Unchained

40 Episodes
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By: Laura Shin

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.

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Inside the Coldcard Hack That Drained Over $100 Million in Bitcoin: Uneasy Money
Inside the Coldcard Hack That Drained Over $100 Million in Bitcoin: Uneasy Money episode artwork
Yesterday at 5:54 PM

A hardware wallet's 5-year-old randomness bug just let hackers drain over $100 million in Bitcoin. How many more waves are coming? Plus, Ethereum's fight over cutting ETH issuance.

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Thank you to our sponsors!


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at ⁠https://cape.co/unchained⁠ (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

A firmware randomness bug buried in Coldcard's code since 2021 surfaced last week and has...


The Chopping Block: ColdCard's $100M RNG Hack, AI-Powered Security & Ethereum's Staking Yield Taper
The Chopping Block: ColdCard's $100M RNG Hack, AI-Powered Security & Ethereum's Staking Yield Taper episode artwork
Last Thursday at 12:00 PM

This week we dissect ColdCard's ~$100M RNG exploit that Claude Code cracked in 8 minutes, debate whether AI just killed open-source security and Bitcoin maximalism, tear apart Ethereum's EIP-8361 staking-yield taper, and unpack Leopold Aschenbrenner's 67% Situational Awareness blowup and CLARITY Act's ethics fight.


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. No guest this week, just the four of them working through a week where AI quietly rewrote the economics of both security and human psychology, and crypto happened to be...


DEX in the City: How Claude's Red-Teaming Agents Escaped a Test Without Realizing It
DEX in the City: How Claude's Red-Teaming Agents Escaped a Test Without Realizing It episode artwork
Last Thursday at 3:36 AM

Anthropic's AI agents escaped a hacking test and still think they're inside it. Katherine, Jessi, and Vy Le on who's liable when a model breaks free, plus the $100M Coldcard hack and Kalshi's court losing streak.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!


⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Anthropic's AI m...


Is Any Cold Wallet Safe? Inside the Coldcard Hack's Wave Three
Is Any Cold Wallet Safe? Inside the Coldcard Hack's Wave Three episode artwork
Last Tuesday at 11:56 PM

📢 Bits + Bips has its own channel now — full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@Bitsandbips 


A firmware bug quietly introduced into Coldcard hardware wallets in 2021 has let attackers drain an estimated 1,600 to 2,000 bitcoin, over $100 million, from cold storage addresses that sat untouched for years.

Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn has been tracing the exploit in real time, and in this clip he breaks down exactly how the random number generator meant to secure private keys "failed silently" into "way too weak entropy," and lays out the wave-by-wave forensic trail he is using to track...


Should Tokenized Stock Only Come From Issuers? Yes, Says Carlos Domingo
Should Tokenized Stock Only Come From Issuers? Yes, Says Carlos Domingo episode artwork
Last Tuesday at 4:39 AM

Wall Street's transfer agents want issuers, not outside platforms, to control tokenized stock. Securitize's CEO says the alternative invites insider trading.

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Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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Securitize took itself public twice this year: once through a direct listing, and once by tokenizing more than $265 million of its own stock via a SPAC with Cantor Equity Partners, testing whether Wall Street lets eq...


Meta Fell 10%. Microsoft Didn't Blink.
Meta Fell 10%. Microsoft Didn't Blink. episode artwork
07/31/2026

📢 Bits + Bips has its own channel now — full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@Bitsandbips 


Meta and Microsoft reported earnings on the same night, and investors sent their stocks in opposite directions.

Chris Galipeau of the Franklin Templeton Institute walks Steven Ehrlich through why Meta got punished for raising its CapEx guidance while Microsoft's Azure growth held steady, then makes the case that the broader AI CapEx boom is still only in its second inning, not a bubble about to pop.


Host:

Steven Ehrlich - Host...


Zcash, Ethereum, Aztec, Canton and More: Which Chain Will Win the Privacy Race?
Zcash, Ethereum, Aztec, Canton and More: Which Chain Will Win the Privacy Race? episode artwork
07/31/2026

Privacy is having a moment in crypto. As competition heats up, the pitfalls of the technology around the quantum threat, regulatory risk and more make the trajectory hard to predict.


A counterfeit bug sat undetected in Zcash's Orchard privacy pool for four years, capable of minting an unlimited supply of untraceable coins, illustrating the risks of one of the hottest crazes in crypto.

Joe Andrews, CEO of Aztec Labs, Jarrad Hope, founder of Logos, and Mert Mumtaz, cofounder and CEO of Helius, join Laura Shin to argue the bug is less alarming...


Should Crypto Tokens Come With Investor Rights? - Uneasy Money
07/31/2026

BitMEX shut down without an angry tweet. Offchain Labs CEO Steven Goldfeder joins Kain and Taylor on why dead tokens never get that mercy. Plus, Kyle Samani's Multicoin blowup.

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

Thank you to our sponsors!


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at ⁠https://cape.co/unchained⁠ (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

BitMEX shut down after 11 years and crypto Twitter answered with...


Has Control Replaced Decentralization as DeFi's Legal Test? - DEX in the City
Has Control Replaced Decentralization as DeFi's Legal Test? - DEX in the City episode artwork
07/30/2026

Vy Le and Jessi Brooks trace an AI agent's sandbox escape back to crypto's own fight over open code. Plus, Plume general counsel Salman Banaei on Clarity's knife's-edge vote math.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!


⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

An AI agent was told to solve a problem...


Does Capitalism Doom Every Closed AI Model to Get Copied?
Does Capitalism Doom Every Closed AI Model to Get Copied? episode artwork
07/29/2026

📢 Bits + Bips has its own channel now — full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@Bitsandbips 


Jensen Huang had been running the world's most valuable company for years without ever posting on X. When he finally did, it wasn't a hello. It was an open letter arguing that open AI models are a national asset — and within two days the signatory list had doubled to 50 companies.

Anthropic and Amazon still haven't signed. Austin Campbell walks the panel through who did, who didn't, and the fight that broke out underneath it: Nick Carter arguing the gove...


The Chopping Block: Wind Downs, YC's Nemil Dalal, & Will Every Failed Crypto Idea Eventually Work?
The Chopping Block: Wind Downs, YC's Nemil Dalal, & Will Every Failed Crypto Idea Eventually Work? episode artwork
07/29/2026

YC's Nemil Dalal joins to explain why he's never been more bullish as BitMEX winds down after 11 years, whether every failed crypto idea (TCRs, DAOs, creator coins) eventually works, why crypto is really about money, Base's consumer mea culpa, on-chain reputation and credit, and who pays in the x402 AI-agent era.


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 they're joined by Nemil Dalal, Visiting Partner at Y Combinator and ex-Coinbase, where he led USDC and the Co...


Kristin Smith on Why the Clarity Act Comes Down to a Memecoin
Kristin Smith on Why the Clarity Act Comes Down to a Memecoin episode artwork
07/28/2026

Kristin Smith walks through the vote math, the ethics fight, and what happens to crypto capital if the Clarity Act stalls before the midterms.

The Senate needs 60 votes to pass crypto's market structure bill, the Clarity Act, before an August recess deadline just weeks away. Majority Leader John Thune says the votes likely will not be there in time, and Polymarket puts the odds of passage this year at roughly 30 percent.

Kristin Smith, President of the Solana Policy Institute, joins Laura Shin to explain why a deal that seemed close has snagged on ethics language...


Paid Partnership: How Can DeFi Fix Its Liquidity Problem? 1inch's Aqua Offers a Solution
Paid Partnership: How Can DeFi Fix Its Liquidity Problem? 1inch's Aqua Offers a Solution episode artwork
07/28/2026

SPONSORED CONTENT: This video is a paid partnership with 1inch. It was produced in collaboration with 1inch and is separate from Unchained's editorial coverage.


1inch cofounder Sergej Kunz says up to 85% of DeFi's liquidity sits idle. He walks through Aqua, the self-custodial product built to put that capital back to work.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1inch - Swap crypto at the best rates in DeFi with 1inch — and get an early look at Aqua, their new protocol that lets your liquidity do more than one job at a time https://1inch.io 

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Bits + Bips: Why Bitcoin Has the Least to Gain From the Clarity Act
Bits + Bips: Why Bitcoin Has the Least to Gain From the Clarity Act episode artwork
07/25/2026

Cole Kennelly, founder and CEO of Volmex Labs, traces why BVIV and BVIV-US diverge around IBIT's regulated options market, makes the case that Ethereum, Solana, and Hyperliquid have more to gain from the Clarity Act than Bitcoin, and shares his outlook for an increasingly institutional crypto market by year-end.


Host:

Steven Ehrlich, Head of Research at Sharplink

Guest:

Cole Kennelly - Founder and CEO of Volmex Labs

This clip is from a longer conversation on the Clarity Act's uneven impact across crypto and Volmex's institutional outlook...


How Jesse Pollak Is Mapping Out Base's Next Chapter After the App Pivot
How Jesse Pollak Is Mapping Out Base's Next Chapter After the App Pivot episode artwork
07/25/2026

Jesse Pollak owns the Base App's social miss, unpacks Robinhood Chain's rise, and explains Brian Armstrong's memecoin moment.

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Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Jesse Pollak spent the week owning a very public miss. In a lengthy post, the Base creator admitted the Base App's social bet had not worked, leaving Base behind in perps, prediction markets and tokenizatio...


Cobie Taking Over Base App? He's 'the Respectable Trencher': Uneasy Money
Cobie Taking Over Base App? He's 'the Respectable Trencher': Uneasy Money episode artwork
07/24/2026

An OpenAI model hacked Hugging Face to cheat its own test. Kain and Taylor break it down — plus Base’s failed social bet and the North Korean IT workers still inside crypto.

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

Thank you to our sponsors!


⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at ⁠https://cape.co/unchained⁠ (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Coinbase just handed Jesse Pollak’s Base app to C...


The Chopping Block: The CLARITY Act Endgame with Patrick Witt + Gauntlet's $125M SBI Raise + Balaji's Malaysia Exodus
07/23/2026

Patrick Witt, the White House's executive director for digital assets policy, calls in mid-episode to give the Chopping Block crew a live read on the CLARITY market structure bill!


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 they're joined mid-episode by Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, who dialed in late because he was literally chasing down bill language.

First, Tarun explains how Gauntlet closed its biggest raise ev...


DEX in the City: How Kalshi’s Rough Week Became a Federal Fight for Prediction Markets
DEX in the City: How Kalshi’s Rough Week Became a Federal Fight for Prediction Markets episode artwork
07/23/2026

The CFTC pulled a power last used in the Carter era to rescue Kalshi. Katherine, Jessi, and Vy Le on what it means — plus Japan’s crypto tax cut and DTCC’s tokenization leap.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!


⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Kalshi had a rough week. Sued...


Why You Can't Opt Out of the AI Guardrails Race
Why You Can't Opt Out of the AI Guardrails Race episode artwork
07/22/2026

📢 Bits + Bips has its own channel now — full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@Bitsandbips/ 


Austin Campbell's claim that Claude Fable 5 cracked the decades-old Jacobian conjecture opens onto a bigger question: why AI's real-world impact on health care is still lagging.

The conversation turns to battlefield drones in Ukraine, the national security stakes of AI guardrails, and why Chris Perkins thinks finance-style regulation could make AI more trustworthy, not less useful.


Hosts

Austin Campbell - Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunc...


How Lyn Alden Will Take on Bitcoin DATs and Private Equity With Orange Juice
How Lyn Alden Will Take on Bitcoin DATs and Private Equity With Orange Juice episode artwork
07/21/2026

Lyn Alden raised $40M to launch Orange Juice, a holding company that buys cash-flowing businesses and layers Bitcoin on top, not another pure-play treasury bet.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Lyn Alden just raised $40 million to launch a Bitcoin-backed holding company that skips the trade most of crypto is chasing. Rather than build another pure-play Bitcoin treas...


How a Surprise Clarity Act Vote Could Move Crypto Prices
How a Surprise Clarity Act Vote Could Move Crypto Prices episode artwork
07/18/2026

 If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips on its dedicated channels. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts.

🔥 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bits-bips/id1827931786 

🔥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKiSkbYrUOOEEiYQEVPniQ 

🔥 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6aSBMrOyi33aVDCULJ9mjN?si=NTLk-jl5QGeytA6-2kxMVQ&nd=1&dlsi=42f0b13dd53c4ba0

🔥X - https://x.com/bitsandbips

🔥 Unchained - https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitsandbips/  


A White House meeting...


Why Cap Cuts Its Stabledrop Rewards From $11M to $4M: Uneasy Money
Why Cap Cuts Its Stabledrop Rewards From $11M to $4M: Uneasy Money episode artwork
07/17/2026

Cap's founders on shrinking their Stabledrop from $11M to $4M — plus a $23M hack traced toward North Korea, a BarnBridge governance exploit, and Kain's case to force weak L2s to become their own L1s.

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

Thank you to our sponsors!


⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at ⁠https://cape.co/unchained⁠ (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Cap committed to...


Why Robinhood Chain Saw Memecoins Take Off Before Real World Assets
Why Robinhood Chain Saw Memecoins Take Off Before Real World Assets episode artwork
07/17/2026

Two weeks after launch, 85% of Robinhood Chain's trading is memecoins and just 1% is RWAs. Johann Kerbrat says that doesn’t change the strategy.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told CNBC on July 2 that real-world assets, not memecoins, were the future of crypto on Robinhood Chain. Two weeks after launch, the numbers disagre...


DEX in the City: Why the Supreme Court's FTC Ruling Could Rewire Crypto Regulation
DEX in the City: Why the Supreme Court's FTC Ruling Could Rewire Crypto Regulation episode artwork
07/15/2026

The Supreme Court just made it easier to fire SEC and CFTC commissioners. Katherine, Jessi, and Vy on why that could reset who controls crypto policy. Plus, the UK's new rulebook.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

The Supreme Court just tore up a 90-year-old preceden...


Crypto Has Seen Drama Over ENS, BonkDAO and VVV. What Does DeFi's Future Look Like?
Crypto Has Seen Drama Over ENS, BonkDAO and VVV. What Does DeFi's Future Look Like? episode artwork
07/15/2026

Nick Almond and Proph3t on ENS's treasury fight, the BonkDAO heist, and why Proph3t would not touch Venice's VVV token.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

Nick Johnson, the founder of ENS Labs, used his own tokens to kill a vote renewing ENS DAO's Security Council, potentially clearing the way for a foundat...


Sam Lyman Puts 70% Odds on Clarity Passing Before Recess
Sam Lyman Puts 70% Odds on Clarity Passing Before Recess episode artwork
07/15/2026

Austin Campbell draws a parallel between the AI data center backlash and the decades-long collapse of US nuclear power, then Sam Lyman of the Bitcoin Policy Institute puts real odds on whether the Clarity Act passes the Senate before August recess.


Hosts:

Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern

Ram Ahluwalia, Co-host of Bits + Bips and CEO of Lumida

Chris Perkins, Co-host of Bits + Bips and Head of Franklin Crypto

Guest:

Sam Lyman...


Why CLOs Are Suddenly DeFi's Hottest Yield Play
Why CLOs Are Suddenly DeFi's Hottest Yield Play episode artwork
07/10/2026

Niklas Kunkel maps where the RWA market is heading next, from Centrifuge and Apollo's CLOs to Galaxy's first tokenized credit product, then turns to a cautionary tale: some SpaceX pre-IPO token buyers never actually owned the shares they thought they had.


Host:

Steven Ehrlich - Host of Bits + Bips and Head of Research at Sharplink

Guest:

Niklas Kunkel - Founder and CEO of Chronicle Labs

This clip is from a longer conversation on crypto oracles, tokenized real-world assets, and Chronicle Labs' work verifying them. Full episode...


How Lighter Powers Robinhood Perps With USDG as the Quote Asset
How Lighter Powers Robinhood Perps With USDG as the Quote Asset episode artwork
07/10/2026

Robinhood Chain perps now run on Lighter. Vlad Novakovski maps the revenue split, the USDG collateral risk, and the race for a US perps license.

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Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fidelity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Fidelity has been building in crypto and DeFi since 2014 — now they're hiring. Explore career opportunities at one of the most forward-thinking names in finance here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠crypto.fidelitycareers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

...


Austin Griffith on the $1 AI Audit and the Case for Founders Over DAOs: Uneasy Money
Austin Griffith on the $1 AI Audit and the Case for Founders Over DAOs: Uneasy Money episode artwork
07/09/2026

Austin Griffith joins Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to unpack  BonkDAO's $20M governance heist, and Kain's case for giving founders more control.

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

Thank you to our sponsors!


⁠⁠Cape⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at ⁠https://cape.co/unchained⁠ (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

A single wallet spent $4.4 million buying up Bonk tokens, then used that stake to push throug...


The Chopping Block: Tokens vs Equity, Lighter's Robinhood Perps Deal, and Trump's $2.4B Crypto Windfall
The Chopping Block: Tokens vs Equity, Lighter's Robinhood Perps Deal, and Trump's $2.4B Crypto Windfall episode artwork
07/09/2026

Vladimir Novakovski of Lighter joins the Chopping Block crew to untangle one of crypto's oldest debates: what happens when tokens and equity coexist. The gang digs into the Venice/VVV controversy, breaks down Lighter's new Perps integration with Robinhood Chain and the fragmentation questions it raises, dissects the wild BonkDAO governance exploit, and reacts to the eye-popping $2.4 billion in crypto income disclosed in Trump's financial filings.


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, joined this week by special gu...


Why Strategy Dumped Its Biggest Bitcoin Tranche Yet
Why Strategy Dumped Its Biggest Bitcoin Tranche Yet episode artwork
07/09/2026

For years, Michael Saylor's Strategy was the market's most dependable Bitcoin buyer. Recently, it has done the opposite.

Strategy just sold 3,588 Bitcoin for roughly $216 million, its largest single tranche yet, deepening the question of whether Michael Saylor has become a structural seller instead of a buyer.

Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell, and Chris Perkins break down the STRC dividend mechanics behind the sale, the bull case for a catch-up trade, and the bear case if Bitcoin never rallies back.


Hosts:

Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero...


Strategy Sold More Bitcoin. Is This a Betrayal of the Bitcoin Ethos?
Strategy Sold More Bitcoin. Is This a Betrayal of the Bitcoin Ethos? episode artwork
07/08/2026

Strategy sold $260M of Bitcoin at a loss to fund dividends. Parker White of Apyx makes the case that it is smarter than it sounds.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fidelity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Fidelity has been building in crypto and DeFi since 2014 — now they're hiring. Explore career opportunities at one of the most forward-thinking names in finance here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠crypto.fidelitycareers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

...


Ari Redbord Sits Down With the Hosts of DEX in the City
Ari Redbord Sits Down With the Hosts of DEX in the City episode artwork
07/07/2026

Ari Redbord sits down with Katherine, Jessi, and Vy to talk about SEC clarity, the onshore perps boom, and DeFi's opsec problem — plus why the U.S. should hack North Korea back.


Thank you to our sponsor!

Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).


The hosts of DEX in th...


How Ethereum Institutional Intends to Grow Ethereum's Market Share
How Ethereum Institutional Intends to Grow Ethereum's Market Share episode artwork
07/03/2026

Joseph Chalom lays out why Ethereum Institutional exists, how it differs from Etherealize, and why he thinks Michael Saylor is in a pickle.

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

Thank you to our sponsor!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fidelity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Fidelity has been building in crypto and DeFi since 2014 — now they're hiring. Explore career opportunities at one of the most forward-thinking names in finance here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠crypto.fidelitycareers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

...


How One ENS Vote Reignited the DAO Governance Debate: Uneasy Money
How One ENS Vote Reignited the DAO Governance Debate: Uneasy Money episode artwork
07/03/2026

Nick Johnson's ENS vote sparked days of backlash. He and co-founder Alex Van de Sande join Uneasy Money to explain what actually happened.

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

Thank you to our sponsors!


⁠Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at ⁠https://cape.co/unchained⁠ (use code: UNCHAINED).

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

A routine two year renewal for the ENS DAO's Security Council failed on chain...


Why Bitcoin's Lack of Yield Keeps Straining Its Treasury Companies
Why Bitcoin's Lack of Yield Keeps Straining Its Treasury Companies episode artwork
07/03/2026

David Lawant, Head of Research at Anchorage Digital, breaks down why Bitcoin's lack of native yield puts constant pressure on treasury companies, and makes the case that Michael Saylor's playbook is evolving rather than breaking.


Host:

Steven Ehrlich, Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview and Head of Research at Sharplink

Guest:

David Lawant, Head of Research at Anchorage Digital

This clip is from a longer conversation on Strategy's Stretch rescue plan and Bitcoin's options market. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/VwBxQTcJeXc 

New B...


Why Authorities Can't Freeze Crypto Fast Enough: DEX in the City
Why Authorities Can't Freeze Crypto Fast Enough: DEX in the City episode artwork
07/02/2026

Regulators try to freeze illicit stablecoins, but the money's usually gone before the freeze lands. The hosts on why crypto sanctions keep failing.


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A new academic paper from researchers across several Chinese universities makes a striking claim: a stablecoin freeze isn't really a fr...


The Chopping Block: Visa, Mastercard & 140 Firms Take On Circle, Saylor’s Digital Credit Reset & the DAO Reckoning
The Chopping Block: Visa, Mastercard & 140 Firms Take On Circle, Saylor’s Digital Credit Reset & the DAO Reckoning episode artwork
07/02/2026

The crew is joined by Selini Capital’s Jordi Alexander to break down Open USD, the no-fee stablecoin from a 140-firm consortium spanning Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, all aimed at the Circle and Tether duopoly. Plus Saylor’s new Digital Credit framework for MicroStrategy, the Ansem-fueled memecoin comeback, and ENS reigniting the “DAOs are fake” debate.


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. Joining the panel “at the moment of max pain” is Jordi Alexander, CIO of Selini Capi...


How a Fake Podcast Invite Nearly Hacked Laura Shin
How a Fake Podcast Invite Nearly Hacked Laura Shin episode artwork
07/02/2026

Laura Shin has reported on crypto scams since the early days and wrote one of the first stories on sim swaps. That did not stop a spear-phishing attempt from getting her to download software and run a terminal command before she caught it.

Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins turn her near miss into a practical defense playbook, then debate whether self-custody still makes sense for anyone with a public crypto profile.


Hosts:

Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU...


How the New Ethlabs Plans to Make Ethereum More Intentional in Designing ETH
How the New Ethlabs Plans to Make Ethereum More Intentional in Designing ETH episode artwork
06/30/2026

Is it Ethereum or bust? Ansgar Dietrichs makes the case that only Ethereum can anchor the financial system, and admits ETH still lacks a clear value story.

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