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Coinbase revealed on Thursday that cybercriminals bribed overseas customer support contractors to steal sensitive customer data as part of a $20 million extortion scheme. While no funds or private keys were compromised, customer names, addresses, and ID documents were exposed for nearly 1% of the company’s 8+ million “monthly transacting users,” according to a blog post.
The story raises tough questions for the entire industry. Is KYC making users more vulnerable? Can human error ever be fully eliminated? And is crypto’s real security problem… people?
Security experts Jameson Lopp, James Wester and Alexander Leishman delve into:
What went wrong at Coinbase
Why human vulnerabilities are still crypto’s biggest risk
Whether KYC makes the problem worse
What companies should do next to protect their users
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Guests
Jameson Lopp, Co-founder and CTO at CASA
James Wester, Research Director at Javelin
Alexander Leishman, CEO and CTO at River
Links
Coinbase’s blog post: Protecting Our Customers - Standing Up to Extortionists
Coinbase’s SEC filing
Commentary:
Vance Spencer’s tweet
Armani Ferrante’s tweet
Timestamps:
🎙️ 0:00 Introduction and ads
🔓 2:30 How hackers tricked Coinbase’s offshore support and why humans remain security’s weakest link
🗂️ 6:49 What customer data was leaked and how hackers use it
🎯 13:14 How attackers prey on targets at weak moments
🌍 20:47 Should Coinbase move customer support back to the U.S.?
🛑 26:35 Why KYC protocols might be making users more vulnerable, not safer
🛡️ 28:48 The best defenses companies can implement to protect users
📰33:49 Weekly News Recap
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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra break down the biggest stories in crypto. This week, we’re joined by one of the most iconic anons on Crypto Twitter: Mosi, aka @vanacharma. Known for calling out sketchy tokenomics and vaporware valuations, Mosi joins the crew for a ruthless teardown of market maker games, OTC dumps, and the “hallucination yield” driving this cycle’s worst bets. From the $60M Movement Labs fiasco to OTC pump schemes and the collapse of community trust, the gang goes deep on why crypto’s market structure is broken—and what it’ll take to fix it. If you’ve ever wondered how the sausage gets made in crypto token launches, this one’s for you.
Show highlights
🔹 $60M Movement Meltdown – How a token deal gone wrong became crypto’s latest fiasco and dragged down one of the cycle’s most hyped L1s.
🔹 Anon vs. Everyone – Iconic CT anon @vanacharma breaks down the float games, OTC dumps, and tokenomics illusions plaguing the industry.
🔹 Market Makers or Middlemen? – When is liquidity real, and when is it just backdoor exits? We unpack how MM incentives are getting abused.
🔹 Hallucination Yield & Vapor Valuations – Why funds chase tokens with the fakest traction — and what happens when reality hits.
🔹 Are VCs to Blame? – The crew debates whether investors are complicit in these token games or just bad at picking founders.
🔹 Pump, Dump, Repeat – How OTC discounts, fake float, and circular trading fuel a Ponzi-like system hiding in plain sight.
🔹 Why Retail Gets Burned – Most people never stood a chance. We walk through how asymmetric info and hidden unlocks wreck public buyers.
🔹 Can This Be Fixed? – Haseeb and Mosi clash on the path forward: enforceable disclosures, exchange oversight, or do-nothing chaos?
🔹 Self-Regulation Is the Only Way Out – Before the SEC nukes everything, the industry must grow up. Here’s where that starts.
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Mosi, Just a Kid from Africa
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:22 Mosi’s Crypto Philosophy
03:13 Market Structure Issues in Crypto
08:07 OTC Deals & Market Manipulation
15:36 Fixing the Market Structure
23:56 Self-Correcting Market Dynamics
29:19 VC Incentives and Market Impact
36:08 Retail vs. Institutional Investors
52:26 Superstate's Vision for Onchain Equities
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After the U.S. and China announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, signaling a massive de-escalation of the trade wars, markets rallied.
In this week’s Bits + Bips, the panel covers the biggest macro and crypto forces in motion right now:
Will US-China tariff reset reshape the global economy, or just kick the can down the road?
America’s ballooning deficit and why politicians are spending like it’s wartime.
Why some think ETH has a unique lane to outperform.
How policymakers ignore the power of the crypto community at their own risk.
Plus: Saylor copycats, Solana’s risk-reward balance, and whether stagflation or recession is still in the cards.
Sponsors:
Bitwise
Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
Steve Ehrlich, Executive editor at Unchained
Guests:
Peter Tchir, Head of Macro Strategy at Academy Securities
Zach Pandl, Head of research at Grayscale
POLITICO: Trump: The EU is ‘nastier than China’
David Bailey and Bitcoin-Native Holding Company Nakamoto Announce Merger with KindlyMD® to Establish Bitcoin Treasury
Unchained: Michael Saylor Copycats Rush to Win the Solana Rat Race. Can Lightning Strike Twice?
Reuters: Brokerages Scale Back Recession Odds After U.S.-China Trade Truce
White House: Joint Statement on U.S.-China Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva
McKinsey: Chinese Consumption Amid the New Reality
CBS: U.S. Could Face Default by August if Congress Doesn't Address Debt Ceiling, Bessent Says
Stablecoin bill drama
Unchained:
Why the Senate Stablecoin Bill Stalled & What It Means for Crypto
Tether in the Clear? Yes, Under This New Republican-Led Senate Stablecoin Bill
Stablecoin Bill Stalls in Senate as GOP Cries Foul Over Dem Resistance
A House Hearing on Crypto? More Like a Big, Partisan Fight
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
🇨🇳🇺🇲 3:27 The significance of the U.S.-China tariff pause
🌎 8:55 Is this a global economic reset or just kicking the can down the road?
🧑💼 20:23 Has Bessent beaten Navarro in the Trump trade tug of war?
💔 23:11 Whether the U.S.-China relationship is heading for a permanent split
🏦 30:22 Is the U.S. heading for a debt default in August?
🎭 38:37 Why more are copying Strategy’s bitcoin playbook
🚀 44:53 ETH’s explosive short squeeze caught traders off guard. Can it continue?
🏛️ 52:47 How stablecoin policy suddenly became major political battleground
⚠️ 1:00:20 Are there still stagflation and recession risks?
Hosts:Links
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The Movement Labs scandal exposed more than just one bad deal – it pulled back the curtain on a widespread problem in crypto: how some market makers, founders, and VCs play games to make money — whether the project succeeds or not.
In this episode, Laura speaks with José Macedo of Delphi Labs, Omar Shakeeb of SecondLane, and Taran Sabharwal of STIX to explain:
How market makers are supposed to work, and how they operate in crypto
Why insider selling is more common than you think
How projects like Movement, Mantra, and others exploit launch day hype
Whether VCs often enable this behavior with side deals that retail never hears about
And what the industry needs to do to fix this broken system
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Bitwise
José Macedo, founder at Delphi Labs
Omar Shakeeb, cofounder of SecondLane
Taran Sabharwal, founder and CEO of STIX.
Movement Labs:
Unchained: How MOVE’s Contracts Put a Pump and Dump Into a Legal Agreement
CoinDesk: Inside Movement’s Token-Dump Scandal: Secret Contracts, Shadow Advisers and Hidden Middlemen
Market making:
The Chopping Block: Can Crypto Clean Itself Up? Market Structure, Trust, and Regulation
Mantra Founder Is Burning 150 Million Tokens. Would He Try to Get Them Returned?
ZachXBT Ties REEF Founders to OM Token Crash
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
🤝 1:51 What Omar’s and Taran’s companies do
🎭 3:40 How market making works and how crypto twists the model
⚠️ 9:35 Why crypto’s market maker incentives are broken by design
🛠️ 16:25 What it would take to fix shady market maker behavior
🚩 26:20 How some founders exploit launch day hype to dump on retail
🧠 38:11 Did Mantra’s JP pull off a “genius” move or manipulate the market?
🔍 42:22 Whether crypto traders do any research before apeing in
💸 52:48 How founders are incentivized to dump their own tokens
🏦 59:09 Why VCs may be fueling this problem with insider deals
📉 1:02:37 What crypto needs to learn from traditional finance
✅ 1:06:13 The biggest fixes the industry must prioritize to stop these scams
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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and special guest Evgeny Gaevoy of Wintermute break down the biggest stories in crypto. This week: the $38M Move token dump exposes the shady side of market making, with shocking incentives that blurred the line between liquidity support and pure exit liquidity. We dig into what really happened, why major VCs looked the other way, and how the entire token launch playbook might be broken. Evgeny joins to give the market maker’s perspective — and to answer the question: how many more of these sh*t shows are still lurking beneath the surface?
Show highlights
🔹 $38M Token Dump Exposed – How Movement Labs’ shady deal with Web3Port revealed the dark side of crypto market making.
🔹 Market Makers or Exit Liquidity? – Inside the incentive structure that let a market maker dump tokens and split profits with the foundation.
🔹 VCs Looked the Other Way – Why top investors backed Movement Labs despite red flags — and what it says about crypto due diligence.
🔹 Rushi Gets Fired – The Movement Labs CEO is out after weeks of denial. But was the rest of the team complicit too?
🔹 Wintermute’s Evgeny Speaks Out – The biggest market maker in crypto weighs in on shady deals, dump mechanics, and transparency failures.
🔹 Airdrops, Float Games, and Retail Rugging – We dissect how token launches get manipulated behind the scenes — and who really pays.
🔹 The Case for Disclosure – Why Haseeb argues crypto needs mandatory public disclosures for market making agreements — before regulators step in.
🔹 Self-Regulation or SEC Crackdown? – Can the industry grow up on its own… or are we begging for another wave of securities enforcement?
🔹 Crypto’s Trust Crisis – Without transparency, the entire token model risks collapse. This episode lays out how to fix it.
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Evgeny Gaevoy, Founder and CEO at Wintermute
Inside Movement’s Token-Dump Scandal: Secret Contracts, Shadow Advisers and Hidden Middlemen by Sam Kessler
🔗https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/04/30/inside-movement-s-token-dump-scandal-secret-contracts-shadow-advisors-and-hidden-middlemen
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:19 Movement Labs Scandal: Inside the Market Maker Mess
06:26 How Crypto Market Making Really Works
10:54 Rigged from the Start?
17:25 Who Knew What? Movement Labs and the Industry Fallout
25:57 Why Crypto Needs a Market Maker Disclosure
34:45 Transparency vs. Manipulation
38:02 Do Market Makers Control Token Prices?
51:51 The Crypto Market Structure Bill: What’s at Stake
59:18 Can We Fix Crypto Before It Breaks?
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The crypto industry is fixated on the U.S. Senate.
On Thursday, lawmakers failed to advance the GENIUS Act, the most significant federal stablecoin bill to date. But the story isn’t over.
Behind the process is a drama about potential presidential conflicts, shifting political alliances, and unresolved policy questions.
In this episode, Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association and Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and CLO of the DeFi Education Fund, break down:
Why the bill stalled but isn’t dead yet
The role Trump’s crypto ties are playing
Whether Democrats who once backed crypto are turning away
Why advocates are still pushing for a deal this year
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
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Mantle
Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association
Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and CLO of the DeFi Education Fund
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
📉 2:01 Why the Senate blocked the vote but the bill isn’t dead yet
🔄 5:17 Why some pro-crypto Democrats suddenly flipped
⚖️ 8:08 Key differences between the two competing GENIUS Act proposals
🔄 14:18 Whether lawmakers are starting to shift their crypto stances
🤝 16:05 Can the Senate overcome divisions and get this across the finish line?
🏛️ 18:14 How Trump’s crypto ties are shaping the legislative battle
⏳ 20:46 Is the August deadline already slipping out of reach
📝 22:39 Combining stablecoin and market structure bills
🎉 25:59 Why Kristin says it’s a relief not to have to deal with Gensler anymore
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On Thursday, Coinbase announced its acquisition of Deribit in a $2.9 billion deal, the largest merger in the crypto industry to date.
In this episode, Owen Lau, executive director and senior analyst at Oppenheimer, delves into why Deribit was such a coveted prize, what this deal means for the global derivatives landscape, and how Coinbase is using its position as a public company to cement its dominance.
Plus:
The importance of Coinbase paying mostly in stock and barely touching its cash
How the derivatives market dwarfs spot trading, and is only getting bigger
What this means for CME and smaller crypto exchanges
And how Base, Coinbase’s L2, fits into the long game
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Mantle
Guest
Owen Lau, Executive Director and Senior Analyst at Oppenheimer
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
📢 2:26 What this record-breaking $2.9B deal really means for crypto
🔥 4:39 Why Deribit was the most sought - after acquisition target in the space
📊 5:59 How the derivatives market became bigger than spot — and what’s next
⚔️ 10:16 What this move signals for CME and how the competitive landscape shifts
🛡️ 12:08 Will this deal make crypto safer for everyone?
💸 16:28 Why Coinbase used mostly stock and why that matters
📈 18:59 How the deal changes Coinbase’s revenue outlook going forward
🚀 22:15 Whether Coinbase is building the “WeChat of the U.S.” financial system
🔗 24:32 The role of Base in Coinbase’s future
🤝 25:48 Why M&A is heating up across crypto right now
⚖️ 27:35 How ongoing regulatory uncertainty still casts a shadow
🧠 28:12 What investors should keep in mind when evaluating the risks and rewards
📰 30:40 Crypto News Recap
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Crypto doesn’t reward fundamentals. It rewards attention. So what does that say about how investors, like Warren Buffett, would fare today?
In this week’s Bits + Bips, the crew dissects what’s really behind this rally, why Ethereum’s sentiment problem may run deeper than roadmap delays, and how the stablecoin bill turned into a political tug of war.
Plus:
Apple and NFTs: why this matters more than people think
Whether tariffs are about politics or actual policy
Why Bessent is “the best” in the Trump administration
And why Buffett’s era may be ending, with Portnoy rising in his place 😬
Sponsor:
Bitwise
James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard
Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
Katalin Tischhauser, Head of Research at Sygnum Bank
Macro
Bloomberg: Trump Suggests Some Trade Deals May Come as Soon as This Week -
Asymmetric Market Update™️ #29
May 2025 Newsletter: A Trade Breakdown - Lyn Alden
Stagflation bears are wrong?
Reuters: Dollar slips as Taiwan dollar surge sparks revaluation talk
WSJ:
Tariffs Threaten Semiconductor Supply Chains, Chip-Equipment Maker Warns
Bessent’s oped: Trump’s Three Steps to Economic Growth
Buffett on Tariffs
Buffet: The Natural Course of Government is to make Currency worth less overtime
ETH pivot
Unchained:
Ethereum Gave Away Too Much for Too Long. Will Its Pivot Be Enough?
Ethereum Ecosystem Shifts Toward User Focus
Ethereum Developers Vote EOF Out of Fusaka Hard Fork
Vitalik Buterin Proposes Replacing Ethereum Virtual Machine
The Block:
Vitalik and new Ethereum Foundation co-executive directors outline updated board structure, mission
Vitalik Buterin- and StarkWare-backed Kakarot reveals alternative Ethereum ZK stack, targeting real-time STARK proofs on Layer 1 by end of 2025
CoinDesk: Ethereum Could Supercharge Transaction Speed to 2,000 TPS Thanks to Bold New Proposal
Simplifying the L1 by Vitalik Buterin
Stablecoin bill:
POLITICO: Why the Senate crypto bill is in turmoil
Latest on the Senate's "GENIUS Act" by Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy
Timestamps:
🚪 0:00 Intro
👋 1:01 Katalin’s background
📦 3:40 The real motive behind tariffs, according to Katalin
😬 11:43 What the market is forgetting to price in
🇪🇺 18:57 How Europe views Trump’s trade moves
🤝 21:33 Trump thinking that U.S. companies are cutting bad deals with China
🧠 26:04 Why Bessent’s op-ed made waves, and why Alex calls him the smartest in Trump’s crew
📉 29:13 The collapse in U.S. manufacturing employment, despite a surge in production
🧓 33:12 Buffett’s exit and his old-school take on tariffs in a new-school market
🌀 39:46 Will Ethereum’s pivot actually improve the price?
⚖️ 51:28 The impact of the political mess around the stablecoin bill
💸 53:53 Ripple’s attempted Circle acquisition and why Ram wouldn’t touch XRP
🍎 1:00:43 Importance of Apple quietly opening the door to NFTs and crypto sales
💱 1:03:34 What’s up with the Taiwanese dollar
💻 1:06:05 Why adding tariffs to chips could backfire big time
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After years of underperformance, Ethereum is trying to change course, from scaling the layer 1 to potentially dumping the EVM. In this episode, Tarun Chitra and Max Resnick break down each of these new changes, analyzing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Is this a reset that can save Ethereum’s market position and price? Or has the protocol given away too much for too long?
They dive into:
Whether the gas limit increase changes everything
What went wrong with Ethereum’s economics and solo staking politics
Max’s view on “the single most important” change Ethereum needs to make
How ETH could claw back value from layer 2s
What Max would do if he ran Ethereum
Whether this pivot is too little, too late
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Bitwise https://bitwiseinvestments.com/ciomemo
Tarun Chitra, CEO and Co-Founder of Gauntlet
Max Resnick, Lead economist at Anza
Unchained:
Ethereum Ecosystem Shifts Toward User Focus
Ethereum Developers Vote EOF Out of Fusaka Hard Fork
Vitalik Buterin Proposes Replacing Ethereum Virtual Machine
The Block:
Vitalik and new Ethereum Foundation co-executive directors outline updated board structure, mission
Vitalik Buterin- and StarkWare-backed Kakarot reveals alternative Ethereum ZK stack, targeting real-time STARK proofs on Layer 1 by end of 2025
CoinDesk: Ethereum Could Supercharge Transaction Speed to 2,000 TPS Thanks to Bold New Proposal
Simplifying the L1 by Vitalik Buterin
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Introduction
🛠️ 2:05 Why Ethereum had to pivot and what triggered the urgency
📈 7:16 Why raising the gas limit could actually be a big deal
💻 9:12 Whether Ethereum devs are too idealistic
⚡ 19:02 How Solana managed to outperform Ethereum at the base layer
👨🏫 24:09 Why Max feels Vitalik’s proposals focus on outdated technology
🔧 27:57 The growing gap between Ethereum research and its execution clients
👍 35:02 The ONE thing Max thinks Ethereum is doing well
⚖️ 40:38 Did “credible neutrality” push Ethereum down the wrong path?
🌀 48:23 Will the new Ethereum R1 rollup succeed?
🔀 52:53 What the new updates mean for layer 2s and their value proposition
📉 1:02:58 Whether ETH is finally due for a price reversal
🎯 1:09:12 Why Ethereum should take a page from Trump’s strategy playbook
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The MOVE token collapse sparked one of the most damning investigations in the industry this year.
In this episode of Unchained, investigative journalist Sam Kessler joins Laura Shin to walk through the contracts, questionable market-making deals, and finger pointing inside Movement Labs. From Binance’s ban to a Trump-affiliated crypto deal, this story unearths how the MOVE token collapse was the product of what looks like a pump-and-dump plan written out in legal contracts.
Plus:
How insiders structured deals to profit from artificial price spikes
How this could have happened with a project backed by some of crypto’s most reputable VCs
What this saga says about token launches, regulation, and market integrity
And whether Movement Labs can (or should) be trusted to investigate itself
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
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Mantle
Sam Kessler, Deputy Managing Editor for Tech and Protocols at CoinDesk
CoinDesk: Inside Movement’s Token-Dump Scandal: Secret Contracts, Shadow Advisers and Hidden Middlemen
Trading for MOVE will be suspended on Coinbase
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Introduction
🕵️♀️ 1:52 Initial details of the scandal
⚖️ 6:20 Conflicts of interest at Movement Labs and who knew what
💥 8:42 Why 5% of tokens = 50% of supply and why that’s wild
🧾 13:14 How a lawyer called the deal “the worst agreement I’ve ever seen”
🚫 18:41 Why Binance banned Web3Port after suspicious trading
🧩 20:38 The web of key players: founders, shadow advisors, and middlemen
🧠 25:51 A theory on treasury selling and token price manipulation
🔍 27:49 Can Movement Labs investigate itself, and will anyone trust the outcome?
📉 29:39 Why Coinbase is suspending MOVE and what that signals
🇺🇸 30:47 How Trump’s crypto arm is tangled up in the MOVE ecosystem
📰34:15 News Recap
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While it’s been a calmer week in the markets (thank God!), there’s a lot to talk about!
This week on Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Ram Ahluwalia, and Steven Ehrlich, along with guest Charles Edwards of Capriole Investments, dive into:
Whether it’s time to be bullish on all crypto assets
Whether a Trump put actually exists
The risks behind bitcoin treasury companies like the new Twenty One Capital
Why Solana ETFs might not be the smash success people expect
The controversial invite to the White House for $TRUMP holders
Why there’s a big disconnect in the markets
Bitwise
James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
Steven Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained
Guest:
Charles Edwards, Founder of Capriole Investments
Twenty One:
Recent coverage of Unchained on Twenty One:
Why Twenty One Capital Is More About Volatility Than Bitcoin
Twenty One Aims to Buy as Much Bitcoin as Possible. Can It Succeed?
Press Release: Tether, SoftBank Group, and Jack Mallers Launch Twenty One, a Bitcoin-native Company, Through a Business Combination With Cantor Equity Partners
Does The Market Still Control Trump?
Donald Trump’s chaos has left investors with frayed nerves
4 of the Mag7 Reporting This Week
Big Tech’s Earnings Problem Is Estimates May Be Way Too High
$TRUMP
Trump's Meme Coin Dinner Contest Earns Insiders $900,000 in Two Days
Other:
Apollo slides
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Introductions
🧠 3:22 Is the market controlling Trump or is Trump controlling the market?
📈 8:51 Can investors trust it if there’s a positive earnings season?
🚚 14:13 How tariffs are hitting supply chains and consumer goods
🏛️ 19:25 Is Twenty One Capital a threat to MicroStrategy?
⛏️ 31:19 What is the future of bitcoin miners?
⚡ 34:42 Will the Bitcoin corporate flywheel eventually break?
🔥 43:31 Can Solana holding companies follow MSTR?
🇨🇦 48:19 Wen Solana ETFs? \Poor early trading trends in Canada
🤔 53:50 Is there a silver lining to $TRUMP?
📊 1:06:30 Bitcoin strength: time to be bullish?
🌍 1:14:24 Macro wrap-up with tariffs, rate cuts, and global market risks
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The race for Bitcoin supremacy just got more complicated.
Twenty One Capital, backed by Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald, plans to stack as much BTC as it possibly can.
But is this new venture really about Bitcoin … or about creating a hyper-volatile stock to play market cycles?
This week on Unchained, Jeff Park of Bitwise and Mark Palmer of Benchmark join to discuss:
Why SoftBank and Tether are a “perfect match”—and why they turned to Bitcoin
How volatility, not bitcoin itself, might be the real asset investors are buying
What Cantor’s involvement says about Wall Street’s readiness for crypto
Why the launch timing matters
Whether Twenty One could repeat MicroStrategy’s mistakes
Whether these new Bitcoin vehicles are better bets than spot bitcoin or ETFs
Plus, is SoftBank getting into crypto a top signal? 👀
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Bitwise
Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise
Mark Palmer, Senior Analyst at Benchmark
Recent coverage of Unchained on Twenty One: Twenty One Aims to Buy as Much Bitcoin as Possible. Can It Succeed?
Press Release: Tether, SoftBank Group, and Jack Mallers Launch Twenty One, a Bitcoin-native Company, Through a Business Combination With Cantor Equity Partners
Jeff Park’s post on X
Timestamps:
📰 0:00 Introduction
🚀 2:07 Why Jeff sees the Twenty One Capital launch as a huge development
🧠 6:09 How Twenty One might learn from MicroStrategy’s playbook
🏦 11:59 Risks of turning into the next Celsius, Voyager or Genesis
💸 18:52 Why Bitcoin needs income-generating activities to evolve
📊 21:17 How metrics like bitcoin per share bridge crypto and TradFi
🤝 30:16 Whether Tether’s participation makes sense
💍 34:18 Why Jeff thinks SoftBank and Tether are “a perfect match”
🚩 42:29 Is SoftBank entering crypto a top signal?
🏛️ 46:32 Why Cantor’s involvement shows Wall Street is serious
📈 50:24 Why bitcoin vehicle stocks trade at a premium
🗓️ 55:48 Why timing matters compared to MicroStrategy’s 2020 debut
🧮 1:00:06 How to decide between investing in vehicles, spot bitcoin, or ETFs
🌊 1:08:52 Whether SOL investment vehicles will have the same success as bitcoin ones
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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and special guest David Hoffman break down the biggest stories in crypto. This week: MicroStrategy clones are popping up, with Bitcoin-backed SPACs trying to replay Saylor’s playbook. Meanwhile, Trump launches a memecoin for dinner invites, Zora kicks off a new era of “content coins,” and Ethereum faces an existential pivot. David Hoffman joins the crew to debate whether crypto’s future is real innovation—or just financial theater.
Show highlights
🔹 Bitcoin vs Ethereum: Who Wins the Future? – Breaking down why Bitcoin could outgrow Ethereum… or why Ethereum might still be crypto’s last hope.
🔹 Can Content Coins Save Crypto? – Zora’s pivot and the rise of “content coins” spark a full-blown identity crisis for the industry.
🔹 Are We Just Rebranding Memecoins? – The crew debates whether “content coins” are innovation… or just the same casino with better UX.
🔹 The Culture Clash – Why crypto’s new apps feel like they’re built for millennials — and why Gen Z might just not care.
🔹 SoftBank, SPACs, and the Top Signal – 21Capital’s Bitcoin MicroStrategy clone is here. Are we seeing the beginning of the end… again?
🔹 Vitalik’s Existential Pivot – Ethereum is trying to save itself. But can it change fast enough to stay relevant?
🔹 Bitcoin’s Macro Moment – In a world of tariffs, inflation, and chaos, Bitcoin might accidentally become the next Federal Reserve.
🔹 Crypto’s Morality Crisis – Vitalik’s attack on “bad apps” raises a deeper question: what should crypto even be building anymore?
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ David Hoffman, Co-owner at Bankless
HostsDisclosures
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:55 MicroStrategy Clones and Market Impact
13:40 Trump Coin and Its Controversies
20:35 Zora’s Content Coin vs. Jesse's Coining Controversy
26:56 Zora’s Market Position
32:29 Generational Divide in Crypto
39:32 Ethereum's Strategic Pivot
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A new company called Twenty One is making waves—with a launch strategy that echoes Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), a cap table that includes Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald, and a plan to acquire more Bitcoin than anyone else.
They’re starting with 42,000 BTC, worth nearly $4 billion, and they’ve hinted they’ll use convertible debt, equity raises, and other market mechanics to buy more.
But is this just a smarter MicroStrategy? Or a recipe for financial reflexivity gone wrong?
In this episode, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, digs into:
How the strategy works and why it could break
What happens if the stock trades below NAV
Why timing the market may be a feature, not a bug
And whether this signals a new phase in corporate Bitcoin exposure
Sigel also shares a bold idea for “BIT Bonds” that could let the U.S. Treasury issue Bitcoin-linked government debt. Could it work?
Plus, Unchained regulatory reporter Veronica Irwin talks about her scoop that we might see a crypto market structure bill as early as this week.
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
Bitkey: Use code UNCHAINED for 20% off
FalconX
Mantle
Guest
Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck
Links
Unchained:
Press Release: Tether, SoftBank Group, and Jack Mallers Launch Twenty One, a Bitcoin-native Company, Through a Business Combination With Cantor Equity Partners
The Block: Strike founder Jack Mallers to lead Tether-backed multi-billion bitcoin buying venture, Twenty One Capital
Ryan Watkins’ post on X
Jeff Park’s post on X
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Introduction
🚀 4:59 How Twenty One plans to buy more bitcoin than anyone else
⚠️ 7:23 The key risks behind the reflexive BTC acquisition strategy
📈 12:38 Why more companies are copying the MicroStrategy playbook
👔 16:17 Jack Mallers’ role and why the CFO matters even more here
💥 17:55 Could one bad move blow these companies up?
💰 22:28 The types of investors this model attracts
⏳ 25:40 Did Twenty One launch at the worst possible time?
🤔 26:58 How to think about investing in BTC vs. these BTC-heavy stocks
🇺🇸 28:23 Unchained regulatory reporter Veronica Irwin on why a market structure bill might be on its way relatively soon
📰 35:31 Crypto News Recap
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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. In this episode, the crew is joined by special guest Joe Weisenthal, co-host of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast, for a wide-ranging, unfiltered conversation. They dive into whether Bitcoin is becoming digital gold, why Ethereum’s value might be leaking away, and how stablecoins are quietly reshaping global finance. Joe challenges the panel on NFTs, DePIN, and whether any of crypto’s big promises have actually delivered. Plus, they debate the rise of MicroStrategy copycats, the failure of crypto social apps, and why Worldcoin’s orb-pilled vision might actually make sense.
Show highlights
🔹 Bitcoin = Safe Haven? – Why BTC is acting like gold in a crisis while ETH and altcoins are tanking
🔹 Ethereum’s Value Leak – Joe questions why ETH hasn’t captured any upside from stablecoins or NFTs
🔹 The MicroStrategy Clone Wars – Solana copycats are trying the Saylor playbook… but will it work?
🔹 Worldcoin’s Creepy Appeal – Joe is orb-pilled: privacy is dead, but proof-of-personhood might just work
🔹 The Freeport Theory of Bitcoin – Could BTC be the decentralized answer to offshore gold storage?
🔹 Are Stablecoins the Eurodollars of Crypto? – Haseeb lays out how stables quietly rewrote the financial system
🔹 Ethereum’s L2 Gamble – The panel debates if Ethereum’s scaling strategy caused value to bleed out
🔹 The DePIN Dilemma – Is decentralized infrastructure a dead-end or just early? Joe wants receipts
🔹 Crypto Social Media? – Joe’s skeptical: why decentralized comms hasn’t clicked yet
🔹 Utopia or Bust? – If crypto’s gonna be this expensive, Joe says it better deliver a better world
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Joe Weisenthal, Editor at Bloomberg
Disclosures
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:57 Bitcoin's Market Behavior
06:53 Bitcoin as a Safe Haven
15:56 Economic Value in Crypto
19:51 Stablecoins, NFTs, and Worldcoin
36:00 Blockchain's Value in Social Networks
41:20 Reality of Crypto Utopias
49:19 The Future of Stablecoins and Regulation
54:54 MicroStrategy and Bitcoin Investments
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An independent Federal Reserve has long been the cornerstone of U.S. economic stability, but what happens when that foundation is shaken?
In this week’s episode of Bits + Bips, the panel digs into one of the most dramatic threats yet to financial markets: Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell. It’s not just political theater, it’s a potential major blow to the credibility of the U.S. dollar and the independence of the world’s most important central bank.
Joining the panel is Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale, who explores why a rotation away from U.S. dollar assets might already be happening and what that means for bitcoin.
Plus:
Why the Fed’s independence is so crucial
The telltale signs of a structural capital rotation out of the U.S.
Whether bitcoin has officially decoupled from equities
How young crypto HODLers will react to their first bear market
And why this moment may look more like Argentina than America
Show highlights:
Sponsors:
Bitwise
Hosts:
Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard
Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
Steven Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained
Guest:
Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale
Links
Trump Threatening Powell
New York Times: Risk of Financial Panic Tempers Trump on Firing Powell
Barrons: Trump Calls Powell a ‘Major Loser.’ 3 Ways He Could Sideline the Fed Chair
Inconsistencies in Hard v. Soft Data
Wall Street Journal: Trump Is Everywhere Except in the Economic Data
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: Carefully Balancing Both Hard and Soft Data in Policy Discussions
Dropping Dollar
CNBC: U.S. Dollar Falls to Three-Year Low as Trump’s Powell Threats Further Dent Investor Confidence
New York Times: The Dollar Keeps Falling as Its ‘Safe Haven’ Status Is Questioned
Bitcoin Decoupling
CNBC: Bitcoin Retakes $90,000 as Investors See It as Alternative to Diving Dollar and Turbulent Stocks
Decrypt: Bitcoin Decoupling? BTC Rises as Equity Markets Swoon
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
👀 3:44 Could Trump really fire Powell? And what would that mean for the Fed’s credibility
👷13:01 Why the Fed is seeing conflicting signals from the economy
📈📉 20:07 If Trump keeps Powell for now, how will the market react?
🚪 24:49 Why capital is rotating out of the U.S. and how it is such a big moment for bitcoin.
🤕 31:37 How much further the dollar could fall in this cycle?
🔗 42:43 Has bitcoin finally decoupled, and could it become a global reserve currency?
🧑💻 50:11 How the young age of crypto holders could reshape market dynamics
🧠 1:04:26 What specific things Ram, Alex, and Zach are watching now across macro and crypto
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The U.S. is rattled by tariffs, economic uncertainty, and political U-turns on crypto. But across Asia, the response has been … different.
In this episode of Unchained, we check in with two of the sharpest observers of Asia’s crypto landscape: Emily Parker, China and Japan advisor of the Global Blockchain Business Council, and Yat Siu, chairman of Animoca Brands. They unpack how Asia views the Trump crypto pivot, what’s actually happening inside China, why Hong Kong may be the most important jurisdiction in crypto right now, and how Japan and Korea are quietly shaping the future of regulation, stablecoins, and DeFi.
Plus:
Is crypto really banned in China?
Why Korea is lifting its “shadow ban”
Why crypto gaming is thriving in Asia
And what the West can learn from it all
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
Bitwise
Guests:
Emily Parker, China and Japan Advisor at the Global Blockchain Business Council
Yat Siu, Chairman of Animoca Brands
Links
WSJ: Crypto Is Illegal in China. Binance Does $90 Billion of Business There Anyway.
Timestamps:
🌏 0:00 Introduction
😌 5:43 Why Chinese sentiment around tariffs is calmer than in the U.S.
🗣️ 8:24 What crypto conversations are really about in China right now
🔁 11:28 How Asia reacted to the U.S. crypto U-turn under Trump
🏦 20:13 Are Asian nations quietly building up bitcoin reserves?
📜 23:19 How Asia has more regulatory clarity than the U.S.
📈 25:13 Why crypto adoption in Asia is outpacing that of other regions
🇰🇷 30:22 Why DeFi hasn’t taken off yet in South Korea – Don’t miss this!
🌐 38:05 The potential rise of non-USD stablecoins in Asia
👀 43:52 Is crypto actually banned in China?
💴 55:51 Whether the digital yuan is being adopted
🔓 1:00:28 Korea potentially lifting its “shadow ban” on institutional crypto investment?
📊 1:05:15 Why some Asian companies choose to IPO in the U.S. and whether more are coming
🎮 1:10:21 What’s really happening with Web3 gaming in Asia right now
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This week on Unchained: two big stories, one episode.
First, Jesse Pollak, head of Coinbase’s L2 Base, joins to unpack the chaos behind the viral “Coined It” memecoin moment, a tweet-turned-token that hit $17M in an hour, crashed, then rebounded, igniting a firestorm on Crypto Twitter. Was it a media experiment or a botched launch? Was there insider trading? And why does Jesse think coins are the future of creator monetization?
Then, we dive into Converge, the recently announced chain backed by Ethena and Securitize, aiming to bridge TradFi and DeFi. Carlos Domingo and Guy Young explain what makes Converge technically novel, why they’re building on Arbitrum and Celestia, and how it could reshape the onchain landscape for institutions.
Also in this episode:
Whether Jesse regrets greenlighting the Base post
The future of creator coins and tokenized assets
How Converge plans to prevent hacks and improve UX
And why Converge isn’t just about migrating existing assets, but “expanding the pie”
Thank you to our sponsors!
Bitkey: Use code UNCHAINED for 20% off
FalconX
Mantle
Part 1
Jesse Pollak, Head of Base and Coinbase Wallet
On Wednesday, Coinbase’s layer 2 network Base posted a tweet that
read: “Base is for everyone,” followed by a tweet: “Coined it.” That
second tweet linked to a page where the post had already been turned
into a coin.
Within an hour, the coin hit a $17 million market cap, then dropped
to under $2 million, then went back up to over $13 million. Crypto
Twitter exploded. Some called it a rug. Others accused insiders of
sniping the launch. Coinbase later issued a statement saying that Zora
auto-tokenizes content, but Jesse Pollak, head of Base, tweeted that he
personally greenlit the post.
So what really happened?
In this episode, Jesse sits down with Laura to discuss:
Whether this was a memecoin launch or a media experiment
Why he thinks the crypto community overreacted
Whether insider trading occurred
And why he believes coins, not NFTs, are the future of creator monetization
Plus, he explains why he’s okay being the “punching bag.”
Part 2
A month ago, Converge was announced as the new chain backed by Ethena and Securitize, aiming to become a home for tokenized assets and institutional capital.
On Thursday, the teams behind it released the full technical specs. From validator-triggered circuit breakers to 100ms block times and support for yield-generating private credit, Converge is pitching itself as the chain for both TradFi and DeFi.
In this episode, Securitize’s Carlos Domingo and Ethena’s Guy Young join Unchained to explain what’s actually novel in this architecture, why they chose Arbitrum and Celestia, and what it will take for institutions to get comfortable onchain.
Plus:
What Converge means for Ethereum and other L2s
Whether gas tokens like USDe and USDtb solve real UX problems
How they plan to prevent bridge-based hacks
And why this isn’t just about migrating existing assets, but “expanding the pie”
Guest
Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize
Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs
Links
Previous coverage of Unchained on Ethena:
After an Incredible 2024 for USDe, Ethena Plans to Supercharge Growth
Ethena’s USDe Grew to $2 Billion in 7 Weeks. Is It Safe?
How Ethena’s USDe Challenges Traditional Stablecoin Models
Unchained:
Tokenized T-Bills Grow Despite Trump Tariffs Causing U.S. Treasuries Sell-off
Tokenized Treasuries Grow 20X Faster Than Stablecoins as Crypto Market Languishes
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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. In this episode, the crew dives into the drama surrounding the OM token crash, the murky world of fake market caps, and Binance’s role in fueling questionable projects. They unpack Trump’s tariff chaos and whether Bitcoin could emerge as the real winner in a broken economic order. Plus, Vitalik stirs the pot by calling out “bad apps” like Pump.fun—igniting a moral war over what crypto should be building.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights
🔹 OM Token Implodes – How a top-25 token collapsed 90% in 90 minutes and why it exposed deeper issues with fake float
🔹 Market Cap Manipulation – Haseeb breaks down how teams game CoinGecko, and why circulating supply might be mostly fiction
🔹 Binance Listings = Domain Squatting? – The crew explores how projects “reverse-merge” into dead tokens to skip the line
🔹 Coffeezilla Strikes Again – The panel reacts to OM founder’s bizarre interview and what it reveals about crypto’s accountability gap
🔹 Should Exchanges Demand Disclosures? – A fiery debate on whether market making agreements should be public
🔹 Tarun Goes Full Macro – Why Trump’s tariffs could actually boost Bitcoin—and what capital flight means for crypto
🔹 Vitalik’s App Morality Test – Did he go too far calling Pump.fun a “bad” app? The panel isn’t so sure
🔹 Ethereum’s Vibe Crisis – Solana and Base push back as Vitalik gets philosophical about the soul of crypto
🔹 Is Railgun the Real Hero? – Tarun questions Vitalik’s taste in apps and whether ideological projects matter if no one uses them
🔹 Regulation Without Regulators – Can the industry police itself, or is it time for a new kind of crypto SRO?
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
Use Code CHOPINNOVATE, for tickets to the U.S. Innovation in Crypto conference at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island (NYC): cbc25.eventbrite.com
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:47 Trump's Tariff Turmoil
15:48 Mantra's OM Token Controversy
29:42 Crypto Disclosures & Market Making Agreements
31:49 Debate on Exchange Incentives & Market Maker Costs
33:57 The Role of Self-Regulation in Crypto Exchanges
44:15 Vitalik's Views on Blockchain Ethics
56:33 Upcoming Live Event Announcement
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Markets are nervous, liquidity is drying up, and political messaging is inconsistent at best.
In this week’s Bits + Bips, the crew unpacks the shifting mood across capital markets and what it will take to bring back the risk-on energy. From Trump’s high-stakes tariff strategy to whispers of deregulation, tax cuts, and even capital flooding, the stakes are rising.
Plus:
What would trigger a “Trump put”
Will crypto finally benefit from the global chaos?
Whether the devaluation of the yuan could be a big moment
And how animal spirits might return… if they’re properly incentivized
Show highlights:
Sponsors:
Bitwise
Hosts:
James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric
Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
Noelle Acheson, Author of the “Crypto Is Macro Now” Newsletter
Links
Newsweek: Steve Bannon's 'Flood the Zone' Strategy Explained Amid Trump Policy Blitz
Cointelegraph: Senator Tim Scott is confident market structure bill passed by August
CoinDesk: Donald Trump's Memecoin Faces Massive $320M Token Unlock Amid Record Low Price
Decrypt: Canada to Launch 'World First' Spot Solana ETFs With Staking This Week: Balchunas
YouTube: The Great Tariff Debate with David Sacks, Larry Summers, and Ezra Klein
Bloomberg: Investors Fear Another Big Blowup of Basis Trade as Treasuries Lose Haven Status
Wall Street Journal: China’s March Lending Jumped on Government Stimulus Push
CoinTelegraph: Bitcoin Shows Growing Strength During Market Downturn — Wintermute
Timestamps:
👋0:00 Intro
🥊 1:54 Who won the All-In Sacks vs. Summers debate?
🌍 8:01 Why Trump’s 130-country strategy might reshape global trade
💧 18:32 Does the market have a creeping liquidity crisis?
📈 26:15 What might actually make Trump pivot before the midterms
📉 32:18 How hedge funds are quietly bracing for more chaos
🥇 36:52 Why gold and crypto are standing out in this macro mess
🎭 40:15 How Trump’s love of media attention impacts his strategy
🚀 48:02 What might finally reignite serious crypto interest
🧠 53:01 Can investor confidence return without real economic momentum?
💣 1:08:27 Why the yuan’s devaluation could be a major crypto inflection point
🐉 1:14:02 Ram’s strategy to disrupt China’s power plays
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