Unchained

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

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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

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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

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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

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The stablecoin race is heating up. With the passage of the U.S. stablecoin law the floodgates have opened. Tether still dominates globally, but Circle, Stripe, and a wave of new “stablechains” are making their move.

In this episode, Dragonfly partner Rob Hadick and Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz join Laura Shin to map out how this battle could reshape crypto and payments.

Will ecosystem apps like Phantom and Jupiter keep their own stablecoins? Can Circle’s new Layer 1, Arc, compete with Tether’s network effect? 

Don’t miss it!

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Binance

• Aptos 

Guests:

• Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly

• Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Intro

• 🔥 2:50 What Rob and Mert expect from the coming flood of stablecoins and stablechains

• 🌐 12:06 How network effects could decide the winners in the stablecoin wars

• 💵 14:09 Whether Tether’s dominance is here to stay

• 💱 22:45 Why Forex matters—and why everyone still wants dollars

• 😎 27:15 Whether Tether even cares about its new competitors

• ⚠️ 33:18 What Rob calls the biggest existential threat to Tether

• 🏦 36:00 Can Circle’s new payments chain, Arc, really compete in this environment

• 🧩 40:42 Why Mert says Circle is in a difficult strategic position

• 🤝 45:17 How new Layer 1s risk pleasing no one by trying to please everyone

• 💣 52:55 Whether banks are doomed—and why employees might want to start exiting now

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Bitcoin is hitting new all-time highs—but is this real euphoria, or just a prelude to it? In this double-header episode, we bring you a Bits + Bips roundtable and an in-depth interview on the five companies best positioned to bring crypto onchain.

First, the Bits + Bips crew, Lumida’s Ram Ahluwalia, FalconX’s Joshua Lim, and NYU professor Austin Campbell, break down what’s really driving this crypto rally. Is it dollar debasement, asset revaluation, or just pure animal spirits? 

They debate how close we are to a true blow-off top, how to spot a real market peak, and what shocks could shelve bitcoin in an instant. Plus, their takes on Zcash, Japan, Coinbase’s banking ambitions, and more.

Then, Unchained’s Steven Ehrlich sits down with Ryan Yi, author of the Onchain 5 series, to discuss the five companies that are leading crypto’s push into real-world adoption. 

From Coinbase’s Base app and token plans, to Robinhood’s play for tokenized assets, Stripe’s all-in crypto tech stack, Telegram’s TON-powered mini-app ecosystem, and Binance’s BNB-based loyalty empire, this is the playbook for what going onchain really looks like.

Thank you to our sponsor, Aptos!

Hosts:

• Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

• 
  

Guests:

• Joshua Lim, Co-Head of Markets at FalconX

• Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting

  Ryan Yi, Ex Coinbase, Coinbase Ventures, and CoinFund

For links to all the amazing articles, visit https://unchainedcrypto.com/bits-bips/bits-bips-whats-really-driving-bitcoin-and-whos-driving-crypto-onchain/

Timestamps:

 0:00 Intro

 4:38 What Josh learned at Token2049 about what’s really moving the market

 10:12 How the options market is quietly driving bitcoin’s price

 13:25 Why Ram says this isn’t a “debasement trade,” despite what everyone thinks

 20:29 Whether we’ve hit peak euphoria—or not even close

 23:54 Why Zcash suddenly exploded in price

 26:45 How political changes in Japan are shaping markets

 30:30 How to spot the real market top—and why Austin challenges Ram’s call on stocks beating gold

 35:41 How CME’s 24/7 futures could change crypto trading

 39:20 The signs Ram thinks would signal when the top is in

 43:43 How bitcoin, altcoins, and tech stocks trade together and how they don’t

 47:59 What kind of shock could finally take bitcoin down

 51:34 What to make of Coinbase applying for a banking license

 53:34 Whether Galaxy is trying to become the next crypto super app

 57:59 Why this cycle might play out completely differently

 1:02:04 Why Ram believes banks are about to crush earnings

 1:03:03 The biggest risks investors still aren’t paying attention to

 1:07:56 Meet 5 The Firms Poised to Drive the Next Wave of Crypto Adoption

 1:08:53 Why distribution is the key battleground for the next wave of crypto adoption

 1:12:24 How Coinbase is rearchitecting its platform around Base

 1:15:42 What the upcoming Base token and Base app could unlock for users

 1:19:13 How Robinhood is competing in crypto—and why it might have an edge

 1:25:56 What the tokenization trend means for Robinhood’s future

 1:27:52 Why Stripe is building a crypto tech stack of its own

 1:35:02 Why Telegram’s TON token is central to its survival and growth

 1:41:40 What’s behind TON’s lagging price performance

 1:45:13 How Binance uses the BNB token as a cornerstone of its entire ecosystem

 1:52:43 Why going fully onchain could be the defining strategy for the next generation of companies

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On Monday, bitcoin hit a new all-time high of over $126,000, but Bitcoin’s biggest fight right now isn’t about price; it’s about purpose. 

Since 2023, image files and meme tokens have clogged the network, spiking fees and making everyday payments expensive. Bitcoin Core wants to lift an 80-byte data limit that's existed since 2014. Bitcoin Knots disagrees — and has built code to enforce a different limit. Should Bitcoin stay a payments network, or evolve into a platform that stores everything from NFTs to memecoins to experimental layer 2 protocols?

Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Bitcoin and Lightning developer Chris Guida debate whether removing limits on OP_RETURN protects Bitcoin from what they call “spam,” or opens the floodgates to it.

Plus: the real lesson from 2014 when Vitalik Buterin left Bitcoin, why miners can bypass any filter by renting hash rate, and whether 22% of nodes running different code actually matters in a decentralized network.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Mantle

• Aptos

Guests:

• Chris Guida, Bitcoin and Lightning Ecosystem dev and Educator

• Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream

Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro ⚙️ 1:37 What the Core vs. Knots debate is really about 🧩 4:46 Why “spam” filtering and “censorship” aren’t the same 💾 7:28 How NFTs, ordinals, and BRC-20s created the “spam” problem 🧱 8:51 The Genesis block message vs. today’s onchain data 🔍 13:27 What op_return does and why its size limit matters ⚔️ 22:04 Why the proposed change has split the Bitcoin community 📈 26:25 Can Bitcoin stay censorship-resistant while filtering “spam”? 💣 30:26 Do economic incentives make “spam” filters useless? 🧰 34:17 Why some believe filters still work to protect blockspace 💰 36:05 Would higher fees from non-payment data help miners secure Bitcoin? 🧮 42:06 Does more data make it harder to run a node? 🧭 46:04 Can Bitcoin fight storage data without hurting its core principles? ⚡ 50:37 What counts as a “real” layer 2 on Bitcoin 🧱 55:55 How much support the Knots software actually has 🧩 1:00:35 Could this debate cause a Bitcoin chain split? 🔚 1:04:22 Closing thoughts on what’s next for the network

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Arthur Hayes & Tom Lee map the new crypto arms race—Hyperliquid vs Aster, Plasma’s stablecoin rails, and ETH’s DAT-fueled supercycle.

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. Live at Token2049 Singapore, we’re joined by Arthur Hayes (Maelstrom) and Tom Lee (Bitmine) to map two battles shaping the next cycle: the Perp DEX war—Hyperliquid’s moat vs. CZ-linked Aster, zero-fee experiments like Lighter, and whether ~$500M/year token unlocks can stay “bullish”—and the race to own stablecoin rails, from Tether-affiliated Plasma’s zero-fee USDT chain to distribution plays like Tempo and Codex. We dig into DATs, mNAV compression, and Tom’s “ETH supercycle,” plus prediction markets (Polymarket vs. Kalshi) crossing into the mainstream and a surprise Zcash revival. If crypto’s future is being decided in trading venues and in money itself, this is where the battle lines get drawn. 

Show highlights🔹 Perp DEX wars — Hyperliquid vs Aster: Binance-linked Aster surges as Hyperliquid’s moat is stress-tested; CEX tie-ups (Bybit–ApeX, Coinbase–Avantis) escalate the fight.

🔹 Arthur Hayes on Hyperliquid: 126x call but sold ahead of ~$500M/yr token unlocks (starting November); “bullish unlocks” depend on sustained dominance + real fees.

🔹 Lighter’s zero-fee perps: Can post-airdrop volume stick, or do profits migrate to HLP/LLP vault strategies as fees compress?

🔹 DATs & ETH “supercycle” — Tom Lee (Bitmine): Communications flywheel, mNAV compression, ~70 ETH DATs with many below NAV; consolidation/unwinds/ETF conversions amid SEC/Nasdaq scrutiny and ZeroG controversy.

🔹 Plasma stablecoin chain (Tether-affiliated): Zero-fee USDT transfers, heavy incentives, Binance Earn distribution—are flows durable vs Ethereum/Tron?

🔹 Prediction markets — Polymarket vs Kalshi: South Park moment; funds cite PMs for shutdown/Fed odds; 2024 election accuracy pushes PMs mainstream.

🔹 Privacy coins & Zcash revival: ZEC rally, Monero 51%-attack mention, and the ongoing listings/compliance tug-of-war.

🔹 Stablecoins to $4T? — Tom Lee: Micropayments + 24/7 rails expand TAM across multiple chains, not just Ethereum.

Hosts⁠

Disclosures⁠

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

Guest

⭐️ Arthur Hayes, CIO at Maelstrom

⭐️Tom Lee, CIO of Fundstrat Capital & Chairman of Bitmine

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:15 Token 2049 Reflections

03:55 Tom Lee's Role in Ethereum

08:04 Challenges & Future of DATs

13:09 Plasma: Berachain for Stablecoins 

20:06 Perp Dex Wars & Hyperliquid

24:26 Fee Compression

29:59 Kalshi vs. Polymarket

39:52 Zcash & Privacy Coins

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Is gold the ultimate hedge against inflation and sovereign risk? Or are stocks the better long-term wealth builder thanks to innovation and earnings growth?

In this heated and highly entertaining episode, Ram Ahluwalia (Lumida Wealth) and Vinny Lingham (Praxos Capital) dive deep into the macro landscape to debate the relative merits of gold vs. the S&P 500. Along the way, they explore:

• Gold’s decentralization vs. Bitcoin

• Why share buybacks might be distorting wealth creation

• The role of inflation, AI, fiscal dominance, and central banks

• The logic behind each of their portfolios

And to make things more interesting? They make a $10,000 bet on whether gold or the S&P 500 will perform better over the 9 months.

• Token2049

• Binance

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

• Vinny Lingham, Co-founder of Praxos Capital

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

📈 4:30 Why Ram argues stocks are the stronger long-term play

🥇 7:18 Why Vinny says gold is more decentralized than even Bitcoin

💵 12:08 Why Ram believes earnings make stocks the superior investment

♻️ 16:37 Why Vinny thinks stock buybacks are harmful for society

🌍 27:30 Is this still the best time in history to be alive?

⏳ 33:23 Whether its too expensive now to buy gold

⚡ 40:40 What Vinny predicts will trigger the next major macro crisis

🤝 42:56 The $10,000 bet: gold vs. the S&P 500

🤖 48:33 Whether we’re still early in the AI boom

🎤 54:15 Closing arguments from Ram and Vinny

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Perp DEXs are on fire, with volumes topping $1 trillion a month for the first time. 

Aster, backed by YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), has suddenly vaulted to the top of volume charts, but is its rise organic, or manufactured? 

But while everyone frames the battle as Aster vs. Hyperliquid, Syncracy’s Ryan Watkins and Sunny Shi argue the real fight is much bigger: decentralized exchanges versus centralized giants like Binance. 

Plus: what role Solana will play in the next chapter in the perps DEX wars? And won’t Ethereum even compete? 

Thank you to our sponsors!

• ⁠Binance⁠

• Token2049

  Guests:

• Ryan Watkins, Co-Founder of Syncracy Capital

• Sunny Shi, Investor at Syncracy Capital

  
  

  Links:

• Unchained: 

• Nearly $12 Billion in HYPE Token Unlocks Loom Ahead: Maelstrom

  Why Hyperliquid Should Cut Its Total Token Supply Nearly in Half

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DoubleZero just launched its mainnet-beta, offering a new type of high-performance fiber network for blockchains, live across 5 continents and already adopted by 20%+ of Solana stake.

Co-founder Austin Federa joins Unchained to walk through:

• How DoubleZero creates a dedicated internet for crypto

• Who contributes fiber and why they earn the 2Z token

• What the SEC’s no-action letter means for crypto and DePIN specifically

• And what this could unlock for L2s, onchain trading, and more

Thank you to our sponsors!

• ⁠Binance⁠

  Token2049

• 
  

Guest:

• Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Introduction and ads: Token2049 and Binance

• 🌐 0:59 What’s wrong with the public internet—and why crypto needs its own

• ⚡ 5:28 How DoubleZero is building a dedicated network for blockchains

• 🌍 7:54 How the physical world gets integrated into the blockchain economy

• ⏱️ 10:49 Why traders demand more determinism in transaction times

• 🛠️ 13:09 How anyone can become a contributor to the DoubleZero network

• 🚫 14:32 Why Ethereum might not be the right fit for this product

• 💰 16:06 What role the 2Z token plays in the ecosystem

• 🔥 23:12 Why Jump’s token allocation sparked controversy

• ⚖️ 27:40 What the SEC’s no-action letter really means for DePIN

• 🏆 32:59 If DoubleZero succeeds, who will come out on top?

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This week on Unchained, we’ve got a double-header.

First, Zach Abrams, CEO of Bridge (acquired by Stripe), unveils Open Issuance, a platform designed to let any company launch its own stablecoin. He explains why the stablecoin duopoly is ending, why fragmentation won’t slow adoption, and how stablecoins could pair with AI to reshape global money movement.

Then, Kenny Li, co-founder of Manta Network, joins to reveal why Manta is pivoting away from being just another L2. He argues that the scaling wars are oversaturated, that mercenary users make infra battles a fight for crumbs, and that the real prize is at the application layer.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Mantle

• Aptos

  
  

Guests:

• Zach Abrams, Co-Founder and CEO of Bridge

• Kenny Li, Co-Founder and Core Contributor of Manta Network

Links:

• Unchained: 

• How New Stablecoin Startup Bridge Got Acquired by Stripe for $1.1B

• MetaMask Stablecoin mUSD Goes Live

• Why JPMorgan and Shopify Are Rolling Out New Products on Ethereum Layer 2 Base

• Tempo Launch Announcement: The Blockchain Designed for Payments

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Crypto’s bull run may be far from over, but the battleground is shifting. 

On this week’s Bits + Bips, Bill Barhydt of Abra and Robert Leshner of Superstate join Ram Ahluwalia and Steven Ehrlich to debate: 

• The current state of the markets with a looming government shutdown 

• SWIFT’s move to build on Linea, an Ethereum layer 2

• Hyperliquid vs Aster

• The future of perps vs. spot 

• Why some DATs are starting to look like grifts 

• Whether DeFi billionaires will ultimately eclipse their CeFi predecessors 

Plus: Binance’s and Tether’s valuation, CZ as the entrepreneur of the decade, and why the industry may be entering an era of “perpification.”

Thank you to Xapo for sponsoring this episode!

Hosts:

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

• Steven Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guests: 

• Bill Barhydt, Founder and CEO of Abra

• Robert Leshner, Co-founder & CEO of Superstate

  
  

  Links:

Steve’s story on the DAT that claimed it raised much more than it actually did

Subscribe to Bits + Bips newsletter here

Timestamps:

• 🎬0:00 Intro

• 📈 3:26 Why Bill believes the bull run is far from over

• 🧐 5:10 Why Ram is pushing back on market FUD

• 🏛️ 9:10 Will a government shutdown impact markets?

• 🌐 12:48 Why SWIFT building on Ethereum’s Linea layer 2 is such a big deal

• 🏦 22:15 Whether it even matters if banks embrace crypto

• ⚠️ 27:50 How one DAT may have been the “ultimate grift”

• ⚔️ 35:58 Inside the DEX perps wars: Hyperliquid vs Aster

• 👑 40:32 How valuable Binance and CZ really are to the industry

• 🚀 50:39 What advantages make Hyperliquid stand out in the perp battle

• 🤔 53:14 Why picking winners in trading isn’t so simple

• 🔄 57:29 Winners in stablecoin race plus why perps are better than spot

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 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’re joined by Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, as two parallel wars erupt across crypto: the Perp DEX war between Hyperliquid and the CZ-backed Aster, and the deepening battle for stablecoin dominance. As Aster rockets to $30B in daily volume, we debate whether it’s real adoption or points-fueled froth — and what it means for Hyperliquid’s lead. Then we dive into Tether’s shocking $500B valuation play, Circle’s shrinking moat, and how Rain is building real-world rails for stablecoin payments. If crypto has two new battlegrounds — trading venues and money itself — this is where the future is getting drawn.

Show highlights

🔹 DEX Wars: Aster vs. Hyperliquid – Aster hits $30B daily volume; is it real demand or a points-fueled surge? Hyperliquid’s dominance faces its first real threat.

🔹 CZ’s Return to Form – Aster’s Binance links, aggressive fee model, and possible “James Wynn” conspiracy theory raise the stakes in the perp DEX arena.

🔹 Wash Trading & Open Interest Gaps – Aster’s $2B TVL contrasts with $1.25B open interest vs. Hyperliquid’s $10B, sparking questions about organic traction.

🔹 Incentive Wars – Aster rewards takers 2x over makers; Hyperliquid and Blur praised for long-game design that built sticky liquidity instead of short-term volume.

🔹 The Execution Advantage – Haseeb: “Asia executes better than it innovates”; Aster may stumble now but could out-iterate and outscale its rivals.

🔹 Stablecoin Shockwave: Tether’s $500B Valuation Leak – Tether quietly seeks $15–20B in private funding, aiming for a $500B valuation—matching OpenAI and SpaceX.

🔹 Circle vs. Tether – Circle trades at 0.5x supply, Tether seeks 3x; the panel debates margins, moat, and whether USDC can survive the “reverse momentum.”

🔹 Rain’s Real-World Stablecoin Rails – Farooq Malik shares how Rain powers payroll, P2P, cards, and merchant payments on stablecoins—without touching fiat.

🔹 New Use Cases: Stablecoins in the Wild – On-chain credit cards, just-in-time lending, cross-border Facebook ad funding, and more—all enabled by 24/7 money.

🔹 Global Adoption: LatAm, MENA, Asia – Rain’s data shows stablecoin usage exploding outside the U.S., especially in regions with FX controls and unstable banks.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest

⭐️Farooq Malik, Co-Founder & CEO of Rain

⁠Disclosures⁠

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:02 Aster vs. Hyperliquid

14:25 Regulatory Capture: L2s, Sequencers, CFTC

26:08 Tether’s $500B Valuation: Bubble or Bargain?

31:36 Tether vs. Circle: Stablecoin Economics

42:56 Rain: Stablecoin Payments Infra

47:16 Stablecoin Use Cases; Cards, Payroll, P2P

54:04 Global Stablecoin Growth

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How do stablecoin-first blockchains win distribution? Does TVL actually map to value? And why speculation may become the default language of online culture.

In this 3-part episode, we explore three different important stories.

• Segment 1: CoinFund’s Seth Ginns explains how newly launched stablecoin chain Plasma aims to compete, plus why the “stablecoin race” with Circle and Stripe is just beginning.
  

• Segment 2: Solana Foundation president Lily Liu lays out why revenue—not TVL—should be crypto’s north-star metric, whether TVL can be easily gamed, and what a better DeFi metric stack looks like.
  

• Segment 3: Figment Capital’s James Parillo makes the case for Pump.fun and “AudienceFi”: how creator coins can financialize streaming, whether token collapses are a feature, and why both perps and memecoins rhyme with gambling.

  Thank you to our sponsors!

• TOKEN2049 - Get 15% off with code UNCHAINED

• Binance

  
  

  Guests:

• James Parillo, General Partner at Figment Capital

• Lily Liu, President of Solana Foundation

• Seth Ginns, Managing Partner and Head of Liquid Investments at CoinFund

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Crypto investors love to throw around “FDV” as if it’s the ultimate measure of value. But what if that number is more misleading than helpful? 

In this episode, DBA’s Jon Charbonneau explains his proposal to cut Hyperliquid’s supply by nearly half, why he believes FDV overstates real valuations, and how outdated tokenomics are holding projects back. 

We also cover whether the Hyperliquid team should take smaller allocations if they cut the token supply and what Jon thinks of Arthur Hayes’ HYPE sale just weeks after saying the token would 10x.

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Mantle⁠!

Guest:

• Jon Charbonneau, Co-founder and General Partner of DBA

Links:

• Proposal to Reduce HYPE Total Supply by 45% by Jon Charbonneau, Co-founder of DBA

• Maelstrom post: HYPE's Damocles Sword

• Unchained: Nearly $12 Billion in HYPE Token Unlocks Loom Ahead: Maelstrom 

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

📉 0:35 What Jon thinks people get wrong when they use FDV as a valuation metric

🧮 4:05 How Jon’s proposal would change Hyperliquid’s supply and valuation

🆘 12:20 If the Assistance Fund is removed, how can emergencies be handled?

📊 15:05 How token supplies should really be evaluated when valuing projects

⏳ 20:44 Why current tokenomics reflect an outdated model

✂️ 24:56 Should the Hyperliquid team be taking a smaller allocation too?

🤔 28:15 What Jon thinks of Arthur Hayes selling HYPE right after calling for the moon

🔮 31:351 How Hyperliquid should move forward with Jon’s proposal

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Markets had a flood of liquidations on Monday, and traders lost over $1.5 billion in positions. So, why are liquidations spiking? Is this a warning or a blip? 

Also, could a flood of DAT issuance be setting the stage for not just a crypto winter, but a crypto “nuclear” winter? If so, hedge funds and market structure could accelerate the pain. 

This week on Bits + Bips, Steven Ehrlich, Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell, and Vinny Lingham talk about why mNAVs could compress and whether even MicroStrategy’s stack is more fragile than it looks. 

They debate the bull case for gold (yes, even at these ATHs), how tokenized stocks and changing reporting cadences could open new insider edges, and what the U.S. macro picture looks like. 

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Walrus: Scalable storage that lets you publish, deliver, and program any data, onchain.

• Xapo: Where Global Banking Meets Bitcoin

Hosts:

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

• Steven Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guests:

• Austin Campbell, Founder and Managing Partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting

• Vinny Lingham, Co-founder of Praxos Capital

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

💥7:39 Why Monday’s liquidations spiked and what triggered $1.5B in losses

📊 11:18 How a shift away from quarterly reporting could change markets

🕵️ 14:16 How tokenized stocks might hand insiders a massive edge

🐻 22:05 Why Vinny is bearish right now and why Ram disagrees

🥇 24:25 Why gold might still have upside, even at record highs

📉 28:59 Whether the flood of DATs will end in brutal consolidation

⚡ 35:49 Could even MicroStrategy blow up under market stress?

✅ 48:17 What SEC clearing the path for ETFs really signals for crypto

📈 54:23 Ram’s stock picks in this environment

⚠️ 56:00 Why Austin sees a looming breakdown in the U.S. economy

😌 58:02 Why Vinny doesn’t feel the need to take big risks right now

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In this episode, Cyber Capital’s Justin Bons and Codex’s Haonan Li challenge the new orthodoxy: whether payments chains should be alt L1s or Ethereum L2s, how “neutrality” and finality matter for real-world transactions, and why fragmentation could make or break onchain dollars. 

We dig into Stripe’s Tempo (and its permissioned start), what it would take for L2s to reach true decentralization, and whether stablechains undercut general-purpose chains.

Plus: the trade-offs of sequencers, paying gas in dollars, and whether protocol-native stables are the future.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Binance

• Token2049 – Get 15% off with code UNCHAINED

  
  

Guests:

• Justin Bons, Founder and CIO of Cyber Capital

• Haonan Li, Co-founder and CEO of Codex

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Intro

• 💭 1:45 Laying out the first arguments

• 🛠️ 12:57 What needs to happen for L2s to finally become stage 2 rollups

• 💵 15:40 Why Haonan chose to launch a stablecoin-focused L2 on Ethereum

• 🏦 30:17 Does Stripe’s Tempo L1 spell trouble for Ethereum L2s?

• ⚖️ 38:55 Whether Tempo can position itself as a neutral blockchain

• 🔗 50:02 Are L2s capable of true decentralization?

• ⏱️ 53:58 How important finality is for stablecoin businesses

• 🧩 57:08 Why fragmentation could make or break stablecoins

• 🔮 1:02:31 What the future of rollups should look like

• ⚔️ 1:05:58 The case for and against general-purpose chains

• 📉 1:13:12 Whether protocol-native stablecoins will keep gaining traction

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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’re joined by Gordon Liao, Chief Economist at Circle, to dissect the Stablecoin Wars. From Circle’s Arc and Stripe + Paradigm’s Tempo, to Solana’s native stablecoin push and Hyperliquid’s deal, we unpack why everyone suddenly wants their own chain or branded stablecoin. Is this the future of crypto’s monetary layer — or just a fragmentation nightmare? We dig into FX use cases, PMF for stablecoins, collective bargaining power of ecosystems, and whether “stablecoin-as-a-service” is the next killer primitive or a liquidity trap.

Show highlights

🔹 Arc vs. Tempo — Circle’s Arc and Stripe + Paradigm’s Tempo: stablecoin-native L1s with permissioned validator sets, stablecoin gas, privacy, and FX engines.

🔹 Will FX Ever Matter? — Gordon: $9T/day FX market is broken; onchain FX could slash costs. Tarun + Haseeb question whether non-USD stables will ever get real traction.

🔹 Solana’s Stablecoin Gambit — Mert & Solana cabal eyeing a native stable to “stop giving Circle all the yield” — can a chain coordinate its way to PMF?

🔹 Collective Bargaining Meta — Hyperliquid deal proves apps/chains can extract economics from issuers; could ecosystems unionize to demand rev share?

🔹 Money Velocity Problem — BUSD worked (until it was banned); Huobi’s KUSD died for lack of velocity; most native stables never circulate beyond mints/redemptions.

🔹 Stablecoin-as-a-Service Gold Rush — Everyone launching a wrapped stable: M^0, Paxos, Agora. Does this dilute liquidity and trust — or unlock new UX?

🔹 Trust & Brand Moat — Users can’t be forced to convert; Circle’s scale, bank rails, and liquidity network remain hard to replicate.

🔹 Network Effects ≠ Monopoly — Stablecoin market evolved into USDC/Tether duopoly with niche players (Athena); future may see more vertical-specific winners.

🔹 Reg + Yield Outlook — GENIUS Act may ban interest payments; as rates fall, mint/redeem fees may replace reserve yield as the main revenue source.

🔹 Stablecoin Future — Will Solana, Tempo, Arc, and others fragment liquidity — or finally bring the next billion users on-chain?

Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest

⭐️Gordon Liao, Chief Economist & Head of Research at Circle

Disclosures

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

00:52 Gordon Liao from Circle

01:48 Stablecoin Chains: Arc vs. Tempo

04:40 Memory Lane with Libra 

06:33 Will FX Ever Matter for Stablecoins?

12:06 Challenges with Stablecoin Adoption

23:12 Circle’s Strategy & Competitors

26:13 Stablecoin Negotiations & Ecosystem Dynamics

31:39 Launching a Global Scale Stablecoin

37:25 Role of Trust & Branding

41:25 Stablecoin as a Service

57:53 The Future of Stablecoins

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This week on Bits + Bips, hosts Steve Ehrlich and Ram Ahluwalia speak with Blockchain.com’s Nic Cary and Franklin Templeton’s Max Gokhman.

We talk about how the potential Base token would alter the L2 landscape, and who should capture the value if Coinbase becomes the backbone for DeFi. Also, whether Web2 and TradFi giants will buy their way onchain, why privacy infrastructure is overdue, and how TON’s superapp strategy could pressure social platforms to follow suit. 

Plus: how Franklin Templeton is valuing L2s and other tokens, why the FOMC’s decision matters for crypto risk, and how tariff talk could spill into digital assets. 

Thank you to our sponsor, Xapo!

Hosts:

• Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guests:

• Nic Cary, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman at Blockchain.com

• Max Gokhman, Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions

Links:

• Unchained: 

• Base Will Likely Have a Token: Why Now, Who Wins, and How Big It Gets

• Base Starts to Explore a Native Token

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🪙 5:13 The reason for Coinbase’s flip flop on a Base token

🌉 18:33 Should Blockchain.com launch its own L2?

🏗️ 22:05 Is Coinbase becoming the infrastructure layer for DeFi?

📊 25:13 How $1.5 trillion Franklin Templeton builds valuation frameworks for L2s and tokens

📱 30:33 Nic’s case for TON and its superapp strategy

🏦 34:00 Whether Web2 and TradFi giants will buy their way onchain

🕵️ 40:21 Why privacy infrastructure is overdue for crypto but never seems to work

📉 51:03 Surprising predictions regarding the next Fed rate cut

🇺🇸 57:45 Why Trump has a tariff backup plan, and what it means for crypto

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Base just crossed its own Rubicon. After months of saying “no token,” Jesse Pollak now says Base must decentralize and is “exploring” a token. What changed? 

On this episode, Proof of Play’s ICO Beast and former Coinbase Ventures investor Ryan Yi unpack why “exploring” is the operative word, how policy (the Clarity Act) could shape the rollout, and what a points-driven airdrop might look like. 

We dig into governance realism (what Coinbase will and won’t give up), token utility and valuation math, and how a Base↔Solana bridge could ignite a fight for DeFi liquidity while Solana keeps winning Gen-Z consumers.

Mantle is pioneering "Blockchain for Banking" — a revolutionary new category at the intersection of TradFi and web3.

Thank you to our sponsor Mantle!

Follow Mantle to learn more.

Guests: 

• Ico Beast, Merchant of Narratives at Proof of Play

• Ryan Yi, Ex Coinbase, Coinbase Ventures, and CoinFund




Links:

• Unchained: 

• Base Starts to Explore a Native Token

• LayerZero Fought the Sybils and Airdropped Its Token. Did the Team Win?

• Why the War Over the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid Is Bullish for Crypto

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

😲 1:32 Why Ryan says this step feels right but is also “shocking”

🧐 3:21 Why Base announced it was exploring a token rather than just launching one

🛠️ 5:19 How Ryan views Base’s decision to stay committed to Ethereum

📊 7:43 What Ryan thinks a fair token allocation would look like

⚖️ 13:43 How the Clarity Act could shape a Base token rollout

🎁 16:23 Will Coinbase distribute through an ICO, an airdrop, or something else?

📈 23:32 Why ICO Beast has a different take on the right allocation

🛡️ 26:10 Why sybil filters will be critical for Base

💡 27:50 What the Base token’s utility could be—and how to value it

🌉 37:24 What the announced Base ↔ Solana bridge could mean

⚔️ 42:08 Whether Ethereum and Solana are heading for a DeFi liquidity war

🔥 45:25 How competition across crypto companies is heating up

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Hyperliquid’s USDH ticker set off the most dramatic “RFP” in recent memory. The crew breaks down why Native Markets ran away with validator support, whether the process was theater or strategy, and how the Bake-off became a marketing masterstroke—and potential leverage on Circle. We dig into Polymarket odds, the last‑minute Paxos bribery allegation (denied), and what this means for future “native” stables on Solana, app chains, and beyond.

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’re joined by Guy founder of Ethena as a special guest, as a single ticker (USDH) sparked a weeklong spectacle: Hyperliquid’s “Bake-off” to award the USDH stablecoin brand. Native Markets surged ahead as validators signaled support, Paxos rallied late with partners and incentives, and Ethena ultimately withdrew. Was this always a vibes‑based beauty contest, or a deliberate move to pressure Circle and re‑route bridge yield? We parse the incentives, the governance, and the market microstructure — and peek at what happens if every big chain/app tries the “native stablecoin” playbook.

Show highlights🔹 Hyperliquid RFP, Explained — Validators signaled early; stakers could migrate; the USDH “ticker” confers no explicit fee rights, yet bidders offered huge economics.

🔹 Why Native Won — “Vibes-based beauty contest”: homegrown team fit the HL ethos; speed, alignment, and community trust trumped external credentials.

🔹 Paxos Allegation — Late claim of validator bribery surfaced; Paxos denied; no receipts provided; underscores governance fragility to extra‑protocol incentives.

🔹 The Real Prize — Bridge control & yield capture (+ tail‑risk management) mattered more than a brand: even a “just a ticker” beachhead can evolve to real economics.

🔹 Masterstroke Marketing — The public Bake-off dragged every major issuer onstage, boosting HL mindshare and potential leverage in any USDC negotiation.

🔹 Open vs. Closed — If you want a native team, say so; calling it an “RFP” for service providers while preferring insiders created dissonance and drama.

🔹 Odds vs. Votes — Polymarket odds rapidly converged on Native despite splashy rival bids—perception and validator reality diverged from Twitter takes.

🔹 Issuer Margins Compress — Public bids commoditize stablecoin issuance; expect 5–15 bps “asset‑manager” style economics unless you’re Tether‑scale.

🔹 App/Chain Rent Wars — Who captures the float? Apps, wallets, and chains will increasingly demand economics for distribution; UX and liquidity fragmentation loom.

🔹 Liquidity Gotchas — Forcing a nonstandard stable can impair quotes vs. USDT pairs elsewhere; exchanges risk killing their golden goose to save a few bps.

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

⭐️Guy Young, Founder & CEO of Ethena Labs

Disclosures⁠⁠

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:27 Hyperliquid USDH Stablecoin Proposal: Setup & Stakes

03:25 USDH “Bake-off”: Native Markets vs. Paxos, Ethena, Frax

06:21 Early Signals, Rumors, and Bribery Allegations

13:33 Validator Decisions, Community Reactions & Market Fallout

28:53 Polymarket Odds & Onchain Sentiment

29:47 Liquidity, Bridge Yield, & Market Microstructure Explained

31:46 Hyperliquid’s Strategic Playbook

34:28 Governance Design

37:45 Stablecoin Ecosystem

39:25 Exchange Liquidity Challenges, Maker Behavior & Fee Dynamics

55:28 Final Takeaways & Lessons for Chains, Exchanges & Issuers

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Stablecoins are supposed to be boring, but the fight for the USDH ticker on Hyperliquid has turned into one of the most dramatic battles in crypto. 

From Ethena suddenly pulling out, to Paxos revamping its bid, to whispers of favoritism, the contest has put protocol-native stablecoins in the spotlight. 

In this episode, MegaETH co-founder Shuyao Kong, who just announced their own stablecoin USDm, speaks about why they chose Ethena as a partner, and why alignment with Hyperliquid matters more than short-term incentives. 

She also explains why ecosystems need both yield-chasing and yield-agnostic stablecoins — and whether Circle and Tether could be pushed aside in the next wave of competition.

Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Token2049⁠!

Get 15% off your tickets with the code UNCHAINED!

Guest:

• Shuyao Kong, Co-founder of MegaETH

Links: 

• Unchained: 

• The Competition Is On. Who’ll Win the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid?

• Bits + Bips: Hyperliquid’s USDH Bidding War & Why the DAT Model Is Broken

• Ethena Joins Race to Issue Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Paxos Unveils USDH Proposal V2 With PayPal, Venmo Integrations 

• Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Ethena withdraws its proposal 

• The Block: MegaETH launches native USDm stablecoin with Ethena to subsidize sequencer fees

• Polymarket bet: Who will win the USDH ticker?

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🔥 3:02 Why Shuyao is so energized by the USDH ticker war

🔄 4:52 How the USDH drama reshaped MegaETH’s USDm launch

🤝 5:27 What convinced MegaETH to choose Ethena as its partner

🌐 11:20 What it really means to be aligned with an ecosystem

🚪 15:36 How Shuyao views Ethena’s sudden withdrawal from the contest

📣 18:22 Whether public governance decisions will keep gaining influence

🏗️ 20:16 Will protocol-native stablecoins be the winners of the next wave?

💵 21:22 Could Circle and Tether actually get pushed aside on Hyperliquid?

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Pump.fun rocketed to revenue, ran a blockbuster token sale, and then hit turbulence: rivals took share, the token slid, bots spammed launches, and critics cried “casino.” 

Now the team is fighting back with a dynamic creator-fee model, a liquidity foundation for cult communities, and an unapologetic push into live streaming and mobile.

In this episode, co-founder Noah Tweedale lays out how Project Ascend aims to align creators and communities, why buybacks aren’t a long-term business model, what they’re doing about bots and user losses, and how Pump plans to compete not just with crypto apps, but with YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. 

It’s a candid look at whether a crypto product can become a mainstream platform.

Thank you to our sponsor ⁠Token2049⁠!

Get 15% off with the code UNCHAINED

Guest:

• Noah Tweedale, Co-founder of Pump.fun

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

⚡ 2:09 Why the past few months have been so turbulent for Pump

💸 4:47 How the new dynamic fee model works for creators

🔍 9:40 How Pump’s discovery algorithm surfaces tokens

♻️ 10:45 Will Pump’s buybacks become programmatic?

🐶 15:33 Why LetsBonk was able to grab so much market share

⚔️ 18:20 Whether Noah sees Zora as a competitor

🌍 20:09 Why Noah wants to build a world-changing app, not chase small wins

👥 25:02 Whether Pump is prioritizing specific demographics

🔧 27:14 What the team is focused on improving in the app

🔗 30:32 How Pump is building interoperability with the broader crypto ecosystem

🤖 32:21 What the team is doing about bots launching tokens

💔 34:48 Whether they’re worried about so many users losing money

🛡️ 36:15 Why Noah doesn’t see apps like Zora or Believe as real competitors

📱 38:38 How mobile usage differs from desktop on Pump

⚖️ 40:03 How Pump approaches regulation and compliance

🎲 41:02 Why Noah insists Pump is not gambling, it’s trading

🎥 42:49 The strategies to compete with YouTube and Twitch

🌐 48:30 How Pump fits into a world with a widening wealth gap

🎰 53:29 How Noah responds to critics calling Pump a casino

🗺️ 57:56 Why Noah says roadmaps are a fallacy

🛠️ 59:41 Whether Pump will evolve into an “everything app”

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The fight for Hyperliquid’s USDH stablecoin is more than a ticker battle—it’s a referendum on how crypto distribution, governance, and incentives will shape the next trillion-dollar market. 

In this episode of Bits + Bips, Steve Ehrlich sits down with Delta Blockchain Fund’s Kavita Gupta, Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn, and Frax founder Sam Kazemian to dig into the big questions: Who will win the USDH war, and why does distribution matter more than design? Are DATs fulfilling their promises—or raising money without accountability? Why are L2s the wrong place for tokenized stocks? And where exactly is the trillion-dollar opportunity in stablecoins?

Sponsors:

• Xapo

• Walrus
  

Host:

• Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guests:

• Kavita Gupta, Founder & Managing Partner of Delta Blockchain Fund

• Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Digital

• Sam Kazemian, Founder of Frax Finance

Links:

• Unchained: 

• The Competition Is On. Who’ll Win the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid?

• Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH 

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🔥 4:17 The bidding war for Hyperliquid’s USDH

🗳️ 25:12 Whether the Hyperliquid DAO is truly decentralized

⚠️ 29:22 Are DATs already broken as a product?

🌶️ 35:00 How some DATs avoid fulfilling their promises after raising money

📈 40:27 Why yield-maximization is critical for DATs—and what risks it creates

💵 53:22 Where the trillion-dollar opportunity in stablecoins might actually be

🏛️ 55:35 Why tokenized stocks belong on L1s, not L2s

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The battle for Hyperliquid’s USDH ticker is a referendum on what crypto wants to be: a community-first public good, or a globally scaled, institution-ready product. 

With the clock ticking toward the proposal and voting deadlines, Agora’s Nick van Eck and Paxos Labs’ Bhau Kotecha lay out their cases—100% revenue back to users vs. 95% with enterprise distribution, “Hyperliquid alignment” versus “bring it to the masses,” and what each would build on day one if they win. 

We also dig into liquidity, slippage claims, validator dynamics, and how a single ticker could shape the future of onchain markets.

Thank you to our sponsors ⁠⁠Mantle⁠⁠!

Guests:

• Nick van Eck, CEO and Co-founder of Agora

• Bhau Kotecha, Co-founder of Paxos Labs

  
  

  
  

Links:

• Unchained: 

• Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH 

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

⏱️ 0:45 How Laura breaks down the background of the proposals

💵 2:12 Why the USDH ticker matters so much for Hyperliquid

🌊 4:04 Why Hyperliquid is an ecosystem “you need to be in”

📜 5:38 How Agora explains its proposal to return all revenue

🏦 10:08 How Paxos makes its case for enterprise distribution

🤝 14:03 Why “Hyperliquid alignment” is central to this debate

🎁 17:05 Why Agora says it’s willing to give back 100% of revenue—what’s in it for them

💸 19:26 Why Paxos is pushing for 95% revenue back instead of 100%

🚀 24:03 What each side would build on day one if they win

⚖️ 31:49 How to characterize the differences between the two proposals

❓ 34:11 What it would mean if neither Agora nor Paxos wins

📉 39:23 Whether Paxos’s PYUSD suffers from slippage and liquidity issues

🗳️ 42:08 What voters should really consider when choosing a proposal

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Pokémon cards are no longer just collectibles stuffed in a binder. They’re becoming liquid, tradable assets onchain.
In this episode, Collector Crypt CEO Tuom Holmberg and Bitwise’s Danny Nelson explain how the project is reimagining the $100 billion trading card industry. From slashing eBay’s 13% fees to near-zero, to solving decades-old authentication problems with vaulting and NFTs, to launching a token that surged 700% in weeks, Collector Crypt is pushing trading cards into crypto rails.
We also explore whether this is the start of a “Polymarket moment” for collectibles, how these cards could be used in DeFi, and if mainstream investors might soon allocate to Pokémon decks alongside BTC and ETH.

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• Walrus

  
  

  Guests:

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Intro

• 🛒 2:35 Why eBay’s fees are so high and how Collector Crypt cuts them down

• 🎴 7:50 How a Pokémon card collector would actually trade onchain

• 🔒 9:40 What security measures protect vaulted cards

• 👤 11:13 How Tuom’s background led him to build Collector Crypt

• 📉 13:14 The highs and lows of launching the app over time

• ⚖️ 21:24 How the company navigates copyright issues with Pokémon

• 💰 23:05 Why the $CARDS token surged 700% in weeks

• 🏦 28:28 How Collector Crypt makes money

• ⚡ 29:43 Why the team chose to build on Solana

• 🌍 31:43 How big the trading card market could get onchain

• 🔮 35:03 What’s next in Collector Crypt’s roadmap

• 🔥 39:25 Why Danny Nelson calls this a “Polymarket moment”

• 🖼️ 41:31 What makes digital trading cards different from other tokenized assets

• 👀 45:06 Why Collector Crypt grabbed so much attention last week

• 📊 49:22 How traditional funds could start investing in trading cards

• 🌐 52:04 Whether trading cards are about to go mainstream

• 🔗 53:40 How Pokémon decks could even be used in DeFi

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DATs aren’t done. They may just be getting started. 

In this episode, CoinFund’s Chris Perkins and Upexi’s Brian Rudick join Ram Ahluwalia and Steven Ehrlich to dissect why some DATs could outcompete ETFs for certain investors, the bullish accretion math behind premiums, and what makes a winning vehicle.

We also dig into whether this is altcoin season or a head fake, why Galaxy’s tokenized-share move matters, and the one market unlock Perkins says could change everything.

Use this episode to pressure-test your assumptions: are DATs “just banks,” or the best product-market-fit crypto has found for TradFi capital?

Thank you to our sponsor ⁠Xapo Bank⁠!

Xapo offers Bitcoin-backed loans of up to $1 million, so eligible members can access liquidity without selling their BTC. 

Hosts:

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
• Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained




Guests:

• Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund

• Brian Rudick, Chief Strategy Officer at Upexi

Links:

DATs:

• How Crypto Treasury Companies Are Turning to DeFi and TradFi to Juice Yields

• How Michael Saylor Plans to Ensure Strategy Keeps Its Bitcoin Forever

• These 4 Crypto Treasury Companies Are Primed for a Price Crash

• Crypto Treasury Companies Are All the Rage. Could They Cause an Industry Collapse?

Tokenization:

• Federal Reserve to hold conference discussing crypto stablecoins, tokenization, and AI

• GLXY tokenized stock

• Ondo Finance launched over 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on Ethereum

• CZ-owned Trust Wallet launches tokenized stocks and ETFs

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Intro

• ⏱  3:00 Are markets set for another September swoon?

• 📈 6:03 Why the bull case for DATs isn’t over

• 🏦 12:41 Why Brian says “DATs are banks”

• 💡 18:20 Are DATs better products than ETFs for investors?

• 🧮 21:00 How the math behind premiums shows DATs create value

• 🪙 28:01 Whether this is the time for altcoins to shine

• 🌍 35:10 Where macro is heading and what investors should watch

• 🚨 37:48 Why Galaxy’s tokenized-share move on Solana is such a big deal

• 🔑 49:25 What the key market unlock is for altcoins

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Altcoin froth meets political theater. The team dissects World Liberty Financial’s explosive debut: a $22B token backed by the Trump family, a disputed Aave partnership, insider buybacks, and a “gold paper” instead of a whitepaper. We break down Justin Sun’s role, why critics call it crypto’s “garbage moat,” and how WLFi could become the Thanksgiving dinner debate of 2025. Plus: Gavin Newsom’s meme coin tease, GDP data going on-chain, and the CFTC reopening U.S. markets to global exchanges.

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 wild debut of World Liberty Financial — Trump’s $22B DeFi token that launched with a “gold paper,” insider allocations, and buybacks despite no product. We break down the Trump family’s $5B paper fortune, the disputed Aave deal, and whether WLFi is a serious stablecoin project or just another garbage fire in crypto’s moat. From Justin Sun’s backing to Thanksgiving dinner debates, we unpack what WLFi means for politics, memes, and markets. Then we zoom out to Gavin Newsom’s meme coin tease, the U.S. Commerce Department posting GDP on-chain, and fresh CFTC moves that could reshape crypto exchanges and ETFs.

Show highlights

🔹 World Liberty Financial Launch — Debuted at $22B FDV, $6B circulating cap; price fell 34% on day one with $2.5B in trading volume.

🔹 Trump Family Windfall — 22% of WLFi supply + 75% of presale; $440M presale cash and $5.6B in token wealth now exceeds Trump’s real estate.

🔹 The “Gold Paper” — No whitepaper, but a gold paper signed by Trump’s sons; co-founder emeritus title given to Trump himself.

🔹 Aave Deal Denied — WLFi initially promised 7% supply + 20% fees to Aave; governance ratified, then team denied it ever happened. Snapshot vs. “fake news.”

🔹 Token Buybacks — Team began buying back WLFi with $3M despite no sustainable revenue streams; price rallied but raised doubts.

🔹 Justin Sun’s Role — Largest backer, holding >3% of circulating supply; reignites debate over credibility.

🔹 Fastest Growing Stablecoin Claim — USD1 touted as the fastest-growing stablecoin in history; critics call it unsustainable hype.

🔹 Speculative Mania — Hosts compare WLFi to Bored Apes: meme-driven, high valuation, little product substance.

🔹 Garbage in the Living Room — Haseeb: WLFi is “crypto’s garbage moat” breaking into mainstream consciousness.

🔹 Thanksgiving Talking Point — The coin destined to dominate family dinner debates, regardless of legitimacy.

🔹 Gavin’s Meme Coin Response — Newsom teases “Trump Corruption Coin”; Polymarket odds at 36%. Hosts doubt Democrats can meme.

🔹 GDP On-Chain — Dept. of Commerce posts GDP data on 9 blockchains via Chainlink; useful innovation or pointless theater?

🔹 CFTC Path for Foreign Exchanges — Revives FBO registration to re-open US markets to offshore exchanges; Binance/OKX implications.

🔹 ETFs vs. Spot on CME — New rules may allow CME/Nasdaq to sell spot crypto; could undercut ETFs.

🔹 The Everything App Debate — Coinbase, Robinhood, and brokerages converge on offering stocks + crypto. Hosts spar over whether ETFs belong on Coinbase.

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 - Liberty Financials & The Chopping Block Intro

01:21 - World Liberty Financial

05:15 - Tokenomics, Buybacks, and WLFI Drama

08:54 - Memecoins, Bored Apes, and Speculation

11:42 - Memecoins vs. Real Products

19:07 - Gavin Newsom & Beyond

25:43 - GDP Prints Onchain & Blockchain Use Cases

35:06 - CFTC, Regulation, and Global Crypto Markets

42:15 - The Everything App: Crypto, Stocks, and the Future of Finance

51:28 - Security, Trust, and the Future of Financial Platforms

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Behind some of the biggest token launches of the past year — from Trump’s $TRUMP coin to the recent Kanye West’s $YZY, to the collapse of $LIBRA and this week’s launch of $WLFI — the same insider names keep popping up. 

In this episode, Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman explains how figures like Hayden Davis of Kelsier Ventures, celebrity promoter Sahil Arora, Naseem, and even Justin Sun have profited from chaotic launches. 

We dig into the mechanics of insider “snipes,” one-sided LPs that hide selling, and why celebrity and political tokens so often collapse right after launch. 

Finally, Nick asks: if “no one is coming to save us,” what real protections can the industry build?

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Mantle

• Re

Guest:

• Nicolas Vaiman, CEO and co-founder of Bubblemaps

Links:

• Previous coverage of Unchained on these token launches:

• Why Would Argentine President Javier Milei Protect Kelsier's Hayden Davis?

• How the Libra Scandal Exposed Memecoin Insider Trading on the World Stage

• Why Lyn Alden Isn't a Fan of Trump’s Memecoin

• Unchained:

• LIBRA Facilitator Sniped $12M of Kanye West’s YZY Token: Bubblemaps

• YZY Sniper Wallet Traced to LIBRA Scheme

• Kanye West’s YZY Token Launches With ‘Class Action Waiver’

• Trump Family Grows $5 Billion Richer After WLFI Token Sale

• Circle Freezes $57M of USDC Linked to Libra Scandal

Timestamps:

• ⏱ 0:00 Introduction

• 🔍 0:56 How Nick verified Trump’s memecoin was legit but Melania’s looked fishy, and how that led to Hayden Davis

• 🕵️ 8:00 What role Davis played in other shady memecoin launches

• 🎤 10:51 How Davis was tied to Kanye West’s $YZY token

• ⚡ 15:48 How sophisticated snipers find tokens onchain before everyone else

• ❓ 21:28 How Davis recovered frozen funds, and does this mean “crime is legal” in crypto?

• 👑 27:16 Why do celebrity memecoins almost always collapse

• 🎯 31:30 How are snipers plaguing the industry

• 😈 37:14 What tactics has Sahil Arora, the “crypto villain,” been accused of

• 🛠 40:51 How should the industry respond to these kinds of token launches

• 📈 46:07 How Justin Sun made a 10x on WLFI

• 👨‍💻 49:27 What’s Nick’s background and why he created Bubblemaps

• 🔮 53:32 How Bubblemaps plans to stand out from competitors

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Coinbase’s L2 Base is quickly becoming the most powerful distribution funnel in crypto — and two builders are betting everything on it. 

In this episode, Aerodrome’s Alex Cutler and Moonwell’s Luke Youngblood explain why they aligned early with Base, how Coinbase’s strategy could transform token launches by offering “one-click distribution” to 100M+ users, and why they believe Coinbase is set to become the world’s largest “crypto bank.” 

They also debate whether exchanges should decide which assets people can trade, how DeFi must evolve to reward token holders sustainably, and whether Uniswap’s push to keep liquidity fragmented is a moat or a weakness. 

Finally, they unpack the future of sequencing — and why Flashbots could deliver Solana-level speed while making trading fairer for everyone.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Walrus

Guests:

• Alexander Cutler, Co-founder of Aerodrome Finance

• Luke Youngblood, founder of Moonwell Finance

Links:

• Unchained: Companies Are Competing to Bring Crypto to the Masses. Who Is Best Positioned?

• Crypto Firms, Fintechs and Banks Hope to Dominate Stablecoins. Who Will Win?

• Moonwell stats

• Aerodrome stats

Timestamps:

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DAT mania meets market reality. Tom Lee becomes the face of ETH as BitMine amasses 1.5% of supply and mNAV premiums start to collapse. We break down Japan’s MetaPlanet tax arbitrage, SharpLink’s buyback tactics, and the coming wave of DAT M&A. Plus: Robinhood launches tokenized stocks in Europe using Arbitrum, the WFE fires a warning shot, and Stylus lets fintech devs go Rust-first onchain.

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, Arbitrum’s AJ Warner (Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs) joins to unpack the rise (and potential fall) of Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs), as Tom Lee emerges as Ethereum’s public face and BitMine amasses 1.5% of ETH. We dive into the collapse of mNAV premiums, Japan’s MetaPlanet tax arbitrage, and the looming consolidation of subscale DATs. Plus: Robinhood launches tokenized stocks in the EU on Arbitrum, AJ shares the roadmap for Robinhood Chain, and we debate whether token wrappers, buybacks, and DAT M&A mark the next era of crypto capital markets.

Show highlights

🔹 Tom Lee’s ETH Blitz – How BitMine amassed 1.5% of the ETH supply, why Tom Lee says ETH could flip BTC, and how he’s become the “face of Ethereum.”

🔹 mNAV Compression Across DATs – Big-name DATs (BitMine, MicroStrategy) hold premiums; smaller ones trend toward par or discounts.

🔹 Japan’s MetaPlanet Tax Arbitrage – Why MetaPlanet trades at 2.5–3× NAV: stock taxation loopholes vs. crypto income tax rates in Japan.

🔹 DAT Buybacks, Activism & M&A – SharpLink’s buyback plan, potential for hostile takeovers, and speculation around “DAT piracy.”

🔹 One-DAT-per-Alt Endgame – Why most new DATs are failing, the shift to consolidation, and why each token may only support one treasury long-term.

🔹 Staking ETFs vs DATs – DATs can stake nearly 100% of assets; ETFs are constrained by redemptions and liquidity windows.

🔹 Corporate Tax Drag & Onchain Yield – Trade-offs between tax efficiency and flexibility in corporate vs. ETF structures.

🔹 WFE vs. Tokenized Stocks – Global exchange lobby attacks third-party wrappers as misleading “tokenized stocks” lacking shareholder protections.

🔹 Robinhood’s Tokenized Stock Rollout – Launching in the EU under MiCA, built on Arbitrum One, with a full Robinhood Chain to follow.

🔹 Stylus & Arbitrum Stack Strategy – Why Rust/C/C++ compatibility on Arbitrum helped win the Robinhood deal; flexibility for fintech devs.

🔹 Hyperliquid’s Bridge to Arbitrum – $5B+ in assets sourced via Arbitrum; why Arbitrum’s partner-first posture beats chasing L3s.

🔹 DATs as the New CMOs – How charismatic leaders like Tom Lee and Saylor act as public-facing evangelists for their ecosystems.

HOSTS:

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest:

⭐️ A.J. Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs 

Links:

Disclosures⁠

DAT Mania Potential & mNAV Compression on the Chopping Block

https://youtu.be/rF8TGVWWRTU?list=PLySrw1Nvf-srh6ZnJ033Jb440VKUjVNgX&t=2249 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:10 Ethereum's Market Performance 

03:02 Tom Lee's Media Blitz 

06:37 Digital Asset Treasuries in Crypto

08:47 Tax Arbitrage and Premiums in Different Markets

10:58 Challenges of Digital Asset Treasuries

16:20 Corporate Form vs. ETFs for Staking

19:25 The Role of Spokespersons in Digital Asset Treasuries

27:59 Equity Heavy Strategies and MicroStrategy's Leverage

29:10 Market Signals and Liquidity Challenges

31:29 Adversarial M&A and Stock Buybacks

33:57 WFE letter to SEC: attack on “tokenized stocks”

45:32 Robinhood & Arbitrum Partnership

53:51 Hyperliquid vs. Arbitrum's Ecosystem

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• 🐦 X / Twitter 

Is crypto no longer moving in predictable four-year waves? 

From the rise of DATs and stablecoin-specific chains, to Hyperliquid challenging Binance itself, the industry is fracturing into segments with  winners and losers. 

In this episode, Hack VC’s Peter Hans and DBA’s Jon Charbonneau debate whether Solana is next in line for a TradFi pump, why ETH suddenly flipped from dead to indispensable, and how onchain exchanges could finally free projects from Binance’s grip.

Thank you to our sponsors!

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• Mantle

Guests:

• Peter Hans, Partner and Global Head of Business Development at Hack VC

• Jon Charbonneau, co-founder and general partner of DBA

Links:

• Rob Hadick’s tweet on the DAT trend 

• Vinny Lingham’s tweet on the locked SOL in DATs

• Unchained: 

• Hyperliquid Surpasses Robinhood in Trading Volume for Three Months Straight

• Circle to Launch Layer 1 Blockchain ‘Arc’

• Stripe Is Building Its Own Layer 1 Blockchain

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Intro

• 🎯 2:44 Whether the DAT trend is peaking or just getting started

• 🧾 10:57 Whether SOL DATs include locked funds from the FTX estate

• 🙅‍♂️ 11:52 Why Jon hasn’t touched any of these products

• 📈 16:28 Why Peter still sees long-term value in these vehicles

• 🔥 20:24 Why ETH is suddenly hot in TradFi and how SOL could follow

• 🏦 28:49 What makes a stablecoin-specific chain attractive

• 😶‍🌫️ 32:42 How crypto overlooked privacy for far too long

• 🔗 38:48 What it’ll take for stablecoin chains to win the payments game

• ⚠️ 45:39 Whether stablechains could hurt Ethereum, Tron, or Solana

• 🔍 47:46 Which stablechain has the best shot at success

• 💸 52:07 Why Hyperliquid beat Robinhood in trading volume

• 🧨 56:00 How Hyperliquid could break Binance’s listing chokehold

• 🕵️‍♂️ 59:23 What makes anonymous, no-KYC products appealing

• 📉 1:01:30 Whether the 4-year crypto cycle is officially dead

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Altcoin froth meets real-asset rails. Vlad explains why Robinhood built an L2, how tokenized stocks—and even private shares like OpenAI/SpaceX—could trade on-chain, and what that means for accreditation, access, and the public/private wall. Plus: DATs, DTCC in a tokenized world, and AI that formally proves smart contracts.

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, Robinhood co‑founder/CEO Vlad Tenev joins to explain Robinhood Chain, why they chose a Layer 2 over a Layer 1, and the plan to bring tokenized stocks — including private shares — on‑chain. We get into the OpenAI/SpaceX kerfuffle, accreditation rules, and whether permissionless tokenization erodes the public/private boundary. Then we zoom out to 24/7 trading, Digital Asset Treasuries, and how formal verification (Lean proofs) could make smart contracts safer.

Show highlights

🔹 Robinhood Chain L2 vs. L1 – Why Vlad Tenev chose a Layer 2 over a Layer 1 for tokenized stocks and real-world assets.

🔹 Tokenized Stocks & Private Shares – How Robinhood could put U.S. equities and private company equity (OpenAI, SpaceX) on-chain via SPVs and secondaries.

🔹 OpenAI/SpaceX Tokenization Debate – Issuer consent vs. permissionless exposure: what the kerfuffle reveals about private markets on-chain.

🔹 Retail Access & Accreditation Reform – Moving from wealth-gated accreditation to disclosure + self-certification so more investors can participate.

🔹 Ex-US Rollout for Tokenized Equities – Stablecoin-style playbook with KYC/geofencing and permissionless assets where allowed.

🔹 24/7 Trading for Stocks – From 24/5 to 24/7 markets; what this means for DTCC, transfer agents, and market plumbing.

🔹 Wallet + Chain + Custody Stack – Vertical integration advantages: pricing, UX, and liquidity when Robinhood owns more of the rails.

🔹 Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) – Yield dynamics, mNAV compression, and how DATs stack up against staking ETFs.

🔹 Memecoins vs. Real Assets – “You can buy memes but not OpenAI” paradox and why investor-protection rules feel backward.

🔹 AI-Verified Smart Contracts – Lean proofs, formal verification, and reducing smart-contract risk beyond manual audits.

🔹 Harmonic’s “Aristotle” – Vlad’s AI hitting IMO gold-medal-level math performance and what that means for code safety.

🔹 Robinhood’s Next Decade – Retail super app → B2B/institutional rails and ex-US expansion for tokenized finance.

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:

⭐️ Vlad Tenev, CEO & Co-founder of Robinhood

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:52 L2 vs. L1 Trade-Offs

04:19 Tokenized Stocks on Robinhood Chain 

07:56 Private Markets Onchain

16:10 Accreditation Reform & Compliance 

21:47 24/7 Trading for Equities

31:05 Public vs. Private Boundary

32:59 Memecoin Paradox vs. Real-Asset Tokenization

35:27 Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) 

37:50 Robinhood’s Business Mix 

41:38 Retail to Institutions: Global Expansion

46:44 Harmonic AI & Lean Proofs

54:48 Safer Smart Contracts Beyond Manual Audits

Disclosures

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The drama is heating up in crypto M&A. LayerZero, the omnichain interoperability protocol, shocked the market with a $110 million bid to acquire Stargate DAO — the very bridge it originally launched. Then Wormhole jumped in, asking the DAO to pause the vote so it could make a counter-offer.

This episode unpacks the first-ever so-called onchain bidding war: how to value DAOs like real businesses, why LayerZero and Wormhole are fighting over Stargate, and whether this deal marks the beginning of a consolidation wave across crypto.

Guests David Nage of Arca and M&A advisor Lawson Bae of Relayzero break down the numbers, the strategy, and what this turning point means for the industry.

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Sui

• Xapo Bank

Guests:

• David Nage, VC Portfolio Manager at Arca

• Lawson Bae, Founder of Relayzero

Links:

• Unchained: 

• Wormhole Foundation to Counter LayerZero’s Bid for Stargate

• LayerZero Foundation Proposes $110 Million Stargate Acquisition, Retiring STG for ZRO Tokens 

  
  

Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🧱 2:57 Why LayerZero wants to buy Stargate, the bridge it launched 💸 8:36 Whether the $110 million offer from LayerZero was actually fair 🕵️‍♂️ 14:07 How Wormhole may be trying to make things difficult for its biggest rival 📊 16:35 Why David thinks the $110 million number can be justified 📈 21:07 How the number of daily active users factors into valuing crypto projects 🔢 27:07 What a “reasonable multiple” for Stargate could look like 🗳️ 30:34 How the Stargate DAO should approach this pivotal decision 🤝 34:49 Why this deal shows that crypto M&A is booming

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Crypto is moving past speculation — and into the battle for mass adoption.

In this episode, Phantom CEO Brandon Millman and Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz join Unchained to debate who will own the next hundred million users. Will it be product-led startups, Web2 giants like X and Meta, or crypto-native apps like Phantom? From payments to trading wars to the “everything app” dream, they unpack where the real value will accrue — and why the easy money era for entrepreneurs is over.

Thank you to the sponsors who make this show possible!

• Re 

• Mantle

Guests:

• Brandon Millman, CEO and co-founder of Phantom

• Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🚧 3:34 Why Brandon still thinks it’s a great time to build in crypto

⚡ 5:55 How Luca sees this moment as an “inflection point” for the industry

👥 9:36 What Brandon and Luca’s personal journeys reveal about building in Web3

🌍 18:07 Who’s best positioned to onboard the next wave of users into crypto

💸 25:05 How distribution is key and why Luca desperately wants to invest in Phantom 😀

💳 37:00 Who might win the payments race and what gives them the edge

📱 51:26 Whether Solana’s Seeker phone has any real shot at breaking through

🔗 58:32 How Robinhood might use Privy and Bridge to dominate the crypto stack

⚔️ 1:01:17 What the new crypto trading wars say about Robinhood, Coinbase, and Kraken

🤔 1:06:05 Whether Coinbase lacks a good product team

📲 1:10:36 Whether the “everything app” dream actually makes sense

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Stablecoin-focused blockchains are popping up everywhere. Stripe, Circle, and more are betting they can dominate payments. But are these chains even needed? And will Ethereum ever be ready for real-world assets? 

Austin Campbell, NYU professor and founder of Zero Knowledge Consulting, joins Unchained to cut through the hype. From why “the market eventually eats you” to how consumers, not companies, could be the real winners, Campbell unpacks the competitive landscape and warns that the ultimate champion might be someone who isn’t even on the field today.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Walrus

• Xapo Bank

Guest:

• Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting

Links:

• Unchained: 

• Circle to Launch Layer 1 Blockchain ‘Arc’

• Stripe Is Building Its Own Layer 1 Blockchain: Report

• Fortune: Top crypto VC Matt Huang to lead Stripe blockchain Tempo as CEO, stay at Paradigm

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

💸 4:23 Whether the world really needs stablecoin-specific blockchains

🧪 9:45 How Stripe’s Tempo chain could gain an edge in the payments game

🌐 12:25 Why Circle’s Arc might struggle to stand out

🏆 15:19 Who could emerge as the winner of the stablecoin payments race

🗺️ 20:35 What the broader stablecoin chain landscape looks like right now

🏦 23:36 Whether crypto companies have a real shot at disrupting traditional finance

🙋‍ 27:51 Who could end up being the biggest winners

🧱 31:52 Why Ethereum may not be ready for the RWA moment

🔮 34:52 Who’s best positioned to capitalize on the next wave of blockchain-based payments

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Altcoin season meets corporate blockchains as Circle and Stripe launch their own L1s, Monero suffers the biggest 51% attack in history (powered by an AI named “Garth”), and the crew debates whether the DAT boom is heading toward equilibrium or mania.

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. In this episode, the crew dives into the surprising altcoin rally and asks whether ETH still counts as an alt. The big news: Circle unveils Arc, Stripe leaks Tempo — and crypto Twitter is not impressed. We explore why major fintechs are launching their own chains instead of using Ethereum L2s, and whether stablecoin-centric blockchains are the future or just profit grabs.

Then: the wildest headline of the week — Monero gets hit with a 51% attack by Qubic, a project training an AI called “Garth,” in what might be the largest attack of its kind. We break down the game theory, the proof-of-work vs. proof-of-stake debate, and what this foreshadows for Bitcoin’s security decades from now.

Also: Trump’s executive order opens the door for crypto in 401(k) plans, we speculate about a future GPU debt market crisis, and dissect the state of play in Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) — including whether yield advantages over staking ETFs mean we’re only halfway to mania.

Show highlights

🔹 ETH vs. Alts – Is Ethereum still an altcoin, or has it graduated to “major” status?

🔹 Circle’s Arc & Stripe’s Tempo – Why are fintech giants launching their own L1s instead of using Ethereum L2s?

🔹 Crypto Twitter Backlash – The ethos clash between “public goods” culture and corporate profit motives.

🔹 Monero’s 51% Attack – Qubic’s AI Garth mines enough hash power to take over Monero as a “proof of concept.”

🔹 Game Theory & Chain Security – Why PoW is fun (and dangerous) to reason about, and how PoS differs.

🔹 Bitcoin’s Future Risk – How tail emissions (or lack thereof) could leave BTC open to similar attacks.

🔹 401(k) Goes Crypto – Trump’s executive order allows digital assets in retirement accounts.

🔹 GPU Debt Crisis Fanfic – Tarun’s prediction for a future financial meltdown.

🔹 DATs Debate – Are Digital Asset Treasuries sustainable, or primed for a spectacular unwind?

🔹 Yield Edge over ETFs – Why DATs may outperform staking ETFs in capturing on-chain yield.

⭐️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 

Democratizing Access To Alternative Assets For 401(K) Investors 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/democratizing-access-to-alternative-assets-for-401k-investors/ 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:01 Crypto Market Sentiments

02:29 Circle’s Arc & Stripe's Tempo

07:34 Corporate Chains vs. L2 Solutions

17:57 Monero's 51% Attack by Qubic

27:11  Real-World & Protocol Incentives

29:33 Monero's Tail Emission & Bitcoin's Future

34:39 Trump’s Executive Order: Crypto in 401(k)s

37:15 Next Financial Crisis? GPU Debt Crisis

41:15 DAT Mania Potential & mNAV Compression

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Ethereum’s rally has captivated the market, but is it really about the GENIUS Act and stablecoins, or just raw flows? 

In this episode of Bits + Bips, Alex Kruger, Ram Ahluwalia, Steven Ehrlich, and special guest Sid Powell of Maple Finance, dive deep into what’s driving ETH, the macro forces shaping crypto’s next leg up, and whether traders are completely wrong about the Fed’s next moves.

From the potential flood of TradFi capital onto the blockchain, to the battle for stablecoin dominance, to whether Solana is about to get a major boost, the conversation dissects the signals in today’s market.

Hosts:

• Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

• Steven Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guest:

• Sid Powell, CEO & Co-Founder of Maple Finance

Links:

• Unchained: Custodia Patent for Bank Stablecoin Challenges Big Banks Entering the Field

• CBS News: CPI rose in July by 2.7% on an annual basis. Here's what that means.

• CNBC: 

• Circle shares rise as second-quarter revenue jumps 53% on strong stablecoin growth

• Fed board contenders Miran, Bullard say Trump's tariffs are not causing inflation

• CoinDesk. 

• ETH Transaction Volume C Much as $20limbs on Price Rally, Cheaper DeFi Costs

• Tom Lee's BitMine Immersion Aims to Raise asB for More ETH Buys

• Cointelegraph: SharpLink Gaming shares dip after $400M deal to boost Ether holdings

• Bloomberg: Godfather of the Mar-a-Lago Accord Goes to the Fed

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🚀 2:52 Why ETH has been rallying so aggressively

💪 10:14 Why Alex says the ETH rally will continue

📉 12:53 How BitMine and SBET ended up with such wildly different mNAVs

🧾 14:07 How treasury companies are planning to deploy their crypto onchain

🏛️ 18:45 What TradFi institutions are looking for in Maple and other onchain finance apps

📊 28:07 What Alex is watching to signal the next breakout in crypto prices

⛏️ 32:57 Who really makes money during this new gold rush?

🔥 42:15 Why SOL could be on the verge of a big announcement

🧠 44:58 What Ethereum’s core purpose is in this new market cycle

🌍 47:34 How macro indicators are sending mixed signals

🤖 54:31 What the NVDA and AMD revenue shares with the U.S. government mean for the future of capitalism could mean for the broader market

🏆 58:13 Who stands to win big in crypto if the Fed cuts rates

💵 1:03:26 What Circle’s earnings reveal about its business model right now

🛡️ 1:04:33 Whether Custodia Bank’s patent could block big banks from launching stablecoins

📉 1:11:35 Why markets might be totally mispricing the Fed’s next moves

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In this episode of Unchained, Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs, and Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, unpack the emerging wave of Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) and why altcoins may be the next to follow Bitcoin and Ethereum onto public markets.

They explain why StablecoinX, a new infrastructure company within the Ethena ecosystem, is merging with a SPAC to go public on Nasdaq under the ticker “USDE,” anchoring its treasury with Ethena’s ENA token. 

With $360 million in backing from investors like Dragonfly, Ribbit, Galaxy, and Polychain, the deal is testing whether public equity markets are ready for altcoin-native treasuries.

Guy and Rob also discuss why some crypto wrapper stocks are trading at massive premiums, how capital gets misallocated in crypto, and whether ETH staking rewards represent real yield or just inflation. 

They debate whether this trend is creating lasting infrastructure or just new packaging for old narratives.

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

  Re

• Guests:

• Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs

• Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🧠 3:29 Why Ethena worked with a team launching an ENA  corporate treasury company

💰 10:38 Ways to structure public crypto treasury vehicles

🕵️‍♂️ 16:53 Whether treasury vehicles are just a flashy wrapper for vaporware

📉 22:28 Why Guy says there’s way more VC capital than good ideas in crypto right now

📈 31:20 How some DATs are trading at eye-popping premiums

🤔 37:15 Why Dragonfly backed TLGY but skipped other Bitcoin, ETH, or SOL plays

🏗️ 40:24 How the structure of these public vehicles shapes their value

🔄 47:39 What makes convertible debt different from SPACs or PIPEs

🧾 49:20 How investors should think about these new crypto treasury companies

📊 55:43 How Wall Street is being pitched on Ethena and USDE

💥 59:16 Whether this trend is legit or just another bubble waiting to pop

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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. With special guests: Avichal Garg, Managing Partner at Electric Capital, and Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation. This week we get into one of the most pivotal moments in Ethereum’s history — from the Tornado Cash verdict and its chilling implications for developers, to Wall Street’s growing embrace of ETH through the launch of ETHZilla. The crew unpacks how this trial could redefine developer liability, why Ethereum’s narrative is shifting toward institutional adoption, and what the next decade could look like for the world’s most versatile blockchain. Whether you’re here for the legal drama, the market moves, or the inside scoop from Ethereum’s top builders and investors, this episode delivers the sharp analysis, big-picture context, and unfiltered hot takes you’ve come to expect from The Chopping Block.

Show highlights

🔹 Tornado Cash Verdict Breakdown – Haseeb explains the mixed outcome: a conviction on one count, hung jury on the most serious charges, and what it means for Roman Storm’s future.

🔹 Developer Liability in the Spotlight – Why the case sends a chilling signal to open-source and privacy protocol builders across the U.S.

🔹 Inside the Appeal Strategy – How contradictions between DOJ arguments and FinCEN guidance could shape Roman’s path forward.

🔹 Avichal’s Optimistic Take – Why he believes the American legal and political system will ultimately land on the right side of crypto innovation.

🔹 Historical Parallels – Comparing today’s battles over smart contracts and AI to the legal fights over corporations and cryptography in centuries past.

🔹 ETHZilla Unveiled – Avichal introduces Electric Capital’s new Ethereum treasury vehicle, how it’s designed to work, and its potential impact on DeFi.

🔹 Wall Street Meets Ethereum – The crew explores how institutional capital could become a massive “supply sink” for ETH.

🔹 Potential Shakeouts Ahead – Why some public ETH vehicles may face activist investor pressure, M&A, or liquidation if they stay subscale.

🔹 Ethereum Foundation’s Vibe Shift – Tomasz shares how the EF is engaging more openly with the community, leaning into finance, and guiding ecosystem coordination.

🔹 Ethereum’s Resurgence – From legal fights to market dominance, why ETH feels unstoppable heading into its next decade.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guests

⭐️ Avichal Garg, Managing Partner at Electric Capital

⭐️ Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation

⁠Disclosures⁠

Links

Beyond Stablecoins: The Case for Ethereum by Maria Shen and Sanjay Shah (Electric Capital)

https://electriccapital.substack.com/p/beyond-stablecoins-the-case-for-ethereum 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:36 Tornado Cash Trial Verdict

06:16 Legal and Industry Reactions

09:25 Future of Crypto Legislation

21:13 Smart Contracts & AI Legislation

27:58 Introduction to ETHZilla

31:47 Community-Oriented Ethereum Initiatives

32:38 Wall Street Money in DeFi

35:08 Activist Investors & Market Dynamics

39:25 TradFi vs. DeFi

44:12 Ethereum Foundation's Cultural Shift

54:13 The Role of Ethereum Foundation

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Solana Mobile’s Emmett Hollyer joins to talk about the Seeker phone, and former prosecutor Sam Enzer breaks down the partial Roman Storm conviction.

This week’s episode features two big stories.

📱 First, Solana Mobile has begun shipping the Seeker, its second-generation crypto smartphone. Emmett Hollyer, GM of Solana Mobile, joins to explain:

• What’s new in the Seeker and how it compares to the Saga

• Why he says it’s the most secure phone for crypto

• How Seed Vault, Seeker ID, and the SKR token could reshape crypto identity, incentives, and adoption

⚖️ Then, we unpack the Roman Storm verdict. The Tornado Cash co-founder was found guilty on just one of three charges. Former prosecutor Sam Enzer explains:

• Why the outcome is seen as a partial win for crypto

• Why Storm has strong grounds to fight the verdict

• What this means for developers building privacy tools and open-source software

• And whether the remaining conviction might be overturned

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

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• Xapo Bank

• Focal by FalconX

Guests:

• Emmett Hollyer, General Manager of Solana Mobile

• Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel

Links:

• Solana Begins Shipping Seeker Phone

• Tornado Cash Co-founder Roman Storm Found Guilty on One Count

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Last week’s macroeconomic data came with a twist: a massive job downward revision from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But is it a recession signal, or just statistical noise?

In this episode of Bits + Bips, Ben Werkman, chief investment officer at Swan Bitcoin, joins hosts Ram Ahluwalia, Noelle Acheson, and Steve Ehrlich to examine why markets shrugged off the data, and what it means for crypto. The panel also discusses:

• Whether markets are mispricing macro risk

• How Strategy’s latest capital raise may reflect rising treasury company risk

• The future of tokenized equity and how Coinbase could unlock private market value

• New regulatory signals suggesting the U.S. may allow banks to hold crypto

• The rise of “super apps” blending payments, trading, and custody

Thank you to our sponsor!

• Mantle
  

Hosts:

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

• Noelle Acheson, Author of the “Crypto Is Macro Now” Newsletter 

• Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guest:

• Ben Werkman, Chief Investment Officer at Swan Bitcoin

Links:

Macro

BLS Drama

• CNN: Trump says the Bureau of Labor Statistics orchestrated a ‘scam.’ Here’s how the jobs report really works

• NYT: Big Downward Jobs Revisions Could Be a Warning Sign for the Economy

• CNBC: 

• 'The revisions are hard evidence': White House struggles to justify firing of BLS chief over weak jobs numbers

• Trump fires commissioner of labor statistics after weaker-than-expected jobs figures slam markets

 PCE

• Reuters: US inflation warms up in June as tariffs boost some goods prices

Tariffs 

• NYT: Trump’s Tariffs Are Making Money. That May Make Them Hard to Quit.

• FT: Donald Trump to raise tariffs on India over Russian oil purchases

• CNBC: EU will delay planned U.S. tariffs for six months to allow for trade talks

Crypto earnings season

• Coverage of $COIN and $MSRT on Bits + Bips: 

• Strategy Had a Massive Quarter: Impressive Numbers, But Are They Sustainable?

• Coinbase Missed Earnings, But the Bull Case Is Still Intact, Analyst Says

• Unchained articles:

• Coinbase Veered From Its Neutral Stance With Base. Could That Bet Go Wrong?

• How Michael Saylor Plans to Ensure Strategy Keeps Its Bitcoin Forever

• Coinbase Expands Into Tokenized Stocks and Prediction Markets

• How Robinhood's New Crypto Strategy Could Help Its TradFi Ambitions

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

📉 4:25 Why Noelle thinks we’re looking at the job numbers all wrong

🍔 16:23 Whether the BLS revision is actually a nothing burger

🧊 19:33 How investors are managing to shrug off all the macro noise

🏢 32:37 What surprised Ben about corporate bitcoin adoption and how earnings are shifting the narrative

💰 37:57 Why Strategy is raising capital at sky-high premiums

📊 44:40 How Robinhood and Coinbase stack up by the numbers

📜 51:11 What new signals reveal about the U.S. rewriting financial rules

📱 57:43 How “super apps” are changing the game for crypto and TradFi

📈 1:05:18 Where the panel sees markets heading next

🏛️ 1:13:17 What it might take for governments to start holding crypto

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• 🎧 Podcast → Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Fountain

• 🐦 X / Twitter 

Has the Fed entered a new era?

In this episode of Unchained, macro strategist Jim Bianco of Bianco Research lays out why the current economic cycle is fundamentally different from what came before. He explains the implications of sticky inflation, why 0% interest rates and money printing may be relics of the past, and how the COVID-era economy created lasting structural shifts.

Bianco also gives his candid take on how retail investors have changed markets, why the payments system is still stuck in the 1950s, and how stablecoins and tokenized assets could fix that—if regulators allow it. He breaks down the threats facing major players like Coinbase and Robinhood, and shares a bold theory on what really happened during the GameStop short squeeze.

Bianco also assesses what could happen if the Fed is politicized — and whether Chair Powell is likely to be replaced.

Thank you to our sponsors!

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• Guest:

  • Jim Bianco, President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, L.L.C.

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

📉 3:36 Why Jim called the latest economic revisions “extraordinary”

🔥11:56 Whether we’ve entered a post-COVID “new normal” of sticky inflation

👔 18:14 Could Trump really fire Powell — and what would that mean for the Fed?

📉 23:36 What happens to markets if Trump pushes through aggressive rate cuts

🛍️ 29:45 How retail investors flipped the power dynamic on Wall Street

💳 26:04 Why Jim says outdated payment rails are holding back stablecoins

🧩 46:17 Jim’s bold theory on how the GameStop halt was really about saving Schwab

🚫 50:12 Why he’s skeptical of the SEC’s “Project Crypto”

⚔️ 57:17 Why Coinbase and Robinhood are bracing for a new wave of challengers

⚠️ 59:28 What could happen to crypto treasury companies in a bear market

🏛️1:01:43 What’s still broken in tokenized stocks — and how to fix it

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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. In this episode, things get personal as Haseeb and Tom break their silence on the DOJ’s shocking threat to criminally charge Dragonfly over its early investment in Tornado Cash. With Roman Storm’s trial nearing its conclusion, the crew unpacks the unprecedented legal risks facing developers, investors, and privacy protocols and what it means for the future of crypto in the U.S.

As Ethereum celebrates its 10th anniversary, a storm brews in court: Samourai  Wallet founders plead guilty, the DOJ backpedals on Dragonfly, and Roman Storm faces decades behind bars for writing code. Robert recounts his short-lived microcap M&A adventure (aka the Liquor Store Fiasco), and the gang reacts to a dramatic regulatory about-face from the SEC’s new crypto-friendly regime.

Is financial privacy now a crime? Will U.S. law catch up with crypto code? And what happens when TradFi tries to CT a public company? This episode hits hard — and nothing is off limits.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights

🔹 Dragonfly Named in Court – Haseeb and Tom break their silence after the DOJ threatens criminal charges over Dragonfly’s Tornado Cash investment.

🔹 Roman Storm on Trial – The Tornado Cash co-founder faces up to 45 years as the government tests the limits of crypto developer liability.

🔹 DOJ Walks It Back – After a media firestorm, prosecutors publicly reverse course and say Dragonfly is not a target.

🔹 Samourai  Wallet Pleads Guilty – Another privacy project folds under pressure — and possibly to bolster the Tornado Cash case.

🔹 Privacy Protocols Under Siege – The crew asks: Is building immutable software now a criminal act in the U.S.?

🔹 Tarun Breaks Down Autonomous Code – Why the government’s case against smart contracts reveals a deep misunderstanding of how DeFi works.

🔹 Robert’s Liquor Store Saga – CT’s favorite meme investor explains how he tried to take over a public company… and got mega-diluted.

🔹 SEC’s Project Crypto Leaks – Paul Atkins lays out a sweeping vision for crypto-friendly regulation and software protections.

🔹 Crypto’s Legal Future Hangs in the Balance – From subpoenas to policy pivots, this episode explores what’s next for developers, investors, and privacy itself.

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:

American Leadership in the Digital Finance Revolution, by Paul S. Atkins, SEC Chairman

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-digital-finance-revolution-073125 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:58 Background on Tornado Cash

03:50 Legal Challenges & Sanctions

06:36 DOJ's Actions & Dragonfly's Response

11:25 Implications for Privacy & Crypto

27:06 Samourai Case & Broader Implications

33:37 Robert's Liquor Store Saga

37:17 LQR House Challenges & Legal Issues

46:05 Lessons Learned from the LQR House

50:01 SEC's New Crypto Policy

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Strategy posted a record $10 billion in net income. Coinbase missed estimates and stock dropped. But analysts say both tell a deeper story about how crypto companies are adapting.

It’s earnings season in crypto—and the stories couldn’t be more different.

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) just posted $10 billion in net income, boosted by Bitcoin’s price and new fair value accounting rules. But can the company keep this up?

Coinbase missed Q2 estimates, sending its stock down. Yet Owen Lau of Oppenheimer says the long-term setup may be more bullish than the market thinks.

In this double interview, Unchained’s Steven Ehrlich sits down with:

• Lance Vitanza from TD Cowen to break down Strategy’s accounting shift, capital markets evolution, and whether its growing BTC pile presents systemic risks
  

• Owen Lau from Oppenheimer to unpack Coinbase’s earnings miss, how new bank partnerships may remake it as a TradFi infrastructure provider, and why Q3 may tell a different story
  

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

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• Lance Vitanza, Lance Vitanza, Managing Director & Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen

• Owen Lau, Executive Director and Senior Analyst in the equity research department of Oppenheimer & Co

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Ethereum just turned 10, and Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, one of the earliest and most influential lending protocols in DeFi, is more bullish on the OG layer 1 blockchain than ever. 

In this wide-ranging interview, he reflects on Ethereum’s resilience, explains why Aave is still laser-focused on it despite the rise of competitors like Solana, and gives us a preview of Aave V4 and its institutional play, Horizon. 

If you want to understand where DeFi is going, you’ll want to hear what Stani has to say.

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

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• Xapo Bank

Guest:

• Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave and ETHLend

Links:

• Recent episode of Unchained with EF’s co-ED Tomasz: As Ethereum Turns 10, Where Is the Foundation Focused Next?
• Unchained: Aave Labs Unveils V4 Upgrade Proposal, Introducing a Unified Liquidity Layer and 'Fuzzy' Rates
• DefiLlama: Aave stats
• Reuters: JPMorgan considers offering loans backed by clients' cryptocurrency holdings 

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🎉 4:58 What Ethereum’s 10-year milestone means to Stani

🏗️ 9:09 How Aave became the top lending protocol on Ethereum

🧐 13:02 Why Stani has been critical of the Ethereum Foundation

🏦 17:16 How TradFi institutions could quietly run on Aave infrastructure

💸 25:08 What Stani thinks about the complaints over Ethereum revenues and fees

🌉 30:27 Why Aave hasn’t launched on Solana

💼 35:32 How Ethereum treasury companies are putting Aave to work

🔧 41:15 What Aave V4 is bringing to the protocol and why it matters

🌍 48:18 How Horizon could bridge DeFi and real-world assets

🤝 50:43 Why DeFi might thrive even as TradFi and fintech move onchain

🗳️ 57:57 Whether DAO governance is fundamentally flawed

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Ethereum turned 10 on Wednesday, capping off a decade of trials and travails — but also triumphs. After years of being the heart of crypto’s onchain economy, Ethereum stalled last year, losing mindshare and market share to Bitcoin and Solana. During that time, some long-time supporters publicly aired frustrations with the Ethereum Foundation.

Now, there’s a palpable shift in energy.

In this episode, Tomasz Stanczak, the co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, reflects on the 10-year anniversary and talks about what’s ahead. 

From internal strategy overhauls to his plans to tackle Ethereum’s UX and developer experience, Tomasz shares how the Foundation is trying to re-center Ethereum — and why he’s betting on it for the next decade. 

He also lays out what he calls a “secondary roadmap,” including bold ambitions like building Ethereum into a platform for AI, machines, and even a new kind of open-source society.

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• Ledn

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  Guest:

• Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation and Founder of Nethermind

  
  

  Links:

• Unchained: Ethereum Turns 10 Years Old
• Tomasz’s tweet about the roadmap

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🎉 7:46 How Tomasz is reflecting on Ethereum’s 10th birthday and its recent struggles

🧠 10:41 What Ethereum means to Tomasz and how he explains it to the normies

🏗️ 17:28 Why the Ethereum Foundation plays a different kind of role in crypto development

👔 22:59 How Tomasz ended up as co-executive director of the EF

🗣️ 27:25 What he learned from hundreds of conversations about how Ethereum could improve

🎯 29:47 Why the Foundation is now focused on three core goals

💼 36:34 How and why the EF is also embracing business development

🪙 42:40 Why Tomasz wants people minting directly on Ethereum Layer 1

📣 46:14 How the Foundation’s communication strategy has changed and why it matters

📉 52:48 Why the EF isn’t focused on ETH’s price—at least not directly

🧾 57:50 Whether the Foundation is worried about Ether’s shifting asset narrative

🔗 1:03:34 How the EF is working to fix interoperability issues within Ethereum

🏦 1:05:59 Why the Foundation sold ETH to SBET and how its treasury strategy is evolving

🏛️ 1:14:09 How Ethereum became the chain of choice for institutions

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What’s fueling crypto’s market surge? 

This week on Bits + Bips, Ethereum’s rally has reignited market energy, triggering fresh questions about the return of alt season, and whether Bitcoin’s dominance will continue to fall.

With special guests Katalin Tischhauser from Sygnum Bank and Wintermute’s Jake Ostrovskis, we dive deep into how corporate treasuries, tokenized assets, and shifting ETF flows are reshaping crypto’s microstructure. 

Plus, we dissect the macro impact of rising tariffs, the Fed’s delicate dance with Trump, and whether tokenization could breathe new life into the US dollar.

Check out the sponsors who make this show possible!

• Bitwise

• Mantle

• Hosts:

  • Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

Guests:

• Katalin Tischhauser, Head of Research at Sygnum Bank

• Jake Ostrovskis, Head of Sales Trading (OTC) at Wintermute

Links

Markets: 

• Unchained: Spot Ether ETFs Extend 16-Day Inflow Streak With $453 Million

DATs:

• Cointelegraph: Tron Inc. seeks $1B to grow TRX holdings as stock rallies

• CoinDesk: Crypto Treasury Fever Spreads to Ethena as $360M SPAC Deal Targets ENA Accumulation

• CEA Industries Inc. Press Release: CEA Industries and 10X Capital, with the support of YZi Labs, announce $500 Million Private Placement to Establish Largest Publicly-Listed $BNB Treasury Company in the World

• The Block: Specialty finance company Mill City announces $450 million offering to establish corporate Sui treasury

• Barron's: MicroStrategy to Offer Preferred Stock With a Twist That Could Yield 10%

Trump and Powell

• Fortune: Jerome Powell had a surprise visit from Trump. He's poised to leave interest rates unchanged anyway

• CNBC: Trump spars with Powell over renovation costs during Fed visit, but backs off firing threats

Timestamps:

🎬0:00 Intro

🔥 6:03 Why ETH’s comeback is reigniting crypto markets

🧠 11:23 Why Ram says “animal spirits are back”

💸 15:06 When tariffs could finally start pushing prices higher

📉 18:06 Whether BTC dominance is fading—and if alt season is finally here

🏭 22:27 How tariffs are already hurting some businesses

⚖️ 27:49 Whether Strategy’s new preferred share class adds risky complexity

🏚️ 32:32 Why many new treasury-backed projects might not survive

📊 38:29 Whether these digital asset treasuries (DATs) are trading at unsustainable premiums

🔮 51:28 What the real endgame is for all these DATs

⚔️ 59:00 How the Powell-Trump tension could shake up markets

🔗 1:12:44 Why tokenization is gaining momentum across finance

📈 1:18:55 Whether stablecoins could revive global demand for the US dollar

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Pump raised $600 million in 12 minutes. Then the token crashed… and sentiment with it.

In this episode, Delphi’s Yan Liberman, Jason Pagoulatos, and Simon Smockey unpack what really happened, from the lack of investor lockups to the underwhelming post-ICO communication, and what Pump must do now to win back the market.

We also get into whether the “everything app” strategy still makes sense, what decentralization means after this cycle, and what tokens can learn from equity markets.

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

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• Xapo Bank

• Focal by FalconX

  
  

  Guests:

• Simon Smockey, Researcher at Delphi Digital

• Yan Liberman, Co-Founder of Delphi Digital and Managing Partner of Delphi Ventures

• Jason Pagoulatos, Head of Markets at Delphi

• Previous coverage on the ICO: 

• Pump.fun Just Raised $600M. What Does This Mean for DeFi, Solana & Social Media?

• Pump.fun’s $1 Billion ICO Has Caused Controversy. Can It Succeed?

• Unchained:

• Pump.fun Becomes Third Largest ICO, Raises $600M in 12 Minutes 

• PUMP Traders Make Big Options Bets on the Token Surging Past Its ICO Price

• Pump.fun Draws Backlash After Confirming PUMP ICO

• TG Podcast: Alon: Raising $1B, $PUMP Token, Airdrop, and More

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

💥 2:53 How Pump’s months-long hype set the stage, and why it may have backfired

🔓 11:07 Whether the lack of investor lockups hurt confidence in the token

😬 17:13 Why Jason found Alon’s post-ICO interview with Threadguy underwhelming

📉 22:52 Why Yan still sees strong risk-reward in PUMP despite the crash

🔥 24:29 What Pumpfun can do now to reignite interest and rebuild momentum

💸 34:19 Whether buybacks or business reinvestment is the better path forward

📱 36:37 How realistic the “everything app” vision is, and whether M&As can save it

🌍 47:16 What strategies could finally bring normies onchain

🧵 53:22 Whether the PUMP launch proves that decentralization is dead

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