Unchained

Latest Episodes:

Arthur Hayes and Hanson Birringer on Hyperliquid’s Success (And What Could Stop It) - Ep. 852 Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

Hyperliquid is one of the most talked-about platforms in crypto right now.

It’s an onchain perpetuals exchange that sidestepped VCs, built a deeply loyal user base, and launched with transparency most rivals avoid. But it’s also staring down some massive challenges—from incoming competitors like Coinbase and Robinhood, to the technical hurdles of decentralizing its core exchange engine.

Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom and one of crypto’s most iconic traders, and Hanson Birringer of Flowdesk discuss:

What actually drove Hyperliquid’s success
How a user-first approach is outpacing venture-backed models
Whether the James Wynn saga was legit
Why the HIP-3 proposal could be the “holy grail” for DEXes
And whether Hyperliquid can survive its next big test: the entrance of giants

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

Xapo Bank
Bitwise

Guests:

Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom
Hanson Birringer, Head of US Sales at Flowdesk

Links

Stats:

CoinGlass: Total BTC Futures Open Interest
Hyperliquid Stats

James Wynn

Unchained: Hyperliquid Trader Makes $87M in 70 Days, Loses It In Five
James Wynn’s address

Transparency

Hyperliquid’s founder’s post on X saying that he felt like transparency results in better execution for whales compared to on private venues.

Hyperliquid vs Binance:

Unchained: Hyperliquid Saved Itself a $15 Million Loss, but Sparked Criticism
Arthur Hayes’ tweet on whether $HYPE perp volumes will flip Binance’s this cycle.
CZ’s tweet on dark pool DEXs
Cointelegraph: Binance co-founder CZ proposes dark pool DEXs to tackle manipulation

Tokenomics:

DL News: Hyperliquid’s token buyback machine just hit $1b — is it sustainable?

HIP-3:

Hyperliquid Docs: HIP-3: Builder-Deployed Perpetuals

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🔥 3:25 Why Arthur says the future of perps is onchain—and what that changes

🚀 6:58 How Hyperliquid managed to climb the ranks without VCs

🧱 9:45 Whether being its own L1 gives Hyperliquid an edge

🔍 12:44 How Hanson adapts market making in a fully transparent environment

🕵️‍♂️ 16:40 Why Arthur doesn’t buy the James Wynn story

💸 20:56 Whether the types of traders on Hyperliquid are different than on other venues

⚔️ 22:14 How Hyperliquid could defend itself when Coinbase and Robinhood enter the arena

🔐 26:18 What Arthur and Hanson think about Jeff Yan’s post saying transparency benefits users

🐙 32:59 Did Binance and OKX try to sabotage Hyperliquid during the $JELLY event?

📊 38:24 Arthur answers his own question of whether Hyperliquid takes on Binance’s trading volume

🌘 42:20 Whether dark pool DEXes can fix transparency without killing decentralization

🔧 47:15 Why Hanson thinks the security FUD around Hyperliquid is overblown

🌏 50:20 Whether Asia’s crypto communities care less about decentralization

🧠 52:34 How Hyperliquid’s ecosystem play with HyperEVM could reshape its future

🏆 55:52 Why Arthur calls HIP-3 the “holy grail” for DEXes

🪙 1:00:01 Whether the HYPE buyback program is a good idea

📈 1:02:49 What Hyperliquid must get right as Coinbase and Robinhood show up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Soon-to-Be $2 Trillion Stablecoin Market? Stripe, Shopify and Banks Want In - Ep. 851 Jun 13, 2025

Show notes

Stablecoins are having a moment.

From Stripe’s acquisition of crypto wallet startup Privy, to Shopify integrating USDC, to Plasma raising $500 million for its stablecoin-optimized sidechain, stablecoins are having a moment. And at the center of it all is Circle, which had one of the most successful IPOs in decades.

But what’s really happening under the surface? And who’s best positioned as stablecoins go mainstream?

Vicky Fu, co-founder at Yala and former engineering director at Circle, joins Unchained to explain:

How she saw Circle as deeply undervalued before the IPO buzz
What Stripe’s crypto moves signal for the broader market
Why retail payments could become stablecoins’ breakout use case
How network effects give Circle a serious edge, even as banks circle the space

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

Vicky Fu, co-founder at Yala

Links

Unchained: GENIUS Stablecoin Bill Advances in U.S. Senate
Bloomberg: Bessent Says $2 Trillion Reasonable for Dollar Stablecoin

The Block: Payment giant Stripe to buy crypto wallet firm Privy Market
Payment giant Stripe to buy crypto wallet firm Privy
CoinDesk: Crypto startup Plasma’s XPL Token Sale Hits $500M as Investors Chase Stablecoin Plays
The Block: Plasma doubles its deposit cap, clarifies it is eyeing $50M public sale at $500M FDV
Reuters: Societe Generale becomes first major bank to launch dollar-pegged stablecoin
The Information: Financial Markets Giant DTCC Explores a Stablecoin

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🔍 2:40 Why Vicky believed Circle was deeply mispriced BEFORE the IPO hype

🏗️ 11:336 How Circle’s quiet infrastructure play is more powerful than it looks

🛒 17:40 Why the Shopify–USDC integration could be a turning point

💼 19:14 What Stripe’s acquisition of Privy signals

🔥 23:42 What the Plasma ICO reveals about surging interest in the sector

🏦 29:50 Whether crypto-native issuers can really compete with banks entering the stablecoin race

📰 34:10 Weekly News Recap

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rise of Public Crypto, ICOs Make a Comeback, and Coinbase Wins Again – The Chopping Block - Ep. 850 Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

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 a special guest: Laura Shin, host of Unchained! The crew unpacks Circle’s explosive IPO, Tether’s threat to exit the U.S., and the meme-stock logic powering the rise of “crypto treasury companies.” From Coinbase’s grip on USDC to Wall Street’s sudden enthusiasm for stablecoins, we explore how public markets are reshaping crypto’s power centers. Is Circle overvalued—or the last compliant winner left? And are ICOs really back? We debate whether crypto’s just maturing—or if it’s being hijacked by the suits.

Show highlights

🔹 Circle’s IPO Shocks Wall Street – One of the biggest two-day pops in IPO history: Did bankers misprice, or did crypto just break TradFi?

🔹 Stablecoin Season or Meme Stock Mania? – Circle hits 160x earnings, 15x revenue—Tarun calls it “CoreWeave for finance”

🔹 Tether Threatens U.S. Exit – New regulation looms: Will Circle rule America while Tether dominates abroad?

🔹 The Coinbase Cut – Why Coinbase might be the real winner behind USDC—and the hidden economics of stablecoin margins

🔹 Banking Consortium Incoming? – JPMorgan and Wells reportedly plotting their own stablecoin play. Is Circle racing against the banks?

🔹 The Rise of Treasury Tokens – From MicroStrategy to Solana clones: Are “crypto holding companies” the new ETF?

🔹 Copycats or Cult Leaders? – Why everyone wants to be Saylor—and why most won’t survive

🔹 Are These Companies Just Meme Stocks? – Laura and Tarun debate whether tradable crypto firms have real value—or just vibes

🔹 The Return of the ICO – Plasma raises $500M on Sonar, sparking a new wave of pre-token speculation

🔹 Is This Financial Innovation or Regulatory Theater? – Haseeb asks: Are we maturing—or just dressing TradFi in crypto clothes?

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Laura Shin, Journalist, Author of ‘The Cryptopians,’ Founder and CEO of Unchained

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:25 Circle's IPO: A Historic Event

03:16 Market Reactions & Implications

06:49 Stablecoin Legislation & Tether's Response

08:56 Circle's Market Position & Future

23:12 Crypto Treasury Companies: The New Trend

32:09 Understanding Convertible Arbitrage in Crypto

37:02 Potential Risks and Market Dynamics

41:36 The Influence of Michael Saylor

43:57 The Need for Charismatic Leaders in Crypto

50:07 The Rise of ICOs and Market Trends

55:04 Concluding Thoughts on ICOs

HostsDisclosures

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bits + Bips: Elon vs. Trump, Bitcoin Supply Shock Brewing, Circle’s Wild Valuation - Ep. 849 Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

This week on Bits + Bips, the panel tackles the biggest themes driving crypto: Circle’s triumphant IPO, ETH’s institutional tailwinds, and the fast-shrinking Bitcoin supply on exchanges. Plus, what Gemini’s IPO ambitions tell us about the state of exchanges, and whether Ram’s call for a BTC breakout is about to hit.

Also on the docket:

Is Circle really worth its sky-high valuation?
Why exchange fees are stuck in the 1970s
ETH: the quiet trade that might be heating up

Oh, and yes, they talk about the Trump–Elon feud too 😅

Sponsors:

Bitwise

James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guest:

Sal Ternullo, Managing Partner at A100x Ventures

The Conversation: The blow-up between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has been entertaining, but how did things go so bad, so fast?
Unchained:

Blockworks: Gemini files confidential S-1 with SEC in road to IPO
The Block:

Cointelegraph: Bitcoin supply shock? Percentage of BTC on exchanges nears 2018 levels
CoinDesk:

Bloomberg: Metaplanet’s shares surged 22% after unveiling a record-setting $5.4 billion stock rights program aimed at growing its bitcoin holdings.

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro
🧠 1:28 Why the market is ignoring the Trump-Elon “break up”
📈 16:47 Is there a reason for Circle’s eye-watering valuation? (And what it means for crypto VC)
🏦 30:25 Why Circle may struggle to compete with traditional banks
🚀 38:34 Why exchanges should rush to go public
🌐 46:40 Why Ram thinks that the market is immune from more bad news
🔥 57:16 The secret signs of a coming bitcoin supply shock
🧾 1:03:58 What’s behind the bitcoin and ether ETFs’ recent momentum and if it will last

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff Park on Why Owning 1 Bitcoin Is Young People's American Dream - Ep. 848 Jun 10, 2025

Show notes

In part 2 of Jeff Park’s interview with Unchained, he describes ways that both everyday investors and the U.S. government can use various crypto assets to come out on top as old models and strategies become outdated.

He reveals the three personal stories that led him to develop his radical portfolio theory, puts himself in the shoes of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and explains why Japan is the linchpin in the transition to this new world order.

In this episode, we explore:

Why Jeff believes the future belongs to wholecoiners
The social mission behind owning bitcoin
How the U.S. could leverage stablecoins to maintain global dominance
Why the new American dream might not involve a house at all

And why, in Jeff’s words, we may already be “living in a Bitcoin-only world.”

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

Xapo Bank
Bitwise

Guest:

Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise

Part 1 of Jeff on Unchained: Jeff Park Says the 60/40 Portfolio May Be Dead. Here’s His Radical Fix

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro
📌 3:14 The 3 life events that shaped Jeff’s radical portfolio vision
🌍 7:58 Why crypto’s value is clearer outside privileged financial systems
🚀 15:18 Why Jeff is so bullish on STRK and what it represents
🌐 20:56 What it means to be “living in a Bitcoin-only world”
💥 27:42 Why the U.S. is vulnerable and what’s the new American Dream
🤝 32:36 What Jeff would do if he were in Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s position
🇯🇵 39:16 Why Jeff sees Japan as a critical piece of the global financial order
💵 48:36 Why stablecoins could be the U.S.’s most powerful financial weapon
🤔 54:50 Why Jeff is skeptical about a U.S. bitcoin reserve
🏛️ 59:14 Whether Bitcoin treasury companies are here to stay

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pump.fun’s $1 Billion ICO Has Caused Controversy. Can It Succeed? - Ep. 847 Jun 06, 2025

Show notes

On Tuesday, a pseudonymous X account claimed that Pump.fun, Solana’s breakout memecoin launchpad, would raise $1 billion via an ICO at a $4 billion valuation. The potential deal? Multiple CEX listings, a 10% community airdrop, and maybe even a launch by the end of the month.

The community reaction? Not great.

In this episode, Syncracy Capital’s Ryan Watkins joins to break down the backlash, whether the raise makes sense, and what this kind of fundraising says about the current state of crypto.

He discusses:

Whether Pump needs $1 billion and what they’d even do with it
Why some people are furious, even as Pump prints revenue
If this is bullish or bearish for Solana
Why an airdrop was not pursued
Whether the $4 billion valuation makes sense

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Ryan Watkins, Co-founder of Syncracy Capital

Unchained: Pump.fun Mulls $1B Token Sale
Nextfckingthing’s tweet breaking the news
Ansem’s tweet on “pump fun raising $1B at $4B after Trumpcoin launch is like the second plane hitting the towers”
Ansem’s poll
Ryan’s tweet on “Pump anger”
Solojay tweet on Pump’s top 25 wallets
Mosi’s tweet on why “Pump's ICO seems like an asymmetric bet (skewed to the downside)”

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

🤔 4:03 Why skepticism around Pump.fun’s $1B raise is valid

💰 7:06 What Pump would even do with $1 billion

📈 21:17 Whether a $4B valuation actually holds up

🔥 24:08 Will this ICO hurt SOL?

🎁 27:05 Why Pump chose not to do a big airdrop

📱 28:56 Whether Pump.fun can hold its ground as SocialFi competition heats up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Wynn’s Fall, Ethereum’s Rise, and the Death of the Foundation Era – The Chopping Block - Ep. 846 Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

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 tackles a triple-header of crypto’s growing pains: the bizarre saga of James Wynn—a memecoin gambler whose billion-dollar positions on Hyperliquid ended in public ruin; the Ethereum Foundation’s surprise rebrand into “Protocol” and its sudden embrace of hierarchy; and a bold manifesto from Miles Jennings calling for the end of crypto foundations as we know them. Is radical transparency a feature or a trap? Is Ethereum finally prioritizing execution over vibes? And are foundations just offshore theater—or necessary guardians of decentralization? The gang debates all this and more in a conversation that asks: who’s really in control of crypto—and should they be?

Show highlights

🔹 James Wynn: From $1B to $16 – The infamous Hyperliquid trader wipes out, then begs for donations… and opens new positions days later

🔹 Liquidation Theater – Was Wynn’s downfall market manipulation, a psyop, or just crypto doing what it always does?

🔹 Hyperliquid Transparency Debate – CZ, Jump, and Hyperliquid clash over whether radical openness helps or harms

🔹 Stop-Hunting Season – Tarun explains why onchain liquidation is more deterministic—but not necessarily more malicious

🔹 Ethereum Foundation Rebrands – Meet “Protocol”: a new structure, a new strategy, and maybe… a new hierarchy

🔹 The End of Purge & Surge – Is Ethereum finally abandoning the meme roadmap and focusing on shipping?

🔹 Tim Beiko’s New Role – A surprising centralization of coordination—and why the ETH community seems to like it

🔹 DUCS vs. DUNA – The crew proposes a new Ethereum acronym—and debates Miles Jennings’ push to end the foundation model

🔹 Are Foundations Just Offshore Theater? – Haseeb argues it’s time to kill the Cayman entity and rethink DAO legal structures

🔹 The Legal Marketing Wars – Tarun and Tom debate whether crypto’s governance evolution is genuine—or just “intellectual shilling”

⭐️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

The end of the foundation era in crypto by Miles Jenningshttps://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/end-foundation-era-crypto/

Announcing Protocol by Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Alex Stokes

https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/06/02/announcing-protocol

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:12 The Saga of James Wynn

06:20 Market Manipulation vs. Transparency

17:37 57, Tarun’s Favorite Number

20:12 EF's “Protocol”

33:45 DUCS! Decentralization, UX, Censorship Resistance, and Scaling

36:55 The End of the Foundation Era

45:04 The Role of Legal Structures in Crypto

52:49 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bits + Bips: How Bitcoin Treasuries Are and Aren't Like the SPAC Bubble - Ep. 845 Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

The Bitcoin Conference in Vegas is getting more political. Crypto treasury companies are exploding across the globe. And macro markets are flashing mixed signals, with geopolitics entering the chat.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, the panel dives into:

Key takeaways from Bitcoin 2025
The possible bubble forming around Bitcoin treasuries
How the SEC is fighting back against staking in ETFs
Whether Ethereum is finally catching up
How Ukraine just redefined trade risks
Why ETFs have seen so much inflows since the market bottom
How AI will impact growth and the job market
And … why James hates Las Vegas 😀

Thank you to our sponsor!

Bitwise

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

Timestamps:

0:00 👋 Intro

2:02 🎰 - Why James hates Vegas, but was impressed with Bitcoin 2025

4:48 🐘 - Has bitcoin moved too far right politically?

10:02 📈📉 - If bitcoin treasuries are all the rage, why isn’t the price moving?

13:26 🌍 - One big reason why the treasury bubble differs from SPACs

18:26 📉 - Are these companies destined to implode?

22:55 🤔 - One big (but hidden) opportunity to profit from this market

34:23 🏦 - How some ETF issuers tried (and failed) to pull one over on the SEC

43:19 🤐 - Why James sees one quiet, but bullish, trend in ETF flows

47:48 🌎 - Why Noelle thinks that numbers don’t matter - it's all about geopolitics

58:10 🐂 - Ram sees a secretly bullish setup. Here’s how he says to play it

1:07:33 💻 - How AI is going to eat the world, and turn markets upside down

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff Park Says the 60/40 Portfolio May Be Dead. Here’s His Radical Fix - Ep. 844 Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

Jeff Park thinks the most popular investing strategy of the last decades — the 60/40 portfolio — is dead.

Jeff has spent his early career inside the traditional system. But now, after two years in finance, he’s calling for a full rethink of the modern portfolio: from what counts as “safe” to how inflation actually works to why Bitcoin may be the real anchor asset in a world that’s spinning off its axis.

In this episode, the first in a two-part series, he and Laura dig into:

Why the 60/40 portfolio is quietly failing
What the rise of “resistance” assets says about trust in institutions
Why STRK and BTC are the distillation of Jeff’s radical portfolio
How traditional finance may be more correlated to crypto than you think
Why “time is liquid energy” and bitcoin is so valuable

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise

The Radical Portfolio Theory by Jeff Park
Unchained: DeFi Leverage on Apollo’s $1.3 Billion Credit Fund

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

🧠 2:19 How entering the workforce in 2008 pushed Jeff to question everything, even the dollar

🏛️ 14:31 Jeff’s role as head of alpha strategies at Bitwise

📉 17:27 Why the classic 60/40 portfolio may be dead

🌍 34:10 How crypto fits into the new financial world

⚡ 40:58 Why “time is liquid energy” and bitcoin captures it best

📊 41:52 The core of Jeff’s radical portfolio theory

🛡️ 54:44 What goes into the “resistance” asset bucket

🎯 59:00 Why prediction markets could diversify your income

💎 1:09:52 Why Jeff is betting big on Strategy’s STRK and BTC

👑 1:14:31 The rise of crypto treasury companies and whether they pose systemic risk

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin Treasury Companies Are Taking Off. Could They Eventually Crash? - Ep. 843 May 30, 2025

Show notes

Public crypto treasury companies are in the news right now.

Just this week, Sharplink Gaming announced a $425 million raise to create an Ethereum treasury vehicle, backed by Consensys. Meanwhile, Trump Media said it will buy $2.5 billion worth of bitcoin. And in a headline grab, GameStop revealed a $500 million Bitcoin purchase. There’s even a newly launched XRP treasury company backed by Saudi royal capital.

But why are these vehicles suddenly the structure of choice for accessing crypto exposure? What kinds of assets are best suited for them? And are they safe or a ticking time bomb?

Pantera Capital’s Cosmo Jiang joins Unchained to unpack:

The structures and strategies behind these companies
Why Solana is appearing more than Ethereum (and what that says)
How XRP’s brand power could matter more than its adoption
The risks these vehicles pose to investors and to markets

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
Focal by FalconX

Guest

Cosmo Jiang, General Partner and Portfolio Manager for Liquid Strategies at Pantera Capital

Links

Previous coverage of Unchained on bitcoin treasury companies:

Unchained:

Timestamps:

- 👋 0:00 Intro
- 📈 1:57 Why crypto treasury companies are suddenly everywhere
- 🏗️ 5:03 How these vehicles are structured to raise and deploy capital
- 🎲 8:36 Which strategies carry more risk for investors
- 🔍 9:57 Pure-play crypto vs. operational businesses: what works better
- 💰 12:40 Why these companies often trade at a premium to their crypto
- 🔥 16:56 Why there’s more buzz around SOL than ETH in these structures
- 📣 19:44 How XRP treasury plays are unique … but tied to marketing, not tech
- 🙋‍♂️ 21:31 Why some investors prefer these stocks over holding actual tokens
- ⚠️ 24:12 Could these companies pose systemic risks to crypto markets?
- 📊 27:58 The key metrics to watch when valuing crypto treasury companies

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected