Unchained

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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