Unchained

If you’re looking for help with crypto taxes, Crypto Tax Girl is offering $100 off for Unchained listeners.

They provide personalized crypto tax reports and tax returns, and availability before April 15 is limited.

Go to http://cryptotaxgirl.com/unchained to save $100!

President Donald Trump is suing JPMorgan for $5 billion, a U.S. government contractor's son is linked to Bitcoin theft from the government, the SEC and CFTC appear to be collaborating on crypto and CZ's Davos interview goes viral.

In yet another packed episode of DEX in the City, hosts Jessi Brooks, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos and Vy Le dive into how Trump's case impacts the debanking debate, how a government contractor’s son was bragging about controlling federally seized crypto, why the crypto regulatory turf war may be taking a different shape and CZ's interview, which got a bit too detailed about the horrors of prison.

Does the government need a Bitcoin Fort Knox and is the U.S. moving towards a single financial regulator? Listen to find out!

Hosts:


Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital


Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare


TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda

Links:

Trump Signs Executive Order to Prevent Crypto Debanking

Bessent Clarifies U.S. Bitcoin Reserve Plans

Ilya Lichtenstein Pleads Guilty to 2016 Bitfinex Hack of Billions in Bitcoin

SEC and CFTC Signal United Front on Crypto

CZ Denies Ties to Trump and WLFI After Pardon

Good news

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Why is crypto sentiment so low despite the growing adoption narrative?

In this episode of Unchained, Syncracy Capital co-founder Ryan Watkins unpacks why he thinks crypto is in a “twilight zone” and why the market could take investors by surprise.

He also sheds light on why he thinks bitcoin is underperforming gold and what needs to change. Plus what he is excited about in the coming years and why crypto is not just fintech.

Is a big move ahead? Listen to find out!

Guests:


Ryan Watkins, Co-Founder of Syncracy Capital

Links:

Why Gold Rose and Bitcoin Tumbled on Japan Bond Turmoil

Has Bitcoin Failed to Live Up to the Digital Gold Narrative?

Will Bitcoin’s New Phase Change It Forever? And Is the 4-Year Cycle Dead?

Why the Crypto Markets Seem Down Bad as Bitcoin Dips Below $100K

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Walrus is where the world’s data becomes reliable, valuable, and governable.

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In this exclusive Unchained interview, Griff Green, one of the original DAO curators and a member of the White Hat Group that helped recover funds after the 2016 DAO hack, reveals how tens of thousands of unclaimed ETH are being transformed into a long-term security fund for the Ethereum ecosystem.

Nearly ten years after the most infamous exploit in crypto history, the community is repurposing its leftovers, not to rewrite history, but to prevent it from repeating itself.

The new DAO Security Fund will deploy grants for Ethereum security research, infrastructure, incident response, and user protection, while also reviving DAO-based governance experiments that have fallen out of favor.

Griff explains how the fund will work, why the Ethereum Foundation is involved, how staking will generate sustainable funding, and why, despite Ethereum’s strength, crypto still isn't safe enough for everyday users.

Guests:


Griff Green, Co-Founder at Giveth, q/acc & Unicorn.eth

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The crew breaks down Superstate's massive $82M Series B for tokenization, the explosive rise of TradeXYZ's commodities trading hitting $1B+ volume, different tokenization models from "bootleg" to "back office," the ClawdBot AI phenomenon taking over coding, and how agent-based development is revolutionizing crypto software engineering.

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, Robert drops news about Superstate's massive $82 million Series B raise led by Bain Capital to bring Wall Street on-chain through tokenization. The crew dives deep into the explosive growth of Hip3 markets, particularly TradeXYZ's commodities trading that's hitting over $1 billion in daily volume as precious metals rip to all-time highs. They break down the different tokenization models emerging - from "bootleg" third-party approaches to "back office" settlement tools to issuer-led official tokenization.

Then the conversation shifts to the ClawdBot phenomenon taking the internet by storm, exploring how AI agents are revolutionizing coding and what this means for the future of software engineering in crypto. From vibe coding to the complete transformation of how startups will be built, the hosts examine whether we're witnessing a fundamental shift in how technical work gets done.

Show highlights

🔹 Superstate raises $82M Series B led by Bain Capital for official securities tokenization

🔹 TradeXYZ hits $1B+ daily volume trading commodities on HyperLiquid's Hip3 markets  

🔹 Gold and silver surge drives massive crypto-native precious metals trading boom

🔹 Three tokenization models emerge: "bootleg" third-party, "back office" settlement, issuer-led official

🔹 ClawdBot/Molt Bot AI phenomenon explodes with agent-based life automation tools

🔹 Security concerns arise as thousands of unsecured ClawdBot gateways discovered online

🔹 Agent coding revolution transforms software engineering from hand-coding to management

🔹 Anthropic employees fully transition to Claude Code, abandoning traditional IDEs entirely

🔹 Crypto exchanges expand beyond crypto to capture trading cohorts aging into new assets

🔹 AI meme coin cycles continue as crypto financializes every new tech breakthrough

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

01:05 Superstate's $82M Series B Raise

05:16 Tokenization Models: Bootleg vs Back Office vs Issuer-Led

10:03 Trade XYZ HIP-3 Markets Commodities Surge

17:06 Why Crypto Traders Are Flocking to Precious Metals

20:45 The Evolution of Crypto Trading Cohorts

28:14 ClawdBot AI Phenomenon 

32:02 Security Concerns with AI Life Automation

35:43 Agent Coding Revolution

41:30 How AI is Transforming Crypto Startups

46:22 Anthropic Teams Fully Adopt Claude Code

51:06 Future of Software Engineering and Hiring

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If you’re looking for help with crypto taxes, Crypto Tax Girl is offering $100 off for Unchained listeners.

They provide personalized crypto tax reports and tax returns, and availability before April 15 is limited.

Go to http://cryptotaxgirl.com/unchained to save $100!

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Thank you to our sponsor, Adaptive Security!

As AI makes deception easier, security gets harder. Adaptive runs deepfake and phishing simulations so your team can train for real-world threats.

Explore more: http://adaptivesecurity.com

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Worried about your 2025 taxes? Don't fret, Unchained has you covered!

In this episode, Crypto Tax Girl founder Laura Walter joins to unpack new crypto tax developments such as the 1099-DA, offering strategies to navigate what she calls a tricky year for crypto taxation.

The key takeaway: “Don't freak out.”

Whether you only use stablecoins, are a heavy DeFi user, are a miner or staker, or even just a prediction market trader, you don't want to miss this episode!

Guest:


Laura Walter, Founder and CPA of Crypto Tax Girl

Links:

White House Considers Bid to Tax Crypto Held in Foreign Accounts

Roger Ver to Pay $48 Million in Tentative Settlement Deal With DOJ: Report

Senator Lummis Pushes Making Small Crypto Transactions Tax-Free in ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

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

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