monahan, Security at MetaMask Links: Unchained: Monad ICO on Coinbase Fizzles 12 Hours After Launch Uneasy Money: ICOs Are Back and Why Airdrops Are Instantly Dumped The Chopping Block: Tokenomics Reset — ICOs Rise, UNI Turns On Fees, MEV Goes to Court Hyperliquid Founder Denies Claims That DEX Prioritizes Revenue Over Traders The Chopping Block: Inside the $19B+ Perp Crash, ADL Explained, Binance’s USDe/Staked-Token Depeg, and the Hyperliquid Whale Debate Ethena Labs Expands to Support Two New Products Timestamps: 🚀00:00 Introduction 🎞 1:12 How the new ICO meta compares to the old days ❕️13:48 Why Luca would still airdrop PENGU despite the ICO craze 📽 16:19 New v. Old ICO meta cont'd 😬 26:00 Kain talks about raising 30,000 ETH at the 2017 top 💡27:49 Luca explains what it takes for founders to thrive in crypto 🤕 31:01 Hyperliquid “FUD” and why some of its celebrity whale traders are leaving ➰️45:18 The tension that Hyperliquid faces: protecting the protocol over users 🤔 47:32 Will a new perp DEX champion emerge? 📈 54:03 Multicoin goes long Ethena 🥊54:27 Kain's beef with Multicoin 🎞 59:52 Luca's history with Multicoin ⚠️ 1:01:43 The real black swan scenario for Ethena Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsors! Uniswap Mantle The rise of Ethereum layer 2s has created a need for interoperability. While several solutions have emerged over the years, Ethereum Interop Layer promises to be trustless. At Ethereum Devconnect, the EF’s developers Yoav Weiss and Marissa Posner join Unchained to explain why trustlessness is necessary for interoperability. They also delve into how EIL differs from NEAR Intents and how it could unlock new use cases and spark an explosion of activity on Ethereum. Guests: Marissa Posner, Product on the Account and Chain Abstraction Team at the Ethereum Foundation Yoav Weiss, Research on the Account and Chain Abstraction Team at the Ethereum Foundation Links: Unchained: Zcash Developer Reveals Q4 Roadmap What’s the Best Way for Ethereum to Grow? Justin Drake and Martin Köppelmann Debate Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action Timestamps: 🚀00:00 Introduction 🤔4:11 What is Ethereum Interop Layer? 🤷‍♂️5:20 What Ethereum Interop Layer is trying to solve 📍7:08 Marissa explains why trustlessness is necessary for interoperability ⛓️8:21 Yoav describes the current state of L2 fragmentation 🔮9:17 How Yoav and Marissa came to work on EIL ⚙️11:53 How EIL works 🔬18:10 How EIL compares to NEAR Intents 🤔22:19 Does EIL bring new security risks? 🚀23:12 Can EIL unlock Ethereum’s HTTP moment? 📌28:26 What EIL wouldn’t make sense for 💭30:09 How EIL can supercharge wallets 📆34:18 EIL’s mainnet timeline 💥35:51 Whether EIL could lead to an explosion of Ethereum activity ⛓️39:06 Why chain security matters 🤔41:17 Does EIL increase attack vectors? 🔮43:20 The future of bridges 📜45:31 The trustless manifesto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos of StarkWare and Vy Le of Veda discuss the recent spat between former Securities and Exchange Commission Chief of Staff Amanda Fischer and the cryptocurrency community over changes to Uniswap's model. They also delve into the return of Initial Coin Offerings now branded as “public token sales.” At the same time, they dissect the legal uncertainties plaguing prediction markets and discuss the state of mainstream crypto adoption despite recent market volatility. Hosts: Jessi Brooks, Ribbit Capital Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda Links: Unchained: Uniswap Fee Switch Proposal Sparks 50% UNI Rally The Chopping Block: Tokenomics Reset — ICOs Rise, UNI Turns On Fees, MEV Goes to Court MegaETH Just Had Its Public Sale. Can It Succeed in Building a Web2-Like Experience? Coinbase Launches Digital Token Sales Platform UFC Partners With Polymarket to Launch Real-Time Fan Prediction Scoreboard in Live Fight Broadcasts Crypto Liquidations Top $500 Million as Bitcoin Dips to $93,000 Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction ⚔️ 2:00 CT v. Amanda Fischer 💥 13:41 The return of ICOs 🧱 21:34 How the SEC botched crypto and lost oversight to the CFTC 🤔 26:43 Are prediction markets gambling? 📈 41:04 Crypto market sentiment heading into the holidays Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins sit down with Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets at the White House, to break down the latest updates in the crypto market structure bill and the political calculus behind it. Patrick discusses how Democrats have started to listen more actively, why DeFi remains one of the most complicated pieces of the bill, and how the administration is thinking about innovation versus incumbency. Later, the group turns to markets: whether the Fed is shifting regimes, why institutions move slowly but decisively, and what catalysts could matter most in the months ahead. Sponsors: Walrus Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets at the White House Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🚀 2:45 Why Patrick calls the Senate Ag draft a “big step forward” 🧩 4:43 How the bill tackles DeFi—and why it’s so complex 🏛️ 5:28 Why the presidency is putting so much weight on crypto policy 📜 7:01 What happens behind the scenes to move a bill like this 🔪 9:39 Whether the bill could get modularized (including pulling DeFi out) 💡 11:22 Why Chris says crypto is simply a better product 📈 13:37 The short- and long-term implications of passing a market-structure bill 🔐 15:22 The KYC/AML problem in permissionless systems 🕵️‍♂️ 22:12 Privacy: finding the balance between user protection and public ledgers 🗳️ 24:08 How Democrats have increasingly joined the conversation 🌅 25:27 Why Patrick is optimistic we’ll get a Senate vote this year 🤖 29:56 How Patrick sees AI + crypto converging into a major opportunity 📊 32:23 What’s happening in markets, and whether a regime shift is underway 🏦 36:40 How institutions are entering, and what keeps them up at night 🎤 38:46 Why Ram calls the Cantor Conference the best for digital assets 💥 41:53 What Paolo Ardoino revealed about the future of Tether 📉 44:43 Signals that typically mark a market top and why spotting winners is so hard ⚡ 51:38 Ram’s key catalysts to watch for the next market leg 📺 54:39 Whether 60 Minutes misrepresented CZ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin continues to look weak, falling through the psychologically important $100,000 level. Is the cycle over? In this episode, Fairlead Strategies founder Katie Stockton joins Unchained Executive Editor Steve Ehrlich to break down the charts. She explains how the Bitcoin market has changed and Ethereum's potential trajectory. She also takes a look at the state of the DAT sector and Zcash's steep rise. Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Uniswap Guest: Katie Stockton, Founder and Managing Partner of Fairlead Strategies Links: Unchained: Why the Crypto Markets Seem Down Bad as Bitcoin Dips Below $100K A Musk-Style Reward? Anthony Pompliano Could Earn $400 Million From ProCap Canary XRP ETF Set for Nasdaq Launch as Shutdown Ends Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action Timestamps: 🚀 0:00 Introduction 📊 3:56 How liquidity impacts crypto market analysis 🎞 5:44 How much history a token needs to do proper market analysis 🎯 7:31 Key market indicators used by Katie 💡 14:19 Why the character of the Bitcoin market has changed 📉 18:36 What to watch as MSTR diverges from Bitcoin 🧱 20:22 Ethereum's next major support level 📈 23:21 The outlook for ETH DAT Bitmine long term 📍25:10 What to watch as spot XRP ETFs go live 🔎 27:54 Does $ZEC still have room to run? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, the crew dives into the shift from airdrops to ICOs as Monad, MegaETH, and Coinbase’s new sale format spark a rethink of how tokens should be distributed. They discuss ICO Beast’s hedging fiasco, why most airdrops fail to create real users, and whether fixed-price ICOs are a better path for long-term alignment. The gang also unpacks Uniswap’s major “unification,” the end of Labs vs. Foundation, and UNI finally becoming the protocol’s value-accrual asset. In the back half, they touch on the “low carb crusader” MEV trial, the hung jury, and the broader question of whether MEV games belong in criminal court at all. A concise, high-signal look at where tokenomics, distribution, and crypto’s legal boundaries are heading next. Show highlights 🔹 ICOs vs Airdrops, Again — Monad & MegaETH reignite the debate: should teams stop airdrop farming meta and lean fully into ICOs? 🔹 The ICOBeast Meltdown — Hedging tweets, revoked allocations, and “airdrop farmers are parasitic” spark a broader conversation about good vs. bad buyers. 🔹 Airdrops = Bad CAC — Most airdrops fail to create real users; the crew argues they’ve become toxic, easily gamed, and deliver almost no retention. 🔹 When Airdrops Actually Work — Only linear, DeFi-native “pay-for-performance” drops (Hyperliquid/Ethena style) reliably build product moats. 🔹 ICOs as the Cleaner Model — Fixed-price, IPO-style sales may be the better path for decentralization, long-term alignment, and selecting real holders. 🔹 Uniswap’s Great Unification — Labs + Foundation merge, fees turn on, 100M UNI burned; UNI becomes the single value-accruing asset at last. 🔹 Post-Lawfare Tokenomics — With Gensler-era pressure gone, protocols can finally ship real economic models without regulatory fear. 🔹 Simple Capital Structures Win — Tokens + companies with split incentives are a trap; unified value flow is the new meta. 🔹 MEV Showdown: Low Carb Crusader — Sandwiching the sandwichers leads to a hung jury; prosecutors want a retrial despite jurors in tears. 🔹 Is This Even Criminal? — The crew questions why murky MEV games get charged while blatant rug pulls go untouched. Hosts⁠ ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly ⁠Disclosures⁠ Links Hayden Adams “UNIfication Proposal” 🔗 https://gov.uniswap.org/t/unification-proposal/25881/1 Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:01 ICOBeast x MegaETH Allocation 10:40 Farming Airdrops vs. ICOs 21:00 Uniswap's Fee Switch and UNIfication 27:13 Unifying Shareholders: A New Meta 29:05 Legal & Regulatory Challenges 30:51 Celebrating Uniswap's Milestone 36:38 The MEV Bot Trial 48:36 Facing Accusers in Crypto Cases Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsors! Uniswap Mantle For decades, the internet has worked without a native way to pay for things. Credit cards were bolted on, platforms built their own integrations, and developers had to stitch together complex payment flows to charge even a few cents for anything. But with AI agents now making requests, triggering actions, and needing to pay for data or services instantly, that old patchwork is starting to break. In this episode, Laura Shin speaks with Erik Reppel, Head of Engineering for Coinbase’s Developer Platform, and Sam Ragsdale, founder of Merit Systems, about x402, a new open standard for internet-native payments designed for the AI era. They discuss why AI has revived a decades-old idea, how x402 works under the hood, why devs say the experience is simpler than traditional payments, and how stablecoins make microtransactions economically viable. They also dive into the big debates: no chargebacks, chain-agnostic design, the shift to a foundation, and how this standard could eventually work with fiat as well. Guests: Sam Ragsdale, Founder and CEO of Merit Systems Erik Reppel, Head of Engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform Links: X402 x402scan ERC-8004: Trustless Agents Payments MCP: Bringing Wallets, Onramps, and Payments to Every Agent Google Agentic Payments Protocol + x402: Agents Can Now Actually Pay Each Other Timestamps: 🎙️ 0:00 Introduction 🌐 1:53 What x402 is—and the problem it finally solves for the internet 💳 7:06 How today’s payment rails work vs. how x402 reimagines them 🛠️ 9:06 Why Sam says the developer experience is “fundamentally better” 🔗 10:54 How x402 stays chain-agnostic 🧪 15:25 How Sam got into x402 and what x402scan enables 🚀 19:22 Some of the most interesting early use cases 🪄 23:05 How x402 works on the backend and why users shouldn’t see any of it 🏛️ 26:21 Why x402 is becoming a Foundation + the Cloudflare partnership 🔮 28:10 What the future of payments could look like in an AI-native world 💱 33:05 How x402 could also work with fiat, not just stablecoins 🆓 34:31 How the team is able to charge zero transaction fees ❓ 37:48 Whether x402 can fix the chargeback problem 🔌 42:57 Integrations: Payments MCP and Google A2A 🐶 45:28 How x402 is being used to buy memecoins, and other early apps Sam & Erik love 🤝 50:37 The challenge of reputation and trustless AI agents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first episode of Uneasy Money, hosts Luca Netz, Kain Warwick, and Taylor Monahan dig into the Balancer hack, Berachain’s centralized response, the sudden return of ICO-style distribution, and why some new drops give away so little. Luca explains why he thinks generous airdrops are essential for building a real “army,” Taylor breaks down MetaMask’s own thinking on token incentives, and Kain questions whether any of these models still make sense in a sentiment-driven market. Plus, Uniswap’s fee switch proposal and the tea on Velodrome and Aerodrome. Hosts: Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix Taylor Monahan, Security at MetaMask Timestamps: 👏 0:00 Intro 🛑 1:23 The Balancer hack—and why we need more guardrails beyond audits 🐻 10:18 How Berachain’s centralized response raised deeper questions 🚀 19:19 The return of the ICO meta 💰 21:26 Why Luca says big airdrops are essential to building an “army” 🐧 24:24 How Luca designed the PENGU airdrop—including the goal of surpassing DOGE 📉 37:11 What’s the point of airdrops if everyone just dumps? ⚖️ 39:50 Are ICOs actually better than airdrops? 🦊 43:41 How MetaMask designed its rewards system—and what Taylor thinks about incentives 🦄 47:19 Uniswap’s UNIFICATION proposal and what it showed about what drives prices 🔀 49:42 Velodrome + Aerodrome merge—and why Kain says the move is “weird” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Josh Swihart, CEO of the Electric Coin Company, which created Zcash, and Harry Halpin, co-founder of Nym, join Laura to delve into why privacy coins have taken off, and why technology is suddenly at the center of conversations involving governments, financial institutions, and national security officials. They discuss what’s actually driving the privacy coin renaissance, why transparent ledgers create risks far beyond user behavior, and how technologies like zero-knowledge proofs and mixnets are reshaping what’s possible onchain. Josh and Harry also break down exchange support, institutional interest, the Zcash DAT, upcoming Zcash upgrades, and whether Ethereum or Solana (or others) can realistically add privacy to chains that were never designed for it. Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Uniswap Guests: Josh Swihart, CEO of the Electric Coin Company Harry Halpin, CEO and Co-founder of Nym Technologies Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Teaser Clip 🎙️ 1:14 Introduction 🌅 1:29 The reasons why Harry and Josh say we’re in a privacy “renaissance” 🛡️ 11:00 Why privacy matters, and how Harry first got pulled into the space 🔐 15:59 How zero-knowledge proofs and other privacy technologies actually work ⚡ 21:12 Why Josh started Zcash and what his long-term vision looks like 📊 24:48 The real-world ways Zcash is being used 💸 28:40 How the Winklevoss brothers are backing the new wave of privacy projects 🏛️ 30:12 How centralized exchanges should support privacy 🕵️ 35:56 Why financial institutions are suddenly interested in privacy and why governments see it as a national-security issue 🌐 38:42 How Nym aims to protect metadata and network-level privacy 🪙 44:47 Why Nym has a token and what role it plays 🔭 49:53 What’s coming next for privacy tech and for Zcash 🧱 54:55 Whether Ethereum, Solana, or other L1s can realistically add privacy to chains that weren’t designed for it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos of StarkWare, and Vy Le of Veda dig into the questions that DeFi keeps forcing the industry to confront. They debate how projects should respond after exploits like the recent Balancer hack, what “programmable risk management” could look like in practice, and why the idea of “pure DeFi” might be more myth than model. They also cover the MIT Brothers trial (and what its mistrial revealed about the law’s limits in crypto) and end with why the long-awaited crypto market structure bill still isn’t close to the finish line. Hosts: Jessi Brooks, Ribbit Capital Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare Vy Le, General Counsel at Veda Links: Paper: Trust Without Intermediaries: A Programmable Risk Management Framework for the Future by Jessi Brooks and Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos Paper: Blockchain May Offer The Investor Protection SEC Seeks By Tuongvy Le Timestamps: 👏 0:00 Introduction 🌆 0:43 Welcome to DEX in the City — meet the hosts and the mission ⚙️ 6:16 What “programmable risk management” could mean for DeFi’s future 💥 10:38 How the Balancer hack exposed huge differences in how projects respond to exploits 🧩 17:48 Can “pure DeFi” really exist, or is it just a myth? ⚖️ 22:23 The MIT Brothers trial: why no one paid attention and why it matters 🏛️ 28:26 Inside the Senate’s new crypto market structure bill draft 🕒 33:13 Vy’s prediction on when (or if) the bill finally passes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow Unchained On Air on X or YouTube! https://x.com/Unchained_pod https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWiiMnsnw5Isc2PP1to9nNw Check out our sponsor Walrus! https://www.walrus.xyz/ The government’s about to reopen, but the economic cracks aren’t healing. From runaway debt to DATs trading below NAV, markets are feeling the strain of unsolved macro problems. In this week’s Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell and Chris Perkins are joined by Matt Zhang of Hivemind Capital and Felix Jauvin, head of content at Blockworks and host of Forward Guidance, to unpack what happens when policy meets reality. They discuss why a $2,000 “tariff dividend” could ignite inflation, how America’s ballooning debt is constructive for crypto, and why DATs could still have plenty of potential, despite already showing cracks. Plus: the Bank of England’s £20K stablecoin proposal, whether $3 trillion is too low a target for the sector, and a final provocation: is XRP worth more than Ripple equity? Hosts: Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guests: Felix Jauvin, Head of Content at Blockworks and Host of the Forward Guidance Podcast Matt Zhang, Founder & Managing Partner at Hivemind Capital Links: CNN: Trump’s shutdown win just landed Republicans with a huge political headache Forbes: A $2,000 Tariff Dividend? Trump’s New Pitch Raises Tax Concerns BeInCrypto: Digital Asset Treasuries Are Collapsing: Lost Confidence Triggers Market Sell-Off FT: Bank of England dilutes planned rules for UK stablecoins CoinDesk: U.S. Fed's Miran Says Policy Needs to Adjust to Stablecoin Boom That Could Reach $3T Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🏛️ 2:33 The U.S. government will reopen—but the economic damage lingers 💸 11:02 Could Trump’s proposed $2,000 “tariff dividend” spark inflation? 🧩 16:18 Why no one is fixing America’s long-term fiscal problems 🪙 18:59 How runaway debt should be bullish for crypto 📈 20:52 Finding the “true” risk-free rate 💥 23:00 Why DATs are trading below NAV, and if staking ETFs are the better bet ✅ 31:09 The five ingredients of a successful DAT 📉 38:39 Are DATs fairly priced? 💷 42:45 Why the Bank of England wants to cap stablecoin holdings at £20K per user 🌐 50:45 Is $3 trillion too conservative a forecast for stablecoin growth? ⚖️ 57:41 What’s worth more: XRP or Ripple equity? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe to the Bits + Bips newsletter: https://unchainedcrypto.com/newsletters/ Check out our sponsor Mantle! As profitability tightens and competition soars, many Bitcoin mining companies are turning to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) to stay relevant. In this week’s Bits + Bips, host Steve Ehrlich sits down with John Todaro, Managing Director, Crypto & HPC/AI Equity Research at Needham & Company, and Kevin Dede, Senior Research Analyst at H.C. Wainwright, to unpack the pivot that’s reshaping an entire corner of the crypto industry. They discuss how miners are courting AI clients, why Wall Street is suddenly valuing them like data infrastructure plays, and what this means for Bitcoin’s long-term security model. The conversation dives deep into hashprice trends, investor signals, power constraints, and whether these companies can truly deliver on the AI promise — or risk stretching too thin. Guests: Kevin Dede, Senior Research AnalystManaging Director of Equity Research at H.C. Wainwright John Todaro, Managing Director, Crypto & HPC/AI Equity Research at Needham & CompanySenior Research Analyst at Needham & Company Timestamps: 💡 0:00 Introduction 🏗️ 3:23 Why investors suddenly care about miners’ HPC capacity 📈 9:08 Why the Bitcoin Mining Index is outperforming BTC itself 🤖 12:49 Can AI demand really live up to the hype? ⚠️ 16:31 The red flags investors should be watching 💰 20:50 Why debt levels could make or break mining firms 🔄 23:14 Can miners truly pivot and deliver on the AI promise? 📊 29:42 Why hashprice is falling even as hashrate rises 🚀 34:02 The long-term potential for Bitcoin mining operations 🏦 42:07 Bitcoin miners vs. holding BTC on balance sheets 🇺🇸 51:10 The future of Bitcoin mining in the United States 🔁 57:08 Could miners pivot to securing other assets? 🧠 59:22 Should the U.S. government buy a stake in Bitcoin miners? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe to Unchained Daily: https://unchainedcrypto.com/newsletters/ Check out our sponsor Mantle! Most new blockchains promise to scale. MegaETH promises to feel instant. Fresh off its public sale, for which allocations were revealed on Thursday, the team behind MegaETH joins Unchained to explain why they’re calling it the world’s first real-time blockchain. Co-founder Shuyao Kong and ecosystem lead Amir Almaimani walk through their decision to build as a layer 2 on Ethereum, not a competing layer 1, and why they think the real opportunity is creating onchain experiences that feel like Web2 apps. The pair also dive deep into the tokenomics behind $MEGA, from sequencer rotation to proximity markets, and defend their choice to skip an airdrop in favor of “skin-in-the-game” token distribution. Guests: Shuyao Kong, Co-founder of MegaETH Amir Almaimani, Head of Ecosystem at MegaETH Links: Unchained: Why Protocol-Native Stablecoins May Be Crypto’s Next Big Thing MegaETH Public Allocation Strategy by MegaETH’s CSO Namik Murodoglu Timestamps: 🚀 0:00 Introduction 🧱 1:47 Why MegaETH chose to build as an Ethereum layer 2, not a new layer 1 ⚡ 5:10 How it plans to stand out from Arbitrum, Base, and other successful L2s 🔓 9:53 Why Shuyao says many L2s are actually more decentralized than L1s 🧩 11:16 Whether MegaETH plans to decentralize its sequencer 💰 13:43 The utility of the $MEGA token—and how Tesla and Ethereum inspired it 📍 16:58 How “proximity markets” work ⛽ 18:09 How MegaETH designed its gas model and tokenomics 🎯 21:28 The philosophy behind the public sales 😬 25:13 Why Shuyao says the soulbound NFT sale didn’t go as planned 📊 27:29 How MegaETH decided allocations in its latest sale 🙅‍♂️ 30:39 Why the team rejected the airdrop model entirely 🤝 32:00 How early community members earned 25% of the sale allocation 🕵️‍♀️ 34:46 How MegaETH scored onchain users and detected Sybil clusters 💳 39:36 Why MegaETH has its own native stablecoin, USDm 👷 41:34 How the project hopes to attract the best builders 🔥 46:00 The kinds of apps that are “only possible” on MegaETH 🎯 50:35 What’s next for MegaETH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, the crew breaks down DeFi’s Black Friday: a brutal week that saw the $120 million Balancer v2 hack, the collapse of Stream Finance, and a market-wide panic that reminded everyone — nothing in crypto is risk-free. They dive into how one of DeFi’s oldest, most audited contracts failed, why smaller chains froze or rolled back transactions, and what it means for decentralization as Berachain, Sonic, and Polygon took emergency action. The panel debates whether the Balancer attacker used an AI “vibe-coded” exploit, how Ethereum might one day face its own rollback dilemma, and why privacy chains like Zcash may be the last true cypherpunk strongholds. In the second half, they unpack the off-chain losses behind Stream Finance’s XUSD blow-up, the contagion risk across Euler, Silo, and Morpho, and the hard lessons for “yield-chasing” DeFi vaults. The gang closes with advice for founders weathering the storm — from Tarun’s “cockroach mindset” to Haseeb’s reminder that crypto’s long-term fundamentals haven’t changed. Whether you’re building in DeFi, securing smart contracts, or surviving the next credit unwind, this episode lays bare the harsh truths — and enduring resilience — of crypto’s frontier markets. Show highlights 🔹 Market Meltdown Post-“10/10” — The crew dissects October 10’s liquidation shock, lingering rumors about blown-up market makers, and why confidence cratered despite steady fundamentals. 🔹 ADL & Forced Sellers — What auto-deleverage events signaled about thin liquidity and whale-driven order books across perps venues. 🔹 “Nothing Is Risk-Free” — Haseeb’s reminder that there is no crypto “risk-free rate”; even delta-neutral and staking carry hidden smart-contract and market risks. 🔹 Balancer v2 Hack, Explained — Why an OG, heavily-audited E-Pool contract still failed; $120M+ impact across chains and the psychological hit to DeFi’s “battle-tested” narrative. 🔹 AI “Vibe-Coded” Exploit? — The team debates whether attacker logs hint at LLM-assisted discovery vs. expert-guided coding—and why the doomsday “one-shot” scenario isn’t here yet. 🔹 Freeze/Rollback Firestorm — Berachain halted, Sonic froze the attacker, Polygon censored transfers; the panel weighs user protection vs. decentralization purity. 🔹 When Would Ethereum Roll Back? — A thought experiment: is there a loss threshold (e.g., LST or validator-level failure) where even ETH would contemplate extraordinary action? 🔹 Privacy Chains as Last Bastion — Why true no-rollback, censorship-resistant values may persist most credibly on privacy smart-contract chains. 🔹 Builder Mindset in a Doom Cycle — “Be a cockroach”: ignore price, conserve runway, keep shipping; sentiment flips in crypto faster than in any other industry. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:01 Market Carnage & Sentiment 04:42 Speculations & Rumors: Wintermute vs. Binance 08:34 Builders’ Advice: Survive & Ship 23:11 Balancer V2 Hack: Berachain & Sonic Labs 28:28 Defi Confidence Shaken Hard 33:26 AI “Vibe-Coded” Exploit Debate 36:18 Rollbacks, Freezes, & Chain Ethics 40:13 Future of Decentralization 48:55 Stream Finance & XUSD Collapse Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crypto’s most controversial trading product might be Wall Street’s next obsession. In this interview, Brett Harrison, former president of FTX.US and founder of Architect Financial Technologies, joins to explain how he’s aiming to take perpetual futures — crypto’s 24/7 leveraged trading engine — to traditional markets like stocks, commodities, and FX. Will this be the next big shift in global finance? Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Guest: Brett Harrison, Founder & CEO of Architect Financial Technologies Links: The Defiant: Former FTX US President Brett Harrison to Launch Perpetuals Exchange Timestamps: 💡 0:00 Introduction 🏗️ 1:43 What problems Architect is trying to solve 📜 4:27 The two licenses Architect holds — with the SEC and CFTC ⚖️ 6:18 The key difference between CFDs and perpetual futures 🌐 8:15 Who Architect’s products are designed for 💥10:02 What crypto learned the hard way from the Oct. 10 liquidation event 📊 15:25 Why reputable benchmarks are critical for pricing assets 💰 18:02 How leverage actually works in these new exchanges 🛡️ 22:03 How Architect’s insurance fund is built 🎯 22:46 Whether prediction markets will ever offer leverage 💵 24:35 Why Architect includes interest rate swaps 🔗 25:27 How tokenization could affect the derivatives trading space 🚀 28:50 How Architect plans to attract users and market makers 🔥 31:50 What Brett is most excited about next Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin’s bleeding again and sentiment is collapsing. But if you’ve been around for a few cycles, this kind of pain might look familiar. In this episode of Unchained, Laura sits down with Yann Allemann, Co-founder of Swissblock, and Joe Vezzani, CEO of LunarCrush, to unpack the latest market wipeout, and whether it’s a signal of exhaustion or opportunity. From retail’s record-breaking bearishness to the unwinding of crypto’s DAT mania, they explore why the market feels bearish and what that might mean for what’s coming next. They also dive into the likelihood of a blow-off top, the resurgence of privacy coins, the risk in digital asset treasury companies, and even why some think we could see new all-time highs before the year ends. Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Guests: Yann Allemann, Co-founder and Chairman of Swissblock Joe Vezzani, Co-founder and CEO of LunarCrush Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 📉 2:13 Why Bitcoin’s crashing again and whether DATs are to blame 💥 10:43 The consequences of the October 10 liquidation wave 🔄 18:48 Is the four-year crypto cycle finally dead? 📊 25:00 The unraveling of the DAT trend: end of the mania or just a pause? 😶 29:32 Why markets feel eerily quiet and deeply bearish 🐻 32:55 How this became the “most bearish bull market” ever 🥇 40:49 If Bitcoin is digital gold, why hasn’t it followed gold’s rally? 🎯 47:09 Are prediction markets stealing attention from crypto? 🚀 53:30 Why Yann thinks a blow-off top is still coming 🕵️‍♂️ 55:51 The privacy coin comeback led by Zcash 💫 1:02:00 Why ETH’s relative strength could surprise the market ⚠️ 1:07:36 Why Yann says there’s “no reason to hold speculative assets” 💰 1:12:59 Bitcoin price predictions and what smart money’s really doing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin has fallen below $102,000. “Uptober” ended in blood. But while retail traders are terrified, institutional conversations are heating up. In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins are joined by Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise, to unpack the week’s market turmoil. They dig into why institutions are finally comfortable allocating to bitcoin, how Ripple is building an ecosystem that can’t be ignored, and whether Tether’s staggering $500 billion valuation makes sense. Plus: the shrinking odds of the CLARITY Act, the merging of TradFi and crypto rails, and why the competition in the payments space is so hot. Sponsors: Binance Mantle Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise Links: Unchained: Ripple Hits $4B Investment Milestone With Palisade Deal Extreme Fear Returns to Market as Bitcoin Breaks $104k Support Solana ETFs Draw $44 Million as Bitcoin Funds Bleed $191 Million Stablecoin Volume on Ethereum Breaks $2.8 Trillion Record in October Bitcoin ETFs Record $470 Million Outflows Amid Fed Rate Decision DL News: Clarity Act has 80% chance of passing by 2026: Bitwise The Block: Tether's annual profits top $10 billion as Treasury holdings swell Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 📈 3:03 Why Ram is still bullish on markets despite recent carnage 💧 6:03 Why a slingshot economy will soon send liquidity back into risk assets 🏦 9:18 How institutional sentiment now differs sharply from crypto Twitter 🚀 16:43 Inside Bitwise’s clever move to launch BSOL 🌊 21:20 Why Chris says “you can’t sleep on Ripple” 🔗 25:28 How TradFi and crypto rails are starting to merge 💳 29:38 Why every company suddenly wants to own the payments layer 💣 30:53 Exlporing Tether’s biggest challenge —and whether it’s worth $500B 📊 39:52 ETFs vs. digital asset treasuries: Teddy’s take ⚖️ 46:48 Why the CLARITY Act is unlikely to pass in 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, Kaledora Linn, Co-founder and “Empress of RWAs” at Ostium, joins to break down the rise of on-chain equity perps, the funding-rate chaos that hit 365%, and why she believes the next wave of tokenized assets won’t come from exchanges—but from structured liquidity markets. We dive deep into Ostium’s hybrid CFD model that blends TradFi mechanics with on-chain transparency, explore why most retail traders can’t stomach perp carry costs, and debate what “safe leverage” could look like in an RWA world. The panel also touches on CZ’s presidential pardon and Coinbase’s new Echo platform, connecting the dots between political optics, capital formation, and how crypto’s product design is evolving beyond speculation. Whether you’re building perpetual DEXs, tokenizing RWAs, or just trying to survive the next funding-rate spike, this episode unpacks how market design, UX, and regulation will shape crypto’s next trillion-dollar frontier. Show highlights 🔹 Equity Perps, ADL, and UX Reality — Why funding swings as high as 365 percent make traditional perps unusable for mainstream traders, even if they work for short-term speculators. 🔹 Inside Ostium’s RWA Derivatives Model — Kaledora Linn explains how Ostium re-engineered perps into a CFD-style liquidity system to stabilize funding and attract institutional flow. 🔹 CFDs vs. Options — Why trillions in CFD volume dominate global retail markets and how a linear, simple payoff structure beats the complexity of options. 🔹 Market Microstructure and Path Dependence — How thin liquidity and whale-driven order books make on-chain equity markets fragile in early growth stages. 🔹 Funding-Rate Distortions — Tarun breaks down why “delta-neutral” strategies blow up when funding turns asymmetric and leverage resets too quickly. 🔹 From Perps to Products People Actually Use — Haseeb and Kaledora debate how to make RWAs tradeable without the hidden costs of perps. 🔹 Leveraged ETF Paradox — Despite structural decay, leverage products remain popular because of UX, accessibility, and clear narratives—lessons for on-chain builders. 🔹 Predictable Costs Win Power Users — Why whales and market makers prefer stable, knowable carry over yield-chasing chaos. 🔹 CZ Pardon and Optics — The panel dissects political fallout, public perception, and what “clemency for founders” means for crypto’s reputation. 🔹 Coinbase Echo Launch — A new experiment in on-chain crowd sales, retail capital formation, and the post-airdrop meta. 🔹 From Airdrops to Allocations — Why curated, paid token sales may replace “free money” farming to create long-term aligned communities. 🔹 MegaETH and Luxury Distribution Models — The “sorting hat” approach to allocation mirrors art galleries and luxury brands—scarcity and provenance as value signals. 🔹 Go-to-Market Over Purity — Tom and Robert argue that product distribution and user education matter more than perfect decentralization in early RWA markets. Hosts: ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Kaledora, Co-founder at Ostium Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:39 Kaldora’s Crypto Twitter Controversy 03:43 Debate on Perpetuals & Equities 07:20 Funding Rates & Market Dynamics 16:09 CFDs vs. Perpetuals 29:31 CZ's Pardon & Political Backlash 37:42 Trump's Pardon: Optics and Implications 39:06 Crypto's Midterm Impact 41:50 Echo Acquisition by Coinbase 46:11 Crowdfunding Platforms & MegaETH 55:36 Luxury Goods & Token Sales Analogy Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Unchained, Laura is joined by Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, and Sam MacPherson, Co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Labs, to break down the fast-moving world of stablecoins and stablechains. They discuss Ethena’s USDe $5 billion drop, the rise of “stablecoin-as-a-service” models, the emergence of payment-focused blockchains like Tempo and Codex, and the return of TradFi heavyweights like Visa, Mastercard, and Western Union to the digital dollar race. From liquidity challenges to regulatory shakeups and tokenized deposits, the conversation explores what it really takes to win the stablecoin wars, and, importantly, whether any of these players can even make a scratch to king Tether. Thank you to our sponsors! Binance Guests: Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly Sam MacPherson, Co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Labs Links: Previous coverage on Unchained: Stablecoins Are Popping Up Everywhere. What’s the End Game? Why Every Chain Suddenly Wants Its OWN Stablecoin - The Chopping Block Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro and ads: Binance 📉 1:09 Why Ethena’s USDe plunged from $15B to $10B 🔮 5:34 Rob’s view on the future of Ethena 💸 7:06 Why Spark exited Ethena despite being an early believer ⚔️ 11:32 Protocol-native stablecoins—and why Rob and Sam disagree about the trend 💡 21:03 What it really takes to win the stablecoin wars + what makes Tempo's strategy “interesting” 💳 32:11 Tether’s USAT launch: can it succeed? 🏦 36:27 How Tether and Ripple are using the same acquisition playbook 🔥 39:40 Plasma’s emissions strategy and whether it’s sustainable 🏛️ 44:10 Inside Circle’s Arc testnet and its 100+ institutional partners ⛓️ 51:08 Codex and the debate: should stablechains be L1s or L2s? 💵 56:42 How Spark aims to stand out in the new wave of stablecoin competition 🏢 1:00:04 Why TradFi players are entering the space with so much strength 🚀 1:06:04 Why Rob remains so bullish on the future of stablecoins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gold may have history, but does it have a future? Former Citi Chief Economist Willem Buiter joins Unchained Executive Editor Steve Ehrlich to argue that gold’s “6,000-year bubble” is long overdue to burst. He explains why he thinks central banks should dump their bullion, why Bitcoin isn’t a reliable store of value, and why fully backed stablecoins and central-bank digital currencies could define the next era of money. He also touches on Trump’s influence on the Fed, tokenized deposits and the future of stablecoins. Thank you to our sponsors! Binance Guest: Willem Buiter, Independent Economic Advisor, Previously Global Chief Economist at Citigroup Timestamps: 💰 0:00 Introduction 🏺 0:28 Is gold really in a 6,000-year bubble? 🫧 4:33 Why Willem says some bubbles can last forever 💵 7:16 What to make of the dollar’s debasement and why other currencies aren’t better 🚫 11:56 Why Willem doesn’t believe in Bitcoin as a store of value 🪙 16:32 Why he says fully backed stablecoins could define the future of money 🏦 19:10 Are tokenized deposits a breakthrough or a threat to the monetary system? 🌐 22:36 Why Willem supports central bank digital currencies 🔢 27:51 Will the world end up with hundreds of stablecoins? 📊 31:23 Is the Fed quietly shifting its inflation target to 3%? ⚖️ 33:57 How Trump’s pressure could undermine Fed independence 🚀 37:39 Why Willem is bullish on tokenized assets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Bits + Bips, former BlackRock executive and SharpLink co-CEO Joseph Chalom joins hosts Austin Campbell, Chris Perkins, and Ram Ahluwalia to discuss why the Federal Reserve may move to ease rates despite a “Goldilocks” economy, the growing role of stablecoins in foreign exchange and settlement, and how major banks like JPMorgan and Citi are expanding their use of blockchain. The conversation also explores Japan’s first yen-backed stablecoin, the implications of AI for the labor market, and the generational shift that could make crypto wallets the default interface for finance. Plus, the implications of CZ’s pardon and why it’s “bullish” to have Mike Selig chairing the CFTC. Sponsors: Binance Mantle Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Joseph Chalom, Co-CEO of SharpLink Gaming, Inc. Links: Reuters: Fed poised to cut rates this week, with more easing likely on tap WSJ: Trump Considers Fed Chair Selection by Year-End From Slate of Five Finalists CoinDesk: Gov. Waller: U.S. Fed to 'Embrace Disruption,' Pitches 'Skinny' Master Account Idea Reuters: World's first yen-pegged stablecoin debuts in Japan EF: ERC-8004: Trustless Agents Bloomberg: JPMorgan to Allow Bitcoin, Ether as Collateral in Crypto Push Unchained: Trump Pardons Binance Founder CZ CNBC: Trump names Michael Selig to chair CFTC; Selig cites crypto capital goal Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 💸 3:23 Why the Fed will likely still cut rates despite a “Goldilocks” economy 👷‍♂️ 6:47 Why Joseph says the labor market is at a “moment that matters” as Amazon cuts 30,000 jobs 🏛️ 8:26 What Chris shockingly heard at a recent Fed conference ⚖️ 10:15 What could force the Fed to become hawkish 🚀 12:33 How the Fed is “frontrunning innovation” 💴 14:46 Why Japan’s first fully yen-backed stablecoin, JPYC, is significant 🌍 17:36 Why Chris is so excited about stablecoins disrupting FX markets 🔗 22:55 Why L1 tokens may be the next “strategic commodity” 🏦 26:25 How major banks are joining the stablecoin race 👛 31:33 Why retail adoption could explode in the coming years 🤖 33:37 How AI agents could soon manage our payments 💡 36:34 Why JPMorgan decided to accept bitcoin and ether as collateral ⚖️ 44:04 Was CZ’s pardon fair, and what about “pay to play” concerns 🐂 54:55 Why having Mike Selig chair the CFTC is “bullish” for crypto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As crypto markets mature, Kraken is transforming from a trading venue into a multi-asset infrastructure platform. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi joins to break down the exchange’s expansive strategy: building a vertically integrated derivatives business, pioneering tokenized equities with xStocks, and launching a purpose-built layer 2 chain, Ink, to bridge regulated finance and open DeFi. Sethi also explains how Kraken responded to the Black Friday crash, the firm’s ADL and margin policies, and what Kraken wants from U.S. policymakers in 2025. Plus: how Kraken's acquisitions of NinjaTrader and Small Exchange could reshape U.S. derivatives, and why this time, tokenization may finally deliver. Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle https://www.mantle.xyz/ Guest: Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Kraken Timestamps: 👍 0:00 Intro ⚡️ 0:15 Kraken’s experience on “Black Friday” and how the team handled the chaos 👥 3:52 Why Kraken uses a co-CEO model and how it works in practice 🧩 7:50 How Arjun and his team kept calm and supported the broader ecosystem during the crash 📈 9:25 What the derivatives boom means for Kraken’s long-term strategy 🛡️ 14:55 Why customer trust and fair risk management are core to Kraken’s DNA 🏛️ 20:26 How the Small Exchange and NinjaTrader deals fit into Kraken’s U.S. expansion plan 🔗 31:44 Why tokenization is finally real this time and how Kraken plans to lead it ⚖️ 53:24 What Kraken hopes to achieve in Washington and what’s next for the company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crypto has spent years obsessing over tokens, airdrops, and speculation. But what about the unsexy businesses actually making money? Arthur Hayes and Adam Schlegel join Laura Shin to talk about Maelstrom's $250M private equity fund targeting crypto's most profitable, yet overlooked, companies, $50M revenue businesses with 50% margins that VCs can't touch and exchanges won't pay cash for. But while everyone frames this as just another fund, Hayes and Schlegel argue it's actually the missing piece in crypto's maturation: a cash buyer for founders who've done their time and want out without four-year earnouts. Plus: Why Asian crypto companies with monster margins get ignored by Western capital. Thank you to our sponsors! Binance Guests: Arthur Hayes, Co-Founder of BitMEX & CIO at Maelstrom Adam Schlegel, Head of Private Equity at Maelstrom Links: Previous appearances on Unchained: The Chopping Block: Arthur Hayes & Tom Lee; Hyperliquid vs Aster, DATs & ETH Arthur Hayes and Hanson Birringer on Hyperliquid’s Success (And What Could Stop It) Bloomberg: Arthur Hayes’ Family Office Seeks $250M for Buyout Fund Coindesk: Arthur Hayes’ Maelstrom Seeks $250M Private Equity Fund to Acquire Crypto Firms: Bloomberg Akshat’s tweet announcing the fund Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 📰 1:08 Maelstrom’s $250M private equity fund to buy crypto firms 👤 1:42 Adam’s background and path from Morgan Stanley to Haveli to Maelstrom 💼 3:51 Why Maelstrom believes the next crypto boom is in private equity 📈 4:42 Arthur on how crypto investing evolved from beta → VC → PE 🌏 10:05 Geographic focus: Asia and LatAm’s overlooked crypto firms 🧭 11:49 How Maelstrom evaluates targets and performs due diligence 🛠️ 17:02 Inside Maelstrom’s $250M anchor fund and LP co-invest model 👀 26:01 The types of companies Maelstrom is targeting ⚙️ 30:16 Fund structure and Arthur’s role in Maelstrom PE 📊 36:05 “The four-year cycle is dead”: Arthur on today’s crypto market 💰 39:18 Investor requirements and $5M minimum commitment 🏦 42:09 Coinbase’s Echo acquisition and what it means for exchanges ⚔️ 47:59 The perps war, how DEXs are forcing CEXs toward zero-fee trading 💥 52:18 Binance, ADL liquidations, and leverage risk 🔮 56:27 Prediction markets: Polymarket vs Kalshi vs Limitless 💵 59:06 Stablecoins and rates, why Tether and Circle could lose to Ethena 📈 1:04:15 Who wins the next phase of crypto’s evolution 🔚 1:08:14 Closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This special two-part episode brings together two very different conversations. In part one, investment manager Lawrence Lepard lays out why he believes the fiat monetary system is structurally unsustainable, what role inflation plays in that system, and how Bitcoin could be the exit ramp, not just from fiat, but from war, debt, and economic manipulation. He discusses gold, stocks, silver, the real estate market, and why he’s betting heavily on Bitcoin. In part two, I speak with filmmaker James Craig, director of the new documentary Code Is Law, which traces the evolution of the phrase from a meme into a legal defense for some of the most infamous smart contract exploits in crypto. From the DAO to Indexed Finance, Mango Markets and KyberSwap, the film explores whether exploiting code is legitimate — or just theft with better PR. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Binance⁠! Guests: Lawrence Lepard, Investment Manager at Equity Management Associates, LLC James Craig, Founder, Director and Producer at Encrypted Films Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neobanks changed how fintech thinks about money. Now, crypto builders want to do the same, without custody. In this episode, Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of EtherFi, argue the real shift isn't about "crypto cards," it's about who controls your assets. EtherFi’s and Ready’s self-custodial apps merge saving, spending, and investing. The result: faster settlement, lower fees, and more transparency, but also new challenges around compliance, credit, and security. Itamar Lesuisse and Mike Silagadze explain how layer 2 networks made crypto cards economically viable after years of failed attempts and how Africa’s FX markets could become the breakthrough use case for crypto banking. Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Binance Guests: Itamar Lesuisse, Co-founder and CEO of Ready (formerly Argent) Mike Silagadze, Founder and CEO of EtherFi, and Founder of Top Hat Links: The Block: Best crypto cards with token rewards in 2025 Bitcoin Starknet Staking Post by Ready (Formerly Argent) Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 💳 1:57 What crypto neobanks are, and why they’re suddenly booming ⚖️ 6:19 Custody as the real divide between traditional and crypto banking 🏦 8:07 From Argent to Ready, turning wallets into full neobanks 💳 10:05 Why early crypto cards failed, and how L2 settlement fixed them 💰 18:49 Credit without credit scores: the rise of collateralized cards 🔒 32:52 How smart accounts and recovery improve wallet security 🌍 44:29 Onchain FX and the next profit frontier for crypto banks 🚀 55:36 How self-custody could reach mass adoption 🔚 58:19 Closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, Helius’s Mert returns to defend Zcash’s ~400% run and the “encrypted Bitcoin” framing, digging into anonymity sets, privacy UX, and why Bitcoiners are so riled up. We then tackle the Tempo bombshell — a ~$500M raise at a ~$5B pre, Stripe/Paradigm ties, Dankrad’s move from the EF — alongside Péter Szilágyi’s letter on EF culture and compensation: public goods priesthood vs. market incentives. Next up: Mert’s “USD Manlet” rethink (why coordinating Solana around one stable is hard, and why pushing USDT to compete with USDC may be the sharper play) plus a gripe-fueled tour of today’s DeFi trading UX. Finally, an AWS-outage autopsy: Coinbase downtime, Base sequencer hiccups, Infura/MetaMask ripple effects, and the case for multi-region/multi-cloud redundancy when real money — and sometimes safety — are on the line. And no, despite the memes, Mert is not launching a DEX. For more links and Show Hilights - https://unchainedcrypto.com/podcast-chopping-block/the-chopping-block-zcash-400-tempos-500m-shock-ef-pay-firestorm-aws-base-meltdown-feat-mert/ ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Mert, Co-founder & CEO at Helius Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Mert, Co-founder & CEO at Helius “One Long Memo” [A Letter To The EF] by Péter Szilágyi https://gist.github.com/karalabe/a2bc53436f29e0711fe680d59e180f6c Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:22 Mert a Madman of Solana and now Zcash 05:20 Bitcoin vs. Zcash: A Philosophical Clash 14:35 Tempo Fundraise and Ethereum's Talent Exodus 33:05 Ethereum's Social Layer & Public Goods 34:45 The Importance of Religious Priesthood in Crypto 41:01 The USD Manlet Proposal & Stablecoin Coordination 49:32 AWS Outage & Its Impact on Crypto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins tackle a packed agenda: from the fairness of Binance’s listing fees to the ways in which DeFi didn’t perform well during the “Black Friday” crash, why Tempo’s $500 million raise might have been a political ploy, and the growing war over stablecoin dominance. The trio debates whether Bitcoin is undervalued compared to gold, why Ethereum’s 10-year track record gives it an edge, and whether today’s Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) are just froth, or the permanent backbone of institutional crypto. Plus: Austin makes a bold prediction about the stablecoin that will dominate by 2040. Sponsors: Mantle Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Links: Binance Listing Fee Drama Unchained: Binance Listing Fee Fight: What’s a Fair Price to List on the Top Crypto Exchange? Binance Claims It Does Not Profit From Token Listings Jesse Pollak (Base) chimes in Tempo & Dankrad Fortune: Exclusive: Stripe-backed blockchain startup Tempo raises $500 million round led by Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital and Greenoaks Ethereum core dev Dankrad Feist joins Tempo Reactions: Ryan Adams (Bankless): Tempo will optimize for itself, not ETH. Nick Almond: Not a death sentence for ETH Breadguy: Big loss. Dankrad was a major L1 scaling advocate. Black Friday Dan Wilson: 3 big lessons post-crash Gold vs. BTC GOLD/BTC up ‎23.5% in past month Bitcoin Is Undervalued vs. Gold DATs Bloomberg: Huobi Founder Li Lin Set To Launch $1 Billion Ether Accumulator - Bloomberg CoinDesk: Ripple Set to Enter Corporate Treasury Business With $1B Acquisition of GTreasury Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 💸 3:39 Binance listing fees — fair price for distribution or pay-to-play? 🏛️ 10:19 What is the best way to go public? ⚔️ 11:57 How exchanges really compete behind the scenes 💥 15:00 “Black Friday”: why Chris calls it catastrophic — but with a silver lining 🧱 24:52 What the industry must fix to prevent another meltdown 💵 30:15 How Tempo’s $500M raise represents peak frothiness 🚨 39:12 Is Dankrad’s exit from the Ethereum Foundation a red alarm for ETH? 🔮 43:07 Austin’s bold prediction: which stablecoin wins by 2040 🥇 46:17 Is Bitcoin undervalued compared to gold? 🏗️ 52:21 Why DATs are here to stay despite the market carnage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Friday, billions evaporated in a liquidation cascade—and nobody knows exactly what happened because centralized exchanges won't share the data. In this sponsored episode recorded at Aptos' NYC event, Aptos CEO Avery Ching says if their Decibel perpetual exchange had been live, traders would have seen every order, every spread change, every liquidation in real-time onchain. But while critics argue existing perp DEXs like Hyperliquid are already decentralized, Ching says most still match orders off-chain in black boxes. Avery explains why Decibel (launching Q1 2026) will be different, how 500 million Indian users are coming to crypto through Reliance Jio's Jiocoin, and why Aptos partnered with World Liberty Financial despite VCs calling it "garbage in your living room." Guest: Avery Ching, CEO & Co-Founder, Aptos Links: The Composable Global Exchange Engine, by Avery Ching, CEO Aptos Aptos Post: The fully onchain trading engine built by Decibel Foundation Previous coverage of Unchained on Black Friday: Crypto’s Black Friday Was Its Largest Liquidation Ever. What the Hell Happened? Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🧭 0:33 How Aptos evolved from Meta’s Libra/Diem project 💡 2:27 Aptos’ vision for global trading engine and everyday crypto use 💾 10:11 What Shelby is and how it supports AI, creators, and enterprise use. 🎥 12:22 Aptos’ new media partnership with NBCUniversal ⚡ 14:46 Avery’s vision for a future when blockchains are widely used 🧩 16:10 What Decibel is and how it aims to bring perps fully onchain 🔎 17:58 What would have changed if Friday’s crash was onchain 💵 24:12 Why Aptos partnered with World Liberty Financial on USD1 🇮🇳 28:46 How the Reliance Jio deal expands Aptos’ reach in India 🌏 30:46 How Aptos is building enterprise adoption across Asia 🏦 32:59 Why Aave launched its first non-EVM deployment on Aptos 🛡️ 36:42 What Aptos learned from recent market turmoil 🔚 42:18 Closing thoughts and Avery’s vision for onchain transparency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix and Infinex, is returning to Ethereum Layer 1 with a bold new experiment: a perpetuals DEX built directly on mainnet. In this episode, he joins Laura to explain why Synthetix is taking this contrarian step, how its hybrid “optimistic order book” can run efficiently on Ethereum’s slower block times, and why he believes the future of trading will move fully on-chain. Warwick also discusses the tradeoffs behind using USDT, what it will take to match centralized exchange performance, and his “super app” vision for how DeFi platforms could finally outcompete CEXs. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Binance⁠! Guest: Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix Links: The Superapp Thesis by Kain Warwick Blockwork’s Dan Smith on Spreads for ETH-USD Timestamps: 🔥 0:00 Introduction and ads: Binance ⚙️ 0:56 Why Synthetix is launching a perps DEX directly on Ethereum mainnet ⏳ 5:18 How a perpetuals exchange can even work on slow Ethereum block times 🔍 10:34 How transparency will differ from other onchain trading venues 🏗️ 13:53 Why Kain believes being on Ethereum mainnet still matters 🧱 17:00 The challenges of operating on L1—margin posting, gas costs, and more ⚔️ 21:43 How Synthetix plans to compete in an overcrowded perps DEX landscape 💣 24:33 How liquidations on an Ethereum perp DEX would play out during a Black Friday-like crash 🕵️‍♂️ 29:32 How traders could maintain privacy while staying fully decentralized 🌐 31:57 Why a perps DEX on mainnet could reshape Ethereum DeFi 💵 34:25 Why Synthetix is using USDT—despite its centralization risks 🏦 37:28 Which premium assets will serve as collateral 📱 39:36 Inside Kain’s “super app” vision for DeFi’s next evolution 🏁 50:31 Why Kain is fired up about Synthetix’s upcoming trading competition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When CJ Hetherington revealed the token listing terms Binance allegedly offered his startup, the crypto world exploded. In this episode, CJ, founder of prediction market app Limitless, and his investor Nick Tomaino of 1confirmation join Laura to discuss why he went public, how Binance responded, and what the incident reveals about the power dynamics between exchanges and builders. The conversation tackles how retail gets dumped on, why transparency is the next frontier for crypto, and why both guests agree that the “revolution won’t be centralized.” Guests: CJ Hetherington, CEO/CO-Founder at Limitless Labs Nick Tomaino, Founder and General Partner at 1confirmation Links: CJ’s tweet Unchained: Coinbase Adds Rival Binance’s BNB to Listing Roadmap Binance Claims It Does Not Profit From Token Listings Timestamps: 🔥 0:00 Introduction 🗣️ 2:24 Why CJ decided to reveal Binance’s alleged listing terms 🏗️ 8:44 Why he built Limitless on Base 🤝 9:11 Whether Base coordinated with CJ before he went public 💥 13:04 How the crypto world reacted to CJ’s viral tweet 🧨 15:00 Whether Binance exploits projects and founders 💸 18:06 How short-term founders dump on retail investors, per CJ 📢 23:18 Binance’s response—and why they called CJ’s claims false 🔍 25:38 Why CJ and Nick say Binance needs far more transparency ⚠️ 30:42 Whether CJ fears retaliation for calling out the world’s biggest exchange 🤔 33:48 Why he doesn’t buy Binance’s claim that its policies “protect users” 💫 39:36 Why Nick is urging crypto founders and users to “believe in something” 🚀 42:03 CJ’s plan to build an “army of token holders” and make Limitless succeed 🪙 48:25 Inside Limitless’s community token sale 📈 50:34 What Nick learned from Polymarket’s rise as an early investor 👀 54:10 Coinbase adding BNB to its listing roadmap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, Doug Colkitt, Founder Ambient Finance & Founding Contributor at Fogo, joins us as one of the wildest weekends in crypto history drags us back on air: a record $19B+ in liquidations, gas spiking toward $400, exchange APIs wobbling, and ADL ripping through perps as hedges vanished. We unpack what ADL actually does, why delta-neutral farmers got nuked, and how Binance’s USDe and staked ETH/SOL pegs snapped amid index design and mint/redeem gaps—followed by refunds. We get into HLP vs. LLP (vaults vs. winning traders), the Hyperliquid “whale” short ahead of the tariff tweet, cross-margin reflexivity that torched alts, and why market makers wore outsized pain. Then we zoom out to infra: sequencers, force-inclusion in practice, and the case for on-chain clearing plus real insurance funds before the next Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights 🔹 Record wipeout — $19B+ liquidations, 1.6M traders rekt, gas spiking to ~$400 while major exchanges wobbled. 🔹 ADL, decoded — What happens when perps run out of counterparties; socialized losses, P&L/leverage ranking, and why hedges vanished. 🔹 Delta-neutral nuked — Cross-venue long/short farmers turned naked as ADL picked off one leg first. 🔹 Binance peg breaks — USDe to ~$0.68 on Binance, staked ETH/SOL snapped; refunds >$250M after index/oracle and mint-redeem gaps. 🔹 Flows vs. “attack” — Earn users rushing to USDT + copy-trade momentum likely amplified the depeg more than cunning index games. 🔹 DeFi vs. CeFi — Perp DEX performance broadly comparable; transparency gaps in ADL policies and liquidation mechanics laid bare. 🔹 Vaults vs. traders — HLP vs. LLP outcomes show who platforms chose to protect in tail events—and the retention risks of clipping winners. 🔹 OI collapse — Hyperliquid open interest ~15B → ~6B; cross-margin reflexivity helped nuke alts far worse than BTC. 🔹 Why it felt one-sided — Market-maker/API failures and risk misallocation made typically “safe” actors eat outsized losses. 🔹 The whale short — A massive Hyperliquid short pre-tariff tweet sparks insider-vs-coincidence debate. 🔹 Infra faceplants — Sequencers down, force-inclusion in theory only, docs offline—while base L1s largely kept ticking. 🔹 What to fix — On-chain clearing, real insurance funds, sane ADL ranking, robust mint/redeem, and better index/oracle design before the next shock. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Doug Colkitt, Founder Ambient Finance & Founding Contributor at Fogo ⁠⁠Disclosures⁠⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:11 $19B+ Liquidated 04:35 Personal Experiences & Reactions 08:30 Understanding Auto De-leveraging (ADL) 14:37 Binance & USDe Incident 23:19 DeFi vs CeFi Performance 26:05 Zero-Sum & Greedy Algorithms 34:26 Vaults & Trader Protection 39:43 Market Reactions & Trader Sentiments 44:33 Infrastructure Failures & OI Collapse 46:56 Insider Trading Allegations & Market Manipulation 52:14 Future of Perpetual DEXs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crypto just went through its biggest crash. In the wake of “Black Friday,” when $19 billion in positions were wiped out in hours, Bits + Bips hosts Steve Ehrlich and Ram Ahluwalia are joined by Carlos Guzman of GSR and YQ of AltLayer to dissect what really happened. Was it a coordinated attack exploiting Binance’s oracles? A failure of market structure? Or simply too much leverage waiting for a trigger? Or some combination of the three? The group breaks down how liquidity vanished, why hedges failed, how this flash crash echoed the worst moments of traditional markets, and why the industry urgently needs reform before it happens again. Sponsors: Aptos Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guests: Carlos Guzman, Research Analyst at GSR YQ, Co-founder of AltLayer Timestamps: 🔥 0:00 Introduction and ads ⚡ 3:22 First reactions to crypto’s biggest crash ever 💥 5:55 The USDe depeg on Binance. Plus: coordinated attack or market failure? 🧠 12:57 Why Ram calls it a potential “zero-day hack” 📉 15:38 Are perpetuals the riskiest instruments in crypto? 💫 18:38 Huge spreads, no liquidity: where were the market makers? 🏦 22:59 The eerie parallels to a flash crash in U.S. equities 15 years ago 💀 25:01 How both longs and shorts got wrecked, and why perps fail as hedging tools 🔧 29:00 What crypto needs to fix its liquidity problem 🏛️ 33:34 How TradFi solved this years ago, and what crypto can learn ⚖️ 36:25 How systemic leverage makes every crash worse 📜 42:16 Why this proves crypto urgently needs a market structure bill 🚀 47:13 Why Ram says Hyperliquid came out as the winner 🔮 50:14 Outlook for prices and volatility in the coming days 🛡️ 1:00:04 Will insurance funds rise after this? ⏳ 1:02:18 Why YQ says it’ll take a long time to recover from the damage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Trump tweeted about 100% tariffs on China, crypto collapsed — $19 billion in liquidations in just hours. Altcoins plunged 95%, exchanges froze, and stablecoins depegged. In this special episode, Diogenes Casares, founder of Klyra Protocol, joins Laura to break down the chain reaction: what really caused the crash, whether insiders knew it was coming, and how infrastructure failures and extreme leverage turned a policy tweet into crypto’s Black Friday. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Aptos⁠! Guest: Diogenes Casares, founder of Klyra Protocol and advisor at Patagon Management Links: Diogenes’s article on X: "Black Friday: What Happened?" Jordi Alexander on "What happened? Stani Kulechov on Aave’s performance Binance co-founder’s statement Timestamps: 💥 0:00 Introduction ⏱️ 1:00 What markets looked like in the hours before the crash 🕵️‍♂️ 3:25 Whether traders on Hyperliquid knew the tariff tweet was coming 📉 5:44 Why altcoins plunged up to 95% and how market makers amplified the move ⚙️ 7:56 How auto-deleveraging kicked in—and why it mattered 💣 13:07 How DATs created hidden leverage that made the system fragile 🏦 14:54 How perps DEXes and CEXes responded differently to the meltdown 🧩 18:09 Was it a coordinated attack—or just market mania? 🤯 25:56 What happened to smaller market makers when liquidity vanished 💥 29:44 How the USDe depeg on Binance triggered cascading liquidations 📊 32:16 Why Ethena “managed it well” and why exchanges don’t ADL their positions ⚠️ 34:04 What caused the USDe “depeg” 🔧 35:22 How infrastructure failures made price feeds unreliable 🚨 37:28 What perps exchanges need to change going forward ⏳ 43:56 Why Diogenes thinks this kind of crash will happen again—and worse 📜 50:20 The “extraordinary rights” LPs hold on exchanges 💱 49:02 How traders should decide where to trade after this 👀 52:19 A rumor about how much Jump lost Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Polymarket scales with Wall Street’s blessing, Kalshi fires up KOLs, and BNB chain melts down as fast as it ran. We dissect Aster’s data drama, the new privacy wave lifting Zcash, and Galaxy One’s glossy yields—what’s smart strategy vs. old mistakes in new clothes? Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, we unpack Polymarket’s jaw-dropper: a $2B raise at a $9B valuation led by ICE (parent of the NYSE), the token tease, and whether prediction markets will eat sportsbooks. We get into the KOL wars (Kalshi vs. Polymarket), the line between paid shilling and product marketing, and what “parlays” look like on prediction platforms. Then: Aster vs. Hyperliquid and DeFiLlama’s delist sparks transparency questions, while BNB Chain’s 72-hour meme-coin supercycle goes boom→bust. Privacy takes center stage as Zcash rips and the “privacy meta” returns. We close with Galaxy One’s 8% yield pitch — BlockFi déjà vu or smarter risk management in a post-CeFi world? Show highlights 🔹 Polymarket’s $2B at $9B — led by ICE (NYSE parent): why a TradFi giant is backing prediction markets and what integrations could follow. 🔹 Token tease — the crew debates what a Polymarket token could represent amid a CFTC path and U.S. re-entry. 🔹 KOL Wars: Kalshi vs. Polymarket — disclosed influencer marketing vs. “paid shilling,” and where the ethical line actually sits. 🔹 Product vs. Asset promos — why “use this platform” ≠ “buy this ticker,” and the gray zone of shilling specific markets or sides. 🔹 Do prediction markets influence reality? When odds can sway decisions (Fed, elections), and why markets may self-correct before hitting “99%.” 🔹 Sportsbooks in the crosshairs — parlays on prediction markets, Robinhood funnels, and why DraftKings/FanDuel should care. 🔹 Aster vs. Hyperliquid — incentives, wash-trading risk, and DeFiLlama’s delist after suspicious Binance-correlated volumes. 🔹 BNB’s 72-hour supercycle — memecoins moon, CZ’s “not endorsements” tweet, then a brutal boom→bust as bridgers retreat. 🔹 Privacy supercycle — Zcash rips on Naval/Mert momentum; Zashi UX + NEAR intents cited vs. “it’s just flows” skepticism. 🔹 Old coin, new crowd — why ZEC’s age + thin float can turbocharge moves, even with lower on-chain usage than Monero. 🔹 Galaxy One’s 8% yield — comeback arc for BlockFi’s Zach Prince or smarter, public-company-backed risk management? 🔹 CeFi vs. DeFi lending — on-chain transparency, Coinbase’s approach, 60-day gates, and whether unsecured credit is creeping back. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:08 Polymarket & Shayne Coplan’s Journey to Success 05:28 The Role of Prediction Markets 10:21 Kalshi vs. Polymarket: KOL Wars 23:56 Sports Betting & Prediction Markets 29:19 BNB Chain's Memecoin Boom and Bust 33:55 Aster and Defi Lama: The Delisting Drama 37:04 Privacy Supercycle: The Zcash Bull Run 50:02 Galaxy One: BlockFi's Comeback? Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices