Unchained

Can a private company be trusted to decide which 40 firms get access to the world’s most dangerous AI model? And separately — is the SEC’s new Reg Crypto finally the framework the industry has been waiting for since 2020?

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The week StarkWare’s chief product officer published a paper proposing a quantum-resistant mechanism for Bitcoin that doesn’t require changing Bitcoin’s code. The crew discuss the the threat quantum computers pose to bitcoin, which raises philosophical questions about what it means to “own” bitcoin. “Not your keys, not your coins” has long been the catchphrase — so what happens if a quantum computer wrests your keys away fro you?

Plus they discuss the fact that Anthropic decided not to release its most powerful model to the public at the same time its technology is being removed from the government. What does it mean when a private company has greater capability than the U.S. government?  

Also, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets quietly released major guidance clarifying when DeFi front ends need to register as broker-dealers — and Chair Atkins announced what could become the first actual crypto rulemaking in the agency’s history. 

Katherine, Jessi, and TuongVy work through what each of these developments means for builders, lawyers, and founders navigating crypto right now — and why the question of who gets to make these calls is the same whether you’re talking about AI or regulation.

Hosts:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos⁠, General Counsel at StarkWare. Previously held senior legal roles across DeFi and centralized exchanges.


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessi Brooks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TuongVy Le⁠⁠, General Counsel at Veda

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The US Naval blockade is live, markets are holding, and Ram thinks the bottom is in. Austin and Chris are not so sure.

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Citrea 

As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD. 

You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security. 

Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained.  

Etherfi

Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. 

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The day the US Naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz went live, peace talks had just collapsed in Islamabad and markets were holding. Ram, Austin, and Chris work through the tactical logic behind CENTCOM’s move, why regional powers are standing down, and how long Iran can sustain the economic pressure. 

Then: Anthropic previewed a model called Mythos, cybersecurity stocks fell, and the question of whether AI security risk is real or manufactured now has real money behind it. 

Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial borrowed $75 million against its own governance token on a platform co-founded by its own advisor, Justin Sun is accusing the team of treating investors as a personal ATM, and the stablecoin bill clock is ticking. 

Which sectors are most dislocated? What would it take to bring the next wave of investors into crypto? And is this actually a market bottom?

Hosts:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management

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The basis trade paid 15–30% near risk-free for years. Options couldn't compete. Then 10/10 happened.

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As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD.

You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security.

Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained.  

Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. 

Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card!

Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer.

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For years, the basis trade and token-launch points farming crowded out options as a yield tool in crypto — not because options were inferior, but because the alternatives were simply too easy and too lucrative. 

That changed on 10/10. With the basis trade effectively dead and altcoin valuations cratered, a window has opened for onchain options to compete for capital in a way they never could before. 

Nick Forster, CEO of Derive (formerly Lyra), has been building toward this moment for five years. He joins LTR, venture investor at Cosmos, who has tracked the full graveyard of failed options DEXes — Opyn, HEGIC, Ribbon, Dopex, Strike — and still believes this time is different. The question isn't whether crypto options will scale. It's whether the infrastructure is finally ready.

Host:


⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠, Host / Unchained

Guests:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nick Forster, CEO and Founder, Derive


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LTR, Venture Investor, Kosmos

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Why ETH outperformed Bitcoin this past week, what's really behind the prediction market activity during the Iran situation, and what comes next for institutional crypto adoption.

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Thank you to our sponsors!


Ether.fi — 15% cash back on food and rideshare apps, 3% on everything else, borrow at 4% or less


Citrea — Trust minimized BTC, native stablecoin CT-USD, Bitcoin capital markets

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A tenuous Iran ceasefire sent oil prices tumbling this past week, and crypto responded before any other asset class. Bitcoin climbed to around $72K, Ethereum outperformed with 6.7 to 7% gains in 48 hours, and billions poured back into ETFs after months of withdrawals. 

But amid the rally, uncomfortable questions are surfacing: who profited from suspicious prediction market bets placed just before the ceasefire announcement? Are Middle Eastern governments and corporations now using Bitcoin as actual settlement infrastructure? And if the Clarity Act passes without allowing yield-bearing stablecoins, has the banking lobby won? 

Kavita Gupta, founder and general partner at Delta Blockchain Fund, sits down with Steven Ehrlich to work through a week of whipsawing markets, fragile geopolitics, and structural shifts that could define where crypto goes from here.

Host:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steven Ehrlich⁠⁠⁠⁠, Head of Research, SharpLink

Guest:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kavita Gupta, Founder & General Partner at Delta Blockchain Fund

Links:

Ceasefire, Markets & Institutional Flows:


Crypto Markets Rebound After Iran-Israel Ceasefire Deal (Unchained)


Bitcoin ETFs Record $5 Billion in Daily Volume as Inflows Top $870 Million (Unchained)


Crypto Adoption in MENA 2025: Crisis, Adaptation, and Growth (Chainalysis)

Prediction Markets & Insider Trading:


DEX in the City: Why Prediction Market 'Insider Trading' Isn't Illegal — Yet (Unchained)


DEX in the City: How Prediction Markets Pose a National Security Risk (Unchained)


Trading Volumes on Prediction Markets Will Drop After the November Election. Will New Market Entrants Still Attract Users? (Unchained)


DOJ and CFTC Drop Investigations Into Polymarket: Report (Unchained)

Clarity Act & Stablecoin Regulation:


Bessent Presses Senate on Clarity Act, Labels Resistant Crypto Leaders 'Nihilists' (Unchained)


Circle Stock Plunges 20% as Clarity Act Draft Threatens Stablecoin Yield (Unchained)


Treasury Secretary Bessent Presses Congress to Pass CLARITY Act (The Hill)

Bessent Ramps Up Pressure on Congress to Pass CLARITY Act (CoinTelegraph)
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James Seyffart didn't expect Morgan Stanley to do this. Now he's watching to see if BlackRock blinks.

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Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. 

Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card!

Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. 

Bitcoin’s application layer, Citrea, launched its mainnet, expanding Bitcoin’s utility to privacy, lending, BTC yields, and more. Citrea enables:


cBTC: The first trust-minimized Bitcoin on a fully programmable platform.


ctUSD: A native stablecoin for Bitcoin, allowing for unified liquidity.


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When Morgan Stanley launched MSBT this week, it didn't just become the first major US bank to issue its own spot Bitcoin ETF — it became the cheapest one on the market, undercutting BlackRock's iBIT by 11 basis points. For a firm not known for fee competition, that surprised even close ETF watchers. 

James Seyffart, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, has spent years tracking how wirehouses have slowly warmed to Bitcoin products. He joins Laura Shin to discuss what MSBT's launch says about where institutional crypto adoption is heading, whether Morgan Stanley's 16,000 advisors and $7 trillion in assets could meaningfully shift flows, and why Seyffart now sees inaction on crypto as the active choice, not the safe one, for portfolio managers. 

Plus: Strategy's $14.5 billion loss, Saylor keeps buying, and why MSTR’s S&P 500 question is now entirely a Bitcoin price story.

Host:


⁠Laura Shin⁠, Host / Unchained

Guest:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠James Seyffart, Senior Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence

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