Unchained

Laura Shin

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.

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1,228 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes1228

Newest first

May 11 · 53 min
Bits + Bips: Why the AI Rally Keeps Growing — and Why Circle Launched Arc
Ram says the entire market is now one giant AI trade. Chris argues the boom is backed by real fundamentals. Austin asks: is AI creating value for the right companies? --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Unchained⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Circle just made history as the first publicly traded company to run a token presale, raising $222 million from BlackRock, Apollo, ICE, and a16z at a $3 billion valuation — and the stock went up. At the same time, Coinbase reported a $394 million loss, cut 700 jobs, and suffered a five-hour outage. Ram, Austin, and Chris work through what's really happening: whether Circle's Arc is the institutional payment rail the industry has been waiting for or a financial engineering play, whether Coinbase's troubles are cyclical or structural, and whether the AI-driven market rally is a bubble forming or a fundamental shift that makes the dotcom comparison wrong. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Timestamps 🚀 0:00 Introduction and Iran ceasefire update 🛢️ 1:02 What Ram and Chris are watching in oil and Hormuz 📊 4:49 Why markets are shrugging off geopolitical noise 🤖 13:25 Ram on why the market is all one giant bet on AI 💬 16:03 Is the AI rally a bubble or a fundamental shift? 🏦 27:04 Circle launches Arc: could its token compete with its own stock? 📉 40:21 Coinbase: were the layoffs due to AI or the bear market? 🎭 48:26 What it says about the industry that Consensus’s afterparty was at E11even The Crypto Industry’s Maturity Problem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 8 · 34 min
Coinbase's Chief Policy Officer on Why He Believes the Clarity Act Will Pass
Coinbase's chief policy officer explains why the bank lobby failed to kill stablecoin rewards — and what 'workable compromise' actually means for crypto users. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsors! Adaptive Security: Test and strengthen your company’s defenses against AI deepfakes and synthetic identities at adaptivesecurity.com. Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. ======================================================== The Genius Act established that stablecoin issuers could pay rewards to users. The banks said no. For months, the American Bankers Association used the Clarity Act as a pressure point to reverse that decision — tying up a bill that was supposed to govern an entirely different corner of crypto. Now there's compromise language. Coinbase's chief policy officer, Faryar Shirzad, says it's workable. The banks say it doesn't go far enough. Meanwhile, the Clarity Act itself is racing toward a July 4th deadline, with a Senate Banking Committee markup expected the week of May 14. Ethics provisions around government officials holding crypto assets remain the hardest open question — and, as Shirzad puts it, one entirely above his pay grade. This is where the biggest crypto legislation in US history actually stands. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: Faryar Shirzad (@faryarshirzad) — Chief Policy Officer, Coinbase Timestamps 🎙️ 0:00 Introduction 💰 0:43 What the Clarity Act's stablecoin rewards compromise means in practice 🏦 4:04 What the banks got, what crypto kept — and why rewards are still workable ⚖️ 7:51 The American Bankers Association pushes back — is this fight really over? 🔵 13:36 Coinbase One ad: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan 🔒 14:58 Adaptive Security ad: Run deep fake AI generated phishing and vising simulations 📋 15:55 Getting the Clarity Act over the finish line — what's still unresolved? 🔑 18:54 Remaining issues, such as ethics, SEC exemptive relief, whether DeFi apps are money transmitters 🗓️ 28:27 Can the Clarity Act pass by July 4th? What happens if it doesn't? 🌍 32:33 What's next after the Clarity Act — taxes, rulemaking, and global expansion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 7 · 55 min
A16z Crypto Raised $2.2 Billion for Fund 5. Here's How They Plan to Deploy It
From AI agents as economic actors to quantum threats and prediction market regulation, Ali Yahya of a16z lays out the investment thesis behind a16z crypto's fifth fund. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One 20% off first year of annual plan + $50 Bitcoin bonus. Offer valid until May 31. coinbase.com/unchained ======================================================== a16z crypto just closed its fifth crypto fund at $2.2 billion — smaller than its previous fund, but the firm says that's deliberate. General Partner Ali Yahya argues we are entering a different phase of crypto's development: one where infrastructure is ready, regulatory clarity is arriving, and the competition for real users has begun in earnest. Two themes sit at the center of a16z's thesis — the collision of crypto and FinTech, and the emergence of AI agents as economic actors. But Yahya's most striking claim may be about blockchains themselves: that performance is no longer a moat, privacy is. And that the chains which get privacy right will accrue stronger network effects than anything the industry has built before. What does a world of privacy-dominant blockchains do to DeFi composability, to security, to the ability to track hackers? And where does the quantum threat actually stand? Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ali Yahya, General Partner, a16z crypto Timestamps 🚀 0:00 Introduction — Why a16z crypto raised its $2.2B Fund 5 now 💰 2:50 The two big investment themes: fintech x crypto and AI x crypto 🔒 9:25 Why Ali believes privacy is the most important moat in crypto ⛓️ 14:31 How the three privacy approaches compare: centralized sequencers, TEEs, zk tech 🔐 18:32 What happens to security in a world of privacy chains? 🧩 28:48 When privacy chains dominate, can we still have DeFi money Legos? 🤖 34:12 Ali's AI background and how agents will enter the financial system 🎨 43:55 What AI x crypto means for entrepreneurs and creative types ⚠️ 49:13 The quantum threat — why Ali says we have 10-15 years 📊 51:58 Prediction markets and insider trading — where the line is Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 7 · 1 hr
Why Wrapped Energy or Compute Will Be the New Store of Value: Bits + Bips
Missiles in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent jumps 5%. Bitcoin breaks through $80. The Bits + Bips crew reads the geopolitical tape — and explains why crypto is shrugging it off. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One — coinbase.com/unchained Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Unchained⁠⁠⁠⁠ and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Iranian cruise missiles struck commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Brent jumped 5%, and Bitcoin broke through $80 — all in the same day. The Bits + Bips crew unpacks what the escalation means for crypto and macro positioning, why Ram stays bullish, and whether Paul Tudor Jones is right that Bitcoin is now the best inflation hedge. They also break down the Clarity Act’s yield compromise — with Circle up 16% — and why Austin argues banks may have handed asset managers a structural win. Finally, a U.S. court filing targeting Arbitrum’s frozen North Korean funds raises a bigger question: can you serve legal papers on code, and what does that mean for DAO governance? Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins break it all down. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Timestamps ⚔️ 1:06 Iran strikes in the Strait of Hormuz — what's happening on the ground 📈 3:14 Why Bitcoin ripped through $80 while equities sold off 🛢️ 6:47 Ram's macro read: markets one day from all-time highs, stay bullish 🪙 17:45 What to make of Paul Tudor Jones calling Bitcoin the best inflation hedge ⚡ 20:58 Chris's thesis: the future store of value is wrapped energy or wrapped compute 🏛️ 37:29 Clarity Act yield compromise: did crypto win, did banks win, did anyone win? ⚖️ 48:47 What happens now that there’s a lawsuit against Arbitrum for freezing funds stolen by North Korea 🔐 51:47 Can DeFi achieve mass adoption without resolving the security question? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 7 · 39 min
DEX in the City: With the Stablecoin Yield Compromise, Can the Clarity Act Get Passed?
Seven lawsuits blame OpenAI for enabling a mass shooting. Could the same legal theory come for DeFi? Thanks to our sponsor! Coinbase One Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan coinbase.com/unchained Seven families just sued OpenAI in federal court, arguing ChatGPT was a defective product that helped plan a mass shooting. OpenAI's own safety team flagged the risk eight months earlier and did nothing. The legal theory being tested here, that software developers can be held liable for foreseeable misuse of their tools, is the same theory that has been circling DeFi for years. Meanwhile, April ended as the most hacked month in crypto history, with over $600 million stolen in roughly 30 exploits, most of them linked to North Korea and its weapons programs. DeFi United, a $300M relief coalition led by Aave, emerged as the industry's response. KK, Vy, and Jessi unpack what it means when the 'code is law' defense starts to crack, why basic operational security is still not standard practice, and how close the Clarity Act actually is to crossing the finish line. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at StarkWare. Previously held senior legal roles across DeFi and centralized exchanges. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessi Brooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TuongVy Le⁠⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Veda Timestamps 🚀 0:00 Introduction 🤖 2:44 How several lawsuits claiming AI companies have liability for defective products has warning signs for DeFi 🔓 12:11 April: the most hacked month in crypto history. Who’s being social engineered now? 🛡️ 16:01 Why basic OpSec failures are still enabling North Korea's hackers 💸 18:17 Is the $300M raised by DeFi United a bailout or solidarity? 📜 26:41 The Clarity Act stablecoin yield compromise: what changed and what's left 🐶 36:47 Crypto good news: Dogecoin and Moonpay donate 1M DOGE to dogs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 6 · 1 hr 14 min
Uneasy Money: Who Owns Stolen Crypto? The $71M Fight Testing DeFi Limits
A legal battle over frozen KelpDAO hack funds is forcing DeFi to answer questions it has long avoided. Thank you to our sponsors!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Multichain Advisors: Get help navigating TGEs, go‑to‑market, BD and partnerships, capital markets advisory, PR, media placements, KOL activations and more at multichainadv.com. When the Arbitrum Security Council froze $71 million in funds tied to the KelpDAO hack, it was hailed as vigilante justice. Now lawyers representing families of North Korea's victims are claiming that same money in a New York federal courtroom, as if theft transfers title. Meanwhile, an AI agent running on Base got robbed via a prompt injection hidden in Morse code, and Coinbase cited artificial intelligence when announcing 14% layoffs. Kain Warwick, Taylor Monahan, Luca Netz, and Kelsie Nabben, author of Decentralised Digital Security, work through what DeFi's security layer actually is, who gets to decide when to act, and whether any of it survives the arrival of autonomous agents. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kain Warwick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Taylor Monahan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Security Expert ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Luca Netz⁠⁠⁠, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kelsie Nabben, Research Fellow at RMIT University — Author of 'Decentralized Digital Security: Code, Community, Crisis' (2025) Timestamps 🚀 0:00 Introduction ⚖️ 1:55 The $71M legal battle over Arbitrum-frozen KelpDAO hack funds 🔍 7:44 But legally, are those funds DPRK’s? Would that claim hold up in court? 🏛️ 9:16 Why stealing funds doesn’t transfer ownership 🕵️ 14:15 The vigilante security layer in DeFi: who acts and who hides behind 'decentralization' 🧑‍⚖️ 21:13 Questions the judge asked the first day of the Gerstein case 👮 26:24 When Kain was also sued by Gerstein … and Luca was also served 🔵 35:30 Coinbase One ad: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan ⛓️ 37:01 Multichain Advisors ad: Get help navigating TGEs, go to market, BD, partnerships and more 🤖 37:44 BankrBot prompt-injected via Morse code: the LLM-to-LLM attack surface 🛡️ 43:38 Can DeFi survive the agents? AI security risks and what 'blast radius' means 🏢 59:18 Coinbase's 14% layoff and what it really says about AI and org structure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 3 · 50 min
Ben Fielding: Gensyn, Decentralized AI, and the Prediction Market That Settles Itself: Bits + Bips
A prediction market trades on outcomes. An information market trades on knowledge. Fielding makes the case for the latter. --- Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Unchained⁠⁠⁠⁠ and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- What if the biggest constraint on AI is not compute or data, but trust? Ben Fielding, CEO and co-founder of Gensys, spent years as a machine learning researcher before concluding that decentralized hardware was the only path to true scale, and that blockchain was the only technology that could make machines trust each other without human intermediaries. With the launch of Delphi, Gensys's onchain information market built on an OP stack L2, Fielding puts his theory to the test while making the case that prediction markets have been asking the wrong question all along, and that the long tail of markets no one has thought to create yet is where the real opportunity lies. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview - https://x.com/Steven_Ehrlich Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ben Fielding, CEO & Co-Founder, Gensys @BenFielding Timestamps 🔗 07:47 Why AI and blockchain were always meant to solve the same problem ✅ 11:16 The three things AI agents need to transact -- and the one that didn't exist yet 🤔 14:56 How do you build against trillion-dollar data centers? 📊 15:59 Why calling Delphi a prediction market is selling it short 🌾 25:05 The orange farmer who could never hedge drought risk -- until now ⚖️ 37:33 The markets no society should allow, and how Delphi stops them 🪙 41:02 Why every airdrop after the first one was a mistake 🔐 46:56 After KelpDAO: how Gensyn thinks about security differently Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 3 · 1 hr 6 min
After April's $606 Million in DeFi Hacks, What's the Fair Value Yield Rate?
$606 million in DeFi exploits in one month. Two of the space's sharpest risk thinkers debate whether lenders are being paid anywhere close to enough. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsors! Coinbase One 20% off first year of annual plan + $50 Bitcoin bonus. Offer valid until May 31. coinbase.com/unchained Citrea Bitcoin changed how money works. Satya changes how Bitcoin scales. citrea.xyz/unchained ======================================================== One month, $606 million in exploits. And yet DeFi lending yields for blue-chip collateral sit close to SOFR, as if nothing happened. Tom Dunleavy, head of venture at Varys Capital, did the math and concluded that fair risk-adjusted DeFi yields should sit around 12.5%. Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic, co-founder of Steakhouse Financial, thinks that number paints with too broad a brush, and that for the right primitives, with the right collateral, the market rate might actually be close to correct. Host Laura Shin queries them on the TradFi equations that underpin the debate, the DeFi-specific risks that those equations miss, and on whether depositors are sleepwalking into tail risk they cannot fully see. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tom Dunleavy, Head of Venture, Varys Capital — @dunleavy89 Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic, Co-Founder, Steakhouse Financial — @adcv_ Timestamps 🔥 01:14 How Tom and Adrian are rethink yield rates after $606M worth of DeFi hacks in one month 📊 08:46 How TradFi prices risk, and why the same framework still applies to DeFi ⚠️ 13:54 The DeFi-specific risks TradFi can't model: hacks, oracles, governance, exotic collateral 🔢 18:20 Adrian on why loss-given-default in DeFi is 'almost total', and what that changes 🤝 23:52 Where Tom and Adrian actually disagree: resolution, not structure 📉 32:34 Luca Prosperi's additions: continuous collateral observation, liquidation timing, legal process 💬 41:49 Dan Robinson's pushback: if risk is mispriced, shouldn't demand fix it? 🏗️ 53:59 RWAs as collateral: why non-crypto-native assets may be the most dangerous mismatch 🔭 57:19 Which protocols actually reduce the risk premium, and how to think about the rest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 1 · 1 hr 14 min
Pump.fun’s $370M Burn Was a Mistake, Says Luca Netz: Uneasy Money
Pump.fun set fire to $370 million in tokens. Luca lays out the airdrop math that says they should have done the opposite. Thank you to our sponsors!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MultiChain Advisors is an emerging technology growth firm that has helped create $50B+ in enterprise value for 80+ clients over the past 4 years. They're the partner to help navigate markets. Build real traction today at ⁠multichainadv.com⁠ Pump.fun had a choice with $370 million worth of its own tokens. It burned them. On this week’s Uneasy Money, Luca Netz argues that was the worst option on the table. He lays out the “people’s champ” math that, in his view, could have turned Pump.fun into a $5 billion-a-year business if Alon Cohen had launched the biggest airdrop crypto has ever seen—and bought the tokens back at the bottom. Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan also dig into the 137,000 ETH community effort to plug the KelpDAO hole, why Tay thinks Aave—not Layer Zero or KelpDAO—is the key player in DeFi’s latest blowup, and Luca’s blunt new take on whether DeFi yield is even worth the risk right now. Plus: Meta paying creators in USDC, the ghost of Libra, and OpenAI’s leaked AI-native phone. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kain Warwick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Taylor Monahan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Security Expert ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Luca Netz⁠, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Timestamps 🩸 01:23 137K ETH drive to cover KelpDAO losses 🪤 07:40 Is DeFi yield actually paying you for tail risk? Tom Dunleavy thinks no 💀 18:08 Luca on whether the DeFi yield game is even worth playing right now ⚖️ 22:13 The ‘Aave users were idiots’ take, and why Tay wants no moral-hazard talk 💸 27:29 Meta is paying creators in USDC. The Instagram stablecoin pipe is on 🪦 33:31 How Facebook’s 2019 Libra blunder helped birth the Gensler era of crypto 🔥 40:55 Pump.fun burned $370M of tokens. Luca says that was the wrong call 📱 58:10 OpenAI’s AI-native phone, and why Kain says the OS is dumber than the apps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 30 · 1 hr
The Chopping Block: Defi United’s “Bailout,” MegaETH’s KPI Vesting, and Prediction Market Chaos
Is the era of protocol bailouts upon us? The Chopping Block crew and MegaETH's Shuyao Kong debate Defi United’s community-funded rescue, the KPI vesting experiment shaking up token launches, whether DeFi yields truly underprice risk, and the first major PolyMarket insider trading bust—all delivered with the usual insider banter you won’t hear anywhere else. 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 squad is joined by MegaETH co-founder Shuyao Kong, fresh off their headline-making KPI-gated token launch. First, we dive into the whirlwind that is Defi United: a who’s-who of Ethereum OGs and protocols pledging hundreds of millions to fill bailout holes from the massive KelpDAO hack—voluntarily. Are we witnessing a new age of protocol do-gooder vibes or just kicking the moral hazard can down the road? Then, we tear into the “are DeFi yields way too low” debate, prodded by Tom Dunleavy’s viral thread—should degens really be earning more for taking protocol risk, or are the markets just as weird as they seem? Shuyao gives us an under-the-hood look at MegaETH’s radical KPI vesting mechanics, why they made the token vesting play risky pre-TGE, and whether dynamic tokenomics could be the industry’s way forward (with plenty of banter about airdrop farming and governance theater along the way). Finally, we spin through the saga of PolyMarket’s big DOJ insider trading bust: is “insider info” a feature or a bug in prediction markets? All that, history lessons, cynicism, and more—let’s get into it. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights 🔹 Defi United’s “bailout”—how a crowd-sourced effort filled the KelpDAO hack hole and melted crypto Twitter 🔹 Are protocol donations precedent-setting, a warning shot, or just vibes maxing? 🔹 Inside debates about moral hazard, socialized losses, and why kumbaya only works once 🔹 Surprising names (and missing ones!) from the bailout contributor list: Consensys, Mantle, Lido, Arbitrum, Circle, more 🔹 Why airdrop farmers sending dust is the most on-brand thing for crypto 🔹 The “are DeFi yields too low?” debate and why the true risk-free rate may be a myth in DeFi 🔹 MegaETH’s “KPI vesting” tokenomics—how gating TGEs by actual ecosystem milestones might fix launch incentives 🔹 Insight on why pre-TGE KPI mechanics might actually be the future (and why most fail after launch) 🔹 PolyMarket’s first big insider trading bust—when is secret alpha “market info” and when is it treason? 🔹 Vintage history, cyber insurance analogies, and philosophical banter you can only get on TCB Hosts ⭐️ Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️ Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️ Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Shuyao Kong, Co-founder at MegaETH Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 29 · 57 min
How Microsoft Won the OpenAI Fight as Markets Rally on Iran
One side wins the OpenAI-Microsoft divorce, Ram calls a 19% earnings growth year 'bananas,' and Chris wants the US to hack back against DeFi exploiters. Here is the full rundown. --- Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Unchained⁠⁠⁠ and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Chris Perkins and Ram Ahluwalia cover a lot of ground this week: Iran appears to be seeking a deal to end the Strait of Hormuz blockade as US economic pressure mounts, and the US government just worked with Tether to seize over $300 million in Iranian-linked stablecoins. Bottoms-up S&P earnings estimates are running at 19% year-over-year growth, tech earnings are about to hit, and both hosts think the setup for markets is unusually constructive. They also break down the new Microsoft-OpenAI agreement, the arrest of a special operations soldier for betting on the Maduro raid on Polymarket, and what the Kelp DAO hack means for DeFi's path to institutional adoption. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Timestamps 🕊️ 01:41 Iran wants a deal. What the blockade is doing to its oil exports 💰 05:53 How Tether helped the US seize $300M from Iran 📈 06:18 Ram on why 19% earnings growth is 'bananas' and what it means 🤖 09:55 Microsoft and OpenAI rewrite their deal. Why Microsoft won 🔐 22:28 Why Bitcoin-gold is the chart to watch 🏛️ 34:09 Why the Clarity Act may be stalled over Democrats’ concerns over Trump’s crypto conflicts 🎯 36:16 A soldier bet on the Maduro raid and got arrested. Right call? 📊 42:52 How prediction markets are changing investing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 29 · 3 min
How Microsoft Won in Its Revised Deal With OpenAI
Microsoft restructured its agreement with OpenAI, and Ram Ahluwalia has a clear verdict: Microsoft won. In this segment from Bits + Bips, Ram explains the three things Microsoft secured from the new deal, walks through the contract-breach context that shifted the negotiating leverage, and argues that Microsoft now holds a free call option on all of OpenAI's future model development, at no additional cost. Chris Perkins (@perkinscr97) — Co-Founder & Managing Partner, 250 Digital Asset Management Ram Ahluwalia (@ramahluwalia) — CEO, Lumida Wealth This clip is from a longer conversation on markets, tech earnings, DeFi security, and prediction markets. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/GE_847Xrj9E We go live every Monday at 4:30pm ET — subscribe to catch it live. If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. 🔥 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bits-bips/id1827931786 🔥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKiSkbYrUOOEEiYQEVPniQ 🔥 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6aSBMrOyi33aVDCULJ9mjN?si=NTLk-jl5QGeytA6-2kxMVQ&nd=1&dlsi=42f0b13dd53c4ba0 🔥X - https://x.com/bitsandbips 🔥 Unchained - https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitsandbips/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 29 · 37 min
How Morpho Survived a $300M DeFi Hack With Only $1M Exposure
People think of Aave and Morpho as competitors. But Morpho only lost $1 million when North Korea drained $300M from a DeFi protocol. The architecture explains why. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsors! Coinbase One 20% off first year of annual plan + $50 Bitcoin bonus. Offer valid until May 31. coinbase.com/unchained Citrea Bitcoin changed how money works. Satya changes how Bitcoin scales. citrea.xyz/unchained Ether.fi 15% cash back on food and ride apps, 3% on everything else. ether.fi/unchained ======================================================== After North Korea's Lazarus Group drained nearly $300 million from Kelp DAO's bridge, the contagion spread fast, leaving close to $200 million in bad debt on Aave. Morpho, one of the largest lending protocols in DeFi, ended up with about $1 million in exposure. Paul Frambot, co-founder and CEO of Morpho, explains why the protocol's modular, isolated architecture produced a different outcome, and what it reveals about how DeFi lending is supposed to work. He also addresses the ongoing debate over whether DeFi lenders are fairly compensated for risk, the institutional reaction to the hack and what it means for the sector's timeline, the moral complexity of Arbitrum's decision to freeze stolen funds, and why formal verification may be DeFi's last line of defense in an age of increasingly powerful AI. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠Paul Frambot, Co-founder and CEO of Morpho Labs Timestamps 🦋 02:25 How Morpho ended up with only a $1M shortfall when Lazarus stole $300M from Aave 🔑 05:43 Are DeFi lenders being compensated for the risk they take? 🏛 11:12 What the Kelp-LayerZero blame game reveals about DeFi risk 🔍 14:01 Morpho's 'Etherscan for lending' model, and how to pick a vault 📞 15:53 Paul's calls with institutions after the hack, and what they said 🤔 24:08 Arbitrum froze $71M of stolen funds. Was that the right call? 🚀 29:54 Why Paul thinks DeFi 2.0 is just getting started 🤖 33:31 Why AI makes DeFi an open target, and the one defense that still works Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 28 · 9 min
Bits + Bips: How the Kelp rsETH Hack Left Aave With $193M in Bad Debt
Luke Leasure and Shaunda Devens of Blockworks Research explain how three compounding failures, Kelp's one-of-one bridge signer, Layer Zero's permissive default settings, and Aave's failure to flag it as a collateral risk, set up the conditions for the exploit. Shaunda Devens then breaks down the monolithic pool design that concentrated risk, showing how 98% of rsETH collateral was backing a single leverage looping strategy. This clip is from a longer conversation on the Kelp rsETH hack and its implications for DeFi. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/hJ9X_btsvD0 We go live every Thursday at 12:00 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 26 · 1 hr 7 min
Arbitrum Froze $70M From North Korea? Griff Green on the Decision + Miguel Morel on the Hack
KelpDAO’s hackers left telltale signs pointing to one culprit, North Korea. Then, in a surprise move, the Arbitrum Security Council decided to fight back. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsors! As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD. You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security. Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained. Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card! Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/unchained ======================================================== In this episode about the hack on KelpDAO that had a broad impact across all of DeFi, Miguel Morel of Arkham, explains what digital fingerprints made it clear North Korea was the likely hacker, plus how it is that Arkham’s users are using the platform to figure out how to get their bad debt out of Aave and when. Then Griff Green, a member of the Arbitrum Security Council, explains some of the reasoning that went into the decision to freeze $71 million of the funds stolen by DPRK, how the surprise move worked technically, and why blockchains are immutable only by social consensus — and how even Bitcoin could be changed by social consensus. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: Miguel Morel, CEO of Arkham Intelligence Griff Green, Arbitrum Security Council Member, Leader of the DAO Security Fund, Co-founder of Giveth Timestamps 🎤 0:00 Introduction: Griff's history with the DAO hack and how he joined the Security Council 🔑 0:53 How North Korea's 48-hour pause made the Arbitrum freeze possible ⚙️ 5:09 Forced inclusion: how an L1 transaction froze funds without touching a single node 🏛️ 8:01 What the Arbitrum Security Council is and who's on it 🤔 14:31 Why Griff initially opposed the freeze and what changed his mind 🗣️ 19:17 Why social consensus, not immutability, is blockchain's real accountability layer ⚖️ 26:23 How the crypto community has responded and what Gabe Shapiro got right 🛡️ 34:31 Why Ethereum is secure but not safe, and the DAO Security Fund's mission Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 24 · 1 hr 20 min
Did Arbitrum Violate DRPK's Property Rights? No, Because It Wasn't Their Property
The $300M KelpDAO exploit became a watershed moment for DeFi, and the Arbitrum Security Council voted froze $70M worth of stolen funds. Is this a slippery slope or learning from history? Thank you to our sponsors!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MultiChain Advisors is an emerging technology growth firm that has helped create $50B+ in enterprise value for 80+ clients over the past 4 years. They're the partner to help navigate markets. Build real traction today at multichainadv.com The largest DeFi hack of 2026 starts with an RPC node. Not a smart contract bug. Not a stolen key. A spoofed node and a forged transaction. And North Korea drained $300 million from Kelp DAO through LayerZero’s bridge in a single block. Then the attacker went to Aave, borrowed against assets that didn’t exist, and created a bad debt crisis that locked Kain out of his own position. That was Friday. By Sunday, North Korea had started laundering. By Tuesday, Arbitrum’s security council had done something no L2 has ever done: frozen $70 million of funds had stolen by upgrading a bridge contract mid-hack. Kain Warwick, Taylor Monahan, and Luca Netz, with guest Odysseas Lamtzidis, take apart every layer: the DVN architecture flaw, the Aave contagion, the circuit breaker debate, and why the ‘code is law’ era may have just quietly ended. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kain Warwick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Taylor Monahan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Security Expert ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Odysseas Lamtzidis, Founder & CEO of Phylax Timestamps 🚀 0:00 Introduction 🌉 10:50 How the Kelp DAO hack drained $300M from LayerZero’s DVN 🔍 14:40 Why Taylor says the RPC spoof is scarier than a key compromise 💸 17:08 How the attacker looped rsETH in Aave to amplify the damage ⚖️ 27:08 Why Odysseas thinks bridges carry systemic risk most teams ignore 🔒 42:39 Whether circuit breakers could have stopped the Aave contagion 🏛️ 1:03:09 What Arbitrum’s security council actually did to freeze DPRK funds 🌊 1:13:06 Why Kain calls this a watershed moment for DeFi governance 🎭 1:18:02 How DPRK uses property rights arguments to unfreeze stolen funds 🧠 1:20:42 What Odysseas recommends for teams building DeFi protocols today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 24 · 47 min
DEX in the City: KelpDAO vs. LayerZero: Who Is Liable When a DeFi Protocol Is Hacked?
A $300M bridge exploit is forcing the question DeFi has been avoiding: when users lose money, who is actually responsible — the protocol, the infrastructure provider, or both? Thanks to our sponsors! *⁠ As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD. You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security. ⁠Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at ⁠⁠citrea.xyz/unchained.⁠ *⁠ Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/unchained A $300 million bridge exploit at Kelp DAO has put DeFi's most uncomfortable question back on the table: when users lose money, who is actually responsible? Katherine, Jessi, and Vy dig into the Kelp and Layer Zero finger-pointing and ask whether the industry's core values — permissionlessness, open composability — have become its greatest vulnerability. Then: the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on prediction markets last week, and the panel's pointed questions signal the case is headed to the Supreme Court sooner than most expect. Finally: American Express just solved three of agentic commerce's hardest problems — identity, mandate, and accountability — with a product that's live today. The crypto industry, which should be leading this race, is watching from the sidelines. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos⁠⁠, General Counsel at StarkWare. Previously held senior legal roles across DeFi and centralized exchanges. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessi Brooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TuongVy Le⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Veda Timestamps 🎙️ 0:00 Introduction live from the Eve Wealth Summit, Phoenix 🔓 2:08 What made the Kelp DAO bridge exploit different from past hacks ⚖️ 7:04 Kelp vs. Layer Zero: who bears liability for the $300M loss 👥 11:37 How retail users coming into DeFi change the accountability calculus 🚦 16:38 Vy: Should DeFi adopt rate limits and permissioning constraints 🗳️ 21:09 Ninth Circuit grills prediction markets — what the skepticism signals 🤖 33:38 Amex launches agentic commerce with accountability crypto hasn't built Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 23 · 1 hr 1 min
The Chopping Block: Kelp DAO Hack Fallout, DeFi Socialized Losses & Arbitrum’s “Reverse Hack”
The Chopping Block crew and guest Monet Supply break down the $200M Kelp DAO bridge exploit, finger-pointing between LayerZero, Kelp DAO, and Aave, the wild “reverse hack” Arbitrum bailout, and what it all means for DeFi lending protocol risk, L2 trust, and the future of socialized losses in crypto. 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 Monet Supply, DeFi governance OG and current Spark brain, for a front-row seat to crypto’s hack-of-the-week: the $200M “Kelp DAO—LayerZero—Aave” debacle. If you thought DeFi risk was just about liquidations, buckle up. The team untangles the hack mechanics, the musical chairs of collateral across bridges and lending markets, and—most importantly—the prime time blame game: is it LayerZero’s fault for running a single-signer bridge, or did Kelp DAO or Aave drop the ball? We dive deep into the “socialized losses” mess facing Aave depositors (especially on L2s), unpack Arbitrum’s extraordinary move to confiscate coins back from North Korea (yes, really), and debate whether rollups can—or should—aspire to Ethereum’s censorship resistance. Finally, the squad discusses concrete remediation: rate limits, portfolio triage on risky collaterals, and the meta-game of DeFi crisis response. If you want the blunt, unfiltered, and occasionally spicy take on DeFi’s latest chaos, let’s get into it. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights 🔹 Kelp DAO bridge exploit: $200M minted, North Korea fingered, DeFi lending protocols left holding the bag 🔹 Why LayerZero’s single-validator bridge design was a disaster waiting to happen 🔹 The Spider-Man meme comes to DeFi: KelpDAO, LayerZero, and Aave point fingers 🔹 Aave’s socialized losses headache: who eats the bad debt, L1 vs L2 depositors 🔹 Arbitrum’s Security Council “reverse hack” to claw back stolen ETH—feature or bug? 🔹 DeFi lending protocol design flaws, cascading risks, and pooled markets explained 🔹 Remediation: rate limits, fewer LRTs, and the “surface of death” in risk management 🔹 Rollups & L2s: why “Ethereum with training wheels” isn’t always the goal 🔹 What this week means for DeFi precedent, governance, and future hacks 🔹 DeFi’s growing pains: market demands bailouts, but who should actually pay up? Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Guest ⭐️ Monet Supply, Head of Strategy at Spark Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 22 · 1 hr 26 min
Is Canton Permissionless? CEO Says Yes, but SuperValidators Need Approval
Digital Asset’s CEO faces pointed questions about Canton’s core claims and admits something surprising about the network’s architecture. ======================================================== As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD. You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security. Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained. Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card! Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. ======================================================== Canton is the chain behind JPMorgan’s deposit token, DTCC, Broadridge’s $400 billion repo book, HSBC, Visa, and a growing roster of the biggest names in global finance. It describes itself as a public permissionless blockchain. But is it? Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, faces off against Alex Gluchowski, co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, and Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi in a live debate. The charges range from foundational: Canton cannot enforce financial rules without a trusted third party, its validators are permissioned in everything but name, and there is no universally shared ledger. Rooz fires back on all of it and, at one point, concedes something that may surprise you. If the label matters as much as the technology, this episode will force you to decide what blockchain actually means, and whether that answer has consequences for the institutions staking their infrastructure on it. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Yuval Rooz: Co-Founder & CEO, Digital Asset Haseeb Qureshi: Managing Partner, Dragonfly Alex Gluchowski: Co-Founder & CEO, Matter Labs Timestamps 🎤 0:00 Introduction 🏦 1:55 Why Yuval built Canton to bring capital markets on-chain 🔥 5:41 Where the Canton controversy came from, per Yuval ⛓️ 8:59 What makes a blockchain, per Alex 🔐 16:38 What super validators do and how double spend works on Canton 🗳️ 42:08 What ‘permissionless’ means in the context of Canton 💬 54:40 Why Alex calls Canton a mediated messaging system, not a blockchain 🔎 1:20:53 Yuval admits Canton has no public verifiability Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 22 · 1 hr
Strategy's Preferred Stock Is Now a Stablecoin. And DeFi Has a Security Problem.
The $290 million Kelp DAO hack, attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, has DeFi TVL down $13 billion in 48 hours. Do DeFi's foundational assumptions need to change? --- Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- DeFi TVL fell from $99.5 to $86.3 billion in 48 hours after the $290 million Kelp DAO exploit — the latest nine-figure attack attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, this time via a compromised Layer Zero bridge. Meanwhile, a new class of yield-bearing instrument is staking a claim on capital fleeing private credit: Apyx's APY USD, backed by Strategy's STRC preferred stock, launched on Kraken this week with a 12% yield target and $180 million in supply after just seven weeks. Is STRC-backed yield a legitimate financial primitive, or a Bitcoin derivative with extra steps? And as DeFi absorbs yet another devastating security failure, is the industry's core assumption — that incoming transactions should be treated as legitimate — finally due for an overhaul? Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins dig in with Parker White of Apyx and Michael Bentley of Euler. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Parker White — @TheOtherParker_ — Founding Contributor, Apyx. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michael Bentley — @euler_mab — Former CEO, Euler Labs Timestamps 🎤 0:00 Introduction 💰 1:49 What Apyx is and how its STRC-backed stablecoin targets 12% yield ⚖️ 6:08 The bull and bear cases for Apyx USD 🔄 10:04 How the two-token model creates yield leverage beyond holding STRC 🌍 16:51 Who the product is for and the path to US markets 📈 21:51 Bitcoin decoupling from equities and the non-consensus rally 🔥 30:15 The $290M Kelp DAO hack: mechanics and who’s to blame 🛡️ 47:07 Should DeFi stop assuming transactions are legitimate by default? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unchained

Bits + Bips: Why the AI Rally Keeps Growing — and Why Circle Launched Arc

Coinbase's Chief Policy Officer on Why He Believes the Clarity Act Will Pass

A16z Crypto Raised $2.2 Billion for Fund 5. Here's How They Plan to Deploy It

Why Wrapped Energy or Compute Will Be the New Store of Value: Bits + Bips

DEX in the City: With the Stablecoin Yield Compromise, Can the Clarity Act Get Passed?

Uneasy Money: Who Owns Stolen Crypto? The $71M Fight Testing DeFi Limits

Ben Fielding: Gensyn, Decentralized AI, and the Prediction Market That Settles Itself: Bits + Bips

After April's $606 Million in DeFi Hacks, What's the Fair Value Yield Rate?

Pump.fun’s $370M Burn Was a Mistake, Says Luca Netz: Uneasy Money

The Chopping Block: Defi United’s “Bailout,” MegaETH’s KPI Vesting, and Prediction Market Chaos

How Microsoft Won the OpenAI Fight as Markets Rally on Iran

How Microsoft Won in Its Revised Deal With OpenAI

How Morpho Survived a $300M DeFi Hack With Only $1M Exposure

Bits + Bips: How the Kelp rsETH Hack Left Aave With $193M in Bad Debt

Arbitrum Froze $70M From North Korea? Griff Green on the Decision + Miguel Morel on the Hack

Did Arbitrum Violate DRPK's Property Rights? No, Because It Wasn't Their Property

DEX in the City: KelpDAO vs. LayerZero: Who Is Liable When a DeFi Protocol Is Hacked?

The Chopping Block: Kelp DAO Hack Fallout, DeFi Socialized Losses & Arbitrum’s “Reverse Hack”

Is Canton Permissionless? CEO Says Yes, but SuperValidators Need Approval

Strategy's Preferred Stock Is Now a Stablecoin. And DeFi Has a Security Problem.