Today, we’ve got two very different stories in one episode.

First, Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, joins Unchained to explain why Robinhood is rebuilding its product on the Arbitrum tech stack, what it says about crypto’s evolution, and how this could finally bridge Web2 and Web3.

Then, Calvin Hamilton breaks down the bizarre $59 million bet on whether President Zelensky wore a suit — and why vague rules, a fateful tweet, and one protocol’s vote could damage Polymarket’s reputation.

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

Focal by FalconX

Ledn

Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and CEO of Offchain Labs

Calvin Hamilton, Polymarket bettor on the ‘yes’ of the Zelensky dispute.

Unchained: Robinhood Is Building Its Own Layer 2 Blockchain

Robinhood’s presentation at ETHcc: To Catch A Token

Rob Hadick’s tweet on tokenized stocks 

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🚀 1:44 Why Robinhood chose Arbitrum and how much control they really have

🧑‍💻 6:38 How Arbitrum Stylus could power better UX for Robinhood and beyond

🌊 10:26 Why liquidity fragmentation is still a major unsolved problem

🧲 11:41 What makes MEV capture so attractive to big players like Robinhood

🏆 13:48 Why tokenized stocks might be the “big prize” on Arbitrum

🌐 16:12 What it means to be part of the Arbitrum ecosystem

📊 18:02 How tokenized equities could change investing and what the risks are

🏛️ 21:11 Why the Arbitrum DAO stands to gain from this partnership

🔧 22:17 How Steven thinks fragmentation can be fixed more easily than most believe

🌉 25:52 Where the crypto-TradFi convergence is headed next

💬 29:40 Why Steven defends Ethereum and calls out the critics of L2s

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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 week, we’re joined by Jon Charbonneau and Ryan Watkins to unpack the bombshell news of Robinhood Chain—an Arbitrum-based network debuting tokenized U.S. stocks, 3× crypto perps, and that head-scratching $500 K liquidity cap. From riffing on whether proof-of-stake yields are just “money in a box,” to debating Solana’s first U.S. staked ETF, to sizing up the looming perp wars between Robinhood and Coinbase, the crew maps a common thread: corporate chains and regulatory work-arounds are colliding with crypto’s decentralization ideals, forcing builders, traders, and even ETF hawks to rethink where real security, fairness, and opportunity will live next.

Show highlights

🔹 Robinhood Chain Revealed – Why the trading-app giant paid up to launch an Arbitrum-based “Robinhood Chain,” starting with 24/5 perpetuals and tokenized U.S. stocks, plus a rumored $500 K–liquidity cap that has Crypto Twitter howling.

🔹 Tokenized-Stock Gold Rush – From Tesla and SpaceX pre-IPO shares to on-chain S&P stalwarts: does 24/7 trading finally make equity tokens stick, or is it just another CFD in disguise?

🔹 Perps Arms Race – Coinbase’s 5-year “quasi-perp” futures vs. Robinhood’s 3×-leverage launch vs. Hyperliquid’s 20× turbo deck—who wins the battle for retail flow?

🔹 Solana ETF First-Mover – RexShares files a staked-SOL C-Corp ETF, beating BlackRock to the punch and testing Wall Street’s appetite after ETH’s lukewarm debut.

🔹 Proof-of-Stake Reality Check – The crew dismantles the “economic security” myth, asks whether validator cartels make inflation rewards pointless, and floats proof-of-governance as the next model.

🔹 Hyperliquid vs. The World – Why a single Tokyo data center is eating CLOB volume, what zk-rollup challengers are planning, and how latency games redefine “decentralized exchange.”

🔹 $2 B Prediction-Market Beef – Paradigm-backed Kalshi clashes with PolyMarket after a viral “little rats” tweet; inside the influencer war and the CFTC license flex.

🔹 Conference FOMO No More – New-York-privileged hosts roast ETH CC in Cannes and declare the age of fly-to-France crypto tourism officially over.

🔹 Reg-Tech vs. Fin-Tech – From transfer agents to T+1 settlement: why outdated TradFi plumbing, not blockchains, still blocks global access to U.S. securities.

🔹 Super-App Skepticism – The panel pokes holes in “super-app” buzzwords and explains why sequencing—product-first, chain-later—matters more than catchy slogans.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guests

⭐️ Ryan Watkins, Co-Founder of Syncracy Capital

⭐️ Jon Charbonneau, Co-founder & General Partner at DBA

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

02:59 Robinhood Chain

15:05 Debate on Tokenized Stocks

27:18 Perpetuals (Perps) in the Crypto Market

37:15 Robinhood's New Crypto Traders

39:26 The Solana ETF Approval

41:17 Understanding Staking and ETFs

43:36 The Future of Proof of Stake

46:20 Governance in Ethereum and Other Chains

56:26 Corporate Chains and Validator Selection

01:04:31 Polymarket vs. Kalshi

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Crypto is bleeding into traditional finance faster than anyone expected.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, the hosts dig into Robinhood’s move into tokenized stocks and perps, what’s actually holding back tokenized equities, and why perps might “eat the world.” 

Plus, they talk crypto ETFs, altcoin summer, and whether staking in ETFs is the next big unlock.

Sponsors:

Bitwise

Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

Noelle Acheson, Author of the “Crypto Is Macro Now” Newsletter 

Guest:

Timestamps

🎬 0:00 Intro

👔 2:25 Tom’s path from Jane Street to crypto 

💸 5:50 Why Jito’s yield model works + the importance of market makers

📊 12:47 Whether tokenized U.S. stocks actually solve anything for investors

🌍 31:47 Why Tom says “perps are going to eat the world”

🏦 39:25 How perps could sneak their way into traditional finance

📉 41:43 Whether perps are a better instrument than futures

🧠 50:51 Why James thinks we’re heading into an altcoin ETF summer

📥 56:01 How liquid staking is critical in the context of ETFs with staking

📈 1:05:06 Why the S&P 500 keeps hitting all-time highs

⚠️ 1:07:43 Ram lays out the risks of 1% interest rates

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Lido just rolled out one of the most ambitious governance overhauls in DeFi: a dual governance system designed to give power back to stakers—and make it harder for malicious proposals to pass.

But what does it actually do?

And could it make Lido the safest place to stake ETH?

Hasu, a strategic advisor at Lido, and Lido co-founder Vasiliy Shapovalov join Unchained to break it all down.

How the dual governance model works

Whether this dilutes LDO token value

What this means for DeFi, and if others will follow

Whether this might get institutions off the sidelines

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

Thank you to our sponsors!

Bitwise

Guests:

Hasu, Strategic advisor to Lido and Strategy lead at Flashbots.

Vasiliy Shapovalov, Co-founder of Lido

Unchained: Lido DAO Enables Dual Governance, stETH Holders Can Trigger ‘Rage-Quit’ Mode

Learn more about the topics discussed:

How Liquid Staking Works

What Are Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) in Ethereum?

What Is Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and How Does It Work on Blockchains?

What Is Distributed Validator Technology?

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🧩 2:07 What problem Lido’s new governance model is actually solving

⚙️ 7:33 How dual governance works—and why it’s such a big shift

🚀 15:32 Why Hasu says this changes everything for Lido

🧠 22:20 What the team had to weigh when designing the system

🛡️ 30:26 How Lido built in resistance to attacks

📉 32:02 Whether this system weakens the value of the LDO token

🗳️ 38:58 How they’re thinking about fixing DeFi’s voter apathy problem

🏦 45:29 Whether institutions will see this as a positive sign and embrace stETH

🌐 48:01 How this compares to Sky’s “emergency shutdown”—and whether DeFi will follow suit

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The state of Texas just passed a law that creates a $10 million strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Laura talks to Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, who helped drive this new law. He explains how bipartisan support made it possible, why this might be the start of a broader trend, and what’s next for public Bitcoin ownership in the U.S.

We get into:

The logic behind the $10 million number

Why custody and compliance are key

Whether California or Illinois could ever do something similar

And how other states are reacting

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

Thank you to our sponsors!

FalconX

Ledn

Guest:

Lee Bratcher, President and Founder of the Texas Blockchain Council

Texas Blockchain Council

Bloomberg: Texas Gov. Abbott Signs Bill to Create State Bitcoin Reserve

Unchained: Senator Cynthia Lummis on Why Crypto Now Has Bipartisan Support

Timestamps:

🎬0:00 Intro

🏛️ 2:12 How the idea for a $10M strategic Bitcoin reserve became law in Texas

💰 5:42 Why lawmakers settled on $10 million—and what that number really means

🔐 8:59 How Texas plans to custody its bitcoin, and why it matters

📉 10:59 Why the bill includes language about using derivatives for BTC

🏦 12:12 What exchange the state might use to actually buy the bitcoin

🗳️ 14:59 Who owns crypto in Texas—and whether politics play a role

🤝 18:05 Why Bitcoin isn’t such a partisan issue in the Lone Star State

🧡 22:20 How Lee Bratcher got orange-pilled into Bitcoin

📜 24:38 Why Lee thinks the Lummis-Gillibrand bill could pass, and the future of bitcoin bonds

🌎 27:45 Which state might be next to adopt a Bitcoin reserve law

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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 week, we’re joined by Vlad, the leverage legend behind Lighter, a zk-powered DEX taking aim at Hyperliquid in the rising CLOB wars. We unpack the new Token Transparency Framework from Blockworks and whether self-regulation can fix crypto’s disclosure problem. Should VC wallets be public? Are market-making deals legally risky? And why do most projects still say nothing?

Plus: Vlad explains how Lighter uses zero-knowledge proofs to enforce fairness and fight toxic flow—without harming retail. And Circle’s stock goes full meme mode, TikTok retail piles in, and Robert reveals he’s short. Is crypto finally growing up—or just evolving its chaos?

Show highlights

🔹 Token Transparency Framework Debated – Blockworks’ 40-point voluntary disclosure system sparks industry-wide discussion on what teams and investors should reveal

🔹 Disclosures vs. Reality – Most projects don’t lie—they just don’t publish. The real problem isn’t fraud, it’s silence

🔹 VC Wallets Stay Dark – Debate over whether investor wallet addresses and cost bases should be disclosed; consensus: team vesting should be public, investor holdings still a gray area

🔹 Exchange Listings & Disclosures – Exchanges are considering using the transparency framework to prioritize listings, creating pressure for teams to comply

🔹 CLOB Wars Continue – Lighter joins the battle against Hyperliquid with zk-proven verifiability and zero-fee trading for retail

🔹 Lighter’s Architecture Edge – Built as a ZK L2 on Ethereum, Lighter pitches composability + security vs. Hyperliquid’s standalone stack

🔹 Fighting Toxic Flow – Instead of cancel-order tricks, Lighter adds subtle latency and fee mechanics to penalize HFT bots without harming retail

🔹 Dark Pools for DeFi? – Vlad teases ZK-based private order flow as a future feature, merging institutional behavior with onchain guarantees

🔹 DEX Future = Specialization – Vlad predicts no single winner: future DEXs will specialize in niches—memecoins, structured products, prediction markets

🔹 Circle Becomes a Meme Stock – Robert discloses his short position as retail pumps Circle to an $80B FDV off TikTok hype and the Genius Act tailwinds

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest

⭐️ Vladimir Novakovski, CEO & Founder of Lighter

Token Transparency by Blockworks: https://blockworks.co/token-transparency 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:49 Token Transparency Report by Blockworks

04:17 Token Disclosures

08:52 Challenges and Future of Token Transparency

23:22 Circle Mania Continues

25:06 Circle Valuation and Market Reactions

30:15 CLOB Wars

36:52 Technical Architecture and Verifiability

47:04 Market Structure and Future of DeFi

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As tensions flare between Iran and Israel, investors are watching oil, gold, and, of course, crypto. In this episode of Bits + Bips, the panel digs into the market response to war risk, the chances the Fed will actually cut rates, and how Circle’s IPO is being treated more like a meme stock than a fintech play.

Plus:

Why Scaramucci says we’re all living in a surveillance state 

Whether stablecoins are being kneecapped by U.S. regulation 

When altcoin ETFs are coming

And what BlackRock’s Larry Fink secretly told Scaramucci about Bitcoin in 2021 👀

Sponsor:

Bitwise

James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard

Noelle Acheson, Author of the “Crypto Is Macro Now” Newsletter 

Anthony Scaramucci, Founder of SkyBridge

US-Iran-Israel war

Unchained: Bitcoin Dips Below $100K as U.S.–Iran Tensions Trigger $627M in Liquidations

Polymarket: Will Iran close the Strait of Hormuz before July?

WSJ: What Israel’s Soaring Markets Are Saying About the Iran War

Macro

WSJ: Fed’s Bowman Says She Could Support a July Interest-Rate Cut

CNBC: Fed Governor Waller says central bank could cut rates as early as July

FT: Jay Powell to push back on calls for Federal Reserve rate cuts as soon as July

Stablecoins

WSJ: Stablecoin World Opens Up to Main Street Banks

The Block: Circle's post-IPO stock surge pushes market cap near Coinbase and USDC

ETFs

James upped the odds on a bunch of altcoin spot ETFs

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🌍 2:51 Are there lessons in how the markets shrugged off the Iran-Israel conflict?

🔥 9:37 What flashpoints in the Middle East could ignite next

🛢️ 14:40 Will oil supplies remain safe?

💸 22:13 Are cracks finally forming in the Fed’s resistance to rate cuts?

📉 28:08 Why Anthony believes that Fed Chair Powell is playing politics with rates

🇺🇸 33:55 Whether TACO Trump or tough Trump will show up on tariff day

🎯 36:26 What Anthony says that people get wrong about Trump’s economic strategy

🏦 43:52 Why Circle’s IPO feels more meme than fintech and what Larry Fink once secretly told Anthony about bitcoin 👀

🚫 50:27 One thing that Anthony HATES about the GENIUS Act

📊 56:17 Why James is upping his odds on a wave of altcoin ETFs, but doesn’t expect many to be successful products

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Cross-border payments. Mobile money. Stablecoins. Crypto.

Elizabeth Rossiello has lived through every cycle, not from a trading desk, but the front lines of African markets.

Now, the founder of AZA Finance is selling her company to global fintech giant dLocal, a signal that the line between crypto and traditional finance is blurring fast.

In this episode, she talks about:

How stablecoins are powering 24/7 commerce in emerging markets

Why new entrants keep failing to gain traction

And how liquidity, not tech, will determine who wins this new game

All that, plus the inside story of AZA’s journey from a Nairobi-based Bitcoin exchange to one of the most important fintech players in Africa.

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

Bitwise

Human Rights Foundation

Xapo Bank

Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and Founder of AZA Finance

Previous appearance on Unchained: BitPesa's Elizabeth Rossiello on Necker Island

Links

dLocal announces intention to acquire AZA Finance to strengthen

AZA Finance: dLocal announces intention to acquire AZA Finance to strengthen presence in Africa and expand capabilities

Timestamps:

🎬0:00 Intro

🌍 3:30 What Africa’s early payments scene looked like and how Elizabeth launched the first Bitcoin exchange there

📲 10:54 How the continent’s payment rails evolved

🔥 16:15 How Western Union dropped its pricing after her company launched

💸 20:42 Why stablecoins became a game-changer for cross-border payments

📊 25:24 What the real volume drivers are

🌐 28:53 How crypto adoption in Africa shifted post-COVID

🤝 37:00 Why AZA decided to acquire two companies

⚠️ 38:46 How the FTX partnership hurt AZA

💼 41:37 How the dLocal deal came together behind the scenes

🔄 45:08 Why crypto and fintech are on a fast path to convergence

🏁 50:58 Which players Elizabeth thinks will win in the new payments race

📵 53:47 Why “mobile money” is still tough competition for crypto

💥 56:48 How USDT has an edge in emerging markets

🇨🇳 58:50 How China’s deep ties to Africa have shaped the game

🚀 1:01:37 What it’s been like to build AZA as a young woman founder in crypto

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On Tuesday, JPMorgan announced that its blockchain unit is launching JPMD, a USD deposit token for institutional clients, on Base. That’s right: the world’s biggest bank by assets and the 12th largest company by market cap is putting real dollars onchain.

JPMD isn’t quite a stablecoin, but it’s close. It represents actual dollar deposits at JPMorgan and will be used by institutional clients for blockchain-based transactions. The bank plans to run a pilot over the coming months and eventually expand it to other user groups and currencies, pending regulatory approval.

To understand what this means for the broader crypto ecosystem (and why JPMorgan chose Base), we brought on Jesse Pollak, head of Base and Coinbase Wallet. In this episode, Jesse explains:

Why JPMorgan (and Shopify) chose Base

What deposit tokens are, and how they differ from stablecoins

Why infrastructure is finally “ready” for institutions

How Base scaled from 2.5 million to 35 million gas/sec

What’s next for Coinbase users who’ll have one-tap access to onchain assets

And Jesse’s response to the critics who said that Coinbase doesn’t give enough credit to Ethereum

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

Ledn

FalconX

Jesse Pollak, Head of Base and Coinbase Wallet

Unchained: 

JPMorgan to Pilot ‘JPMD’ Token on Base

Coinbase and Amex Team Up on Bitcoin Card as Exchange Reveals Broad Expansion Plans

Comments on Bloomberg by Naveen Mallela, global co-head of the bank's blockchain division Kinexys by JPMorgan

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🏦 1:49 What JPMD actually is

🔧 4:26 Why Jesse believes infrastructure is finally ready for institutional adoption

📊 7:03 Whether Base can handle global scale

💵 9:24 How JPMorgan plans to use deposit tokens in real-world blockchain transactions

⚖️ 11:22 Whether deposit tokens are a better model than stablecoins

🛠️ 16:59 Why JPMorgan chose to launch on Base instead of other chains

📉 19:00 How recent events served as a wake-up call for fintech and commerce

📲 22:22 Why Jesse is hyped about seamless access to onchain assets inside Coinbase

📈 25:47 How Coinbase plans to manage the chaos of token pumps and dumps

🌐 27:54 Jesse’s take on the criticism that Coinbase doesn’t show Ethereum enough love

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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 week, we’re joined by Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan, the quiet powerhouse behind DeFi’s fastest-growing exchange. With 75% of onchain perp volume, no VC money, and a $1B airdrop, Hyperliquid is rewriting what crypto protocols can be. We dive into Jeff’s minimalist strategy, the cancel wars with toxic flow, and the JellyJelly controversy that sparked a feud with CZ. Plus: HIP-3 and the future of permissionless perps, SPAC-style hype vehicles taking over Wall Street, and why stablecoin regulation just triggered a 40% rally in Circle stock. Is crypto evolving—or just getting financialized to death?

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights

🔹 Jeff’s $1B Airdrop Playbook – How Hyperliquid bootstrapped dominance with no VC, no marketing, and the most beloved founder in crypto

🔹 75% of Onchain Perps? – Hyperliquid now controls 3/4 of all perp volume across chains—Jeff explains how they did it

🔹 Cancel Wars & Toxic Flow – The inside logic behind prioritizing cancels over taker orders—and why HFTs are mad about it

🔹 CZ vs. Jeff – JellyJelly drama, transparency debates, and a subtle protocol war with Binance

🔹 HIP-3 and the Future of Markets – Perps on anything? Jeff breaks down why HIP-3 is the biggest unlock yet for Hyperliquid

🔹 “We Don’t Track KPIs” – Jeff’s radical philosophy on metrics, token price, and building products without back-propping for growth

🔹 Real Users vs. Predators – Who Jeff thinks actually matters onchain—and why some flow shouldn’t be welcome

🔹 Crypto SPAC Mania Begins – Tron, Tether, and Trump-adjacent vehicles bring public market chaos to token land

🔹 Genius Act Passes, Stocks Explode – Coinbase +20%, Circle +40%—but crypto tokens barely move: Why is Wall Street frothier than DeFi?

🔹 Are Perps the New Casino? – The crew debates why people love zero-DTE options, and if perps can replicate the lottery thrill

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest

⭐️ Jeff Yan, CEO and co-founder of Hyperliquid

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:51 Hyperliquid's Market Dominance

05:14 The Philosophy Behind Hyperliquid's Success

07:44 Challenges with Decentralized Exchanges

09:34 Metrics and Success in Hyperliquid

12:59 Addressing Market Dynamics and User Types

22:50 Competitive Pressures and System Resilience

25:28 Exploring Hyperliquid's Future and HIP 3

36:08 Complexity in Zero-Day Options

38:40 Perpetual Contracts vs. Options

41:24 The Role of User Interfaces in Trading

45:08 Crypto SPACs and Market Trends

57:21 The Genius Act and Market Reactions

Hosts
Disclosures

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