Bits + Bips

Semiconductors now make up 18% of the S&P 500 — a record — as capital floods into AI infrastructure. Is this another dotcom bubble, or something structurally different? Ram Ahluwalia says the spending is coming from the world’s most profitable companies and the returns are already showing up in cloud growth. Christopher Perkins says every mania eventually reaches an extreme. Austin Campbell argues the bigger question is whether investors are actually backing the right companies. This clip is from a longer conversation on markets, AI, and crypto. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/owJbpl30Zq4  We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained.

Paul Tudor Jones called Bitcoin the best inflation hedge the same day it broke through 80 while equities sold off. The Bits + Bips crew debates whether he’s right — and what comes next for the store of value. Ram Ahluwalia sees quantum-resistant successor coins on the horizon. Chris Perkins argues the next backed asset may rely on energy or compute — not gold or Treasuries. Featuring Austin Campbell (@austincampbell), Ram Ahluwalia (@ramahluwalia), and Chris Perkins (@perkinscr97). Full episode: https://youtube.com/live/7MTkawyMU8o  Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One — coinbase.com/unchained If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts.  🔥 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bits-bips/id1827931786   🔥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKiSkbYrUOOEEiYQEVPniQ   🔥 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6aSBMrOyi33aVDCULJ9mjN?si=NTLk-jl5QGeytA6-2kxMVQ&nd=1&dlsi=42f0b13dd53c4ba0

How does a decentralized AI network compete with companies spending hundreds of billions on data centers? Ben Fielding, CEO of Gensys, says the question misunderstands what scale actually means. The big AI labs are building walled gardens, exactly the way AOL built one in the early internet era. They will attract users, extract value, and make great products, but they will not reach the scale of an open system running on every device in the world. Ben traces the pattern through the early internet, through social media, and into machine learning, and explains why the window is still open for a decentralized alternative that can get to internet-level scale rather than Meta-level scale. Guest: Ben Fielding @BenFielding, CEO & Co-Founder, Gensys. Host: Steve Ehrlich @Steven_Ehrlich. This clip is from a longer conversation on decentralized AI infrastructure, information markets, and the AI token. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/cUz1PU8O3_8  We go live every Wednesday at 10 AM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts.

Why does Delphi call itself an information market instead of a prediction market? Ben Fielding, CEO of Gensys, says the difference is the direction of the question. On Polymarket, users cannot create markets — only suggest them. On Delphi, anyone can pose a question and pay for the world to answer it. Ben walks through the full thesis: the orange farmer who can finally hedge drought risk without going to JP Morgan, the flywheel that pulls machine learning models into markets as faster and more accurate information traders than any human, and why the long tail of markets nobody has thought to create yet is where the real opportunity sits. He also addresses the hardest question: how do you prevent a decentralized market platform from being used for markets no society should allow? His answer is the Uniswap vs. Coinbase distinction. Guest: Ben Fielding @BenFielding [confirm], CEO & Co-Founder, Gensys. Host: Steve Ehrlich @Steven_Ehrlich. This clip is from a longer conversation on decentralized AI infrastructure, information markets, and the AI token. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/cUz1PU8O3_8  We go live every Wednesday at 10 AM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts.

The Kelp hack exposed a flaw at the center of monolithic DeFi lending. What comes next for Aave, for looping traders caught underwater, and for users who never knew the risk. A single compromised signature was enough.  When an attacker exploited Layer Zero's DVN network to mint 116,000 unbacked rsETH on Ethereum mainnet, Aave's unified pool design did the rest: within minutes, a $193M loan was originated against fraudulent collateral, ETH borrow rates went to 100% utilization, and thousands of leveraged looping positions flipped from positive carry to deeply negative.  Now Kelp faces a decision with no clean answer: socialize losses across all rsETH holders at a 17% haircut, or isolate the damage to the Layer 2 and blow through lenders on mainnet. Meanwhile, Aave's $250M umbrella module, designed precisely for moments like this, looks critically undercapitalized for a tail risk of this magnitude.  Blockworks researchers Luke Leasure, Shaunda Devens, and Carlos Gonzalez Campo walk through the mechanics of the exploit, the design choices that amplified it, and what the resolution scenarios mean for DeFi's future. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steven Ehrlich⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Luke Leasure (@0xMether), Head of Research at Blockworks Shaunda Devens (@shaundadevens), Research Analyst at Blockworks Carlos Gonzalez Campo (@0xcarlosg),  Researcher at Blockworks

After Bybit, the CDS hack, and Kelp DAO, Austin Campbell argues that DeFi's foundational assumption — that incoming transactions should be treated as legitimate — may no longer hold. Ram Ahluwalia pushes back: change that assumption and you risk giving up immutability and finality. Austin draws the distinction: an immutable chain and a skeptical transaction queue aren't mutually exclusive.   Michael Bentley, who built the Euler lending protocol, explains why the problem runs deeper than resources or audits. AMMs like Uniswap are self-contained; they don't care about the outside world. Lending protocols are structurally dependent on external prices, liquidity conditions, and third-party oracles — making true immutability unreachable. The question isn't whether to add centralizing safeguards; it's how many, and which ones, and whether DeFi can survive the trade-offs.   This clip is from a longer conversation on DeFi security, the $290M Kelp DAO hack, and the future of yield-bearing stablecoins. Full episode here: ⁠https://youtube.com/live/tB5_2lUy4fs⁠ We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠X⁠, ⁠Unchained⁠ and wherever you get your podcasts.

North Korea's Lazarus Group drained $290 million from Kelp DAO by compromising two RPC nodes feeding Layer Zero's single DVN, swapping the binary for a malicious one, and DDoSing clean nodes to force a failover. In 46 minutes, Kelp DAO managed to stop the bleed — but not before $290M was gone and DeFi TVL dropped $13 billion in 48 hours. Now Layer Zero and Kelp DAO are fighting publicly, with third-party analysts largely blaming Layer Zero for a default setup that left 40% of protocols exposed to a one-of-one verifier configuration.   Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins sit down with Michael Bentley, builder of the Euler lending protocol, to work through who bears responsibility, what a whole-government response to Lazarus Group actually looks like, whether AI can close the security gap, and what it would take for DeFi to finally price and transfer its own risk.   This clip is from a longer conversation on DeFi security, the $290M Kelp DAO hack, and the future of yield-bearing stablecoins. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/tB5_2lUy4fs We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Heads up!If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts.

The $290 million Kelp DAO hack, attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, has DeFi TVL down $13 billion in 48 hours. Do DeFi's foundational assumptions need to change? --- Heads up! If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠X⁠, ⁠Unchained⁠ and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- DeFi TVL fell from $99.5 to $86.3 billion in 48 hours after the $290 million Kelp DAO exploit — the latest nine-figure attack attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, this time via a compromised Layer Zero bridge.  Meanwhile, a new class of yield-bearing instrument is staking a claim on capital fleeing private credit: Apyx's APY USD, backed by Strategy's STRC preferred stock, launched on Kraken this week with a 12% yield target and $180 million in supply after just seven weeks. Is STRC-backed yield a legitimate financial primitive, or a Bitcoin derivative with extra steps?  And as DeFi absorbs yet another devastating security failure, is the industry's core assumption — that incoming transactions should be treated as legitimate — finally due for an overhaul? Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins dig in with Parker White of Apyx and Michael Bentley of Euler. 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 Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Parker White — @TheOtherParker_ — Founding Contributor, Apyx. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michael Bentley — @euler_mab — Former CEO, Euler Labs

FalconX global co-head of markets Josh Lim explains what's keeping Bitcoin range-bound near $75-76K: miner selling to fund high-performance compute transitions, breakeven retail holders looking for an exit, and an options market oversupplied with calls.  He also covers why the negative funding rates and low vol environment are less bearish than they appear when spot is cash-funded, not levered.  This clip is from a longer interview covering Bitcoin macro, altcoin rotation, Hyperliquid, and quantum risk. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/rDN5IHVhjfg  We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live.

Bitcoin's spot-led rally looks healthy on the surface. But derivatives say conviction is thin. Josh Lim from FalconX on what the market structure is actually telling you right now. --- Thank you to our sponsors! MultiChain Advisors is an emerging technology growth firm that has helped create $50B+ in enterprise value for 80+ clients over the past 4 years. They're the partner to help navigate markets.  Build real traction today at ⁠multichainadv.com⁠ 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.⁠  --- Bitcoin is trading near $75,000, but the market structure around it tells a more complicated story. Implied volatility has collapsed to sub-50, funding rates are negative, and the options market is dominated by sellers, not buyers. Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners are liquidating holdings to fund the transition to high-performance compute, generating a persistent offer just as breakeven retail holders look for an exit.  FalconX Global Co-Head of Markets Josh Lim joins Steve Ehrlich to map exactly what is keeping Bitcoin range-bound, where the rotation into ETH and alts is actually coming from, and what signals in derivatives and on-chain data would indicate the market is ready to move.  They also get into whether the Clarity Act changes the long-term structure of the altcoin market, how Hyperliquid is being used for institutional RWA arbitrage, and what the quantum threat means not for cryptography, but for trading Bitcoin. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steven Ehrlich⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh Lim⁠ — Global Co-Head of Markets, FalconX. Repeat guest; previously covered market structure and institutional crypto flows on Bits + Bips.

Anthropic previewed Mythos, a model it says autonomously found 181 Firefox JavaScript exploits and vulnerabilities in OpenBSD that had been missed for decades. Cybersecurity stocks fell. Ram Ahluwalia says it’s masterclass marketing — a Keyser Soze play designed to win back DOD contracts and rattle OpenAI. Chris Perkins thinks the threat is real and the opportunity is bigger than the fear. Austin Campbell lands somewhere else: the AI competitive arms race is accruing to consumers, not companies, and the firms spending the most CapEx may never recover it. From there the conversation moves to where the money actually is: Ram’s free cash flow positioning, why AI CapEx is crowding out the buybacks that powered the Mag 7, what Apple understood that Anthropic and OpenAI didn’t, and why MicroStrategy’s preferred dividend structure is a 2008-era liability mismatch waiting to be tested. Hosted by Austin Campbell (Zero Knowledge Consulting), Ram Ahluwalia (Lumida), and Christopher Perkins (250 Digital Asset Management) This clip is from a longer conversation on the Iran blockade, Anthropic’s Mythos, AI buyback risk, and the WLFI conflict. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/P4fSTXVnC2Y  We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. 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. Nexo is a premier digital wealth platform offering: ● crypto yield up to 15% (based on stated annual interest rates) ● crypto-backed credit lines from 1.9% ● a wide range of digital assets.  Join today and get 30-day access to exclusive rates. Join Nexo.

Ram Ahluwalia argues that CENTCOM’s move to enforce the US Naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was exquisitely timed — placing the IRGC in a vice with no clean exit. He walks through why Iran can’t escalate without facing worse outcomes, and can’t stand down without ceding economic control. Austin Campbell adds the market dimension: we’ve shifted from kinetic escalation to long-term economic attrition, and the regional neighbors are notably not objecting. Chris Perkins frames China’s role as reluctant broker and what a scheduled Xi-Trump meeting in May could mean for resolution. Hosted by Ram Ahluwalia (Lumida), Austin Campbell (Zero Knowledge Consulting), and Christopher Perkins (250 Digital Asset Management) This clip is from a longer conversation on the Iran blockade, Anthropic’s Mythos, AI buyback risk, and the WLFI conflict. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/P4fSTXVnC2Y  We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. 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.   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. Nexo is a premier digital wealth platform offering: ● crypto yield up to 15% (based on stated annual interest rates) ● crypto-backed credit lines from 1.9% ● a wide range of digital assets.  Join today and get 30-day access to exclusive rates. Join Nexo.

The US Naval blockade is live, markets are holding, and Ram thinks the bottom is in. Austin and Chris are not so sure. --- Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠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.  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. ⁠Nexo⁠ Nexo is a premier digital wealth platform offering: ● crypto yield up to 15% (based on stated annual interest rates) ● crypto-backed credit lines from 1.9% ● a wide range of digital assets.  Join today and get 30-day access to exclusive rates. ⁠Join Nexo.⁠ ---- 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

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. --- 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 --- 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)

Iran's IRGC has reportedly set up a crypto toll system at the Strait of Hormuz, collecting $1 per barrel to $2 million per supertanker in yuan or USDT via Tron. The IRGC moved $3 billion through crypto in 2025 according to Chainalysis, and the Ministry of Defense has begun accepting crypto for arms exports. Is this a gift to US intelligence (freeze and seize) or proof that stablecoins are enabling adversaries?  Austin Campbell (NYU Stern, Zero Knowledge Consulting), Ram Ahluwalia (Lumida), and Chris Perkins (CoinFund) also debate the Iran campaign execution, the F-15 pilot rescue, Polymarket's controversial war bets, and whether Trump's rhetoric matches the military strategy. This clip is from a longer conversation on DeFi security, Iran's crypto war machine, and the token fundamentals crisis. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/SKcuC5kqQ7k We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. 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. Bitcoin Capital Markets bringing demand, and utility to the Bitcoin Network. Explore the Citrea Ecosystem.

The biggest DeFi hack of 2026 wasn't a code exploit. It was a six-month North Korean social engineering campaign that ended with $285M drained from Drift protocol in 12 minutes. Circle had six hours to freeze $232M in USDC moving through its own bridge.  Should stablecoin issuers be liable? Is a 2-of-5 multisig really decentralized?  Austin Campbell (NYU Stern, Zero Knowledge Consulting), Ram Ahluwalia (Lumida), and Chris Perkins (CoinFund) confront the liability question, Chris's proposal for licensed "neoprivateers," and why US regulators wasted four years not building the framework we need now. This clip is from a longer conversation on DeFi security, Iran's crypto war machine, and the token fundamentals crisis. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/SKcuC5kqQ7k We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. 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. Bitcoin Capital Markets bringing demand, and utility to the Bitcoin Network. Explore the Citrea Ecosystem. 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.

A nation state hacked a startup and won. The hosts debate who's liable, what's fixable, and what isn't. --- Thank you to our sponsors: 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. Bitcoin Capital Markets bringing demand, and utility to the Bitcoin Network. Explore the ⁠Citrea Ecosystem⁠. 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. ---- North Korea just pulled off the largest DeFi hack of 2026, draining $285 million from Drift protocol in 12 minutes through a six-month social engineering campaign that included face-to-face meetings at industry conferences. Circle had a six-hour window to freeze $232 million in USDC moving through its own bridge and didn't act.  Meanwhile, Iran's IRGC is reportedly collecting crypto tolls at the Strait of Hormuz in USDT via Tron, and the token market is cracking under the weight of 750,000 issuances since 2020 with the median token down 80% from peak.  Ram, Austin, and Chris confront the liability question for stablecoin issuers, whether DeFi's security model can survive nation-state attackers, why Chris is calling for licensed "neoprivateers" to recover stolen funds, and what Franklin Templeton's acquisition of 250 Digital signals about where institutional capital is headed. Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, President of CoinFund

Charles Schwab’s chief crypto strategist breaks down why traditional finance valuation frameworks, not narratives, are finally taking hold in digital assets. --- Multichain Advisors is an emerging technology growth firm that has helped create over $50 billion in enterprise value for 80+ clients. Services include TGE support, go-to-market strategy, BD, partnerships, capital markets advisory, PR, media placements, and KOL activations. Visit ⁠⁠https://www.multichainadv.com/⁠⁠ --- Charles Schwab recently hired Jim Ferraioli to build a dedicated crypto research team, a signal that institutions are moving beyond narrative-driven investing and are taking this asset class seriously.  In this episode, Steven Ehrlich sits down with Jim to explore how traditional finance valuation frameworks apply to crypto. They discuss Bitcoin’s role as a hedge against monetary debasement (not a safe haven), Jim’s cost-of-production model for valuing Bitcoin, and why Ethereum’s dominance in tokenization matters far more than short-term price action.  Most compellingly, Jim argues that today’s Bitcoin prices sit at historical support levels used by the most efficient miners, and that Ethereum’s position as the tokenization standard is nearly unshakeable. If you’ve been waiting for crypto analysis grounded in fundamentals rather than hype, this is the conversation to hear. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steven Ehrlich⁠⁠, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jim Ferraioli⁠, Director of Digital Currencies Research and Strategy at Charles Schwab Links: Charles Schwab & Institutional Crypto Research ⁠Jim Ferraioli | Charles Schwab⁠ CoinDesk:  ⁠Liquidity Lifts Bitcoin, but 'Halving Cycle' Fears Could Limit Rally, Says Schwab⁠ Nasdaq:  ⁠Top 4 Reasons More Americans Are Investing in Crypto, According to Schwab⁠ Ethereum Tokenization & Real-World Assets Coindesk:  ⁠The Tokenization Boom: Why Ethereum Remains the Rails for RWA Tokenization⁠ Quantum Computing Risk CoinDesk:  ⁠Bitcoin Isn't Under Quantum Threat Yet, but Upgrading Could Take 5-10 Years⁠ ⁠How Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana Are Preparing for the Quantum Threat

Jim Ferraioli, Director of Crypto Strategy and Research at Charles Schwab, applies a GDP-equivalent framework to smart contract platforms: sum the trailing one-year fees across a network, compare that to market cap, and you get a Buffett-indicator-style read on whether it's cheap or expensive. By that measure, Ethereum has traded in a reliable range for years, and it's currently at the low end. But the more interesting argument is structural. Ethereum's fee base has historically been almost entirely tied to crypto market cap growth. Stablecoin usage, liquid staking, lending, trading — all of it moves with the broader market. Tokenization changes that equation. Real-world assets don't care what Bitcoin is doing. And with Ethereum holding the lion's share of tokenized assets — roughly $350 billion including stablecoins, with the next competitor at around $80 billion — it has a first-mover position that is genuinely hard to dislodge. This clip is from a longer conversation he had with Steven Ehrlich on Bitcoin valuation frameworks, zombie protocols, and quantum risk. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/YgDIHGuESJk We go live every Thursday at 12 PM ET. Subscribe to catch it live.

The S&P just closed its worst month since March 2025 at 6,368, marking a fifth straight weekly decline. Moody’s puts recession probability at 50%. Goldman is at 30%. But this isn’t just another pullback: with Brent crude at $116, inflationary supply shocks are compounding the damage in ways that monetary policy tools can’t fix. Ram names his specific buys (Berkshire Hathaway at 1.3x tangible book, Microsoft, Meta at 17.5x forward PE) and his shorts (Caterpillar, John Deere, and the industrials complex he calls “a bubble”). He warns that Bitcoin’s hold at $66K is driven by STRC flows, not a healthy fundamental bid. Austin and Chris debate whether the Clarity Act and institutional adoption are enough tailwind to matter when the macro environment is this hostile. This video is from a longer conversation covering the Iran conflict, bond market constraints, and the Canton vs. Ethereum institutional debate. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/Ui5pI1JxF6s We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET. Subscribe to catch it live.

When do oil prices force a ceasefire? Why is crypto holding firm while equities crack? And does Canton or Ethereum win the institutional race? --- Thank you to our sponsor: ⁠Nexo⁠ — the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your digital assets, borrow against them without selling, and trade a wide range of cryptocurrencies all in one place. Now available in the US with 30 days of exclusive privileges for new clients. Get started at ⁠nexo.com/unchained⁠. ---- Bond market tightening has become the invisible hand constraining every policy decision, from Iran talks to stimulus spending.  With Brent crude at $107 and the 10-year yield climbing, asset prices face a cascade of headwinds: inflationary supply shocks, tightening financial conditions, and no clear off-ramp for a conflict that the IRGC shows no appetite to negotiate.  Yet within crypto, a sharper debate is emerging: does institutional adoption demand Canton’s permissioned structure, or can Ethereum survive with real-world assets on a permissionless layer?  Austin, Ram, and Chris dig into the structural fault lines that the macro backdrop is now exposing, and why market-timing in a conflict where you don’t know who the endgame negotiator is may be the wrong frame entirely. Hosts: ⁠Austin Campbell⁠, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting ⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠Chris Perkins⁠, Co-Host, President of CoinFund

With European gas prices running 50-70% above normal, Steven Ehrlich sits down with Sean Murray, Head of Special Projects and Crypto Lead at Fuse Energy, to map the cascade: why gas, not oil, drives what consumers pay for electricity; how the Strait of Hormuz closure and the attack on Qatar's LNG processing facility are rippling through fertilizers, jet fuel, and copper markets; and why Sean argues the long-term supply disruption is being badly underpriced by markets worldwide. Multi-billion dollar facilities don't come back in months. This clip is from a longer conversation on energy markets, DePIN, and Fuse Energy's token launch on Solana. Full episode here: https://youtu.be/RMXJsFT15UA We go live every Monday at 4:30 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live.

Jeff Bezos is raising $100 billion for Project Prometheus to acquire manufacturing companies and transform them with AI. Mark Zuckerberg is building a personal AI CEO agent to bypass management layers at Meta. The question: where does AI value actually accrue? Ram Ahluwalia argues the consumer wins. Venture capital is subsidizing the real economy through tools like Claude that lose money but deliver massive productivity gains. Chris Perkins says people are resilient and will adapt the way influencers emerged from the internet era. The conversation takes a darker turn when Ram warns that declining birth rates combined with cheap robots lower the cost of conflict. When soldiers cost $8,000 at scale, the calculus for war changes entirely. This clip is from a longer conversation on Iran, the Fed, and AI. Full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/live/8Pr-oa4N0Bo?si=rfIKIOHRIjYQSWIh Follow @bitsandbips

Elon Musk announced TeraFab, a $25 billion joint chip fabrication venture between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI targeting two-nanometer process technology. Ram Ahluwalia calls the entire thing bullshit. TSM has invested hundreds of billions to build chip fabs. Tesla generates $3-6 billion in free cash flow. The math doesn’t work without massive dilution. Jensen Huang himself has said data centers in space don’t make sense. Meanwhile Chris Perkins argues that AI layoffs across crypto and tech are a “beautiful excuse” for companies that need to restructure. Ram counters that net engineers are actually being hired, and the companies cutting the most are spending the most on Nvidia GPUs. This clip is from a longer conversation on Iran, the Fed, and AI. Full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/live/8Pr-oa4N0Bo?si=WWmYw2LcxkOS9DAV Follow @bitsandbips

Coinbase x402 has processed $34M. Tempo just launched its mainnet. Steven and Laurens discuss how the agentic commerce war is shaping up, why stablecoins are the infrastructure layer underneath it, how to tell real adoption from inflated metrics, and what happens when AI agents start getting scammed.

Ram calls industrials a bubble that's already popped — Caterpillar at 35x PE, hedge funds still deleveraging, and no real capitulation yet. Austin and Chris push back.

General Spider Marks has a brother-in-law who's Iranian — and what he says about why 93 million Persians won't rise up should reframe how investors are reading this war.

A retired U.S. Major General just explained why Iran's navy is at the bottom of the Gulf — and why the Strait of Hormuz was never actually at risk.

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