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PODCAST

Unchained

Crypto assets and blockchain technology are about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from financial services to identity to the Internet of Things. In this podcast, host Laura Shin, an independent journalist covering all things crypto, talks with industry pioneers about how crypto assets and blockchains will change the way we earn, spend and invest our money. Tune in to find out how Web 3.0, the decentralized web, will revolutionize our world. Disclosure: I"m a nocoiner.

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All Episodes

70:03

The Chopping Block: When Wall Street Meets DeFi — How...

Unchained ·

2025/11/01

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, Kaledora Linn, Co-founder and “Empress of RWAs” at Ostium, joins to break down the rise of on-chain equity perps, the funding-rate chaos that hit 365%, and why she believes the next wave of tokenized assets won’t come from exchanges—but from structured liquidity markets.We dive deep into Ostium’s hybrid CFD model that blends TradFi

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79:53

How the Competition Will Play Out in the Great...

Unchained ·

2025/11/01

In this episode of Unchained, Laura is joined by Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, and Sam MacPherson, Co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Labs, to break down the fast-moving world of stablecoins and stablechains. They discuss Ethena’s USDe $5 billion drop, the rise of “stablecoin-as-a-service” models, the emergence of payment-focused blockchains like Tempo and Codex, and the return of TradFi heavyweights like Visa, Mastercard, and Western Union to the digital dollar race. From liquidity

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58:58

How Crypto Neobanks Make It Easier to Earn Passive...

Unchained ·

2025/10/22

Neobanks changed how fintech thinks about money. Now, crypto builders want to do the same, without custody.In this episode, Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of EtherFi, argue the real shift isn't about "crypto cards," it's about who controls your assets. EtherFi’s and Ready’s self-custodial apps merge saving, spending, and investing. The result: faster settlement, lower fees, and more transparency, but also new challenges around compliance, credit, and security. Itamar

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60:04

The Chopping Block: Zcash +400%, Tempo’s $500M Shock,...

Unchained ·

2025/10/22

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, Helius’s Mert returns to defend Zcash’s ~400% run and the “encrypted Bitcoin” framing, digging into anonymity sets, privacy UX, and why Bitcoiners are so riled up. We then tackle the Tempo bombshell — a ~$500M raise at a ~$5B pre, Stripe/Paradigm ties, Dankrad’s move from the EF — alongside Péter Szilágyi’s letter on EF culture and

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55:43

Crypto's Black Friday Was Its Largest Liquidation...

Unchained ·

2025/10/12

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,

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61:55

The Chopping Block: Perps, Privacy & Prediction:...

Unchained ·

2025/10/11

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

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65:42

Bitcoin Core vs Knots: Why Developers Are Fighting...

Unchained ·

2025/10/07

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

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62:47

The Chopping Block: Perp Wars & Stablecoin Battles:...

Unchained ·

2025/09/26

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

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87:24

Plasma's Successful Launch, Revenue Over TVL & the...

Unchained ·

2025/09/26

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

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56:55

The Chopping Block: USDH Bake-off—Native Markets,...

Unchained ·

2025/09/13

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

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32:11

Why the War Over the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid Is...

Unchained ·

2025/09/12

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

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67:09

How Pump.fun Plans to Beat Social Media Giants and...

Unchained ·

2025/09/11

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

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88:37

Why These DeFi Builders Are Betting It All on...

Unchained ·

2025/08/29

Subscribe to the new Bits + Bips channels!📺 YouTube 🎧 Podcast → Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Fountain 🐦 X / Twitter 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

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58:00

The Chopping Block: Tom Lee the New Saylor? DAT...

Unchained ·

2025/08/28

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

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68:25

Two VCs on Why the 4-Year Cycle Is Dead, DATs &...

Unchained ·

2025/08/27

Subscribe to the new Bits + Bips channels!📺 YouTube 🎧 Podcast → Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Fountain 🐦 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

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76:56

Companies Are Competing to Bring Crypto to the...

Unchained ·

2025/08/21

Subscribe to the new Bits + Bips channels!📺 YouTube 🎧 Podcast → Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Fountain 🐦 X / Twitter 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

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50:48

Crypto Firms, Fintechs and Banks Hope to Dominate...

Unchained ·

2025/08/15

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

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79:53

As Ethereum Turns 10, Where Is the Foundation Focused...

Unchained ·

2025/07/31

Subscribe to the new Bits + Bips channels!📺 YouTube 🎧 Podcast → Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Fountain🐦 X / Twitter 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

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83:53

Bits + Bips: ETH Makes a Comeback While Crypto’s...

Unchained ·

2025/07/29

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

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71:57

The Price of PUMP Is at Its Lowest Since the ICO....

Unchained ·

2025/07/25

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

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779 results

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