Crypto assets and blockchain technology are about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from financial services to identity to the Internet o...
The Chopping Block: Hester Peirce on Freedom, Fraud, & Fixing the SEC - Ep. 810
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 is joined by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce—aka “CryptoMom”—for a rare, candid conversation. They unpack the SEC’s vibe shift, why airdrops might be doomed, and whether memecoins are just collectibles or cleverly disguised securities. Plus, Hester dishes on Paul Atkins’ potential leadership, the SEC’s new crypto task force, and what real regulatory clarity might finally look like.
Show highlights
🔹 Hester Peirce Unfiltered – The SEC’s “CryptoMom” on vibes vs. law, the Gensler era, and why the U.S. needs a freedom-first approach
🔹 “Come In and Talk to Us” – Why the SEC wants founders to re-engage—but can trust be rebuilt after years of legal whiplash?
🔹 Memecoins ≠ Securities? – How the new SEC is redefining meme coin oversight and why “collectibles” might be the new loophole
🔹 Airdrops Are Kinda Pointless – Haseeb argues most airdrops fail to deliver value or decentralization; the panel debates
🔹 Self-Regulation in Crypto – Hester’s surprising praise for proof-of-reserves and why industry norms might beat new rules
🔹 The Howey Test Is Broken – How forcing orange grove law onto crypto led an entire industry to play armchair lawyer
🔹 Will the New SEC Last? – If the White House flips, could the next Chair bring back the enforcement hammer?
🔹 Tarun’s TradFi Feedback Loop – Why TradFi may start borrowing more from crypto playbooks than the other way around
🔹 Regulation by Meme – The SEC embraces facts and circumstances—but is “Ghibli meme policy” scalable?
🔹 What Should Founders Do Now? – The panel pushes Hester on timelines, clarity, and whether the U.S. is safe to build in again
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
⭐️ Hester Peirce, SEC Commissioner
Disclosures
Links
Miles To Go: Remarks before The Digital Chamber's 8th Annual DC Blockchain Summit by Hester Peirce: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-remarks-dc-blockchain-summit-032625
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
05:35 The Role of Regulation in Innovation
09:54 Crypto Task Force & Future Plans
18:47 Global Perspectives on Crypto Regulation
23:26 Self-Regulation in the Crypto Industry
27:27 SEC's Role & Potential Adjustments
35:04 Evaluating Memecoins & Their Regulatory Status
36:48 The Howey Test & Its Application to Crypto
43:55 Future of Crypto Regulation & SEC's Approach
47:10 Insights on SEC Leadership & Regulatory Philosophy
51:35 Advice for Aspiring Securities Lawyers
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57:37
At What Price Freedom? Stopping ‘All-Out Crime’ in Crypto Market Making - Ep. 809
As DeFi continues to evolve, the challenge of finding a balance between decentralization and protection from all manner of exploits persists.
The founder of Infinex, Kain Warwick, joined the show to talk about:
How crypto market makers have at times veered into “all-out crime”
What market making looks like today
Playing chart games with token allocations
What Kain looks at when evaluating tokens
Why Binance kicked a MOVE market maker off its platform
The $JELLY attack on Hyperliquid and the problem of centralization in DeFi
What problems in crypto Kain is attempting to solve with Infinex
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:
Kain Warwick, founder of Infinex App and Synthetix
Previous appearances on Unchained:
2025 Will Be a Year of Crypto Competition. Can Ethereum Make a Comeback?
Links:
Crypto Market Making
Kain Warwick: Discussion about market makers
Binance: What happened with MOVE on Binance
Coindesk: Binance Offboards Market Maker That It Said Made $38M Profit on MOVE Listing
Bloomberg: Citadel Securities Plots Jump Into Crypto Trading After Trump’s Embrace
Hyperliquid
Unchained: Hyperliquid Saved Itself a $15 Million Loss, but Sparked Criticism
Infinex
The Block: Synthetix founder Kain Warwick launches Infinex
The Block: Peter Thiel's Founders Fund invests in Infinex's Patron NFT sale as total amount raised hits $67.7 million
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
💭 03:30 Thoughts on crypto market makers
🙊 05:54 ICO-era market makers engaging in ‘all-out crime’
🦹 09:33 Extracting value in an inefficient market
💸 11:28 How crypto market making has evolved in recent years
😨 16:53 The low float meta problem
📊 19:49 Why Kain evaluates tokens on FDV rather than market cap
⁉️ 25:06 What happened with MOVE on Binance
😱 31:14 Citadel as a market maker?
🥷 35:48 The $JELLY attack on Hyperliquid and the problem of centralization
🔧 44:59 The problems Kain is trying to solve with Infinex
🌎 54:13 Building a web vs. mobile app
👂 56:17 Echo group integration with Infinex
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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 dives into the Hyperliquid controversy and what it reveals about decentralization theater in DeFi. Then, things get weirder: the Say Foundation wants to buy 23andMe and put your genetic data onchain. We break down the backlash and privacy concerns. Finally, we look at the new Stable Act making its way through Congress and whether stablecoin regulation is headed toward bank-only control.
Show highlights
🔹 Hyperliquid’s JELLYJELLY Debacle – How a DeFi darling nuked its credibility by bailing out its own vault at a fake oracle price
🔹 The Exchange Wars Heat Up – Why Binance and OKX listing JELLYJELLY perps looked like an assassination attempt on Hyperliquid
🔹 Are DEXes Just CEXes in Disguise? – What the Hyperliquid saga reveals about decentralization theater and validator capture
🔹 23andMe on the Blockchain – Say Foundation wants to token-gate your DNA; is this privacy-preserving or dystopian?
🔹 The Great DeSci Grift – Tarun revisits his war on DeSci and why putting genetics onchain is worse than memecoins
🔹 Stablecoin Regulation Showdown – The Stable Act vs. The Genius Act and who’s really winning in D.C.
🔹 Stablecoins as Narrow Banks – How crypto may finally force the Fed to accept a 20-year-old idea they’ve long resisted
🔹 Red Bull & Ratio Bets – The hosts make a real-money wager on whether HLP deposits will rise or fall after the meltdown
🔹 Memecoins and the Return of Olympus – Are the robbers now just quietly collecting rent from their broken treasuries?
🔹 Tarun’s Aesthetic Death Rankings – Why JELLYJELLY is a worse way to die than MobileCoin, but at least it’s on brand
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
Kevin Zhou (Galois Capital) Tweet: https://x.com/Galois_Capital/status/1904942458666094932
Steil and Hill Introduce STABLE Act Press Release: https://steil.house.gov/media/press-releases/steil-and-hill-introduce-stable-act
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:29 Hyperliquid Drama Unfolds
10:49 Debating the Bailout Decision
18:28 OKX & Binance Join
23:05 An FTX Moment?
31:45 Future of 23andMe & SEI
44:20 Stablecoin Legislation: Genius Act vs. Stable Act
51:45 Are Stablecoins the Trojan Horse?
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1:02:00
Hyperliquid Saved Itself a $15 Million Loss, but Sparked Criticism - Ep. 807
Perpetual swap DEX Hyperliquid suffered a whale attack and was on the brink of losing $15 million. It promptly responded in a way that generated a fair amount of controversy.
The founder and CEO of Ambient Finance Doug Colkitt joined the show to explain:
How perp swaps work
How a whale used the low-liquidity memecoin $JELLY to attack Hyperliquid’s vault
How Hyperliquid’s response broke DeFi taboos around decentralization, oracles, etc.
Criticisms of and justifications for the team’s decisions
What can be done to prevent similar attacks in the future
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
Doug Colkitt, Founder and CEO of Ambient Finance
Links
Accounts of the $JELLY whale attack on Hyperliquid and its response
X: The story
X: Nuking the vault
X: How Hyperliquid responded
Arguments for and against Hyperliquid’s solution:
ZachXBT: ZachXBT calls out alleged hypocrisy
Jordi Alexander: Shorting on a perp is not robust
Jose Maria Macedo: How do they override the oracle price?
Doug: Closing positions at an arbitrary price
Gracy Chen: Casting doubts on integrity
Steven.hl: In defense of HL
Kam: Of course quorum was reached easily
What precedent Hyperliquid’s actions set
Kevin Zhou: Binance and OKX set a precedent
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
🤔 02:59 What is Hyperliquid?
🐳 05:16 How a whale used $JELLY to attack
⛔ 09:19 How Hyperliquid responded
📈 11:59 Why did Binance and OKX suddenly list the memecoin?
🤔 16:32 How did Hyperliquid ‘change the rules’ to protect themselves?
⚖️ 19:25 ‘Losses for thee, but not for me’: Hyperliquid’s hypocrisy?
💡 24:39 Doug’s ‘cleaner’ solution
👀 28:35 Will this have positive or negative knock-on effects?
🧹 31:20 Tidying up illiquid markets
📰 32:46 Crypto News Recap
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43:37
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
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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.