Blockchains were supposed to capture the majority of the value in crypto. But what if that’s wrong?

For years, the Fat Protocols Thesis argued that blockchains would be the biggest winners. But new data suggests that apps like Uniswap, Ethena, and others are now out-earning many networks.

Are we watching the rise of “Fat Apps” instead?

On this episode, Ryan Watkins, Co-founder at Syncracy Capital, talks about: 

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

Timestamps:

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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. In this episode, the crew unpacks Ethereum’s existential crisis and whether the rollup-centric roadmap is backfiring. Plus, AI is rapidly changing how crypto is built, traded, and secured—so what happens when blockchain and AI collide? We also dig into Solana’s controversial ad, Ethereum Foundation’s leadership shake-up, and why macro forces are still running the show.

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

Show highlights

🔹 AI’s Invasion of Software Engineering – Why AI is replacing developers & what it means for crypto startups

🔹 Ethereum’s Rollup Reckoning – The “rollup-centric roadmap” was supposed to save Ethereum, but is it actually weakening it?

🔹 The Solana Ad Disaster – How Solana’s political ad backfired & alienated both sides of the aisle

🔹 Is Ethereum Becoming IBM? – Why Ethereum risks getting stuck as the slow-moving corporate giant of crypto

🔹 The Great AI Pivot – Why top engineers are abandoning language models for robotics & what it means for the future

🔹 AI Trading Bots & Crypto Security Risks – How prompt injections could turn AI-powered wallets into honeypots

🔹 Ethereum’s New Leadership – Does the Ethereum Foundation finally have a plan to fix its credibility problem?

🔹 The XRP Bartender Index – The unexpected bar tab metric that tracks XRP market sentiment

🔹 Will AI Replace VCs? – The case for AI-led investment strategies & automated due diligence

⭐️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 

Solana Ad repost by @basedkarbon: https://x.com/basedkarbon/status/1901809992514052319 

Timestamps - 

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The financial market is getting wrecked, inflation is still a problem, and bitcoin isn’t acting like the hedge that it’s supposed to be. Is this a real economic shift, or just noise?

With tariffs, stagflation fears, and fiscal dominance taking center stage, hosts James Seyffart, Joe McCann, Ram Ahluwalia and Noelle Acheson break down:

Sponsors:

• Bitwise

The stagflation trade

Budget bill

• Wharton: The FY2025 House Budget reconciliation and Trump Administration Tax Proposals: Budgetary, Economic, and Distributional Effects

Stablecoin bill:

Solana futures

• Cointelegraph: Solana futures finish first trading day on CME

Solana ad

Unchained: Solana Deletes ‘Cringe’ Ad After Crypto Community Backlash

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

📉 1:39 Stagflation fears and which tariffs actually matter for the economy

🌎 6:11 Why the outlook for commodities is so uncertain

📊 10:49 Is the Trump administration sabotaging itself?

🐶 16:57 Why DOGE’s role in the market is bigger than you think

📉 23:51 Why the 10-year yield isn’t dropping as expected

💰 28:04 Will shrinking liquidity grind the market to a halt?

🏛️ 32:37 Why the Fed has become irrelevant

🔄 36:53 Is quantitative tightening (QT) ending? Plus, one key thing crypto investors don’t get

⚠️ 41:13 Why a recession is not a foregone conclusion

🥇 48:25 Gold is hitting all-time highs—so why isn’t bitcoin following?

🏦 51:24 How the stablecoin bill could save US government finances

🚀 1:01:47 How bitcoin gets its next rally 

📉 1:07:16 The hidden benefit of CME SOL futures

✅ 1:12:15 The latest on pending crypto ETF approvals

📣 1:17:26 Reactions to the controversial Solana ad

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The memecoin trade might be over. And Joe McCann says that’s just the beginning.

The founder of Asymmetric has been at the intersection of crypto, macro, and tech for years. He called the $BONK trade early, made moves before most saw the opportunity, and now? He’s shifting his focus.

Meanwhile, the crypto markets are a bloodbath, with bitcoin, ether, and solana down 10%, 41%, and 35%, respectively, year-to-date.

In this episode, Joe joins Unchained to discuss:

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

Unchained: 

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

🚀 2:19 How Joe’s background shaped his crypto investing approach

🐶 10:25 Spotting the $BONK opportunity before the crowd

📉 17:38 Why the memecoin trade might be over

💰 21:51 Why Joe believes Pump.fun is NOT extractive

📊 33:11 Why crypto prices have struggled despite a pro-crypto shift in Washington

🎯 42:34 The moment Joe “finally” gives credit to Arthur Hayes

⏳ 45:15 Could having no catalyst actually BE the catalyst?

🔥 49:22 Why Joe wasn’t convinced by the SOL inflation proposal

⚡ 56:45 Wait—no altcoin season?

⚙️ 1:01:34 What still excites Joe about Solana

🏦 1:04:57 Why Asymmetric is betting on Bitcoin DeFi

🤖 1:07:29 How AI is helping Joe’s team optimize its strategy

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The Solana ecosystem just completed a critical governance vote. SIMD-228, a proposal to tie Solana’s inflation rate to its staking participation rate, was put forward by Multicoin Capital and Anza, but despite a majority voting in favor, it failed to meet the required supermajority to pass.

Tushar Jain, co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital, who co-authored the proposal, joins the show to discuss:

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

Timestamps:

🤝 0:00 Intro

🗳️ 3:09 Why Solana’s inflation rate was initially an afterthought 

💰5:20 Why inflation became untenable

⚙️ 6:23 What does it take to right-size inflation for Solana

⚙️ 7:18 How SIMD-228 would have worked

🤯 11:00 Why Tushar “does not want to bet on people being dumb”

💰 15:48 How this could have strengthened DeFi on Solana

😕 17:49 Why Tushar was disappointed with the outcome but sees a silver lining

📚 19:49 Could the vote have been fairer?

⚖️ 22:06 Whether smaller validators would be unfairly hurt by SIMD-228

🔐 27:37 Does Solana pay too much for security?

📈 27:55 Would this have boosted the price of SOL?

✔️28:19 Whether validators should ask stakers how to vote

✅ 30:13 What the passing of SIMD-123 means for the network

🔄 32:40 Will Multicoin resubmit the proposal?

📰 34:50 News Recap

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner break down the biggest stories in crypto. This week, we’re joined by special guest Quinn Thompson, Master of Macro at Lekker Capital, to dissect Trump’s Bitcoin Reserve. The US government is now officially hodling Bitcoin —Trump’s executive order creates a BTC reserve using seized funds. But markets didn’t buy the hype. Bitcoin tanked, and traders are still questioning what this means for crypto’s future. Meanwhile, the global macro picture is a disaster—stocks are down, trade wars are escalating, and recession fears are mounting.Is this controlled demolition of the economy, or just a side effect of Trump’s economic agenda? And most importantly, what does this mean for crypto? Let’s dive in.

Show highlights

🔹 Trump’s Bitcoin Reserve Announcement – The US government officially holds BTC, but it’s not buying more. No new demand—just a change in optics.

🔹 Digital Asset Stockpile – XRP, ADA, SOL? Treasury isn’t sure what it owns, and no guarantee these altcoins stay on the balance sheet.

🔹 Market Reactions – Bitcoin pumped, then crashed. No net buying pressure, just an end to government auctions of seized BTC.

🔹 Trade War Fallout – Tariffs hit Mexico, Canada, EU, and China—S&P 500 posts worst day since 2022, losing $1.4T in market cap.

🔹 Trump’s Endgame? – Is this a controlled demolition of asset prices, or just chaos in motion?

🔹 Crypto’s Liquidity Crunch – The Fed isn’t stepping in (yet), but the macro backdrop is grim. Rate cuts may be the only way out.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

Guest

⭐️Quinn Thompson, Founder & CIO at Lekker Capital

Timestamps 

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The markets are a bloodbath.

If you’re feeling lost in the markets right now, you’re not alone. Stocks are getting crushed, bonds are sliding, and crypto isn’t escaping the carnage. The question is: why is everything selling off—and where does it go from here?

One thing is clear: the next market move is extremely hard to predict. Between Trump’s economic policies, inflation worries, and DOGE’s cuts, there’s a storm of conflicting signals.

So, is this pain temporary? Or are we looking at a long trend downward?

• Bitwise

Guest:

Recession? 

• Bloomberg: Trump Says US Economy Faces ‘Transition,’ Avoids Recession Call

Inflation

• Bloomberg: Inflation-Linked Bonds Rebound on Trump Tariffs: Credit Weekly

DXY

• FX Empire: US Dollar Forecast: DXY Sinks as Weak Jobs Data Fuels Rate Cut Bets, EUR/USD Surges

Powell’s comments:

Bonds:

Tariffs:

• Bloomberg: Lutnick Says Trump Sticking to US Aluminum-Steel Tariff Timeline 

Japan and the carry trade:

China’s deflation: 

• Bloomberg: China’s Inflation Declines Below Zero for First Time in Year

Ukraine War talks: 

• FT: Ukraine seeks to persuade US to resume aid in high-stakes talks

Timestamps:

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The election of Donald Trump marked a sea change for U.S. crypto policy.

The symbolism of that transformation was on full display at the White House’s first-ever Crypto Summit, at which President Trump met with several crypto business leaders. But what was actually said behind closed doors? And does this mark the beginning of a truly pro-crypto shift—or just another short-lived political move?

In this episode, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe and former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo break down what really happened at the summit, whether the proposed Bitcoin reserve is a smart idea or a political gimmick, and why some believe the U.S. dollar could one day be backed by BTC.

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

• Bitwise

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Trump’s latest crypto moves have sent the market on a rollercoaster.

First, he posted on Truth Social that a U.S. crypto reserve would include XRP, Solana, and Cardano. A couple hours later, he had to clarify that Bitcoin and Ethereum would also be included. The market jumped 12%—only to crash the next day.

Meanwhile, the White House crypto summit is happening Friday, and not everyone is happy with the guest list. Some say it’s a step toward real regulation, while others argue that without DeFi voices, it’s just a meeting of centralized players.

So what does it all mean? David Nage, VC at Arca, joins Unchained to talk about:

Will real crypto policy changes emerge from this? Or is this just another distraction in a year full of big promises?

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

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner break down the biggest stories in crypto. This week, we’re joined by special guest Laura Shin to dissect Trump’s Strategic Crypto Reserve fiasco. Why did he name-drop XRP and Cardano first? Was this real policy or just a market pump? Meanwhile, Crypto Twitter is melting down over Trump’s crypto summit guest list—who made the cut, and who got snubbed? Plus, another SEC lawsuit bites the dust, and memecoins look deader than ever. Let’s get into it.

Show highlights

🔹 Trump’s Crypto Reserve Announcement – Trump proposes a U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve, initially boosting XRP, ADA, SOL, BTC, and ETH—only for markets to fully reverse in 48 hours.

🔹 Who Picked These Coins? – XRP & ADA make the list despite having lower adoption than SOL or ETH. Was this a serious policy move or just pay-to-play politics?

🔹 Trump’s 5D Chess or Just a Meme? – Did the Trump team just pick random coins off CoinMarketCap? Or was this an orchestrated move to pay back donors?

🔹 The Crypto Council Drama – Trump’s Crypto Council implodes before launch due to infighting over seats. First summit features Ripple’s Garlinghouse, Michael Saylor, Chainlink’s Nazarov, Brian Armstrong, and Jesse Powell—but no actual protocol founders.

🔹 Is Crypto Being Used for Politics? – Nic Carter calls the plan a grift, saying the U.S. government should not buy altcoins with taxpayer money. Even Bitcoin maxis are skeptical.

🔹 Trump’s Obsession With Bitcoin Prices – Reports claim Trump personally tracks Bitcoin price movements and wants BTC to hit $150K during his presidency—is he manipulating markets?

🔹 The SEC Softens on Crypto? – Enforcement pivots as the SEC drops cases against Cumberland and Kraken. Will the Coinbase lawsuit be next?

🔹 Market Exhaustion Sets In – Despite the noise, traders are tired. The market isn’t buying into Trump’s crypto plans—was this just another empty promise?

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

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

Timestamps

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