Unchained

In part 2 of Jeff Park’s interview with Unchained, he describes ways that both everyday investors and the U.S. government can use various crypto assets to come out on top as old models and strategies become outdated. 

He reveals the three personal stories that led him to develop his radical portfolio theory, puts himself in the shoes of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and explains why Japan is the linchpin in the transition to this new world order.

In this episode, we explore:

Why Jeff believes the future belongs to wholecoiners

The social mission behind owning bitcoin

How the U.S. could leverage stablecoins to maintain global dominance

Why the new American dream might not involve a house at all

And why, in Jeff’s words, we may already be “living in a Bitcoin-only world.”

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

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Bitwise

Guest:

Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise

Part 1 of Jeff on Unchained: Jeff Park Says the 60/40 Portfolio May Be Dead. Here’s His Radical Fix 

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

📌 3:14 The 3 life events that shaped Jeff’s radical portfolio vision

🌍 7:58 Why crypto’s value is clearer outside privileged financial systems

🚀 15:18 Why Jeff is so bullish on STRK and what it represents

🌐 20:56 What it means to be “living in a Bitcoin-only world”

💥 27:42 Why the U.S. is vulnerable and what’s the new American Dream

🤝 32:36 What Jeff would do if he were in Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s position 

🇯🇵 39:16 Why Jeff sees Japan as a critical piece of the global financial order

💵 48:36 Why stablecoins could be the U.S.’s most powerful financial weapon

🤔 54:50 Why Jeff is skeptical about a U.S. bitcoin reserve

🏛️ 59:14 Whether Bitcoin treasury companies are here to stay

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On Tuesday, a pseudonymous X account claimed that Pump.fun, Solana’s breakout memecoin launchpad, would raise $1 billion via an ICO at a $4 billion valuation. The potential deal? Multiple CEX listings, a 10% community airdrop, and maybe even a launch by the end of the month.

The community reaction? Not great.

In this episode, Syncracy Capital’s Ryan Watkins joins to break down the backlash, whether the raise makes sense, and what this kind of fundraising says about the current state of crypto.

He discusses:

Whether Pump needs $1 billion and what they’d even do with it

Why some people are furious, even as Pump prints revenue

If this is bullish or bearish for Solana

Why an airdrop was not pursued

Whether the $4 billion valuation makes sense

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

Ledn

FalconX

Human Rights Foundation

Ryan Watkins, Co-founder of Syncracy Capital

Unchained: Pump.fun Mulls $1B Token Sale

Nextfckingthing’s tweet breaking the news 

Ansem’s tweet on “pump fun raising $1B at $4B after Trumpcoin launch is like the second plane hitting the towers”

Ansem’s poll

Ryan’s tweet on “Pump anger” 

Solojay tweet on Pump’s top 25 wallets

Mosi’s tweet on why “Pump's ICO seems like an asymmetric bet (skewed to the downside)”

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

🤔 4:03 Why skepticism around Pump.fun’s $1B raise is valid

💰 7:06 What Pump would even do with $1 billion

📈 21:17 Whether a $4B valuation actually holds up

🔥 24:08 Will this ICO hurt SOL?

🎁 27:05 Why Pump chose not to do a big airdrop

📱 28:56 Whether Pump.fun can hold its ground as SocialFi competition heats up

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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 tackles a triple-header of crypto’s growing pains: the bizarre saga of James Wynn—a memecoin gambler whose billion-dollar positions on Hyperliquid ended in public ruin; the Ethereum Foundation’s surprise rebrand into “Protocol” and its sudden embrace of hierarchy; and a bold manifesto from Miles Jennings calling for the end of crypto foundations as we know them. Is radical transparency a feature or a trap? Is Ethereum finally prioritizing execution over vibes? And are foundations just offshore theater—or necessary guardians of decentralization? The gang debates all this and more in a conversation that asks: who’s really in control of crypto—and should they be?

Show highlights

🔹 James Wynn: From $1B to $16 – The infamous Hyperliquid trader wipes out, then begs for donations… and opens new positions days later

🔹 Liquidation Theater – Was Wynn’s downfall market manipulation, a psyop, or just crypto doing what it always does?

🔹 Hyperliquid Transparency Debate – CZ, Jump, and Hyperliquid clash over whether radical openness helps or harms

🔹 Stop-Hunting Season – Tarun explains why onchain liquidation is more deterministic—but not necessarily more malicious

🔹 Ethereum Foundation Rebrands – Meet “Protocol”: a new structure, a new strategy, and maybe… a new hierarchy

🔹 The End of Purge & Surge – Is Ethereum finally abandoning the meme roadmap and focusing on shipping?

🔹 Tim Beiko’s New Role – A surprising centralization of coordination—and why the ETH community seems to like it

🔹 DUCS vs. DUNA – The crew proposes a new Ethereum acronym—and debates Miles Jennings’ push to end the foundation model

🔹 Are Foundations Just Offshore Theater? – Haseeb argues it’s time to kill the Cayman entity and rethink DAO legal structures

🔹 The Legal Marketing Wars – Tarun and Tom debate whether crypto’s governance evolution is genuine—or just “intellectual shilling”

⭐️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 

The end of the foundation era in crypto by Miles Jenningshttps://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/end-foundation-era-crypto/

Announcing Protocol by Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Alex Stokes

https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/06/02/announcing-protocol

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:12 The Saga of James Wynn

06:20 Market Manipulation vs. Transparency

17:37 57, Tarun’s Favorite Number

20:12 EF's “Protocol”

33:45 DUCS! Decentralization, UX, Censorship Resistance, and Scaling

36:55 The End of the Foundation Era

45:04 The Role of Legal Structures in Crypto

52:49 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

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The Bitcoin Conference in Vegas is getting more political. Crypto treasury companies are exploding across the globe. And macro markets are flashing mixed signals, with geopolitics entering the chat.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, the panel dives into:

Key takeaways from Bitcoin 2025

The possible bubble forming around Bitcoin treasuries

How the SEC is fighting back against staking in ETFs

Whether Ethereum is finally catching up

How Ukraine just redefined trade risks

Why ETFs have seen so much inflows since the market bottom

How AI will impact growth and the job market

And … why James hates Las Vegas 😀

Thank you to our sponsor!

Bitwise

James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric

Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

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

WSJ: Bitcoin Goes All In on MAGA, Shedding Its Antigovernment Slant

Unchained: 

Pakistan Sets up Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Crypto Treasury Companies Are All the Rage. Could They Cause an Industry Collapse?

Decrypt: Another Bitcoin Buyer? Nasdaq-Listed Reitar Logtech Plans $1.5 Billion BTC Purchase

The Defiant: Trump Media Closes Roughly $2.4 Billion Financing to Establish Corporate Bitcoin Treasury

Bloomberg: SEC Flags Concerns on Crypto ETFs Offering Staking Rewards

The Guardian: Ukraine launches major drone attack on Russian bombers, security official says

Timestamps:

0:00 👋 Intro

2:02 🎰 - Why James hates Vegas, but was impressed with Bitcoin 2025

4:48 🐘 - Has bitcoin moved too far right politically?

10:02 📈📉 - If bitcoin treasuries are all the rage, why isn’t the price moving?

13:26 🌍 - One big reason why the treasury bubble differs from SPACs

18:26 📉 - Are these companies destined to implode?

22:55 🤔 - One big (but hidden) opportunity to profit from this market

34:23 🏦 - How some ETF issuers tried (and failed) to pull one over on the SEC

43:19 🤐 - Why James sees one quiet, but bullish, trend in ETF flows

47:48 🌎 - Why Noelle thinks that numbers don’t matter - it's all about geopolitics

58:10 🐂 - Ram sees a secretly bullish setup. Here’s how he says to play it

1:07:33 💻 - How AI is going to eat the world, and turn markets upside down

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Jeff Park thinks the most popular investing strategy of the last decades — the 60/40 portfolio — is dead.

Jeff has spent his early career inside the traditional system. But now, after two years in finance, he’s calling for a full rethink of the modern portfolio: from what counts as “safe” to how inflation actually works to why Bitcoin may be the real anchor asset in a world that’s spinning off its axis.

In this episode, the first in a two-part series, he and Laura dig into:

Why the 60/40 portfolio is quietly failing

What the rise of “resistance” assets says about trust in institutions

Why STRK and BTC are the distillation of Jeff’s radical portfolio

How traditional finance may be more correlated to crypto than you think

Why “time is liquid energy” and bitcoin is so valuable

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

Xapo Bank

Bitwise

Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise

The Radical Portfolio Theory by Jeff Park

Unchained: DeFi Leverage on Apollo’s $1.3 Billion Credit Fund

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

🧠 2:19 How entering the workforce in 2008 pushed Jeff to question everything, even the dollar

🏛️ 14:31 Jeff’s role as head of alpha strategies at Bitwise

📉 17:27 Why the classic 60/40 portfolio may be dead

🌍 34:10 How crypto fits into the new financial world

⚡ 40:58 Why “time is liquid energy” and bitcoin captures it best

📊 41:52 The core of Jeff’s radical portfolio theory

🛡️ 54:44 What goes into the “resistance” asset bucket

🎯 59:00 Why prediction markets could diversify your income

💎 1:09:52 Why Jeff is betting big on Strategy’s STRK and BTC

👑 1:14:31 The rise of crypto treasury companies and whether they pose systemic risk

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Public crypto treasury companies are in the news right now.

Just this week, Sharplink Gaming announced a $425 million raise to create an Ethereum treasury vehicle, backed by Consensys. Meanwhile, Trump Media said it will buy $2.5 billion worth of bitcoin. And in a headline grab, GameStop revealed a $500 million Bitcoin purchase. There’s even a newly launched XRP treasury company backed by Saudi royal capital.

But why are these vehicles suddenly the structure of choice for accessing crypto exposure? What kinds of assets are best suited for them? And are they safe or a ticking time bomb?

Pantera Capital’s Cosmo Jiang joins Unchained to unpack:

The structures and strategies behind these companies

Why Solana is appearing more than Ethereum (and what that says)

How XRP’s brand power could matter more than its adoption

The risks these vehicles pose to investors and to markets

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

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Guest

Cosmo Jiang, General Partner and Portfolio Manager for Liquid Strategies at Pantera Capital

Links

Previous coverage of Unchained on bitcoin treasury companies:

Why Twenty One Capital Is More About Volatility Than Bitcoin

Twenty One Aims to Buy as Much Bitcoin as Possible. Can It Succeed?

Unchained: 

Trump Media Confirms $2.5B Capital Raise to Buy Bitcoin

Consensys Leads $425M Raise for SharpLink Gaming’s ETH Treasury Plans

The Block: GameStop buys 4,710 bitcoin for corporate treasury: filing

CoinDesk: VivoPower Raises $121M to Launch XRP Treasury Strategy With Saudi Royal Backing

Bloomberg: 

Cantor’s $2 Billion Bitcoin-Backed Lending Arm Makes First Deals

The Stock Market Loves Bitcoin

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

📈 1:57 Why crypto treasury companies are suddenly everywhere

🏗️ 5:03 How these vehicles are structured to raise and deploy capital

🎲 8:36 Which strategies carry more risk for investors

🔍 9:57 Pure-play crypto vs. operational businesses: what works better

💰 12:40 Why these companies often trade at a premium to their crypto

🔥 16:56 Why there’s more buzz around SOL than ETH in these structures

📣 19:44 How XRP treasury plays are unique … but tied to marketing, not tech

🙋‍♂️ 21:31 Why some investors prefer these stocks over holding actual tokens

⚠️ 24:12 Could these companies pose systemic risks to crypto markets?

📊 27:58 The key metrics to watch when valuing crypto treasury companies

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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 gang reunites to confront a troubling pattern: we’re making the same mistakes all over again. From the $223 million Sui hack and validator-led censorship to Coinbase’s insider data breach and the Trump token dinner spectacle, this week feels like a remix of the industry’s most painful lessons. The crew reflects on how decentralization is being quietly redefined, why newer chains ignore crypto’s origin story, and what it means when memecoins are the new access pass to political influence. Also: James Wynn’s billion-dollar trades, fading cypherpunk values, and a creeping sense that the crypto future looks a lot like its past.

Show highlights

🔹 Sui’s Ethereum Classic Moment – Why freezing a hacker’s funds reopened an old decentralization wound

🔹 The Same Mistake Again – Tarun and Robert reflect on the crypto industry’s short memory and long consequences

🔹 Coinbase’s KYC Breach – How bribed support agents exposed a broken identity system

🔹 The Trump Token Dinner – Steak, disappointment, and the illusion of access in crypto’s weirdest political stunt

🔹 The Death of Cypherpunk Values – Haseeb asks: are decentralization and censorship-resistance just legacy slogans now?

🔹 Validator Power Creep – The panel debates whether emerging L1s are becoming de facto states

🔹 James Wynn’s Trading Circus – A $1.25B long, 40x leverage, and the thin line between marketing and madness

🔹 Hyperliquid Stress Test – Robert wonders: is Wynn just a trader, or a protocol’s canary in the coal mine?

🔹 The KYC Iceberg – Why crypto keeps leaking private data—and why nobody’s fixing it

🔹 Chopping Boomers Mode – When no one gets your Ethereum Classic jokes, maybe the revolution’s over

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 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro 

01:15 Cetus x Sui Hack

07:56 Ethereum Classic & Crypto History

21:37 Trump Token Dinner Controversy

29:56 Coinbase Ransom Hack

33:49 KYC Data Vulnerabilities

43:02 James Wynn's High-Stakes Trading

Disclosures

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A debate has been heating up on crypto Twitter about Real Economic Value (REV) — a metric meant to measure the value blockchains accrue from user activity. REV includes transaction fees and MEV tips, but excludes issuance — the inflationary rewards paid to validators. Some say it’s the clearest window into genuine usage. Others argue it’s a flawed and misleading proxy.

So we brought the argument to Unchained. Tom Dunleavy, Head of Venture at Varys Capital, says fees are headed to zero, and blockchains shouldn’t be valued like companies. Meanwhile, Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero, believes REV offers a real lens on activity, maturity, and demand.

The conversation covers:

Whether REV is a meaningful metric (and how to game it)

Whether L2 tokens are fundamentally broken

What happens to security when fees (and MEV) go to zero

If high REV signals product-market fit or just economic noise

How to value blockchains, if not with REV

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:

Tom Dunleavy, Head of Venture at Varys Capital

Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

📊 2:50 What REV actually measures and why it’s sparking so much debate

💸 4:33 Why fees that don’t go to the protocol are included in this metric

🪙 14:43 Whether L2 tokens are fundamentally worthless

🧮 15:53 How to factor Ethereum L2s into the REV equation

📉 18:15 Why Tom thinks all fees are going to zero and what that means for value accrual

📈 34:06 Austin defends REV and explains why it reflects real user demand

⚠️ 37:07 MEV debate: is it a feature or a flaw?

🔀 42:59 Why Solana might not follow Ethereum’s REV path

🛡️ 44:18 Who secures the network when MEV goes to zero

🤔 53:46 Whether high REV means success

🚫 59:46 Why Austin calls out Jesse Pollak’s “no sandwiching” claim on Base

🌄 1:02:30 Whether Solana’s Alpenglow proposal could reshape MEV

🔄 1:03:43 How REV might rise even as MEV declines

👑 1:07:11 Why Bitcoin lives in its own reality when it comes to metrics

🎮 1:09:57 How protocols can game the REV metric

📐 1:15:19 What other metrics matter when valuing blockchains

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Yield-bearing stablecoins have had decent growth, now topping $6 billion in supply and paying out nearly $600 million to users, according to data from Stablewatch. But just as these products go mainstream, the U.S. Senate is moving forward with a stablecoin bill that could ban them outright in America.

In this episode, NYU professor and Zero Knowledge Consulting founder Austin Campbell joins Laura to break down:

Why yield-bearing stablecoins are under fire in Washington

Why Dems are pushing for the ban and who stands to benefit

How this bill could give foreign issuers an edge over U.S. ones

Whether yield-bearing stablecoins are securities under U.S. law

And what the future holds for projects like Ethena, Sky, and others

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

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting

Unchained: 

How the Senate Stablecoin Bill Enriches Corporations at the Expense of Consumers

Stablecoin Bill Passes Key Hurdle: Dems Join GOP to Deliver a Crypto Win

Tether in the Clear? Yes, Under This New Republican-Led Senate Stablecoin Bill

Stablecoin Bill Stalls in Senate as GOP Cries Foul Over Dem Resistance

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

💣 1:29 Why the new stablecoin bill takes direct aim at yield-bearing stablecoins

🗳️ 3:36 How Democrats are driving the push for a ban and what their motivations might be

🏦 6:28 Why calling stablecoins “banks” leads to major policy confusion

🌍 13:49 How the bill could hand an advantage to offshore stablecoin issuers

🎒 19:31 Whether Tether is warning about risk or just protecting its own interests

⚖️ 21:09 Are yield-bearing stablecoins actually securities under U.S. law?

💰 23:40 What real benefits yield-bearing stablecoins offer to users

🚫 29:54 Why Austin opposes the proposed 10% interest cap

📚 32:04 Why Ethena would likely be regulated under market structure rules instead

📰 35:04 Weekly News Recap

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U.S. credit got downgraded. Fed policy expectations are flipping. And Coinbase hit the S&P 500 (while also being extorted).

But what does all of this mean for crypto?

On this week’s Bits + Bips, James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, Ram Ahluwalia, and Noelle Acheson break down:

Why the Moody’s downgrade doesn’t mean much for markets

Whether Fed rate cuts are now further off than expected

Why Alex says Coinbase is a “horrible product” despite S&P inclusion

How stablecoins tie into U.S. geopolitical strategy

Whether Circle should sell to Coinbase

And what the altcoin ETF delay really tells us

Plus: unemployment, yield curve control, the “Consensus vibes,” and Ram’s wild anecdote about workers gaming unemployment benefits.

Bitwise

James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard

Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

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

Macro

Reuters: Moody's downgrade intensifies investor worry about US fiscal path

USNews: Trump Tells Walmart to 'Eat the Tariffs' Instead of Raising Prices

Coinbase

Unchained: How the Attack on Coinbase Shows the Dangers of Centralized Exchanges

Fortune: Circle pursues IPO—but talks with Coinbase and Ripple could mean a sale, sources say

CNBC: Coinbase joining S&P 500, replacing Discover Financial

Stablecoin bill

Unchained: Stablecoin Bill Passes Key Hurdle: Dems Join GOP to Deliver a Crypto Win

Timestamps:

👋 0:00 Intro

💳 2:18 A big reason why the U.S. credit downgrade matters for investors

📉 7:49 Contrarian take: why souring U.S. debt could also hurt crypto

🛡️ 15:30 Do tariffs work against the U.S. military and national security? 

🔁 20:14 Why the crew flipped on Fed rate cut expectations

📊 28:35 Is the U.S. about to introduce yield curve control?

🧾 35:04 Are the Mag7 stocks the new safe havens in a recession?

📈 38:54 What if the “Goldilocks” scenario is priced in, and it's wrong?

💼 44:26 Why hedge funds are secretly in a vulnerable position

🫱 49:15 What the “vibes” at Consensus 2025 revealed

💵🇨🇳 50:44 A secret threat that the stablecoin bill poses to China?

📈 57:43 What Coinbase’s S&P 500 inclusion means and why Robinhood is its biggest threat

🌀 1:07:17 Should Coinbase acquire Circle? Here’s what the panel thinks

⏳ 1:13:38 Why altcoin ETF approvals are delayed and wen staking in ETFs?

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