Unchained

Explore how AI could reshape crypto and finance, redefining traditional systems and introducing new threats. As AI-powered agents promise efficiency, Haseeb, Tom, Tarun, and guest Illia Polosukhin critique Citrini's controversial predictions on a global financial crisis and consider whether AI might just save or further complicate crypto's role in the economy.

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. Joining us is Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and contributing author to the original transformers paper that's revolutionized AI. Buckle up as we delve into AI's burgeoning role in the crypto world, dissect the sensational claims from Citrini’s article predicting an AI-triggered financial crisis, and explore the potential of agentic coding in reshaping traditional systems. Let’s get into it!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Guest⭐️ Illia Polosukhin, Co-founder of NEAR Protocol

Disclosures

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS by Citrini and Alap Shah

https://www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:06 AI Agents Meet Crypto

08:06 Dark Forest Threat Model

15:31 How Close Are We

18:41 AI Coding Risks in Crypto

27:27 Citrini 2028 Crisis Explained

35:01 Demand Shock Missing Money

37:55 Automation Limits and Human Value

44:13 AI Zero Days and Botnets

51:40 Escrow Courts and Enforcement

56:05 Illia on Vibe Coding Future
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DATs may be collapsing, AI agents may be overhyped, but Omid Malekan thinks the strongest case for crypto has nothing to do with either.

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Bitcoin is below $63,000, digital asset treasuries are under pressure, and the debate over whether crypto markets are bottoming or breaking down is splitting the hosts. 

Ram is skeptical of institutional demand when he looks at the 13F data from institutions filing SEC reports. Chris is on the phone with institutions all day and is bullish. 

Omid Malekan, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, comes in with a longer lens: he admits he contributed to the DAT hype cycle, has doubts about agentic commerce that remind him of the metaverse in 2021, and thinks the strongest argument for crypto is not a product or a token but a fact about how nation-states treat their own citizens. 

The conversation also covers tokenized bank deposits, the SEC's updated broker-dealer guidance on stablecoins, and what it means that the Supreme Court just struck down Trump's tariffs.

Hosts:


⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida


⁠⁠Austin Campbell⁠⁠, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting


⁠⁠Christopher Perkins⁠⁠, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund

Guest:


⁠Omid Malekan, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School

Links:


Unchained:


Bitcoin Slips Below $63,000 as Fear Deepens


Bitcoin Dips Below $65,000 as Tariff Uncertainty Weighs on Risk


White House Talks Make Progress on Stablecoin Yields but No Deal Yet


SEC Quietly Eases Capital Rules for Stablecoins


SCOTUS: Supreme Court strikes down tariffs


Citrini: ⁠THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS

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Jansen Teng announces  Virtuals’ new humanoid robotics accelerator. Is this the next frontier for the AI agent meta?

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Virtuals Protocol has announced the launch of Eastworld Labs, an AI accelerator to make it easier for builders to deploy humanoid robots.

Virtuals Protocol co-founder Jansen Teng unpacks the idea behind the program, how it would work and what it hopes to achieve. He also addresses questions about how to prevent damage to remotely controlled robots, how to address backlash to robots taking jobs, and whether Virtuals views OpenClaw as a competitor.

Will human relationships eventually be replaced by AI agents?

Guest:


⁠⁠⁠⁠Jansen Teng, CEO & Co-Founder of Virtuals Protocol

Links:


Unchained:


⁠⁠⁠⁠Virtuals Ecosystem Sees Boost After Team Reveals Details of Buyback-and-Burn Program


⁠⁠⁠⁠Want to Hire an AI Agent? Check Their Reputation Via ERC-8004


When AI Agents Take Over, What Does a Post-Human Economy Look Like?


How Nansen’s New Trading Agent Makes It Easier to Follow the Smart Money Onchain


How the x402 Standard Is Enabling AI Agents to Pay Each Other


Uneasy Money: How the Increasingly Better AI Agents Are Being Used Onchain

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Matt Corallo says “the community that exists at the time” will make decisions on how Bitcoin deals with the threat of quantum computing.

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When it comes to the quantum computing threat to crypto, the focus is
often on Bitcoin and for good reason. The blockchain lacks a defined
governance structure and the vulnerability around Satoshi's and other
abandoned and lost coins is far greater than on any other chain.

Furthermore, influential figures like Nic Carter have accused developers of sleeping at the wheel.

Bitcoin Core contributor Matt Corallo argues that it won't take much to
make the network quantum-resistant and, contrary to popular narrative,
says work is already underway.

Find out why Corallo says quantum-proofing Bitcoin requires only two
steps ”you burn old lost coins, you burn anyone who hasn't migrated.”

Guest:


⁠Matt Corallo, Open Source Engineer at Block/Spiral

Links:


Unchained:


⁠Why Bitcoin Developers Are Not Incentivized to Talk About the Quantum Threat⁠


⁠Q-Day Is Imminent. Can Bitcoin Survive the Quantum Threat?⁠


⁠Solana Deploys Post-Quantum Signatures on Testnet⁠


⁠Cracking Bitcoin Encryption Is Getting Much Easier, Google Says

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LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino joins to unpack Base's decision to leave the OP Stack, Zora's migration to Solana and more.

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Coinbase's Base is making a shock move away from Optimism's OP Stack.

In this Uneasy Money episode, LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino joins hosts Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to unpack whether this is the right move for Base and what it could mean for Optimism.

Beyond Base's big move, the trio also discuss Zora's Solana migration, whether Coinbase was wrong to initially pursue a super app strategy with Base App, Peter Steinberger joining OpenAI, the launch of Zero blockchain and OpenAI's EVMbench.

Will OpenAI's acqui-hiring of Peter prove to be a “generational fumble” for Anthropic? And can crypto fix its brand problem?

Also, learn why the rise of AI agents have Kain and Tay confident that open source will win in the end.

Hosts:


⁠Kain Warwick⁠, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix


⁠Taylor Monahan⁠, Security Expert

Guest:


Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero Labs

Links:


Unchained:


Zora Shocks Base Community With Solana Pivot


⁠⁠BlackRock Just Chose Uniswap. The Market Didn’t Care. Here’s Why.


⁠⁠LayerZero Launches ‘Zero’ Layer 1 as Citadel, ARK Buy ZRO


⁠⁠How Zero Blockchain Cracked 2 Million TPS and Is Still Decentralized


⁠⁠Uneasy Money: Are Institutions Creating a New Crypto Meta?


⁠⁠Uneasy Money: How the Increasingly Better AI Agents Are Being Used OnchainVitalik Rethinks Ethereum’s L2 Playbook, Calls for Shift Toward Native Rollups

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