Unchained

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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?⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap!

Nick O’Neill has become one of crypto’s biggest viral sensations over the past year with his “Choose Rich Nick” persona. But beyond a content creator, he is a business man and developer.

In this Thanksgiving/Black Friday episode of Unchained, he discusses how he stumbled into internet fame, the man behind the persona and how he intends to become the Barstool Sports of crypto and NFTs.

He also delves into what really happened at the controversial Avalanche yacht party and what it was like being viewed as “gay” for doing theater as a child. Plus how he feels about attacks on his looks and the secret to his success.

Guest:

Nick O’Neill, CEO & Co-Founder of BoDoggos 

Unchained:

Avalanche’s Unlocked Supply of AVAX Set to Increase by $350 Million

Coinbase Buys Cobie’s ‘Up Only’ NFT and Echo in $375 Million Deal

Timestamps:

🚀 0:00 Introduction 

🧏 1:42 How Nick stumbled into internet fame

🤔 9:16 Who is “Choose Rich Nick” actually?

💡 12:23 Where Nick draws the line with the ‘Choose Rich’ persona

💥 13:22 How Nick wants to create the Barstool Sports of crypto and NFTs

💃16:33 Nick explains the “hot girlfriend” arc and drama

🤯 20:31 What REALLY happened at the Avalanche yacht party

📽 30:06 How Nick got into crypto

😕 35:08 Nick on being viewed as “gay” for doing theater as a child

💡 38:43 How Nick feels about the jabs at his looks

🧠 43:25 The most important ingredient to his success

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap!

In this episode of Uneasy Money, hosts Kain Warwick, Luca Netz and Taylor Monahan discuss Monad's mainnet launch performance and how its ICO strategy may have proven solid in the end.

They also delve into MegaETH's botched TVL campaign with Kain explaining why scrambling is bad for projects. 

In addition, they dissect Polymarket's CFTC greenlight, Klarna's stablecoin launch, Cardano's chain split and Berachain's secret Brevan Howard deal.

Hosts:

Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins

Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix

Taylor Monahan, Security at MetaMask

Unchained:

Monad Co-Founder Defends Token Sale After Slow Uptake

MegaETH Aborts $1B Cap Raise After Multisig Error Triggers Chaos

Polymarket Gets CFTC Green Light to Operate in the US

Klarna Launches Stablecoin Built on Stripe’s Tempo Chain

Cardano Founder Contacts FBI After Dev’s ‘Careless’ Test Splits Chain

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

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction

📈 2:08 Monad's post-mainnet launch performance

🫣 6:57 Will Binance regret not listing Monad?

💡 12:57 How Monad's ICO strategy impacted its launch

🧠 16:00 Lessons from MegaETH's botched TVL campaign

🫠 21:53 How the MegaETH TVL campaign could have been worse 

💥 22:32 Why Polymarket's CFTC greenlight is a big deal

🤔 30:32 Why Klarna's stablecoin launch raises eyebrows

🤯 36:35 What happened with Cardano?

👀 39:33 Will AI kill all our chains?

😕 48:24 Why Berachain's Brevan Howard deal is weird

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Insider trading has become a hot topic in crypto in recent months from questionable digital asset treasury stock trades to suspiciously timed asset trades amid news-led market volatility. But do people really know what it means?

In this episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos of StarkWare and Vy Le of Veda explore the complexities of insider trading law and how blockchain technology can make it easier to detect.

They also delve into how AI agents impact market dynamics, the problem with regulators not being able to hold crypto and how insider trading law would differ from centralized to decentralized platforms. Plus Katherine talks about the future of front running and Vy explains how DATs should approach insider trading policy.
Hosts:

Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital

Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare

TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda

Unchained:

Why the Black Friday Whale’s $192 Million Crypto Trade Was Legal

Insider Trading? Yep, But the Real Story Is Securities

The Department of Justice Goes After Its First NFT Insider Trading Case

SEC and FINRA Scrutinize 200 Crypto-Treasury Firms: Report

How the x402 Standard Is Enabling AI Agents to Pay Each Other

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction 

🌫 01:25 Why insider trading is not as clear cut as many think

⚡️18:21 How blockchain has made insider trading detection easier 

💡 20:15 Why Katherine sees the crypto front-running landscape changing as tokenization takes off

🤔 23:35 Do AI agents unfairly affect market balance?

🧱 25:38 The problem with regulators not being able to hold crypto

⚠️ 30:20 How DATs are in a tricky spot as regards insider trading

💡 33:25 Vy explains how DATs should approach insider trading policy 

🚨 36:08 How insider trading controls work in TradFi

💥 42:06 How insider trading policy would differ from CeFi to DeFi

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crypto funding rounds often look glamorous from the outside: big name investors, big valuations, big narratives. But behind the scenes, the terms can look very different — and sometimes, radically so.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, host Steve Ehrlich sits down with reporter Jack Kubinec, who broke the story about Berachain’s Series B and one of the most unusual terms we’ve seen in a major token deal: a lead investor receiving the right to ask for its entire $25 million investment back, for up to a year after Berachain’s token launched.

Jack walks through what the documents show, why lawyers say the clause is extremely rare, and how a refund right like this could impact other investors, and even trigger MFN clauses. They also unpack Berachain’s market struggles since TGE, the state of the Nova Digital fund inside Brevan Howard, and the transparency questions this episode raises across crypto venture investing.

Read the full story here on Unchained

Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap! 

Host:

Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Guest:

Jack Kubinec, Crypto Journalist and Podcast Host

Timestamps:

0:00 — Start

0:25 — Steve introduces Jack

2:24 — What the documents reveal

5:17 — Why Brevan Howard’s refund is a big problem

9:21 — How refund clauses really work

14:09 — Jack’s interactions with the Bera team and how Smokey responded to the story

19:29 — Why the MFN clause is key

26:19 — How Breva Howard Digital didn’t actually invest in Bera

30:18 — What investors should learn from a deal like this

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins dig into a macro environment that’s suddenly turning more supportive: QT ending, institutions stepping in, improving liquidity signals, and major catalysts across global markets. But while the setup may be bullish, one corner of crypto isn’t participating at all: DATs, which Ram calls “a death spiral.”

The hosts debate whether altcoins can recover, whether Strategy pushed its structure too far, if banks’ unrealized losses still matter, and why the return of ICO-style launches may say more about regulation than mania.

Show highlights:

0:00 Intro

3:16 Why Ram says we are still in goldilocks economy

5:07 What is missing in the markets according to Chris and how retail is so hurt

11:07 Why the dollar has been on an uptrend, contrary to what people think

13:17 The importance of banks sitting on so much unrealized losses

18:24 Nvidia’s earnings and whether we are in a buying opportunity

22:21 Whether banks will be negatively affected by stablecoins growth or they are fine

25:05 What Austin and Ram disagree on whether the 50-year mortgage is good

28:25 Whether MSTR should be excluded from the MSCI index

32:56 Why Ram is “very bearish on DATs” and the importance of their operating businesses

45:19 Why Chris finds it fascinating the revival of the ICOs

51:19 Whether there’s a new operations choke point going on in crypto

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: MON Rallies 40% After Mainnet Launch

Fortune: Suddenly, the Fed interest rate cut in December looks like it is very much back on the table

Nvidia didn’t save the market. What’s next for the AI trade?

The Index Exclusion That Ends an Era: How MicroStrategy’s Exile Redefines Corporate Finance

Saylor fights back

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ethereum Foundation last month said it was taking its privacy efforts a step further. It announced the Privacy Cluster, a group of 47 coordinators, cryptographers, engineers and researchers with one mission: to make privacy “a first-class property of the Ethereum Ecosystem.”

At Ethereum DevConnect, the EF's Andy Guzman and Oskar Thorén join Unchained to discuss the formation of the group in the context of Zcash's recent resurgence, why privacy is important for crypto and the motivations behind Ethereum's recent push.

They also delve into the difference between the current privacy push and past efforts, as well as how it could unlock new use cases and the reaction of institutions. Additionally, they talk about competition with Zcash, reveal implementation timelines and delve into the impact on crypto data analysis.

Thank you to our sponsor ⁠Uniswap⁠!

Guests:

Andy Guzman, PSE Lead at Ethereum Foundation

Oskar Thorén, Technical Lead of IPTF (Institutional Privacy Task Force) at Ethereum Foundation

Unchained:

Ethereum Foundation Launches ‘Privacy Cluster’

Vitalik Unveils New Ethereum Privacy Toolkit ‘Kohaku’

Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action

With Aztec’s Ignition Chain Launched, Will Ethereum Have Decentralized Privacy?

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction 

🥷1:33 What is the Ethereum Foundation Privacy Cluster?

🤔 3:49 Did Zcash's resurgence inspire the launch of the Privacy Cluster?

📽 6:29 How the Privacy Stewards of Ethereum has grown over the years

🔗 8:39 How the Institutional Privacy Task Force's got started

💡 10:10 Why privacy is important in crypto

🔮 13:54 What is driving Ethereum's recent privacy push

📝 15:21 Andy and Oskar discuss their backgrounds

🤔 16:48 The difference between Ethereum's current privacy efforts and past efforts like Tornado Cash

🤞18:43 How Ethereum's privacy push could unlock new use cases

🛣 25:09 Andy and Oskar outline different approaches to privacy

🤔 29:52 What are private reads and writes?

👀 35:16 Why Andy says adopting onchain privacy is a question of risk for institutions

🫆 36:39 Why private identities are important

🤔 40:13 What happens if identity proofs are stolen 

📺 43:27 How the Ethereum Foundation wants to improve privacy experience 

🧏 45:44 How the IPTF’s role is unique 

⁉️ 47:51 What is Kohaku?

👀 51:02 Is Ethereum competing with Zcash?

💡 1:01:29 The Ethereum Foundation's thoughts on private viewing keys 

🗓 1:03:44 Implementation timeline

🔮 1:05:50 How the crypto privacy push could impact blockchain data analysis 

💥 1:08:46 Final thoughts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices