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 dives into the Hyperliquid controversy and what it reveals about decentralization theater in DeFi. Then, things get weirder: the Say Foundation wants to buy 23andMe and put your genetic data onchain. We break down the backlash and privacy concerns. Finally, we look at the new Stable Act making its way through Congress and whether stablecoin regulation is headed toward bank-only control.

Show highlights

🔹 Hyperliquid’s JELLYJELLY Debacle – How a DeFi darling nuked its credibility by bailing out its own vault at a fake oracle price

🔹 The Exchange Wars Heat Up – Why Binance and OKX listing JELLYJELLY perps looked like an assassination attempt on Hyperliquid

🔹 Are DEXes Just CEXes in Disguise? – What the Hyperliquid saga reveals about decentralization theater and validator capture

🔹 23andMe on the Blockchain – Say Foundation wants to token-gate your DNA; is this privacy-preserving or dystopian?

🔹 The Great DeSci Grift – Tarun revisits his war on DeSci and why putting genetics onchain is worse than memecoins

🔹 Stablecoin Regulation Showdown – The Stable Act vs. The Genius Act and who’s really winning in D.C.

🔹 Stablecoins as Narrow Banks – How crypto may finally force the Fed to accept a 20-year-old idea they’ve long resisted

🔹 Red Bull & Ratio Bets – The hosts make a real-money wager on whether HLP deposits will rise or fall after the meltdown

🔹 Memecoins and the Return of Olympus – Are the robbers now just quietly collecting rent from their broken treasuries?

🔹 Tarun’s Aesthetic Death Rankings – Why JELLYJELLY is a worse way to die than MobileCoin, but at least it’s on brand

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 

DisclosuresLinks

Kevin Zhou (Galois Capital) Tweet: https://x.com/Galois_Capital/status/1904942458666094932 

Steil and Hill Introduce STABLE Act Press Release: https://steil.house.gov/media/press-releases/steil-and-hill-introduce-stable-act 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:29 Hyperliquid Drama Unfolds

10:49 Debating the Bailout Decision

18:28 OKX & Binance Join 

23:05 An FTX Moment?

31:45 Future of 23andMe & SEI

44:20 Stablecoin Legislation: Genius Act vs. Stable Act

51:45 Are Stablecoins the Trojan Horse?

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