Unchained

• Why the War Over the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid Is Bullish for Crypto - Ep. 902

  Stablecoins are supposed to be boring, but the fight for the USDH ticker on Hyperliquid has turned into one of the most dramatic battles in crypto.  From Ethena suddenly pulling out, to Paxos revamping its bid, to whispers of favoritism, the contest has put protocol-native stablecoins in the spotlight.  In this episode, MegaETH co-founder Shuyao Kong, who just announced their own stablecoin USDm, speaks about why they chose Ethena as a partner, and why alignment with Hyperliquid matters more than short-term incentives.  She also explains why ecosystems need both yield-chasing and yield-agnostic stablecoins — and whether Circle and Tether could be pushed aside in the next wave of competition. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠Token2049⁠! Get 15% off your tickets with the code UNCHAINED! Guest: Shuyao Kong, Co-founder of MegaETH Links:  Unchained:  The Competition Is On. Who’ll Win the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid? Bits + Bips: Hyperliquid’s USDH Bidding War & Why the DAT Model Is Broken Ethena Joins Race to Issue Hyperliquid’s USDH Paxos Unveils USDH Proposal V2 With PayPal, Venmo Integrations  Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH Ethena withdraws its proposal  The Block: MegaETH launches native USDm stablecoin with Ethena to subsidize sequencer fees Polymarket bet: Who will win the USDH ticker? Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🔥 3:02 Why Shuyao is so energized by the USDH ticker war 🔄 4:52 How the USDH drama reshaped MegaETH’s USDm launch 🤝 5:27 What convinced MegaETH to choose Ethena as its partner 🌐 11:20 What it really means to be aligned with an ecosystem 🚪 15:36 How Shuyao views Ethena’s sudden withdrawal from the contest 📣 18:22 Whether public governance decisions will keep gaining influence 🏗️ 20:16 Will protocol-native stablecoins be the winners of the next wave? 💵 21:22 Could Circle and Tether actually get pushed aside on Hyperliquid? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• How Pump.fun Plans to Beat Social Media Giants and Win Beyond Crypto - Ep.901

  Pump.fun rocketed to revenue, ran a blockbuster token sale, and then hit turbulence: rivals took share, the token slid, bots spammed launches, and critics cried “casino.”  Now the team is fighting back with a dynamic creator-fee model, a liquidity foundation for cult communities, and an unapologetic push into live streaming and mobile. In this episode, co-founder Noah Tweedale lays out how Project Ascend aims to align creators and communities, why buybacks aren’t a long-term business model, what they’re doing about bots and user losses, and how Pump plans to compete not just with crypto apps, but with YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.  It’s a candid look at whether a crypto product can become a mainstream platform. Thank you to our sponsor ⁠Token2049⁠! Get 15% off with the code UNCHAINED Guest: Noah Tweedale, Co-founder of Pump.fun Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro ⚡ 2:09 Why the past few months have been so turbulent for Pump 💸 4:47 How the new dynamic fee model works for creators 🔍 9:40 How Pump’s discovery algorithm surfaces tokens ♻️ 10:45 Will Pump’s buybacks become programmatic? 🐶 15:33 Why LetsBonk was able to grab so much market share ⚔️ 18:20 Whether Noah sees Zora as a competitor 🌍 20:09 Why Noah wants to build a world-changing app, not chase small wins 👥 25:02 Whether Pump is prioritizing specific demographics 🔧 27:14 What the team is focused on improving in the app 🔗 30:32 How Pump is building interoperability with the broader crypto ecosystem 🤖 32:21 What the team is doing about bots launching tokens 💔 34:48 Whether they’re worried about so many users losing money 🛡️ 36:15 Why Noah doesn’t see apps like Zora or Believe as real competitors 📱 38:38 How mobile usage differs from desktop on Pump ⚖️ 40:03 How Pump approaches regulation and compliance 🎲 41:02 Why Noah insists Pump is not gambling, it’s trading 🎥 42:49 The strategies to compete with YouTube and Twitch 🌐 48:30 How Pump fits into a world with a widening wealth gap 🎰 53:29 How Noah responds to critics calling Pump a casino 🗺️ 57:56 Why Noah says roadmaps are a fallacy 🛠️ 59:41 Whether Pump will evolve into an “everything app” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Bits + Bips: Hyperliquid’s USDH Bidding War & Why the DAT Model Is Broken - Ep. 900

  The fight for Hyperliquid’s USDH stablecoin is more than a ticker battle—it’s a referendum on how crypto distribution, governance, and incentives will shape the next trillion-dollar market.  In this episode of Bits + Bips, Steve Ehrlich sits down with Delta Blockchain Fund’s Kavita Gupta, Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn, and Frax founder Sam Kazemian to dig into the big questions: Who will win the USDH war, and why does distribution matter more than design? Are DATs fulfilling their promises—or raising money without accountability? Why are L2s the wrong place for tokenized stocks? And where exactly is the trillion-dollar opportunity in stablecoins? Sponsors: Xapo Walrus Host: Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guests: Kavita Gupta, Founder & Managing Partner of Delta Blockchain Fund Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Digital Sam Kazemian, Founder of Frax Finance Links: Unchained:  The Competition Is On. Who’ll Win the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid? Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH  Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🔥 4:17 The bidding war for Hyperliquid’s USDH 🗳️ 25:12 Whether the Hyperliquid DAO is truly decentralized ⚠️ 29:22 Are DATs already broken as a product? 🌶️ 35:00 How some DATs avoid fulfilling their promises after raising money 📈 40:27 Why yield-maximization is critical for DATs—and what risks it creates 💵 53:22 Where the trillion-dollar opportunity in stablecoins might actually be 🏛️ 55:35 Why tokenized stocks belong on L1s, not L2s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Competition Is On. Who’ll Win the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid? - Ep. 899

  The battle for Hyperliquid’s USDH ticker is a referendum on what crypto wants to be: a community-first public good, or a globally scaled, institution-ready product.  With the clock ticking toward the proposal and voting deadlines, Agora’s Nick van Eck and Paxos Labs’ Bhau Kotecha lay out their cases—100% revenue back to users vs. 95% with enterprise distribution, “Hyperliquid alignment” versus “bring it to the masses,” and what each would build on day one if they win.  We also dig into liquidity, slippage claims, validator dynamics, and how a single ticker could shape the future of onchain markets. Thank you to our sponsors ⁠⁠Mantle⁠⁠! Guests: Nick van Eck, CEO and Co-founder of Agora Bhau Kotecha, Co-founder of Paxos Labs Links: Unchained:  Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH  Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro ⏱️ 0:45 How Laura breaks down the background of the proposals 💵 2:12 Why the USDH ticker matters so much for Hyperliquid 🌊 4:04 Why Hyperliquid is an ecosystem “you need to be in” 📜 5:38 How Agora explains its proposal to return all revenue 🏦 10:08 How Paxos makes its case for enterprise distribution 🤝 14:03 Why “Hyperliquid alignment” is central to this debate 🎁 17:05 Why Agora says it’s willing to give back 100% of revenue—what’s in it for them 💸 19:26 Why Paxos is pushing for 95% revenue back instead of 100% 🚀 24:03 What each side would build on day one if they win ⚖️ 31:49 How to characterize the differences between the two proposals ❓ 34:11 What it would mean if neither Agora nor Paxos wins 📉 39:23 Whether Paxos’s PYUSD suffers from slippage and liquidity issues 🗳️ 42:08 What voters should really consider when choosing a proposal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Why Pokémon Cards Are Better Onchain (and How to Trade Them) - Ep. 898

  Pokémon cards are no longer just collectibles stuffed in a binder. They’re becoming liquid, tradable assets onchain. In this episode, Collector Crypt CEO Tuom Holmberg and Bitwise’s Danny Nelson explain how the project is reimagining the $100 billion trading card industry. From slashing eBay’s 13% fees to near-zero, to solving decades-old authentication problems with vaulting and NFTs, to launching a token that surged 700% in weeks, Collector Crypt is pushing trading cards into crypto rails. We also explore whether this is the start of a “Polymarket moment” for collectibles, how these cards could be used in DeFi, and if mainstream investors might soon allocate to Pokémon decks alongside BTC and ETH. Thank you to our sponsors! Re Walrus Guests: Danny Nelson, Research Analyst at Bitwise Asset Management ⁠Tuom Holmberg⁠, CEO of Collector Crypt Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🛒 2:35 Why eBay’s fees are so high and how Collector Crypt cuts them down 🎴 7:50 How a Pokémon card collector would actually trade onchain 🔒 9:40 What security measures protect vaulted cards 👤 11:13 How Tuom’s background led him to build Collector Crypt 📉 13:14 The highs and lows of launching the app over time ⚖️ 21:24 How the company navigates copyright issues with Pokémon 💰 23:05 Why the $CARDS token surged 700% in weeks 🏦 28:28 How Collector Crypt makes money ⚡ 29:43 Why the team chose to build on Solana 🌍 31:43 How big the trading card market could get onchain 🔮 35:03 What’s next in Collector Crypt’s roadmap 🔥 39:25 Why Danny Nelson calls this a “Polymarket moment” 🖼️ 41:31 What makes digital trading cards different from other tokenized assets 👀 45:06 Why Collector Crypt grabbed so much attention last week 📊 49:22 How traditional funds could start investing in trading cards 🌐 52:04 Whether trading cards are about to go mainstream 🔗 53:40 How Pokémon decks could even be used in DeFi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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