Unchained Laura Shin

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and special guest Avichal Garg from Electric Capital dissect the latest trends in the crypto world. This episode dives deep into the buzz around EigenLayer’s airdrop: What sparked the controversy and how did EigenLayer respond to community backlash? We then explore LayerZero’s unique self-reporting strategy to combat Sybil farmers and analyze Friend.Tech’s bold, no-VC token launch. The discussion heats up with a look at ConsenSys’ proactive lawsuit against the SEC, setting the stage for a showdown over regulatory clarity. We also delve into Robinhood’s decision to challenge the SEC’s Wells Notice amidst soaring earnings, and tackle the ongoing debate between VC-backed tokens and memecoins: Which is captivating the market? Finally, we predict the future of SocialFi and its potential to revolutionize the crypto landscape. Join us for an insightful exploration of these pivotal topics shaping the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Show highlights
🔹 Breaking down the EigenLayer airdrop controversy and its impact on the community.
🔹 Exploring LayerZero's self-reporting mechanism to combat Sybil attacks.
🔹 Assessing Fantasy Top's growth and its significance in the NFT trading landscape.
🔹 Predicting the trajectory of SocialFi and its potential to reshape the crypto landscape.
🔹 Detailing Consensys’ proactive lawsuit against the SEC over regulatory clarity.
🔹 Robinhood's SEC Challenge and analyzing Robinhood's decision to fight the SEC’s Wells Notice amid record earnings.
🔹 VC Coins vs. Memecoins: Exploring the ongoing debate about the dominance and appeal of VC-backed tokens versus memecoins.
🔹 The Future of SocialFi: Predicting the trajectory of SocialFi and its potential to reshape the crypto landscape.


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

Guest
⭐️ Avichal Garg, Co-Founder and General Partner at Electric Capital.

Disclosures
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Thomas Braziel, managing partner at 117 Partners, dives into the draft FTX bankruptcy plan, which was praised for paying out at more than 100% in dollar terms, but has a number of intricacies that are drawing criticisms from creditors—including a group that is urging creditors to vote not. 
The episode delves into the nuances of the proposed payout, explaining how the estate was able to pay back more than 100% than the dollar value of the claims, why some creditors are being pitted against each other, and why it might get approved even “over the kicking and screaming” of some creditors. 
Braziel gives his insights into the the rapid formation of this plan, the controversial role of Sullivan and Cromwell, and the logistical challenges posed by what may end up being paper check payouts. 

Show highlights:

Why the plan that was filed this week is such big news

How it was never even possible for creditors to be made whole in crypto asset terms

How the majority of depositors actually had stablecoins on the FTX platform

Why there are “inter-creditor” disputes

What a "cramdown" is and why it's significant in this case

Criticisms of the plan, and why larger investors, especially with crypto holdings, are having their gains socialized

Whether the FTX estate made mistakes by selling some of its positions before they 10x’ed

Why FTX didn't reboot its platform 

What conflicts of interest might arise from law firm Sullivan and Cromwell

The tax implications for creditors who are non-US taxpayers

How the claims are going to be distributed

Whether the creditors will favor the proposal and the next steps 

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Guest


Thomas Braziel, Managing Partner at 117 Partners


Previous appearances on Unchained:

Why FTX Might Try to Claw Back Funds From Retail Customers

Will FTX Reboot? Here’s John Ray’s Internal Deadline for Making a Decision

Will FTX Customers Ever Recover Their Assets? Two Insolvency Experts Weigh In

Will Celsius Survive the Bankruptcy Process?

How Crypto Bankruptcy Claims Buyers Will Profit From the Collapse of FTX

Links

Previous coverage on Unchained of the FTX bankruptcy:

Jesse Powell and Kevin Zhou on How FTX and Alameda Lost $10 Billion

Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack FTX?

The Chopping Block: Why Lenders Didn’t Liquidate Alameda When It Was Underwater 

Erik Voorhees and Cobie on Why FTX Loaned Out Customers’ Assets

The Chopping Block: FTX: The Biggest Collapse in the History of Crypto?


Creditors plan:

Unchained: 98% of FTX Creditors to Receive 118% Claims Payout


Thomas’ summary of the plan


Dollarization: 
Unchained: Is it Fair That Crypto Bankruptcies Are Denominated in Dollars? Here’s a Solution to Dollarization

Criticism of the plan:

Nicholas Hall’s thread 

Sunil Kavuri’s opinion on X

Zach Guzman on the sale of Anthropic


Taxes:

Thomas’ thread on the taxes for creditors


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In this first episode of Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, and Joe McCann explain why the macroeconomics could point to the markets actually being in a crypto supercycle.
They discuss the recent Federal Reserve meeting and its impact on the markets, as well as the irony that leveraged Ethereum futures ETFs will likely be approved while spot Ethereum ETFs will likely not. James also reveals his pet theory on where the SEC is going with its investigation into ETH. They cover why the bottoming of emerging market currencies in Asia is good for Bitcoin, dismiss the recent Wells notice issued to Robinhood, and speculate that Tether may be the most profitable company per employee in the world. 
Agreeing that the current market cycle is different, Seyffart and McCann suggest that there is still a long way to go, and assert that the market may be underweighting the possibility that crypto goes to a $10 trillion market cap in the next few years. 
Show highlights:

The Fed's recent decisions and how they lower the chances of more rate hikes

The importance of global liquidity in the performance of risk assets like Bitcoin and crypto assets

Why a bottoming in the value of the yen, yuan and other emerging markets currencies is good for Bitcoin and crypto, according to Joe

The irony that leveraged Ethereum futures ETFs are likely to be approved but spot ETFs are not

James’s pet theory about how the SEC will rule on whether ETH is a security 

Whether trading in Hong Kong's crypto ETFs shows how little interest there would be in an ETH ETF compared to spot BTC ETFs

Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF

Whether people are underweight on a “crazy bonkers rise” in crypto

Why Robinhood's Wells Notice is a "minor story," according to Alex

Whether Tether is the most profitable business per employee in the world 

Why James believes that it's not a good idea for the US Congress to be against stablecoins

CZ's sentence and whether it's a "good ending for the story"

Hosts:


James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence


Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard


Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric


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In this episode of Unchained, memecoin traders Ansem and Kelxyz unpack everything about memecoins, discussing what makes them valuable and how they evaluate their investment potential. They also address the criticisms and controversies surrounding them, including racism and sexism. (They have a surprising reaction to the latter.) Ansem and Kel argue that memecoins have substance and value, largely due to their popularity and the attention they receive on the internet. 
They also discuss the importance of distribution and virality in the success of a memecoin, how the chain any coin is on affects its value, and give their opinions on Runes vs. BRC-20s vs. Solana and Ethereum. 
Plus, they talk about their wildest memecoin stories (think: Dogwifhat) and provide their insights on what they think memecoins will become in the future.
Show highlights:

Ansem’s and Kel’s investment theses around memecoins 

How Ansem and Kel got into trading memecoins and how they evaluate their potential

Why the coin distribution matters and whether tokenomics is important with memecoins

How to discern between memecoins with genuine vs. fake interest 

How memecoins differ across blockchains such as Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin

Ansem and Kel’s responses to the criticisms of memecoins

Whether and how memecoins could become safer for users 

Kel and Ansem’s surprising reaction to racist and sexist memecoins 

Ansem's story on WIF and how a female friend of his fueled its popularity 

Whether Bitcoin is “the original memecoin" and how they define memecoin

The future of memecoins and how they believe all memes will become coins

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Guests:

Ansem

Kelxyz

Links
Culture:


What else could memecoins be? by Vitalik Buterin


How bad policy favors memes over matter by Chris Dixon 

Cointelegraph: Meme coins: Betrayal of crypto’s ideals… or its true purpose?



CoinDesk: The Memecoin Grift and How It Threatens Ethereum Culture 


Investment:

CoinGecko: Top Crypto Narratives Gained 39% to 1313% in Q1 2024 

Messari: Navigating Memecoin Mania


Kelxyz investment strategy


Decrypt: Crypto Influencer Ansem Explains His Meme Coin Thesis and Why He’s Bullish on Bitcoin Runes 

Unchained: What Is Dogwifhat (WIF) and Why Is It Up so Much? 

Safer memecoins

Unchained: Half of Solana Presale Tokens Rolled Out Between November and February Were Malicious: Blockaid Study


Cointelegraph: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities


Andre Conje’s proposal


Racist memecoins

Unchained: Offensive Memecoins Proliferate on Solana, Sparking Debate


Crypto.news: Ethereum's Buterin slams Solana's racist meme coins, urges better projects



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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
EigenLayer has been in the news this week after it announced its ‘stakedrop,’ where it will distribute EIGEN tokens to early users of the restaking platform. 
Sreeram Kannan, founder and CEO of EigenLayer, and Robert Drost, CEO and executive director of the Eigen Foundation, discuss the launch of the token, a “universal intersubjective work token” and how it allows for slashing, or penalizing, for externally observable faults, such as data unavailability. The Eigen Foundation, a non-profit entity based in the Cayman Islands, was also recently established to grow the protocol and assist in creating a decentralized community. 
They also address criticisms of the token's launch, including geoblocking and the initial non-transferability of stakedrops for the community and explain why they decided to allocate an additional 100 EIGEN tokens for all participants in the stakedrop. Plus, they reveal a target date by when a decision about the token unlock date should be made.

Show highlights:

The buzz around the universal intersubjective work token and what it was created for

What constitutes the digital commons and its two primary characteristics

How the EIGEN token is designed to prevent the necessity of forking an entire blockchain

Whether dapps should evolve into AVSes and EigenLayer’s complementary role to Ethereum, not replacing it

Why the Eigen Foundation was established and how it differs from Eigen Labs

Robert's response to the criticism regarding the exclusion of certain countries

Why EIGEN will be distributed linearly, despite it potentially favoring whales

EigenLayer's announcement of an updated stakedrop, after listening to community feedback  

The critique of the vesting schedule and Robert's explanation of when the lock period actually starts

Why Sreeram believes that transfer restrictions are beneficial and empowering for users

What the next steps are for EigenLayer


Thank you to our sponsors!

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Polkadot

VaultCraft

Guests


Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer

Previous appearance on Unchained: 

Why EigenLayer May Be the Most Innovative New Ecosystem Since Ethereum

Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets?


Robert Drost, CEO and executive director of the Eigen Foundation

Links
Airdrop:

Introducing the Eigen Foundation, EIGEN token and Season 1 Stakedrop

Robert Drost’s thread on the Eigen Foundation

Viktor Bunin’s thread on the token 

Unchained: 

Eigen Foundation to Allocate an Additional $1,000 in EIGEN Tokens to Over 280,000 Users

Should You Sell ETH Before the Just-Announced EigenLayer Airdrop?

Reaction

CoinDesk: Why Eigenlayer’s Airdrop Is Controversial


Unchained: 5 Reasons E-Beggars Are Not Happy With EigenLayer’s Airdrop



Learn more: 

Unchained:

What Is EigenLayer? A Guide to the Decentralized ETH Restaking Protocol

What Is Ethereum Restaking? A Beginner’s Guide


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In this episode, we dive deep into the controversy surrounding the EigenLayer airdrop, discussing the community’s backlash and its broader implications for token distributions in crypto. We also explore the ongoing debate over the efficacy and future of cryptocurrency points programs. The episode also delves into Martin Shkreli’s impactful campaign against Io.Net, highlighting how his public criticisms shed light on project valuations and investor trust. Additionally, we discuss CZ’s recent four-month sentencing, reflecting on the crypto community’s supportive response and considering the Department of Justice's approach to crypto leadership. Tune in to gain expert perspectives on the complex interplay between market movements, regulatory actions, and community reactions in the evolving world of crypto!
Show Highlights
🔹 EigenLayer Airdrop Controversy: Delve into the community's disappointment over the EigenLayer airdrop and explore its implications for future token distributions.
🔹 Debate on Crypto Points Programs: Analyze the effectiveness and future prospects of cryptocurrency points programs.
🔹 Impact of VCs on Market Dynamics: Consider the role of venture capitalists and how investor sentiment is shaped by their actions in the market.
🔹 Martin Shkreli's Campaign Against Io.Net: Discuss how Martin Shkreli significantly impacted Io.Net by publicly criticizing the project's overvaluation.
🔹 CZ's Four-Month Sentencing: Reflect on the crypto community's support for CZ following his four-month sentencing.
🔹 DOJ Sentencing and Prospects for Crypto Leaders: Examine the Department of Justice's approach to sentencing and what it means for future leadership in the cryptocurrency sector.

Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 
⭐️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Giga-Brain & Grand Poobah at Gauntlet

Disclosures
Links
AI x Web3: Pioneering Decentralized Intelligence - TOKEN2049 Dubai 2024
https://youtu.be/zt_uEHcFiA4 
EigenLayer Whitepapter https://github.com/Layr-Labs/whitepaper/blob/master/EIGEN_Token_Whitepaper.pdf 
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