The crypto sector has celebrated a lot of policy wins in 2025, but price wise, it has arguably been a year to forget.

In this episode of Unchained, Bitwise Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen and Arca Portfolio Manager David Nage join host Laura Shin to discuss the disappointing crypto markets and why their outlook on 2026 is more positive.

They also explained why Vanguard's crypto pivot is a huge deal, questioned whether Bitcoin could ever be unseated by privacy coins, and discussed why they don’t see the bubble in the DAT market hurting crypto.

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Guests:

Ryan Rasmussen, Head of Research at Bitwise

David Nage, Portfolio Manager at Arca

Previous appearance on Unchained:

The LayerZero-Wormhole Contest Shows How to Value a Crypto Business

Unchained:

Bitcoin Resets Above $90,000, but Can Bulls Keep the Momentum?

Bits + Bips: Vanguard’s Crypto U-Turn, Tether/MSTR FUD & Picking Future Winners

Bits + Bips: Why the Markets Now Have a Bullish Setup

Franklin Templeton Rolls Out First Tokenized Fund in Hong Kong

Why Every Company Will Have a Stablecoin — and Why One L2 Isn’t Enough

Grayscale Files to List Zcash ETF

What Ethereum Will Look Like When It Implements Its New Privacy Focus

Other relevant links:

Bank of America Broadens Access to Crypto Funds

SEC's Paul Atkins touts 'tokenization’ as key to modernizing US markets

Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein on how tokenization could transform finance

My Highest-Conviction Bet in Crypto

Stablecoin payments on Stripe cost 1.5% of the transaction amount. Credit card fees are as high as 3.5%. Less than half of the cost!

Bitcoin’s “Facebook Moment” 

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction

🤔 01:42 Is the four-year cycle dead? 

💡 3:50 Why David says Bitcoin is having its “Facebook moment”

⚡️ 11:42 Why Ryan does not believe Bitcoin OGs are disillusioned

💥 14:43 Why David thinks liquidity may be returning to the market 

❕️ 17:21 What is driving Vanguard and Bank of America's adoption of crypto

🚨 24:34 The importance of Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund's ETF transition

💡 28:30 Why BITW excludes memecoins, stablecoins and, wrapped tokens, etc.

🔮 31:15 What tokenization means for the future of finance

👀 35:56 What the future holds for digital asset treasuries

⚠️ 39:45 How unwinding of DATs could affect Bitcoin

🧏 41:11 What Stripe's 1.5% fees suggest about the future of stablecoin competition 

📈 46:43 Why David says stablecoin adoption is similar to email

🤔 48:55 Could Bitcoin be toppled as the privacy meta rises?

🔮 56:45 Ryan and David share their 2026 crypto outlook

✴️ 1:02:01 Ryan’s 2026 Bitcoin price target

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Hosts Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell, and Chris Perkins dig into why interest rates may not fall as quickly as markets hope, why oil demand could surprise to the upside, and how retail keeps buying every dip—even while consumer confidence hits new lows.

The trio also breaks down the growing collision between TradFi and crypto: whether banks can compete with blockchain-native distribution, how BlackRock’s staked ETH ETF filing could reshape the market, and how yields on Ethereum and Solana represent a brand-new financial primitive.

Plus, they examine Ripple’s controversial raise, Citadel’s push to regulate DeFi, and why major incumbents are now in a frantic race to choose their crypto “dance partners.”

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

Unchained: 

BlackRock Files S-1 for Staked ETH ETF

Berachain Kept Secret a $25 Million Refund Right to a Brevan Howard Fund

CoinDesk:  Citadel Challenges DeFi Framework in Letter to SEC, Sparking Industry Outrage

Bloomberg: 

Wall Street Hedged Big Crypto Bet in $500 Million Ripple Deal (XRP)

Bitcoin Options Show Traders Hunkering Down for Crypto Winter

Timestamps:

👏 0:00 Intro

📉 2:06 Whether there’s any real path to lower rates

🛢️ 5:07 Why Ram is bullish on oil demand

🤖 6:12 The biggest constraint on AI adoption

🇯🇵 7:02 Is Japan raising rates still a “nothing burger”?

🛍️ 9:57 How retail keeps buying every dip

🏦 12:21 Can crypto beat banks’ entrenched distribution?

📉 18:00 Why Ram thinks you should “sell the Bitcoin rallies”

📼 20:13 Are we reliving the 1970s?

⛓️ 24:47 How BlackRock’s staked ETH ETF filing could reshape the market

⚖️ 30:28 How staking yields will trade against Fed short rates

💼 38:59 Ripple’s controversial “raise” — and the unusual protections granted to Citadel and Fortress

🛡️ 47:52 How Citadel is fighting DeFi to defend its moat

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In this special double-feature episode of Bits + Bips, Unchained executive editor Steve Ehrlich brings listeners two of the clearest investor perspectives on where the crypto markets may be headed next.

First, Owen Lau, Managing Director at Clear Street, breaks down why crypto equities remain so tightly correlated to Bitcoin—and what might finally cause that link to break. He unpacks the growing role of stablecoin revenue, Coinbase and Circle’s evolving business models, and why a market structure bill in 2026 could reshape the sector.

Then, in the second half, Bob Diamond and David Schamis of Hyperliquid Strategies explain why they believe Hyperliquid and its HYPE token represent one of the most compelling opportunities in digital assets. They walk through the rationale for their DAT, Hyperliquid’s performance during extreme market volatility, and the broader ecosystem being built through HIP-3 and beyond.

Sponsors:

Mantle

Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Owen Lau, Managing Director at Clear Street

Bob Diamond, Founding Partner and CEO of Atlas Merchant Capital

David Schamis, Founding Partner and CIO of Atlas Merchant Capital

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

1:23 Owen’s outlook on crypto stocks—and what really drives them today

5:19 Why Coinbase’s stock is struggling while revenue goes up

7:47 Why so many crypto companies are spending heavily to expand distribution

10:58 Whether the 10/10 crash changed how analysts evaluate public crypto companies

14:41 Will public crypto companies enter prediction markets next?

17:02 How Coinbase and Circle are positioning themselves in this emerging area

23:00 What Citadel Securities’ push for SEC regulation of DeFi means for the industry

24:55 How a market structure bill could reshape the outlook for altcoins

27:03 Would a public crypto company buy a DAT trading below its NAV?

28:59 Has the window for crypto IPOs already closed?

Part 2

 32:57 How David and Bob first got into crypto

 38:57 Why a DAT for Hyperliquid is necessary

 42:40 Why they say their stock is a major opportunity right now

 45:55 How running an altcoin DAT differs from doing one for ETH or BTC

 48:54 How the DAT deal was structured—and Paradigm’s role

 51:38 How they’re avoiding the big sell-offs typical in PIPE deals

 53:11 Why there was a gap between announcing the DAT and executing it

 55:14 Why Sonnet Therapeutics will remain operational post-transaction

 57:51 Why the 10/10 liquidation event made Bob more confident in Hyperliquid

 1:04:19 The broader Hyperliquid ecosystem—far beyond the DEX

 1:06:42 Why David says perps are far better products than options

 1:10:12 Why regulatory clarity is critical for Hyperliquid’s long-term success

 1:13:37 What HIP-3 unlocks for builders building around perps

 1:14:46 How prediction markets could integrate with perpetuals

 1:15:49 How Hyperliquid can compete with major exchanges and crypto giants

 1:21:18 Why Hyperliquid’s feed is so much faster than other chains

 1:22:28 The $1 billion shelf offering—and how they plan to accumulate more HYPE

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Michael Saylor's Strategy has not had the year it hoped for. Amid an explosion of copycats and Bitcoin price weakness, the company has seen its valuation and so-called mNAV crash.

In this special episode of Unchained, Praxos co-founder Vinny Lingham and The Benchmark Company Analyst Mark Palmer join Unchained Executive Editor Steve Ehrlich to debate Strategy's outlook.

They discuss the impact of new preferred stocks on common shareholders, the company's new cash reserve and the potential impacts of MSCI exclusion.  

They also delve into what the Bitcoin digital asset treasury ecosystem could look like in the future and whether Strategy could have employed a better acquisition model.

Thank you to our sponsors!

⁠Uniswap⁠

⁠Mantle

Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Vinny Lingham, Co-founder of Praxos Capital

Mark Palmer, Senior Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company

Unchained:

Bits + Bips: Vanguard’s Crypto U-Turn, Tether/MSTR FUD & Picking Future Winners

Bits + Bips: Why the Markets Now Have a Bullish Setup

Senate Committee Shares Bipartisan Draft on Crypto Market Structure Bill

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction 

📈 2:14 Why Mark still expects Strategy to outperform 

📉 5:28 Why Vinny says Strategy preferred stocks are “vampiric”

🤔 11:45 Is Strategy's cash reserve a little too late?

👀 17:11 Debating Strategy's preferreds v. common stock

💡 19:44 How preferreds and CLARITY Act could enable Strategy to start buying Bitcoin dips as well

🫠 24:26 What happens if MSCI delists Strategy

🧠 30:34 The implications of Strategy's recent talk of selling and lending Bitcoin

⚠️ 36:25 Why it might be too late when Strategy decides to sell

🔮 39:28 How the Bitcoin DAT ecosystem could evolve as companies differentiate

🤔 44:17 Could Strategy have employed a better Bitcoin acquisition strategy?

💫 45:30 Closing thoughts on Strategy's future

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Thank you to our Sponsor, Uniswap!

Ethereum Fusaka is live, Infinex has embarked on its token sale, Hyperliquid is bolstering its HIP-3 markets and there is drama in Solana’s DeFi land.

In this episode of Uneasy Money, hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monahan delve into the significance and implications of the Fusaka upgrade and the controversy surrounding Infinex's token sale.

They also take a look at the promise and risks of Hyperliquid's buzzing perp futures markets on tokenized equities and Kamino's controversial response to competition from Jupiter.

In addition, they touch on Anthropic's smart contract study and the recent Yearn Finance exploit.

Hosts:

Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins

Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix

Taylor Monahan, Security at MetaMask

Unchained:

Cheaper Fees and No More Free Lunch for Layer 2s? Inside Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade

Ethereum’s Layer 1 Lacks a Perp DEX. Synthetix Intends to Change That

HIP-3 Records $500 Million in Daily Volume

Uneasy Money: Hyperliquid’s Dilemma After 10/10: Protect Itself or Its Users?

Uneasy Money: ICOs Are Back and Why Airdrops Are Instantly Dumped

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction

⚡️ 01:32 How Ethereum's shipping cadence has changed

⛽️ 9:36 Will Ethereum gas fees spike again?

⚔️ 12:26 Infinex's token sale controversy

💡 12:54 Kain explains the reasoning behind Infinex's ICO model

💥 18:47 What's driving the Infinex ICO controversy

🧏 24:11 How Hyperliquid's HIP-3 upgrade is changing DeFi participation

🤔 25:58 Are Hyperliquid's tokenized equities perps asking for SEC trouble?

🤺 38:48 Kamino v. Jupiter drama

🧐 44:59 Does Solana’s commercial tilt encourage more “gloves off” competition?

👀 50:51 Will Kamino users exit en masse?

❕️51:32 Anthropic's smart contract study coincides with Yearn Finance hack

💡 54:40 How AI can help bolster crypto security

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Welcome to The Chopping Block — where Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner cover crypto’s biggest moments. This week we’re joined by Kevin from the Monad Foundation as we dig into the most chaotic token launch of the year. Monad goes live, CT explodes, and the tokenomics wars come roaring back — vesting, float, FDV, and why everything “just keeps going down.”

We break down whether the world actually needs another L1, how hype creates impossible expectations, and how Kevin and the Monad team are handling the spotlight — and the hate. Then we shift to security chaos: Yearn’s underflow hack, Anthropic’s AI discovering real smart contract vulnerabilities, and “post-quantum” panic sweeping Crypto Twitter. Plus: BTC volatility, MicroStrategy drama, and prediction markets suddenly going mainstream.

Show highlights

🔹 Monad’s explosive token launch — hype, backlash, and why it became CT’s main character of the week.

🔹 Kevin joins to break down the launch mechanics, the expectations, and what the team actually prepared for.

🔹 “Low float, high FDV” returns — why vesting debates reignited and why tokens keep sliding despite higher floats.

🔹 Do we really need another L1? The crew dissects infrastructure fatigue, tribalism, and what counts as real differentiation.

🔹 Why hype almost guarantees disappointment — and why early sentiment rarely predicts long-term outcomes.

🔹 Handling the hate — Kevin explains how the team reframes attention, survives the noise, and stays focused post-launch.

🔹 Yearn Sonic exploit — a simple underflow bug hits an OG DeFi protocol, reigniting security concerns.

🔹 AI finds zero-days — Anthropic’s agents discover new smart-contract vulnerabilities and spark an AI security arms race.

🔹 Quantum panic — why “post-quantum” became CT’s latest engagement meta and what it actually means for chains.

🔹 Macro shakeups — BTC volatility, MicroStrategy flirting with NAV, and equities demolishing crypto returns.

🔹 Prediction markets breakout — Polymarket’s US launch, Kalshi’s mega raise, and Robinhood bringing event contracts in-house.

🔹 Long-tail opportunity — why prediction markets may extend far beyond politics and sports to everything people care about.

Hosts:

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest

⭐️ Kevin McCordic, Director of Growth at Monad Foundation

⁠Disclosures⁠

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:21 Monad: Hype, Hate & Week-One Reality

06:08 Vesting, Float & the “Low Float, High FDV” Meta

17:27 Do We Need Another L1? 

25:08 Public Perception, Expectations & Narrative Cycles

35:54 Yearn’s yETH Exploit & Anthropic’s Exploit Agents 

44:06 MSTR at NAV & Equities Leaving Crypto Behind

48:06 Polymarket vs. Kalshi vs. Robinhood

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Ethereum for the first time ever has rolled out a second major upgrade within a year. Fusaka has gone live less than six months after Pectra.

In this Unchained podcast episode, Offchain Labs Prysm Team Ethereum Cored Developer Preston Van Loon joins Protocol Watch founder Christine D. Kim to unpack how Fusaka would make transactions cheaper, improve the UX for users and impact layer 2 chain operators.

They also discuss the relatively short time to deployment and how this is impacting client and layer 2 teams.

Preston also explains why he is less nervous about Fusaka than he was about Pectra and the indicators of success. Plus what comes next after the hard fork.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Uniswap 

Mantle 

Christine D. Kim, Host of Ready for Merge Podcast and writer of ​​ACD After Hours

Preston Van Loon, Ethereum Core Developer working at Prysm by Offchain Labs

Previous appearances on Unchained: 

How Will ETH React to Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade?

Unchained:

Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade Clears Final Test Before December Launch

Ethereum Gave Away Too Much for Too Long. Will Its Pivot Be Enough?

Timestamps:

🚀 0:00 Introduction

👀 4:39 How Fusaka is scaling Ethereum's data layer without imposing big hardware requirements 

💡 11:44 How Fusaka is “a big stepping stone” to Ethereum's proto-danksharding vision

💥 15:08 Why the Fusaka launch timeline is a significant milestone for Ethereum developers 

🫆 17:12 How Fusaka will make signing transactions easier

👀 18:37 How Fusaka will impact layer 2 operators 

🤔 22:49 Are layer 2 chains ready for Fusaka?

⁉️ 29:30 Can L2s benefit from PeerDAS without features like backfilling?

🤔 32:41 Did developers have enough time to prepare for Fusaka?

🫣 34:31 Do faster development timelines impact client diversity?

🧏 40:24 What should have been done differently with Fusaka preparations

📽 42:27 The best way to watch the Fusaka upgrade in real time

💡 44:20 Why Preston is less nervous about Fusaka than Pectra

🚦46:01 Indicators of Fusaka success

📝 46:45 Preston's risk assessment for blob parameter only hard forks

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Thank you to our sponsor, Uniswap!

Class action lawsuits targeting crypto firms are on the rise. While observers often brush off the cases as opportunistic, they may be more of an existential threat than many think.

In this episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos of StarkWare, and Vy Le of Veda unpack what class action suits are and why they may be more of a threat to crypto than enforcement actions.

Katherine breaks down the derivative case against Coinbase while Jessi explains why Binance has “bad facts” in the Hamas case. Meanwhile, Vy explains why the tussle over prediction markets like Kalshi by state gambling regulators could make it to the Supreme Court.

Plus, China's crypto crackdown and the CME's outage.

Hosts:

Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital

Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare

TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda

Links:

Unchained:

DEX in the City: Insider Trading and Crypto: What the Law Actually Says

DEX in the City: Are Prediction Markets Gambling, and Who Should Regulate Them?

Why Crypto Market Structure May Not Pass Until 2027: DEX in the City

Mistrial Declared After ‘MEV Brothers’ Accused of $25 Million Exploit

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction 

🤔 3:21 What is a class action?

💥 7:23 Why class action suits may be more dangerous for crypto than enforcement actions

💡 10:27 How the courts are trying to prevent class action abuse

🚦 11:57 The policy aspect to class action lawsuits

👀 14:05 What’s interesting about the Coinbase derivative lawsuit

📝 16:27 Why Binance has "bad facts" in the Hamas suit, per Jessi

👀 21:45 Why Kalshi's Nevada case could make it to the Supreme Court

💡 27:18 Vy highlights Kalshi's strongest argument in the Nevada case

🫠 28:34 Why crypto cases are difficult to try in front of juries

🤔 33:10 What does it mean to ban crypto?

❕️34:42 What is driving the crypto crackdown in India and China

🧏 42:38 How the CME's recent outage highlights the need for decentralization 

💥 45:54 Good news pieces for the week

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Monday’s selloff rattled the entire market—Bitcoin, equities, commodities, you name it.

But beneath the volatility, something more structural may be happening.

In this week’s Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, Chris Perkins, and B+B OG previous host Alex Kruger break down one of the most confusing macro weeks of the year. They debate why high-beta assets snapped, whether a rotation into quality is underway, why institutions seem unfazed even as retail stays skittish, and share initial thoughts on Vanguard finally allowing clients to buy crypto.

The crew also unpacks Strategy’s chaotic comments about selling BTC, the Clarity Act’s political hurdles, the CME outage that exposed systemic fragility, and the never-ending debate over Tether—profitability, reserves, and what institutions actually want from a stablecoin issuer.

Sponsors:

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

💥 2:13 What triggered Monday’s selloff—and why Chris is still long-term bullish

🤔 6:57 Why Alex was a bit surprised about this week’s volatility

🔄 12:37 Is there a rotation out of risk and into higher-quality assets?

🗯️ 15:11 The chaos after Strategy CEO floated selling BTC to fund dividends

🏢 18:33 Which types of companies Ram thinks are positioned to win in the near term

📺 22:39 Why Polymarket appearing on 60 Minutes is a positive signal for the industry

🏛️ 25:37 Why passing the Clarity Act will require far more political work

🧠 31:30 Why markets feel like a “Rorschach test”—and whether Fed cuts are actually coming

📉 36:06 Why Alex says we’re entering a new era for the Federal Reserve

💵 42:40 Tether’s balance-sheet drama—and what kind of stablecoin institutions will really choose

⚠️ 52:36 How the CME outage exposed dangerous single points of failure

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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 is a special one: Haseeb reads his new essay, In Defense of Exponentials, a manifesto pushing back against the rising financial cynicism dominating CT. He breaks down why new chains launch into unprecedented hate, why revenue-based valuation models misunderstand the nature of exponential technologies, and why believing in ETH, SOL, and open financial systems still makes sense. It’s a zoom-out moment for the space — a reminder that crypto’s exponential arc is far from over.

Show highlights

🔹 Chain Hate Era — New L1s like Monad, Tempo, and MegaETH now launch into hostility, not indifference, reflecting a major psychological shift in crypto.

🔹 Financial Cynicism — CT has moved from “nothing has value” nihilism to “everything is overvalued” cynicism, insisting L1s trade 5–10× too high.

🔹 Revenue Meta = Linear Thinking — P/E ratios, REV metrics, and exchange-style valuation models misprice blockchains by treating exponentials like steady-state businesses.

🔹 Probability Premium — L1s are priced like biotech: a 1–5% chance of becoming the next ETH/SOL rationally supports multi-billion valuations.

🔹 The No-Prize Fallacy — CT’s new belief: even if a challenger chain wins, the prize is worthless because “ETH and SOL won’t be worth $300B anyway.”

🔹 Amazon Regime Misread — Amazon took 22 years to show profit; judging crypto on revenue today is the same error—arguing P/E ratios in an exponential curve.

🔹 Open Always Wins — Crypto turns money into a file format—24/7, global, permissionless—and every industry in history has eventually yielded to openness.

🔹 Believe in the Exponential — The core thesis: zoom out. Crypto’s exponential is still early, and long-term conviction is the edge everyone has forgotten.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

In Defense of Exponentials by Haseeb Qureshi 

🔗 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/1994110900454949263 

⁠⁠Disclosures

Timestamps

0:00 In Defense of Exponentials

01:05 The Cure is Worse than the Disease

07:10 Feeling the Exponential

16:23 So what exactly am I arguing?⁠⁠⁠

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