Unchained

Latest Episodes:

What Two DOJ Cases Reveal About the Legal Risks of Prediction Markets: Bits + Bips Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

Steve Sosnick on the ratchet effect in equities, the AI bandwidth parallel, Kevin Warsh’s impossible first week, and why crypto is the unsexy trade right now.

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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.

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Equities are near all-time highs, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge just hit a multi-year peak, Iran ceasefire talks are producing a familiar ratchet effect in markets, and Bitcoin is quietly underperforming tech stocks on a nine-month volatility low. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, joins Steve Ehrlich to map what’s actually driving these unique market dynamics. They cover the two vulnerabilities that could change things, the uncomfortable parallel between today’s AI capex and the 1999 bandwidth buildout, what $120 billion in money market inflows says about where retail cash is actually sitting, the challenge Kevin Warsh faces walking into an already-skeptical FOMC, and why crypto is currently losing the competition for momentum-chasing money to AI stocks, upcoming IPOs, and even a memory chip ETF.

Host:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview

Guest:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sam Enzer - Partner and CahillNXT Co-Chair at Cahill Gordon & Reindel

Timestamps

🏛️ 03:02 The two DOJ cases that just put prediction market traders on notice 📜 05:49 Why "insider trading" isn't actually a legal term, and why that matters 💡 11:49 Three scenarios where trading on an information edge is perfectly legal 🎭 15:32 The George Santos bet: closer to scalping than insider trading? ⚖️ 26:46 Why Kalshi may dodge the need for a gambling license 📉 34:41 The Strategy Polymarket bitcoin dispute: trade date vs. disclosure date 🚨 45:29 Expect more enforcement: what these two cases tell us about what's next

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The Chopping Block: Ethereum's Inflection Point w/ Joe Lubin on DATs, CROPS, AI-Driven Exploits, Quantum Threats, and CFTC's Perps Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

Joe Lubin makes the bull case for Ethereum amid a sea of bearishness. The panel dissects Saylor selling Bitcoin for the first time in four years, the meaning behind 9 senior EF departures, Justin Drake's Q-Day call (50% by 2032), Manuel Araoz declaring all of DeFi unsafe, the ThorChain hack fallout, the Zama/Overnight Finance USDC freeze saga, and the CFTC greenlighting the first US perpetual futures product.

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 Joe Lubin is stepping in to make the bull case for ETH on what he admits is a tough day to be bullish.

We open on Strategy's first Bitcoin sale in four years and whether the STRC preferred stock structure is "an algorithmic stablecoin with too many steps," as Tarun puts it. Joe pivots to pitching Ether DATs, then we get into the Ethereum Foundation's brain drain -- nine researchers gone, CROPS as the new mandate, and a mysterious new developer organization taking shape behind the scenes. The episode's meatiest block covers DeFi security: Justin Drake warns Q-Day is 50% likely by 2032, Manuel Araoz says all of DeFi is unsafe, ThorChain's been offline for two weeks post-hack, and the panel debates whether we're entering a rough 12-24 months where attackers outrun defenders. We close on Hyperliquid's all-time highs and the CFTC opening the door to US perps.

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

Show highlights

🔹 Strategy sold 32 BTC for the first time in four years as STRC falls below $100 par – Tarun calls it "an algorithmic stablecoin with too many steps"

🔹 Joe Lubin pitches Ether DATs as a safer model than Strategy – ~3% staking yield, no leverage, and "permanent capital" for the ecosystem

🔹 Nine senior Ethereum Foundation members departed in 2026 including Tim Beiko and Barnabe Monnot as Vitalik reframes EF around CROPS mandate

🔹 Joe reveals SharpLink, BitMine, and ConsenSys in talks to become Ethereum's "decentralized commercialization engines" – "there's only one foundation" but new nodes are forming

🔹 Justin Drake puts Q-Day at 50% by 2032 and calls NIST's 2035 timeline "a joke" after Google's quantum circuit breakthrough

🔹 Crowdsourced reverse engineering of Google's withheld quantum circuit improved results 12-13% using LLMs as a grinding tool

🔹 OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Araoz declares all of DeFi unsafe and advises friends and family to exit Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound

🔹 ThorChain remains offline two weeks after $10.8M hack – claims they disclosed the same vulnerability 17 days before the exploit

🔹 Zama's cUSDC contract frozen by Circle via court order in Overnight Finance dispute, highlighting privacy protocol limitations on freezable stablecoins

🔹 Hyperliquid hits $75 and flips Solana in FDV as CFTC approves Kalshi's BTCPERP – the first regulated US perpetual futures product

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest
⭐️Joe Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum, Founder & CEO of ConsenSys

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:06 Saylor Sells BTC & Market Panic

05:07 STRC Death Spiral & DAT Risks

07:07 Ethereum Foundation Exodus & CROPS

13:04 The "Not Second Foundation" Debate

17:58 Quantum Q-Day: 50% by 2032

23:47 Is All of DeFi Unsafe?

31:11 ZK Composability & Bridge-Free Architecture

34:19 Security Deployment Lag & AI Arms Race

40:18 Anti-Fragility & Formal Verification

47:36 Zama USDC Freeze & Privacy vs Courts

50:33 CFTC Perps Approval & Hyperliquid at $75

55:53 Hyperliquid's Distribution Flywheel

01:00:46 Joe Lubin's Ethereum Bull Case

Disclosures

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Is Polymarket's Oracle Problem Getting Out of Hand? - Uneasy Money Jun 03, 2026

Show notes

Circle froze $12M in a DeFi pool on a Friday court order, trapping users who had nothing to do with the dispute. . Polymarket couldn't resolve a Strategy market. And MegaETH's apps are defecting. Nothing is simple.

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Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin before the May 31 deadline. It just didn't disclose it until June 1 — and that one-day gap is why a $50M Polymarket market resolved "no," even though Strategy's own 8-K shows the sale happened inside the window.
Kain Warwick, Luca Netz, and Taylor Monahan trace why Polymarket keeps writing resolution criteria that break under edge cases, and why handing oracle duties to UMA is a liability for a $20 billion platform. They also get into the third proposal to cut Solana's staking inflation, and what it would take to spark an "ultrasound money" moment for SOL.

The most consequential story is Circle. A Friday-afternoon ex-parte court order froze a $12M commingled USDC pool all weekend, trapping innocent users' funds inside the Zama privacy protocol. Taylor’s warning: Circle's policy of complying with any court order without retaining a final say creates a replicable attack template for any pool with USDC exposure.

The episode closes on MegaETH and Monad: Kain on whether the "Mega Mafia" approach was adverse selection from the start, and Luca on what chains actually owe their builders.

Host:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kain Warwick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Taylor Monahan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Security Expert
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Luca Netz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, CEO of Pudgy Penguins

Timestamps 🎰 00:56 The unnecessarily stupid Polymarket dispute about whether Strategy sold Bitcoin by the end of may 🏛️ 08:49 WhyPolymarket,a $20B platform, is still outsourcing truth to UMA 🤝 12:45 What Taylor thinks Polymarket actually needs to do to rebuild trust after disputed resolutions 🔥 19:49 Solana’s third tokenomics proposals: Luca on what the SOL inflation cut actually changes 🦇 22:06Vitalik accidentally created the ultrasound money meme. Can Solana do the same? 📣 30:43 Multichain Advisors: start building real traction today at https://multichainadv.com ❄️ 31:28 How Circle froze a commingled DeFi pool on a judge's order with no warning, no notice 🏦 44:46 The NYSE CEO calls Hyperliquid ‘bigger than the Nasdaq’. Arthur Hayes bets $100k on it 🏃 51:38 Apps are fleeing MegaETH for Monad: was the ‘Mega Mafia’ approach a mistake? 🏙️ 56:12 Luca on how chains are cities, not VCs. What builders actually want is distribution

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CFTC Approves True Perps and Agentic Finance Gets Real: DEX in the City Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

The CFTC reclassified perps as futures. Katherine and Jessi parse what the ruling actually permits and what it means for Hyperliquid. Plus: if your AI agent gets scammed, who pays?

Thanks to our sponsor!

Explore crypto careers that could change your future at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com

The CFTC approved a perpetual Bitcoin futures contract for KalshiEX, and crypto Twitter immediately got it wrong. Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos untangles what actually changed, why the switch from swap to futures classification matters for retail access, and what the ruling leaves wide open on leverage and decentralized exchanges.

Jessi Brooks and Katherine explore the fact that AI agents can now place orders, not just give advice. They revisit their paper "The Agents at the Gate" and make clear why Robinhood's move to let agents charge your Gold Card raises liability questions that existing consumer protection law was never built to answer.

In the strangest segment, they also dug into a New York lawsuit where an anonymous plaintiff is claiming legal ownership of nearly 40,000 dormant crypto wallets. Jessi explains why the lost-property theory will probably fail — and why even a partial win could force centralized exchanges into an impossible spot.

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

Timestamps 🏛️ 01:35 KK on why 90% of crypto Twitter got the CFTC perps ruling wrong ⚖️ 06:42 Jessi: the perps approval is case by case and the fine print matters 🌐 12:56 Does the CFTC ruling change anything for Hyperliquid and DEX perps? 🤖 19:54 Jessi: the financial system now has to treat software like a customer 💳 24:57 Why Robinhood's agentic Gold Card breaks the chargeback model 📣 32:15 Fidelity: Explore crypto careers that could change your future at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com 🗝️ 33:39 The lawsuit nobody noticed: 40,000 dormant wallets, finders keepers 📜 40:28 Why even a partial win for Noah Doe could force exchanges to act

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Why MSTR Should Have Sold $2 Billion Instead of $2 Million of Bitcoin Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Jeff Dorman on why Strategy's four stakeholder classes are all losing, and why Saylor should have sold $2B of Bitcoin at once instead of $2.5M.

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Thank you to our sponsor!

Fidelity: Explore opportunities at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com

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Strategy’s late-May Bitcoin sale has turned a long-running investor concern into a sharper question: how sustainable is the company’s capital structure if its Bitcoin accumulation strategy now comes with large cash obligations?

Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca, joins Laura Shin to discuss why the sale changed his view of the risks around Strategy. After months of pushing back on fears of forced selling, Dorman says the company’s preferred-share financing has altered the analysis.

He points to roughly $15 billion in preferred shares carrying 10% to 12% dividend rates, which he estimates could mean about $1.7 billion in annual cash obligations for a company without operating revenue.

Dorman also breaks down the stakeholder groups shaping Strategy’s choices, the tradeoffs each path may create, and the Polymarket dispute over whether Strategy sold Bitcoin in May.

Host:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained

Guests:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeff Dorman - Chief Investment Officer at Arca - https://x.com/jdorman81

Timestamps 🐦 01:18 How MSTR was sitting pretty until it complicated its capital structure and put itself in a bind 🎾 04:49 How MSTR committed an unforced error, giving itself only 5 months of cash left 🔀 08:43 Four options, four stakeholder classes, at least one loser each 💼 20:23 Fidelity: Explore opportunities at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com 📊 21:23 Jeff ranks the capital structure positions by probability 🎲 27:00 Polymarket: a confirmed Bitcoin sale is resolving 'no.' How did that happen?

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Bits + Bips: How the Dimon vs. Armstrong Clash Reveals Crypto at Peak Political Power Jun 01, 2026

Show notes

Strategy sold BTC. Can its preferred dividend stack survive without Bitcoin growing at least 11.5% year? Plus, they cover Jamie Dimon calling Brian Armstrong “full of shit.”

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Heads up!

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Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2022 — 32 BTC to cover preferred stock dividends. Ram, Austin, and Chris discuss whether that small sale signals a deeper structural tension between equity holders, preferred holders, and Bitcoin itself.

They also covered the news that Anthropic filed for an IPO at a valuation approaching $1 trillion. The hosts lay out the bull and bear cases and ask whether retail investors can realistically get a 10x out of a company already priced like a finished product.

Unpacking a spicier moment, they also discussed the moment when JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon called Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong “full of shit” on live TV over the Clarity Act. Ram says crypto's window of peak political power is closing fast, while Austin gives crypto lobbyists a great idea for how to turn the banks’ stablecoin yield crusade against them.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell — 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 🚀 00:00 Introduction 📣 00:12 Subscribe to Bits + Bips' new dedicated feeds at https://linktr.ee/bitsandbips 🤖 01:27 The bull and bear cases for Anthropic’s nearly $1T IPO filing 📉 09:44 Austin: do trillion-dollar IPOs lock retail out of 10x returns? ₿ 17:18 Strategy sells Bitcoin. Is Saylor's three-body problem real? 🎯 20:19 Ram and Chris on Bitcoin as an 'attention asset,' but not a yielding one 🏛️ 29:23 ICE's CEO on why he thinks Hyperliquid beats Nasdaq ⚖️ 40:16 Dimon saying Armstrong is “full of shit” and the banking lobby’s anti-crypto national security argument 🔑 47:11 Why Ram thinks this moment is crypto’s peak political power and the window is closing 🌐 53:30 Why DTCC picked Stellar to issue tokenized versions of US equities

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Is 'All of DeFi Unsafe'? What You Need to Know About Holding Assets Onchain May 28, 2026

Show notes

A co-founder of OpenZeppelin said he’s urging friends to exit blue chip DeFi. Isaac Patka and Mike Silagadze explain what he got right, what he got wrong, and what needs to change.

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A co-founder of OpenZeppelin set off a firestorm on Crypto Twitter this week by declaring that he now considers all of DeFi unsafe, citing superhuman AI coding agents and the asymmetry between attackers and defenders.

Isaac Patka, certifications lead at Security Alliance, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of Ether.Fi, join Laura Shin to push back on that framing — and to make the case that the real problem isn’t AI finding sophisticated zero-days, it’s that 90% of hacks are still embarrassing opsec failures.

They cover the full threat taxonomy: opsec and parameter mistakes, contagion from bridge failures, AI-enabled social engineering, and the decentralization theater that leaves protocols unable to protect their own users.

Mike makes a pointed argument for why every serious DeFi protocol needs a hard pause button and a blacklist mechanism, while Isaac explains the three-multisig architecture that should be the minimum standard. Plus, both lay out the practical question every user should ask before putting money into any protocol.

Host:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained

Guests:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Isaac Patka (@isaacpatka) — Certifications Lead at Security Alliance & Co-founder of Shield3
⁠⁠⁠⁠Mike Silagadze (@MikeSilagadze) — CEO of Ether.Fi

Timestamps 💥 00:00 Is all of DeFi unsafe? Responding to the OpenZeppelin co-founder’s viral tweet 💙 07:35 Coinbase: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at https://coinbase.com/unchained. 🛡️ 9:21 The real DeFi risk taxonomy: opsec, contagion, and bridge failure vs. code bugs 🎭 13:29 Why Mike says fake decentralization makes users less safe 🔐 16:54 The three-multisig architecture every DeFi protocol needs 🔴 20:57 Mike: not having a pause button is irresponsible 🤖 22:44 The AI threat: arms race or advantage for defenders? 🎯 26:45 Social engineering: humans are the weak link, so design around them ⚖️ 33:20 Code is not law — and why Arbitrum got it right 🌉 36:15 Bridge risk: rate limits, monitoring, and why one-of-one bridges should never be allowed as collateral 📦 42:04 Aave vs. Morpho: isolated markets, contagion, and the Kelp attack fallout 📋 48:50 Tips for users + why SEAL certifications matter more than audits alone

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Bits + Bips: Bitcoin Stalls, Stocks Soar: The Disconnect That Defines This Cycle May 28, 2026

Show notes

Steve Sosnick on the ratchet effect in equities, the AI bandwidth parallel, Kevin Warsh’s impossible first week, and why crypto is the unsexy trade right now.

---

Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase: 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.

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Host:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview - https://x.com/Steven_Ehrlich

Guest:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Sosnick — Chief Strategist at Interactive Brokers

Timestamps 📈 02:06 Stocks at records: the ratchet effect Iran just handed the bulls 💻 08:43 The AI-bandwidth parallel: who are the next Global Crossing and Lucent 🚀 14:00 SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic on deck: top signal or just supply 📉 18:39 Hottest PCE in three years: the inflation problem nobody wants to own 🏛️ 26:50 Kevin Warsh's first week: hawkish past, dovish pressure, unconvinced FOMC ₿ 34:11 Bitcoin at $73K, vol at a 9-month low: the trade nobody wants to take 👥 40:17 "Normies own crypto now": the ETF tourist problem 🔭 45:39 What Sosnick is watching: the tell that will tip the next move

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The Chopping Block: Ethereum's Identity Crisis, Apostates Speak Out, and Is ETH the Microsoft of Crypto? May 28, 2026

Show notes

Ethereum's midlife crisis hits the podcast as ex-Bankless and ConsenSys insiders unpack ETH's talent exodus, identity spiral, "Microsoft" future, EF shake-ups, and the Solana contender play-all with spicy takes on airdrops, real dev stats, and blockchain adoption drama.

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, it's an Ethereum apostasy spectacular: we're joined by David Hoffman and Max Resnick, who hit the confessional booth to explain why they've left the church of Ethereum.

We kick off with David's viral "ETH is money" post-mortem: why he finally sold, and whether ETH can escape its spot on the yield farm for good. Max jumps in with an OG technologist's view on EF's internal struggles, talent flight, and the move-slow, break-nothing philosophy now gripping Ethereum's core. Is the EF just ossifying—or is it devolving into the "Microsoft of crypto"?

From there, the hosts dissect the "second foundation" meme, why Twitter doomers might not matter for the ETH price, and whether Solana has stolen the next generation of devs. Max throws down on Solana's quantum future while the group takes barstool shots at metrics, narratives, and the never-ending "Ethereum is for boomers" debate.

Whether you're a ride-or-die Etherean or just here for the schadenfreude, 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

🔹David Hoffman reveals why he sold all his ETH and stepped down from the "ETH is money"

pulpit

🔹Max Resnick on Ethereum's talent drain, EF's slow tech culture, and missing the Wall Street on-chain boat

🔹Why the Ethereum Foundation's leadership shuffle triggered so much existential dread

🔹The "Ethereum is Microsoft" thesis: ossification, enterprise comfort, and is that a bad thing?

🔹Are airdrops, stablecoin and NFT on-chain metrics just smoke and mirrors?

🔹Developer mindshare —did Solana peak? Has ETH truly lost the next-gen builders?

🔹Will a new "Number Go Up Foundation" for Ethereum change anything?

🔹Solana's post-quantum roadmap: why Max thinks ETH is over-complicating the problem

🔹What happens if Ethereum stops shipping upgrades —can it just coast Lindy-style?

🔹Is the future of crypto "strong" vs. "weak" crypto, and is ETH now firmly a boomer chain?

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest

⭐️ David Hoffman, Co-Founder at Bankless

⭐️ Max Resnick, Lead Economist at Anza

“Why I Sold My ETH” by David Hoffman

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2059371247163613489

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

03:12 Why David Sold ETH

05:26 ETH Momentum and Value Capture

07:38 Ethereum Foundation Shakeups

10:18 Max on Tech and Identity Crisis

15:57 Talent Drain and New Blood

19:29 Strong vs Weak Crypto Debate

25:28 Ethereum as Microsoft

30:02 Second Foundation Idea

35:43 Microsoft Era Ethereum

38:20 EF Money Runs Out

42:02 Utility Asset Narrative

46:07 Etherealize Enterprise Push

48:04 Bitcoin Has Saylor

53:32 Ethereum Narrative Whiplash

55:51 Solana As The Yang

58:15 Post Quantum Solana Roadmap

Disclosures

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Uneasy Money: Illia Polosukhin on Why Onchain Commerce Needs Confidentiality May 27, 2026

Show notes

Illia Polosukhin, founder of NEAR and co-author of 'Attention Is All You Need,' on why confidentiality will let crypto become daily commerce — plus, some Near lore.

========================================================

Thank you to our sponsors!

⁠⁠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.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coinbase One⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠coinbase.com/unchained⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

========================================================

Before co-founding NEAR Protocol, Illia Polosukhin was on the eight-person Google Brain team that wrote the transformer paper — the architecture behind every large language model running today.

He never mentioned it. When Kain Warwick found out two weeks ago, via a crypto AI chatbot, his reaction was: you have to be kidding me.

That backstory sets the tone for a conversation that moves from how transformers actually came together, to why confidentiality is what unlocks on-chain commerce for real businesses, and what NEAR is doing to keep criminals off its network without becoming a surveillance layer.

The hosts also get into the Ethereum Foundation's identity crisis, why Illia thinks decentralization is a tool and not a goal, and what the economy looks like when AI handles execution and blockchain handles coordination.

Host:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kain Warwick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Taylor Monahan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Security Expert
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Luca Netz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, CEO of Pudgy Penguins

Guest:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Illia Polosukhin — Co-Founder, NEAR Protocol - https://x.com/ilblackdragon

Timestamps 🧠 00:52 The transformer paper: how Illia ended up on 'Attention Is All You Need' 🔗 05:57 Confidential Intents: how NEAR brings privacy to assets across every chain 💵 15:05 Why private stablecoins are the missing piece in on-chain commerce 🛡️ 24:58 Shield: NEAR's AI system scanning chains in real time to block illicit funds 🔓 25:46 The Litecoin MimbleWimble hack and what went wrong with the disclosure timeline ⛓️ 40:03 Multichain Advisors: [ad copy TBD — placeholder] at multichainadv.com 🎯 40:39 Coinbase One: boost newly staked assets 40% through May 31 at https://coinbase.com/unchained 🏛️ 42:24 What Vitalik's “smaller ship” post reveals about the Ethereum Foundation 🤝 48:33 How NEAR pitched its sharding work to the EF twice and got turned away 🛋️ 55:24 Tay compares the EF to Google and says "don't be evil" is a non-goal 🌐 63:45 Why Illia thinks decentralization is a tool, not a goal 🤖 68:22 How organizations change when AI agents can do the work 💀 78:34 Illia thinks DAOs “never worked” because of the credit assignment problem 📊 79:55 Illia's close: Markets solve what organizations can't

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