Unchained

• Bits + Bips: Why Traders Are Sanguine Before Trump’s Big Tariff Day - Ep. 806

  Investors are still licking their wounds from this month’s corrections. But just as Trump’s tariffs are about to move into full-force, our experts are seeing silver linings and causes for optimism. With conflicting signals coming from all corners of the map, hosts Noelle Acheson, Ram Ahluwalia, Alex Kruger, and Felix Jauvin break down: What to expect from Trump on April 2nd Takeaways from last week’s FOMC meeting If the White House and Powell are actually on the same page  Why tech stocks are taking off again Why BlackRock is bullish on bitcoin during bear markets If ether is about to get its groove back Sponsors: Bitwise Hosts: Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Noelle Acheson, Author of the “Crypto Is Macro Now” Newsletter  Felix Jauvin, Director and Host - Forward Guidance Links Incoming Trump Tariffs Bloomberg: Trump Plans His Tariff ‘Liberation Day’ With More Targeted Push WSJ: White House Narrows April 2 Tariffs FOMC Meeting Unchained: Bitcoin Drops as Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged, as Expected NYTimes: Citing Tariffs and Uncertainty, Fed Sees Higher Inflation and Lower Growth Animal Spirits Return Barron’s: Don’t Count Out the Mag 7. They Could Lead a U.S. Stock Comeback. CNBC: ‘Magnificent 7’ has a notable up day after struggling for 3 months BlackRock Decrypt: BlackRock Digital Assets Head Criticizes Narrative of Bitcoin as a Risk-On Asset Bloomberg: BlackRock to List Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product in Europe Fidelity Tokenization CoinDesk: Fidelity Files for Onchain U.S. Treasury Fund, Joining the Asset Tokenization Race Timestamps: 👋 0:00 Intro 📉 2:16 Why investors are nervous about April 2nd 🌎 4:40 Two ways to think about tariffs ☯️ 6:56 The difference between retail and professional traders 🏦 8:44 Why the Fed is predicting a worst-case scenario 📈 12:08 Why the correction is largely done 💰 19:20 How the Mag7 got its groove back 🏛️ 20:42 Are Bessent and Powell more aligned than thought? 🚀 22:54 BlackRock says a recession is good for bitcoin? 🥇 24:54 Altcoin ETF race about to start? 🎌 28:41 Why Japan is irrelevant right now 🐂 30:42 Why animal spirits are back ⛓️ 35:03 The great financial unshackling 📈 38:02 Is ether ready for a comeback? ✅ 42:09 Why Fidelity is tokenizing on Ethereum 📈📉 44:32 Are pump and dumps over? 🇪🇺 49:32 Dumb money coming to Europe? 🐙 52:35 Why Kraken made a smart buy this week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• How Ethereum's Sprawling Pectra Upgrade Will Boost Its Ability to Compete - Ep. 805

  As Ethereum deploys Pectra, it faces stiff competition and community criticism. Ethereum Foundation Research co-leads Alex Stokes and Barnabe Monnot map out the chain’s direction. Ethereum is well on its way to some major upgrades, with Pectra and Fusaka introducing a number of performance improvements in the near future. But will it be enough to stay ahead of the competition? Ethereum Foundation Research co-leads Alex Stokes and Barnabe Monnot join the show to discuss: How Pectra and Fusaka will improve Ethereum’s performance What it means that its launch on two testnets failed Ethereum’s “north star” — decentralization Whether Ethereum can retain its top spot in the smart contract space As Ethereum adopts native rollups and data availability, does it create competition with existing L2s and DA providers? The new direction for the Ethereum Foundation leaders and whether Etherealize can bring Wall Street 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 Guest: Alex Stokes, Co-Lead, Ethereum Foundation Research Barnabe Monnot, Co-Lead, Ethereum Foundation Research Previous appearances on Unchained: 5 Things to Know About Coinbase’s 2021 Links Previous coverage on Unchained of: Etherealize advocates for Ethereum Why Ethereum’s New Marketing Arm Is Convinced Wall Street Will Adopt ETH Ethereum Foundation contemplates comeback Ethereum Is Lagging. Here’s How It Could Finally Shake Off Rival Solana 2025 Will Be a Year of Crypto Competition. Can Ethereum Make a Comeback? What Ethena means for Ethereum Ethena’s L1 Shows Fat Apps Are on the Rise. Can They Beat Fat Protocols? The Chopping Block w/ Guy Young: Lessons from USD0, Ethena’s Bold Vision, and DeFi’s Future The Pectra Upgrade Ethereum.org: Pectra Testnet Announcement | Ethereum Foundation Blog tim.mirror.xyz: AllCoreDevs Update 17 Ethereum.org: EIP-7691: Blob throughput increase Ethereum.org: Holesky and Hoodi Testnet Updates | Ethereum Foundation Blog Coindesk: Hello, Hoodi: Ethereum Welcomes a New Testnet  Fusaka on the horizon Github: EIP-7805 proposed for Fusaka Native rollups versus non-native rollups Youtube: The Future of Ethereum Scaling: Native Rollups Explained Reddit: Native rollup debates L1 and L2 debates Vitalik.eth.limo: Reasons to have higher L1 gas limits even in an L2-heavy Ethereum Vitalik.eth.limo: Scaling Ethereum L1 and L2s in 2025 and beyond Ethereum Foundation Leadership changes X: Barnabe Monnot and Alex Stokes announcement X: New EF titles X: Fixing the Core Dev process Ethena’s Converge news  John Wang’s tweet Camila Russo’s comment Timestamps: 👋 0:00 Intro 🪝 2:05 How Barnabe and Alex got hooked on Ethereum development ⚙️ 6:37 How Pectra will change Ethereum 🪴 10:35 How does increasing blobs boost Ethereum? 🪲 13:22 Pectra fork bugs on Holeski testnet 🔮 18:38 What’s in the upcoming Fusaka upgrade? 🤯 22:42 How decisions get made in Ethereum and which groups are involved 📈 30:34 Can Ethereum keep up with the competition? 🏁 39:16 Can Ethereum compete by scaling the L1? 🤓 44:02 What are native roll-ups and how do they help Ethereum compete? 🤺 49:26 Native rollups and expanded data availability on Ethereum vs. non-native options ⚰️ 52:22 Is Ethena building its own blockchain the “nail in the coffin” for Ethereum? 👬 1:00:05 Shaking up the EF’s leadership 🤔 1:06:14 Will Etherealize fix Ethereum’s problems? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Ethena's L1 Shows Fat Apps Are on the Rise. Can They Beat Fat Protocols? - Ep. 804

  Blockchains were supposed to capture the majority of the value in crypto. But what if that’s wrong? For years, the Fat Protocols Thesis argued that blockchains would be the biggest winners. But new data suggests that apps like Uniswap, Ethena, and others are now out-earning many networks. Are we watching the rise of “Fat Apps” instead? On this episode, Ryan Watkins, Co-founder at Syncracy Capital, talks about:  Why the biggest apps are generating more revenue than many layer 1s Why Ethena is launching its own blockchain What this means for Ethereum, Solana & other L1s How blockchains can compete on value capture Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! BitKey: Use code UNCHAINED for 20% off FalconX Mantle Guest Ryan Watkins, Co-founder at Syncracy Capital Links Unchained: Ethena Labs and Securitize to Launch New EVM Blockchain for DeFi Syncracy Capital: Applications Capture Fees, Blockchains Store Value Hansolar’s tweet  Pump.fun launches its own DEX  Timestamps: 👋0:00 Intro 💰 2:12 Why apps are out-earning the blockchains they run on 🔗 5:44 Ethena’s move: why it’s launching its own chain 📈 8:33 The rise of “Fat Apps” and what it means for crypto 🚀 12:50 How today’s crypto founders think differently from past builders 🏆 15:51 The blockchain architectures that will dominate ⚖️ 22:32 Whether L1s can compete in this new environment 📊 241:27 How blockchains accrue value and why MEV isn’t the best metric 📰 31:00 News Recap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Chopping Block: Solana’s Ad Disaster, AI Takes Over & the Great Blockchain Pivot - Ep. 803

  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 unpacks Ethereum’s existential crisis and whether the rollup-centric roadmap is backfiring. Plus, AI is rapidly changing how crypto is built, traded, and secured—so what happens when blockchain and AI collide? We also dig into Solana’s controversial ad, Ethereum Foundation’s leadership shake-up, and why macro forces are still running the show. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights 🔹 AI’s Invasion of Software Engineering – Why AI is replacing developers & what it means for crypto startups 🔹 Ethereum’s Rollup Reckoning – The “rollup-centric roadmap” was supposed to save Ethereum, but is it actually weakening it? 🔹 The Solana Ad Disaster – How Solana’s political ad backfired & alienated both sides of the aisle 🔹 Is Ethereum Becoming IBM? – Why Ethereum risks getting stuck as the slow-moving corporate giant of crypto 🔹 The Great AI Pivot – Why top engineers are abandoning language models for robotics & what it means for the future 🔹 AI Trading Bots & Crypto Security Risks – How prompt injections could turn AI-powered wallets into honeypots 🔹 Ethereum’s New Leadership – Does the Ethereum Foundation finally have a plan to fix its credibility problem? 🔹 The XRP Bartender Index – The unexpected bar tab metric that tracks XRP market sentiment 🔹 Will AI Replace VCs? – The case for AI-led investment strategies & automated due diligence 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  Disclosures Links Solana Ad repost by @basedkarbon: https://x.com/basedkarbon/status/1901809992514052319  Timestamps -  00:00 Intro 01:48 Solana's Controversial Ad Campaign 08:14 Memorable Crypto Ads 11:27 AI's Impact on Research & Crypto 18:33 Future of AI in Crypto and Beyond 29:29 Security Concerns with AI 36:49 EF's Leadership Changes 40:20 The Future of Ethereum and Rollups Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Bits + Bips: Why the Stock Market Wipeout Might Not Achieve What Trump Wanted - Ep. 802

  The financial market is getting wrecked, inflation is still a problem, and bitcoin isn’t acting like the hedge that it’s supposed to be. Is this a real economic shift, or just noise? With tariffs, stagflation fears, and fiscal dominance taking center stage, hosts James Seyffart, Joe McCann, Ram Ahluwalia and Noelle Acheson break down: Why markets are struggling—and whether a recession or stagflation is coming Whether the Fed has become irrelevant How the stablecoin bill could rescue sales of treasuries Why bitcoin isn’t following gold’s rally The factors that could kickstart the next crypto boom The latest on all the dozens of crypto ETFs in the works Sponsors: Bitwise Hosts: 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  Links The stagflation trade Bloomberg: Stagflation Trade Emerges as Rare Winner in US Stock Market Rout Reuters: Fed's Powell gets chance to address trade war, stagflation fears Tweet by Noah Smith Budget bill Wharton: The FY2025 House Budget reconciliation and Trump Administration Tax Proposals: Budgetary, Economic, and Distributional Effects Stablecoin bill: Unchained: Stablecoin Bills Could Squeeze Out $140 Billion Tether CoinDesk: U.S. Senate Takes First Big Step to Advance Stablecoin Bill Solana futures Cointelegraph: Solana futures finish first trading day on CME Solana ad Unchained: Solana Deletes ‘Cringe’ Ad After Crypto Community Backlash Timestamps: 👋 0:00 Intro 📉 1:39 Stagflation fears and which tariffs actually matter for the economy 🌎 6:11 Why the outlook for commodities is so uncertain 📊 10:49 Is the Trump administration sabotaging itself? 🐶 16:57 Why DOGE’s role in the market is bigger than you think 📉 23:51 Why the 10-year yield isn’t dropping as expected 💰 28:04 Will shrinking liquidity grind the market to a halt? 🏛️ 32:37 Why the Fed has become irrelevant 🔄 36:53 Is quantitative tightening (QT) ending? Plus, one key thing crypto investors don’t get ⚠️ 41:13 Why a recession is not a foregone conclusion 🥇 48:25 Gold is hitting all-time highs—so why isn’t bitcoin following? 🏦 51:24 How the stablecoin bill could save US government finances 🚀 1:01:47 How bitcoin gets its next rally  📉 1:07:16 The hidden benefit of CME SOL futures ✅ 1:12:15 The latest on pending crypto ETF approvals 📣 1:17:26 Reactions to the controversial Solana ad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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