Unchained

Laura Shin

Crypto assets and blockchain technology are about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from financial services to identity to the Internet of Things. In this podcast, host Laura Shin, an independent journalist covering all things crypto, talks with industry pioneers about how crypto assets and blockchains will change the way we earn, spend and invest our money. Tune in to find out how Web 3.0, the decentralized web, will revolutionize our world. Disclosure: I'm a nocoiner.

  1. HÁ 23 MIN.

    Aptos Is Betting Big on Transparency After Crypto’s Black Friday, Says CEO

    Last Friday, billions evaporated in a liquidation cascade—and nobody knows exactly what happened because centralized exchanges won't share the data. In this sponsored episode recorded at Aptos' NYC event, Aptos CEO Avery Ching says if their Decibel perpetual exchange had been live, traders would have seen every order, every spread change, every liquidation in real-time onchain. But while critics argue existing perp DEXs like Hyperliquid are already decentralized, Ching says most still match orders off-chain in black boxes. Avery explains why Decibel (launching Q1 2026) will be different, how 500 million Indian users are coming to crypto through Reliance Jio's Jiocoin, and why Aptos partnered with World Liberty Financial despite VCs calling it "garbage in your living room." Guest: Avery Ching, CEO & Co-Founder, Aptos Links:  The Composable Global Exchange Engine, by Avery Ching, CEO Aptos Aptos Post: The fully onchain trading engine built by Decibel Foundation Previous coverage of Unchained on Black Friday: Crypto’s Black Friday Was Its Largest Liquidation Ever. What the Hell Happened? Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🧭 0:33 How Aptos evolved from Meta’s Libra/Diem project 💡 2:27 Aptos’ vision for global trading engine and everyday crypto use 💾 10:11 What Shelby is and how it supports AI, creators, and enterprise use. 🎥 12:22 Aptos’ new media partnership with NBCUniversal ⚡ 14:46 Avery’s vision for a future when blockchains are widely used  🧩 16:10 What Decibel is and how it aims to bring perps fully onchain 🔎 17:58 What would have changed if Friday’s crash was onchain 💵 24:12 Why Aptos partnered with World Liberty Financial on USD1 🇮🇳  28:46 How the Reliance Jio deal expands Aptos’ reach in India 🌏 30:46 How Aptos is building enterprise adoption across Asia 🏦 32:59 Why Aave launched its first non-EVM deployment on Aptos 🛡️ 36:42 What Aptos learned from recent market turmoil 🔚 42:18 Closing thoughts and Avery’s vision for onchain transparency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    43min
  2. HÁ 17 H

    Ethereum's Layer 1 Lacks a Perp Dex. Synthetix Intends to Change That

    Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix and Infinex, is returning to Ethereum Layer 1 with a bold new experiment: a perpetuals DEX built directly on mainnet. In this episode, he joins Laura to explain why Synthetix is taking this contrarian step, how its hybrid “optimistic order book” can run efficiently on Ethereum’s slower block times, and why he believes the future of trading will move fully on-chain. Warwick also discusses the tradeoffs behind using USDT, what it will take to match centralized exchange performance, and his “super app” vision for how DeFi platforms could finally outcompete CEXs. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Binance⁠! Guest: Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix Links: The Superapp Thesis by Kain Warwick Blockwork’s Dan Smith on Spreads for ETH-USD Timestamps: 🔥 0:00 Introduction and ads: Binance ⚙️ 0:56 Why Synthetix is launching a perps DEX directly on Ethereum mainnet ⏳ 5:18 How a perpetuals exchange can even work on slow Ethereum block times 🔍 10:34 How transparency will differ from other onchain trading venues 🏗️ 13:53 Why Kain believes being on Ethereum mainnet still matters 🧱 17:00 The challenges of operating on L1—margin posting, gas costs, and more ⚔️ 21:43 How Synthetix plans to compete in an overcrowded perps DEX landscape 💣 24:33 How liquidations on an Ethereum perp DEX would play out during a Black Friday-like crash 🕵️‍♂️ 29:32 How traders could maintain privacy while staying fully decentralized 🌐 31:57 Why a perps DEX on mainnet could reshape Ethereum DeFi 💵 34:25 Why Synthetix is using USDT—despite its centralization risks 🏦 37:28 Which premium assets will serve as collateral 📱 39:36 Inside Kain’s “super app” vision for DeFi’s next evolution 🏁 50:31 Why Kain is fired up about Synthetix’s upcoming trading competition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    56min
  3. HÁ 1 DIA

    Binance Listing Fee Fight: What's a Fair Price to List on the Top Crypto Exchange?

    When CJ Hetherington revealed the token listing terms Binance allegedly offered his startup, the crypto world exploded. In this episode, CJ, founder of prediction market app Limitless, and his investor Nick Tomaino of 1confirmation join Laura to discuss why he went public, how Binance responded, and what the incident reveals about the power dynamics between exchanges and builders. The conversation tackles how retail gets dumped on, why transparency is the next frontier for crypto, and why both guests agree that the “revolution won’t be centralized.” Guests: CJ Hetherington, CEO/CO-Founder at Limitless Labs Nick Tomaino, Founder and General Partner at 1confirmation Links: CJ’s tweet  Unchained:  Coinbase Adds Rival Binance’s BNB to Listing Roadmap Binance Claims It Does Not Profit From Token Listings Timestamps: 🔥 0:00 Introduction 🗣️ 2:24 Why CJ decided to reveal Binance’s alleged listing terms 🏗️ 8:44 Why he built Limitless on Base 🤝 9:11 Whether Base coordinated with CJ before he went public 💥 13:04 How the crypto world reacted to CJ’s viral tweet 🧨 15:00 Whether Binance exploits projects and founders 💸 18:06 How short-term founders dump on retail investors, per CJ 📢 23:18 Binance’s response—and why they called CJ’s claims false 🔍 25:38 Why CJ and Nick say Binance needs far more transparency ⚠️ 30:42 Whether CJ fears retaliation for calling out the world’s biggest exchange 🤔 33:48 Why he doesn’t buy Binance’s claim that its policies “protect users” 💫 39:36 Why Nick is urging crypto founders and users to “believe in something” 🚀 42:03 CJ’s plan to build an “army of token holders” and make Limitless succeed 🪙 48:25 Inside Limitless’s community token sale 📈 50:34 What Nick learned from Polymarket’s rise as an early investor 👀 54:10 Coinbase adding BNB to its listing roadmap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h5min
  4. HÁ 3 DIAS

    The Chopping Block: Inside the $19B+ Perp Crash, ADL Explained, Binance’s USDe/Staked-Token Depeg, and the Hyperliquid Whale Debate

    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, Doug Colkitt, Founder Ambient Finance & Founding Contributor at Fogo, joins us as one of the wildest weekends in crypto history drags us back on air: a record $19B+ in liquidations, gas spiking toward $400, exchange APIs wobbling, and ADL ripping through perps as hedges vanished. We unpack what ADL actually does, why delta-neutral farmers got nuked, and how Binance’s USDe and staked ETH/SOL pegs snapped amid index design and mint/redeem gaps—followed by refunds. We get into HLP vs. LLP (vaults vs. winning traders), the Hyperliquid “whale” short ahead of the tariff tweet, cross-margin reflexivity that torched alts, and why market makers wore outsized pain. Then we zoom out to infra: sequencers, force-inclusion in practice, and the case for on-chain clearing plus real insurance funds before the next Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.   Show highlights 🔹 Record wipeout — $19B+ liquidations, 1.6M traders rekt, gas spiking to ~$400 while major exchanges wobbled. 🔹 ADL, decoded — What happens when perps run out of counterparties; socialized losses, P&L/leverage ranking, and why hedges vanished. 🔹 Delta-neutral nuked — Cross-venue long/short farmers turned naked as ADL picked off one leg first. 🔹 Binance peg breaks — USDe to ~$0.68 on Binance, staked ETH/SOL snapped; refunds >$250M after index/oracle and mint-redeem gaps. 🔹 Flows vs. “attack” — Earn users rushing to USDT + copy-trade momentum likely amplified the depeg more than cunning index games. 🔹 DeFi vs. CeFi — Perp DEX performance broadly comparable; transparency gaps in ADL policies and liquidation mechanics laid bare. 🔹 Vaults vs. traders — HLP vs. LLP outcomes show who platforms chose to protect in tail events—and the retention risks of clipping winners. 🔹 OI collapse — Hyperliquid open interest ~15B → ~6B; cross-margin reflexivity helped nuke alts far worse than BTC. 🔹 Why it felt one-sided — Market-maker/API failures and risk misallocation made typically “safe” actors eat outsized losses. 🔹 The whale short — A massive Hyperliquid short pre-tariff tweet sparks insider-vs-coincidence debate. 🔹 Infra faceplants — Sequencers down, force-inclusion in theory only, docs offline—while base L1s largely kept ticking. 🔹 What to fix — On-chain clearing, real insurance funds, sane ADL ranking, robust mint/redeem, and better index/oracle design before the next shock. 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    Guest ⭐️ Doug Colkitt, Founder Ambient Finance & Founding Contributor at Fogo    ⁠⁠Disclosures⁠⁠  Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:11 $19B+ Liquidated 04:35 Personal Experiences & Reactions 08:30 Understanding Auto De-leveraging (ADL) 14:37 Binance & USDe Incident 23:19 DeFi vs CeFi Performance 26:05 Zero-Sum & Greedy Algorithms 34:26 Vaults & Trader Protection 39:43 Market Reactions & Trader Sentiments 44:33 Infrastructure Failures & OI Collapse 46:56 Insider Trading Allegations & Market Manipulation 52:14 Future of Perpetual DEXs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    58min
  5. HÁ 4 DIAS

    Bits + Bips: Crypto Had Its Reset. Will It Go to New Highs Now?

    Crypto just went through its biggest crash. In the wake of “Black Friday,” when $19 billion in positions were wiped out in hours, Bits + Bips hosts Steve Ehrlich and Ram Ahluwalia are joined by Carlos Guzman of GSR and YQ of AltLayer to dissect what really happened. Was it a coordinated attack exploiting Binance’s oracles? A failure of market structure? Or simply too much leverage waiting for a trigger? Or some combination of the three? The group breaks down how liquidity vanished, why hedges failed, how this flash crash echoed the worst moments of traditional markets, and why the industry urgently needs reform before it happens again. Sponsors: Aptos Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guests: Carlos Guzman, Research Analyst at GSR  YQ, Co-founder of AltLayer Timestamps: 🔥 0:00  Introduction and ads ⚡ 3:22  First reactions to crypto’s biggest crash ever 💥 5:55  The USDe depeg on Binance. Plus: coordinated attack or market failure? 🧠 12:57  Why Ram calls it a potential “zero-day hack” 📉 15:38  Are perpetuals the riskiest instruments in crypto? 💫 18:38  Huge spreads, no liquidity: where were the market makers? 🏦 22:59  The eerie parallels to a flash crash in U.S. equities 15 years ago 💀 25:01  How both longs and shorts got wrecked, and why perps fail as hedging tools 🔧 29:00  What crypto needs to fix its liquidity problem 🏛️ 33:34  How TradFi solved this years ago, and what crypto can learn ⚖️ 36:25  How systemic leverage makes every crash worse 📜 42:16  Why this proves crypto urgently needs a market structure bill 🚀 47:13  Why Ram says Hyperliquid came out as the winner 🔮 50:14  Outlook for prices and volatility in the coming days 🛡️ 1:00:04  Will insurance funds rise after this? ⏳ 1:02:18  Why YQ says it’ll take a long time to recover from the damage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h6min
  6. HÁ 5 DIAS

    Crypto's Black Friday Was Its Largest Liquidation Ever. What the Hell Happened?

    When Trump tweeted about 100% tariffs on China, crypto collapsed — $19 billion in liquidations in just hours.  Altcoins plunged 95%, exchanges froze, and stablecoins depegged. In this special episode, Diogenes Casares, founder of Klyra Protocol, joins Laura to break down the chain reaction: what really caused the crash, whether insiders knew it was coming, and how infrastructure failures and extreme leverage turned a policy tweet into crypto’s Black Friday. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Aptos⁠! Guest: Diogenes Casares, founder of Klyra Protocol and advisor at Patagon Management Links: Diogenes’s article on X: "Black Friday: What Happened?" Jordi Alexander on "What happened? Stani Kulechov on Aave’s performance Binance co-founder’s statement  Timestamps: 💥 0:00 Introduction ⏱️ 1:00 What markets looked like in the hours before the crash 🕵️‍♂️ 3:25 Whether traders on Hyperliquid knew the tariff tweet was coming 📉 5:44 Why altcoins plunged up to 95% and how market makers amplified the move ⚙️ 7:56 How auto-deleveraging kicked in—and why it mattered 💣 13:07 How DATs created hidden leverage that made the system fragile 🏦 14:54 How perps DEXes and CEXes responded differently to the meltdown 🧩 18:09 Was it a coordinated attack—or just market mania? 🤯 25:56 What happened to smaller market makers when liquidity vanished 💥 29:44 How the USDe depeg on Binance triggered cascading liquidations 📊 32:16 Why Ethena “managed it well” and why exchanges don’t ADL their positions ⚠️ 34:04 What caused the USDe “depeg” 🔧 35:22 How infrastructure failures made price feeds unreliable 🚨 37:28 What perps exchanges need to change going forward ⏳ 43:56 Why Diogenes thinks this kind of crash will happen again—and worse 📜 50:20 The “extraordinary rights” LPs hold on exchanges 💱 49:02 How traders should decide where to trade after this 👀 52:19 A rumor about how much Jump lost Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    56min
  7. 11 DE OUT.

    The Chopping Block: Perps, Privacy & Prediction: Aster vs. Hyperliquid, Zcash Pops, Polymarket Soars, Galaxy One Debut

    Polymarket scales with Wall Street’s blessing, Kalshi fires up KOLs, and BNB chain melts down as fast as it ran. We dissect Aster’s data drama, the new privacy wave lifting Zcash, and Galaxy One’s glossy yields—what’s smart strategy vs. old mistakes in new clothes? 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 unpack Polymarket’s jaw-dropper: a $2B raise at a $9B valuation led by ICE (parent of the NYSE), the token tease, and whether prediction markets will eat sportsbooks. We get into the KOL wars (Kalshi vs. Polymarket), the line between paid shilling and product marketing, and what “parlays” look like on prediction platforms. Then: Aster vs. Hyperliquid and DeFiLlama’s delist sparks transparency questions, while BNB Chain’s 72-hour meme-coin supercycle goes boom→bust. Privacy takes center stage as Zcash rips and the “privacy meta” returns. We close with Galaxy One’s 8% yield pitch — BlockFi déjà vu or smarter risk management in a post-CeFi world? Show highlights 🔹 Polymarket’s $2B at $9B — led by ICE (NYSE parent): why a TradFi giant is backing prediction markets and what integrations could follow. 🔹 Token tease — the crew debates what a Polymarket token could represent amid a CFTC path and U.S. re-entry. 🔹 KOL Wars: Kalshi vs. Polymarket — disclosed influencer marketing vs. “paid shilling,” and where the ethical line actually sits. 🔹 Product vs. Asset promos — why “use this platform” ≠ “buy this ticker,” and the gray zone of shilling specific markets or sides. 🔹 Do prediction markets influence reality? When odds can sway decisions (Fed, elections), and why markets may self-correct before hitting “99%.” 🔹 Sportsbooks in the crosshairs — parlays on prediction markets, Robinhood funnels, and why DraftKings/FanDuel should care. 🔹 Aster vs. Hyperliquid — incentives, wash-trading risk, and DeFiLlama’s delist after suspicious Binance-correlated volumes. 🔹 BNB’s 72-hour supercycle — memecoins moon, CZ’s “not endorsements” tweet, then a brutal boom→bust as bridgers retreat. 🔹 Privacy supercycle — Zcash rips on Naval/Mert momentum; Zashi UX + NEAR intents cited vs. “it’s just flows” skepticism. 🔹 Old coin, new crowd — why ZEC’s age + thin float can turbocharge moves, even with lower on-chain usage than Monero. 🔹 Galaxy One’s 8% yield — comeback arc for BlockFi’s Zach Prince or smarter, public-company-backed risk management? 🔹 CeFi vs. DeFi lending — on-chain transparency, Coinbase’s approach, 60-day gates, and whether unsecured credit is creeping back. 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 01:08 Polymarket & Shayne Coplan’s Journey to Success 05:28 The Role of Prediction Markets 10:21 Kalshi vs. Polymarket: KOL Wars  23:56 Sports Betting & Prediction Markets 29:19 BNB Chain's Memecoin Boom and Bust 33:55 Aster and Defi Lama: The Delisting Drama 37:04 Privacy Supercycle: The Zcash Bull Run 50:02 Galaxy One: BlockFi's Comeback? Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h2min
  8. 10 DE OUT.

    The Stablecoin Competition Is On. Who Will Be the Winners and Losers?

    The stablecoin race is heating up. With the passage of the U.S. stablecoin law the floodgates have opened. Tether still dominates globally, but Circle, Stripe, and a wave of new “stablechains” are making their move. In this episode, Dragonfly partner Rob Hadick and Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz join Laura Shin to map out how this battle could reshape crypto and payments. Will ecosystem apps like Phantom and Jupiter keep their own stablecoins? Can Circle’s new Layer 1, Arc, compete with Tether’s network effect?  Don’t miss it! Thank you to our sponsors! Binance Aptos  Guests: Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🔥 2:50 What Rob and Mert expect from the coming flood of stablecoins and stablechains 🌐 12:06 How network effects could decide the winners in the stablecoin wars 💵 14:09 Whether Tether’s dominance is here to stay 💱 22:45 Why Forex matters—and why everyone still wants dollars 😎 27:15 Whether Tether even cares about its new competitors ⚠️ 33:18 What Rob calls the biggest existential threat to Tether 🏦 36:00 Can Circle’s new payments chain, Arc, really compete in this environment 🧩 40:42 Why Mert says Circle is in a difficult strategic position 🤝 45:17 How new Layer 1s risk pleasing no one by trying to please everyone 💣 52:55 Whether banks are doomed—and why employees might want to start exiting now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h7min

Trailer

4,6
de 5
1.182 avaliações

Sobre

Crypto assets and blockchain technology are about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from financial services to identity to the Internet of Things. In this podcast, host Laura Shin, an independent journalist covering all things crypto, talks with industry pioneers about how crypto assets and blockchains will change the way we earn, spend and invest our money. Tune in to find out how Web 3.0, the decentralized web, will revolutionize our world. Disclosure: I'm a nocoiner.

Você também pode gostar de