Unchained

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**Unchained**

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

Latest Episodes:

Uneasy Money: How Hyperliquid Succeeded by Going Against Crypto's Ideology First Approach Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

The crew digs into Hyperliquid's phenomenal rise. How did the perp DEX become TradFi's 24/7 casino?

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Hyperliquid is having its mainstream moment like Polymarket in 2024 and OpenSea in 2021. Amid the U.S.’s war on Iran, the platform has become a popular venue for speculators to express their market opinions.

Uneasy Money hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monahan dig into choices that have allowed Hyperliquid to succeed where many others before it have failed. In a single sentence: not putting ideology over the product's goals.

Kain says the protocol may become unassailable in the future even as Luca says HYPE is bound to be a top five crypto by market cap.

The crew also discusses Pudgy Penguin's new open world game Pudgy World. Luca says “crypto rails have to be a tech stack not a hook” explaining why the game relegated crypto to the background.

Plus, how Across Protocol's move to pivot to only equity highlights the broken nature of tokens. Has Luca cracked the problem?

Listen to find out!

Hosts:

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

Links:

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DEX in the City: How Regulators Are Preparing for a World Without the Clarity Act Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

The crew discusses whether prediction markets enable “Bloomberg terminal espionage,,” wonder how to regulate markets that could be on anything, dive into why the OCC is saying no to stablecoin yield and more.

The SEC has submitted guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto to the White House.

DEX in the City hosts Jessi Brooks, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos and TuongVy Le dig into what the proposal could mean for the crypto industry and whether it could be enough to provide developers regulatory clarity as anticipated market structure legislation stalls. Why is the agency submitting guidance to the White House?

Plus, KK explains why current regulatory efforts could lead crypto to resort to more “come at me bro” legal tactics and Jessi covers why the industry may regret the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Chevron deference.

Beyond the SEC's recent crypto regulatory move, the crew discusses the arrest of the son of a government contractor alleged to have stolen the U.S.’s bitcoin, what the DOJ's planned retrial of unresolved charges against Roman Storm suggests and why banks are up in arms over Kraken's “skinny” Fed master account.

They also discuss why the crypto industry should tighten up security as Iranian groups target U.S. banking services and tech infrastructure.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessi Brooks⁠⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital
⁠⁠⁠Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at StarkWare
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TuongVy Le⁠, General Counsel at Veda

Links:

Unchained:
- ⁠SEC Sends Crypto Securities Framework to the White House
  
  Blame Exchanges for Holding Up the Market Structure Bill? - DEX in the City
  
  DOJ Pushes for Retrial of Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm
  
  Kraken Wins Direct Access to the Fed’s Payment System

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The Chopping Block: Erik Voorhees on AI Privacy, Agentic Payments, and Crypto x Memecoin Mayhem Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

Crypto OG Erik Voorhees joins The Chopping Block crew to dissect the future of agentic payments, the eternal war for privacy, memecoin-fueled AI drama on Moltbook, and why your next DeFi user might just be your OpenClaw agent—plus, a candid look at crypto's core and how AI turns software engineering existential.

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 none other than Erik Voorhees, legendary crypto pioneer and founder of Venice, for a no-holds-barred discussion on the wild convergence of AI, crypto, and the meme coin casino. Erik unpacks his journey from anti-surveillance crusader to AI entrepreneur, why Venice is all-in on privacy and free speech for LLMs, and how “provable privacy” is a Sisyphean technical challenge.

The crew breaks down OpenClaw’s agent drama, memecoin carpet-bombing of Moltbook, and Meta muscling in on AI social networks. We debate agentic payments (will your first paying customer soon be a bot?), the true game theory behind state surveillance, and why crypto’s greatest killer use case might actually be building tools for robots instead of humans. Plus: existential crises for software engineers, why “AI alignment” is a philosophical dead end, and the childlike glee (or open psychosis) of trading OpenClaw war stories at AI meetups.

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

Show highlights

🔹 Erik Voorhees traces his journey from crypto OG to Venice AI founder, fighting for privacy and free speech

🔹 Explainer: Why all big AI labs store your prompts — and how Venice’s model tries to break the surveillance cycle

🔹 The crew tears into "agentic payments" hype and asks if crypto was really made for humans — or just robots

🔹 OpenClaw, Moltbook, and memecoin floods: Welcome to the unholy spawnpoint of AI agents and CT scam culture

🔹 Meta acquires Moltbook—what happens when agent societies meet social networks (and meme coins ensue)

🔹 AI alignment isn’t as hard as they said—until agents start “optimizing” in the wild (and mining your GPU for crypto)

🔹 Existential crisis time: Why software engineers feel like Paul Bunyan fighting tunnel machines

🔹 Crypto’s endgame: DeFi legos for agents, not just degens—will AI really build its own protocols?

🔹 The game theory of state surveillance and why institutions, not individuals, are the ultimate privacy adversary

🔹 "Provable privacy” isn’t just trust, it’s math—Venice’s plan to win over the tinfoil crowd

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest
⭐️ Erik Voorhees, Founder of Venice.ai

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:16 Erik’s Origin & Venice.AI’s Mission

03:51 Censorship Future

08:58 Proving Privacy With TEEs

11:44 Frontier Models Tradeoffs

15:02 Agents & Crypto Payments

18:22 OpenClaw Provider Drama

22:24 Moltbook Meta Acquisition

29:16 Exponential AI Moment

33:00 Alibaba Agent Breakout

37:06 Alignment Reality Check

39:22 Who Understands LLMs?

41:48 Engineers Facing Disruption

47:55 AI Psychosis Meetups

54:24 Pro Models & Pricing

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Bits + Bips: Why This U.S. General Believes Iran Could Be a Huge Opportunity Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

A U.S. Army Major-General on what markets got wrong about Iran, whether the Strait was ever really at risk, and what the new U.S. strike doctrine signals to China.

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Oil briefly traded above $119 a barrel. Iran threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, the single chokepoint that carries roughly 20% of global oil supply. And then, just as fast, prices started pulling back, after Trump said the conflict was "almost completely over."

But what is actually happening on the ground, what did markets get right, and what are they still missing?

We bring in U.S. Army Major-General James "Spider" Marks, who spent over 30 years in the U.S. Army, serving as senior intelligence officer through the LA riots, the Balkans, Korea, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and who culminated his career as commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center. With a conflict still unfolding, a regime in flux, and markets trying to price it all in real time, there may be no better person to ask.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell⁠⁠⁠⁠, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting

⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund

Guest:

James "Spider" Marks, U.S. Army Major-General

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Why the Crypto Markets Seem So Broken and How They Get Fixed After 10/10 Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

Rob Hadick and Gracy Chen dig into Bitget's universal exchange shift as more crypto exchanges look to become an “everything app.” Plus, Gracy lets slip details of U.S. plans and how it ties to its transfer of BGB ownership.

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Bitget since September has said it is much more than a centralized cryptocurrency exchange.

Dragonfly General Partner Rob Hadick and Bitget CEO Gracy Chen peel back Bitget's universal exchange branding to reveal the trends driving the company's expansion and really that of other exchanges both in TradFi and crypto.

The main takeaway? “Users want a place to trade everything.”

Gracy also teases Bitget's U.S. market entry plans and lets slip the real reason the company transferred ownership of BGB.

Plus, why Gracy is not so optimistic about AI agents materially impacting the crypto market and what Rob says needs to happen for altcoins to accrue value again. He says it is no longer a market where everything goes up and down together.

Guests:

Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly
Gracy Chen, CEO at Bitget, previous appearances on Unchained:

Links:

Unchained:

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Why It's Easy to Pitch TradFi on Ethereum: 'It's the Only Game in Town' Mar 07, 2026

Show notes

Joseph Chalom and Danny Ryan discuss the institutional outlook on Ethereum and why it is “the only game in town.”

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The institutions are here and they may have already picked their preferred blockchain.

Sharplink Gaming CEO Joseph Chalom and Etherealize co-founder Danny Ryan discuss the institutional outlook on Ethereum. They say the network is the only chain being discussed by institutions thinking about tokenization, dismissing Solana as a possible contender. They explore what this means for ether and why anticipated upgrades only strengthen the case.

Meanwhile, Danny maintains that L2s are still part of the Ethereum roadmap, albeit agreeing with Vitalik that they need to evolve.

Plus, why Joseph thinks privacy will unlock Ethereum's next DeFi wave and why Danny sees AI agents as the salve to crypto's UX woes, though he calls the current activity “a toy.”

Guest:

⁠Joseph Chalom, President/CEO at SharpLink Gaming Inc.
Danny Ryan, Co-Founder & President of Etherealize

Links:

Unchained:⁠⁠
- ⁠Vitalik Targets Block Building as Ethereum Prepares Glamsterdam Upgrade
  
  Vitalik Buterin Lays Out Quantum Defense Plan for Ethereum
  
  Can Solana Edge Out Ethereum to Win the AI Agent & RWA Race?
  
  Ethereum Researchers Outline Seven Forks Through 2029 in New “Strawmap”
  
  BlackRock Just Chose Uniswap. The Market Didn’t Care. Here’s Why.
  
  Want to Hire an AI Agent? Check Their Reputation Via ERC-8004

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Uneasy Money: Why the Aave DAO Collapse Could Be Good for Aave Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

The Aave DAO collapsed — but might that be good for Aave? (But bad for the token?) Plus, how the feud between the U.S. government and Anthropic helped the AI company.

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The Aave civil war appears to be at an end with key members of the DAO rage quitting and leaving Aave Labs standing as the sole protocol contributor.

Uneasy Money hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz, and Taylor Monahan explain why the Aave DAO's messy collapse is a death knell for the DAO system. Ironically, they wonder — could this be good for Aave, but bad for the token?

The crew also wades into ZachXBT's recent Axiom investigation and how the on-chain detective has become “a vigilante for hire.”

They also cover all the insider trading claims and fights around prediction markets involving the Iran War and Mr. Beast, and “Kalshi jail.” Kain suspects another reason for the U.S. government's rift with Anthropic. Luca, an Anthropic investor, says he wished Dario had taken the government's deal, but that Sam Altman needs to “take the Zuck playbook.”

Meanwhile, is Anthropic nerfing OpenClaw?

Hosts:

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

Links:

Unchained:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Aave Governance Fight Escalates Ahead of $51 Million Funding Vote

Uneasy Money: Why the AI Singularity May Already Be Out of Our Hands

How Aave Labs and the DAO Should Split Ownership of the Brand – Uneasy Money

ZachXBT Alleges Axiom Employee Misused Internal Data

Uneasy Money: Why Peter Steinberger and Non-Crypto People Hate the Crypto Mob

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Is the Bitcoin Bottom In? Why the Outlook for Real Rates Is in Its Favor Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

Analysts Will Clemente, Joe Vezzani and Marcus Wu share their Bitcoin outlook amidst war. Plus, Will shares his thesis on Gen Z’s future, and Marcus previews his Bitcoin game theory model.

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Bitcoin's price has largely held steady despite President Donald Trump's escalation of hostilities with Iran. Is this the bottom signal the market has been waiting for?

STIX investments chief Will Clemente, LunarCrush co-founder Joe Vezzani and Delphi Digital Research Analyst Marcus Wu explain why it looks like Bitcoin is bottoming, why a 10/10-style crash would have happened in crypto even without the Binance glitch, and why, regardless of the Jane Street rumors, it’s not beyond Wall Street to manipulate an asset.

They also address speculation that Jane Street has been suppressing Bitcoin's price and how AI's rapid advancement could impact crypto in light of Citrini Research's article and Jack Dorsey's Block layoffs.

Don't miss Joe's reasoning on why Trump could come to the market's rescue and Will's thesis on why zoomers face four unique financial and technological challenges. Plus Marcus also previews his new game theory model for trading the Bitcoin market.

Guest:

⁠Marcus Wu, Research Analyst at Delphi Digital

Joe Vezzani, Co-founder and CEO of LunarCrush
Will Clemente, Investments at STIX
- Previous appearances on Unchained:

Links:

Unchained:⁠⁠
- - Will’s essay
  - Marcus’s Bitcoin game theory model

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DEX in the City: How Prediction Markets Pose a National Security Risk Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

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Prediction markets are in the spotlight again. On one hand adoption appears to be growing as the Nasdaq has announced plans of entering the space. On the other hand, they scrutinize markets that pose a national security risk.

In this DEX in the City episode, hosts Jessi Brooks, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos and TuongVy Le discuss suspected insider trading activity around a market tied to the strikes on Iran. Beyond ethical concerns about betting on war, they grapple with the definition of “a death market” and ask whether all prediction markets around an individual are death markets.

The big question: How can these markets on literally any possible event be policed?

Plus, is Jane Street manipulating the Bitcoin market? Why the OCC is saying NO to stablecoin yield and the takeaway from Jack Dorsey's Block layoffs.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠Jessi Brooks⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital
⁠⁠Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos⁠⁠, General Counsel at StarkWare
⁠⁠TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda

Links:

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The Chopping Block: Has Crypto Lost Its Soul? Cypherpunk Nostalgia, Prediction Markets, & Permissionless Perps Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

Crypto’s vibe check time: Jez (izebel_eth) joins the crew to dissect whether idealism is RIP, if cypherpunks should abandon hope, how Memecoins and asset mayhem changed the game, why prediction markets are both truth engines and regulatory minefields, and where real permissionless finance is actually winning in the middle of global chaos.

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 gang is joined by super-perpetuals-junkie Jez for a spicy look at whether crypto has lost its soul — or if things are just getting interesting. Is crypto’s vibe shift just growing pains, or did Memecoins and jaded traders nuke our idealism for good? The crew rehashes dreams of cypherpunk glory, debates the “death of the dream,” and gets existential about crypto’s place in a world where everything is either a commodity, a meme, or a permissionless financial machine. Plus: War in Iran sends TradFi running, but DeFi markets are live, and prediction markets step up just as the regulators get weird. Enough nostalgia — 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

🔹 Jez and Tarun’s crypto origin story: from MIT outcast to NFT party degens.

🔹 Has crypto really lost its soul, or just shed its rose-tinted glasses? The hosts debate.

🔹 The rise and rise of Memecoins, rampant speculation, and Solana’s culture shift.

🔹 Do “return to cypherpunk” calls matter—or is this what crypto winning looks like?

🔹 Why stablecoins, perps, and DeFi are actually success stories (despite maximalist whining).

🔹 AI eating crypto’s lunch: the “everything on the blockchain” promise gets a reality check.

🔹 Real world chaos, onchain price discovery: Iran war, commodities, and DeFi’s 24/7 edge.

🔹 Prediction markets—Kalshi vs. Polymarket—tripped up by the ambiguous reality of war and death.

🔹 CFTC, insider trading, and whether banning informed bets is just protecting “the fish.”

🔹 The future: agents, open-source AI, and keeping the door open for true permissionless finance.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest

⭐️ Jez, Legend
Disclosures

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:07 Jez x Tarun Lore

03:24 Cynicism & Rug Culture

09:00 Back To Cypherpunk Roots?

14:37 Compromises & Reality

23:36 Intermediaries Coexist

25:23 Gates Closing Fears

28:10 Stablecoins & Policy

29:24 Agents As Middlemen

30:28 Microfinance to DeFi Agents

31:57 Open Source AI and Crypto Control

32:41 Iran War DeFi Price Discovery

33:57 Why Perps Beat TradFi

37:21 Kalshi vs Polymarket Dispute

44:31 Are Prediction Markets Just Toys?

50:50 Insider Trading Crackdown

54:15 Adverse Selection and Market Design

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