Unchained

Latest Episodes:

Uneasy Money: Why Peter Steinberger and Non-Crypto People Hate the Crypto Mob Feb 20, 2026

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LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino joins to unpack Base's decision to leave the OP Stack, Zora's migration to Solana and more.

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Coinbase's Base is making a shock move away from Optimism's OP Stack.

In this Uneasy Money episode, LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino joins hosts Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to unpack whether this is the right move for Base and what it could mean for Optimism.

Beyond Base's big move, the trio also discuss Zora's Solana migration, whether Coinbase was wrong to initially pursue a super app strategy with Base App, Peter Steinberger joining OpenAI, the launch of Zero blockchain and OpenAI's EVMbench.

Will OpenAI's acqui-hiring of Peter prove to be a “generational fumble” for Anthropic? And can crypto fix its brand problem?

Also, learn why the rise of AI agents have Kain and Tay confident that open source will win in the end.

Hosts:

⁠Kain Warwick⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
⁠Taylor Monahan⁠, Security Expert

Guest:

Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero Labs

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Stani Kulechov on Why Aave Labs Is Putting Itself at the Mercy of the DAO Feb 20, 2026

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Stani Kulechov unpacks Aave Labs’ “Aave Will Win” proposal, explaining why the company wants the DAO to have power over its finances.

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Aave Labs has proposed a “Aave Will Win” framework that will direct all revenue to the DAO to bring the protocol under “a token-centric model.”

In this episode, Aave founder Stani Kulechov explains why Aave Labs is putting its funding at the mercy of the DAO and how the framework could drive DeFi innovation.

Plus wen Aave v4? And is Aave Labs’ requested budget too much?

Guest:

Stani Kulechov, Founder of Aave Labs

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The Chopping Block: Dragonfly's $650M Fund + Crypto's Great Resignation + OpenClaw vs Crypto Twitter Feb 19, 2026

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Dragonfly raises a $650M Fund IV amid crypto's institutional vs retail sentiment gap, the industry exodus including Kyle Samani's departure from Multicoin, OpenClaw's OpenAI acquisition and crypto Twitter harassment, X402 payment standards for AI agents, Polymarket's controversial 5-minute Bitcoin betting markets, and the brewing federal vs state regulation battle over prediction markets.

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 episode kicks off with major news: Dragonfly just closed their $650 million Fund IV, making them one of the largest crypto VCs not through growth, but because others have downsized. The timing feels surreal — they keep raising right when markets dump, creating the biggest gap between institutional optimism and retail sentiment Haseeb has ever seen.

But money flowing in contrasts sharply with talent flowing out. Kyle Samani left Multicoin, Arianna Simpson departed A16z Crypto, and several other crypto veterans are moving on. The crew unpacks what this "great resignation" means for an industry that feels like it's shifted from pioneer phase to settler phase.

Then they dive into the OpenClaw saga — the viral AI coding assistant that got acquired by OpenAI, but not before its creator almost deleted it due to harassment from crypto Twitter demanding he launch a token. This leads to a deep discussion on X402 payment standards and why AI agents might prefer crypto over credit cards.

Finally, they debate Polymarket's controversial 5-minute Bitcoin betting markets and the brewing legal battle between federal and state regulation of prediction markets. 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 🔹 Dragonfly raises $650M Fund IV while other crypto VCs face "mass extinction" and downsizing 🔹 Kyle Samani's departure from Multicoin signals crypto's shift from pioneer to settler phase 🔹 Industry exodus includes Arianna Simpson, Toshi from Ethereum Foundation, and other veterans 🔹 OpenClaw creator almost deleted viral AI tool due to crypto Twitter harassment over tokens 🔹 X402 payment standard emerges as walletless protocol for AI agent transactions 🔹 OpenAI acquires OpenClaw through separate foundation structure, not direct acquisition 🔹 Polymarket launches controversial 5-minute Bitcoin up/down markets sparking gambling debate 🔹 CFTC chair files amicus briefs defending prediction markets against state regulation attempts 🔹 Federal vs state jurisdiction battle intensifies over event contracts vs sports betting classification 🔹 Institutional sentiment remains bullish while crypto native sentiment hits historic lows 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 Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:04 Dragonfly Closes $650M Fund IV 03:26 Institutional vs Retail Sentiment 06:14 Bear Markets as Opportunity 13:48 Kyle Samani’s Exit 21:44 OpenClaw Gets ‘Acquired’ by OpenAI 24:03 Token Pressure & Harassment 25:05 Is OpenClaw Actually Useful? 31:01 Why Open Source Will Move Faster Than Big Labs 33:13 Agents, Memecoins, and the Dark Incentives 37:40 Why Crypto Payments Beat Credit Cards 40:09 Polymarket’s New 5-Minute Markets 49:43 State Gambling Laws vs CFTC Federal Preemption

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DEX in the City: Why Prediction Markets Could Spark a Huge Constitutional Fight Feb 19, 2026

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The crew tackles everything from the CFTC's controversial stance on prediction markets to the real-world impacts of rising crypto crime.

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The CFTC has announced an innovation council, Chair Mike Selig has asserted that prediction markets are under the agency's ambit, SBF wants another trial and Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping is casting crypto in a negative light.

In this episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos and TuongVy Le discuss how the distribution of the CFTC's council highlights industry's need for better gender equity, why Selig's stance on prediction markets triggers “a huge constitutional debate,” why SBF's push for a new trial is so dangerous for crypto, and whether the crypto industry can do more to mitigate crime.

Find out why SBF's search for a new trial has far reaching effects beyond his case. Plus, can crypto tackle crime without sacrificing its benefits?

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Hosts:

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

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This week's good news:

How Ripple is Helping Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity to Unlock Crypto Philanthropy

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Bits + Bips: Is AI CapEx a Bubble? And Is Inflation Already Dead? Feb 18, 2026

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The Mag 7 have committed over $700 billion to AI infrastructure, but the companies building the models may never capture the value.

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The BLS just quietly revised away 862,000 jobs, and real-time inflation trackers now peg price growth below 1%, less than half of what official figures report.

If the Fed is steering monetary policy with stale data, investors need to ask what else the models are getting wrong.

At the same time, the Mag 7 have committed more than $700 billion to AI infrastructure, with Anthropic alone projecting $1 trillion in revenue within five years. Is that conviction or the early stages of a debt cycle nobody is pricing?

And then there is the institutional side of crypto: BlackRock's BUIDL fund just landed on Uniswap with $2.4 billion in assets, Apollo acquired $90 million in Morpho tokens, and AI agents are already settling micropayments in stablecoins.

Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Christopher Perkins sit down with Truflation’s CEO Stefan Rust to ask whether the numbers we trust are telling us the truth.

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:

Stefan Rust, Founder and CEO of Truflation

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Reuters: OpenClaw founder Steinberger joins OpenAI, open-source bot becomes foundation

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Uneasy Money: Are Institutions Creating a New Crypto Meta? Feb 16, 2026

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The crew unpacks BlackRock buying UNI, ARK, Citadel, DTCC, the Intercontinental Exchange and other TradFi players backing Zero, , Vitalik's thoughts on AI, and more.

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AI safety chiefs are leaving, BlackRock's launching on Uniswap and buying UNI, LayerZero launches “the last blockchain” with institutional backing, Kaito is launching attention markets, Base is abandoning social and Vitalik has some thoughts on AI.

Hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monahan unpack these and more in yet another packed episode of Uneasy Money.

Find out why Kain thinks the Uniswap and LayerZero news point to a new meta reminiscent of DeFi Summer. Plus, is Coinbase's Base playing it too safe? And is Vitalik fighting a losing battle?

Hosts:

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

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DEX in the City: Is Now the 'Perfect Time to Launch a Crypto Scam'? Feb 13, 2026

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The market structure bill introduces a "control" test for DeFi protocols. The problem: nobody agrees on what control means.

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Peter Van Valkenburgh of Coin Center sits down with Jessi Brooks and Vy Le to confront a question that will determine which DeFi projects can operate in the United States and which ones can't.

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act creates a carve-out for non-custodial developers, codifying the principle that if you never hold customer funds, you shouldn't need a money transmitter license. Simple enough on paper.

But Vy presses on the hard cases: what about an admin key, an upgradeable vault, or a pause function built for security? Where exactly does "non-custodial" end and "control" begin?

Meanwhile, Jessi raises the tension the industry rarely wants to discuss. The DOJ just charged cartel brokers moving money through crypto, yet simultaneously dismantled its own enforcement teams.

If Congress clears developers, who pursues the actual criminals? The answer matters for every builder, investor, and victim watching this play out.

Hosts:

Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital
TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda

Guest:

⁠Peter Van Valkenburgh, Executive Director of Coin Center

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Why MegaETH Is Delaying Its Token and Rejecting Credible Neutrality Feb 13, 2026

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Namik Muduroglu and Amir Almaimani walk through MegaETH's launch strategy and why they are delaying the TGE.

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Months after its oversubscribed initial coin offering, MegaETH's mainnet is live. But the project is not launching its token just yet.

In this Unchained podcast episode, MegaETH strategy chief Namik Muduroglu and Head of Ecosystem Amir Almaimani break down the Ethereum Layer 2 chain’s launch strategy, including its decision to delay TGE.

They also explain how the MegaETH is navigating the current market slump and how it is positioning USDM as its long term moat. Plus, why they believe credible neutrality is a “losing strategy.”

Guests:

Namik Muduroglu, CSO & Founding Team at MegaETH
Amir Almaimani, Head of Ecosystem of MegaETH

Previous appearances on Unchained:
MegaETH Just Had Its Public Sale. Can It Succeed in Building a Web2-Like Experience?

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Why Bitcoin Developers Are Not Incentivized to Talk About the Quantum Threat Feb 12, 2026

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Are bitcoiners underestimating the quantum threat to Bitcoin? That's the question Castle Island Ventures Partner Nic Carter has posed with some recent posts gauging the views of several leading Bitcoin developers on quantum computing.

To help answer the question, Unchained reached out to Ethereum Foundation Researcher Justin Drake and Michigan University Professor Chris Peikert. In this episode, Justin and Chris, who is one of the foremost experts on lattice cryptography, break down the quantum computing threat to crypto and the potential timelines.

Justin theorizes that Bitcoin developers may not be incentivized to talk about the quantum computing risk while still saying that a number of smart people are already taking it seriously and that may be enough.

Conversely, Chris highlights the constraints that come with uncertainty around risks and timelines.

Listen to find out what they conclude. Plus, could AI do crypto in before quantum computers?

Guests:

Justin Drake, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation

Chris Peikert, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan

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Could a Non-Crypto Hedge Fund Have Pulled a Bitcoin ‘Big Short'? Feb 12, 2026

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What happened to Bitcoin on Feb. 5? And why does the apex crypto continue to underperform?

DeFi Development Corp investment chief Parker White has some theories. In this Unchained podcast episode, Parker walks Laura Shin through them as they gain traction on X.

At the center of it all is non-crypto Hong Kong fund and another fund that may be executing a ‘Big Short’-style trade using derivatives.

Listen to find out why Parker is so convinced.

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