Unchained6 Feb 2025

The Chopping Block: LA Vape Cabal, Market Meltdown, & SEC’s Crypto Pivot - Ep. 779

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, we dissect the chaos triggered by Trump’s trade war, which sent Ethereum and alts into freefall while Bitcoin held strong. Why are alts struggling, and is this just a flight to quality—or something deeper? We also dive into the LA Vape Cabal phenomenon and its bizarre influence on memecoin culture, debate whether the SEC’s new leadership is truly a game-changer for crypto, and analyze Binance’s latest scandal. Plus, is the memecoin cycle really over, or is this just another phase in crypto’s endless casino? Show highlights 🔹 Trump’s Trade War Wrecks Crypto – Ethereum and alts nosedive as Trump’s surprise tariffs shake markets. Is this just macro panic or a deeper shift in investor sentiment? 🔹 Biggest Liquidation Day Ever? – Crypto saw its largest mass liquidation in history, with Bybit’s CEO estimating real losses closer to $8-10 billion—more than the FTX collapse. 🔹 LA Vape Cabal & Memecoin Mania – A bizarre Twitch-fueled trading cult is shaping the memecoin meta. Is this the future of crypto speculation, or just another fleeting grift? 🔹 The Great Altcoin Capitulation – Alts are bleeding while Bitcoin holds strong. Has the market finally given up on everything that isn't BTC? 🔹 Hester Peirce’s Crypto Reset – The SEC’s new approach could rewrite the rules for token issuers. Will the industry finally get the regulatory clarity it’s been begging for? 🔹 Binance Under Fire (Again) – CZ’s former empire faces backlash over insider listings, alleged bribes, and a wave of vaporware projects that tanked after launch. 🔹 Pump.fun = The New NFT Casino? – Memecoin speculation is bigger than 2021’s NFT boom. But is it sustainable, or is the exit liquidity running dry? 🔹 The Memecoin Endgame? – Some claim the bubble has burst, but if history tells us anything, a new wave of degens will always find a way to keep the casino open. 🔹 Bitcoin’s Macro Dominance – BTC’s macro story is unstoppable, with talk of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund investing in Bitcoin. Will the market ever rotate back to alts? 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 Hester Peirce’s Blog Post – “The Journey Begins”: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-journey-begins-020425 David Sacks' Plan for Digital Assets Press Conference: https://youtu.be/LqTsyTuLSSI Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:08 Market Turmoil and Trade Wars 07:10 Bitcoin's Dominance & Altcoin Struggles 10:33 Memecoins & Market Sentiment 25:05 Cultural Phenomena in Crypto 33:54 The L.A. Vape Cabal 40:45 Millennials and Memecoins 44:51 Binance & the Chinese Community 50:45 Regulatory Developments in Crypto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1147)

Why Bitcoin May Split In Two And How To Prevent It

Please take the Unchained podcast survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchained The bitcoin community is mired in a civil war. In this episode of the Unchained podcast, supporters of opposing side...

4 Apr 20171h

Bobby Lee, CEO Of BTCC, On Why The Chinese Probably Aren't Using Bitcoin To Evade Capital Controls

Bobby Lee, CEO of BTCC, one of the world's longest-running cryptocurrency exchanges, talks about whether Chinese people are using bitcoin to evade capital controls, how bitcoin trading in China has ch...

21 Mar 201755min

Why The First Employee Of Coinbase Launched A Hedge Fund

Olaf Carlson-Wee is the founder of Polychain Capital, a hedge fund that has invested $15 million into digital assets and has gotten backing from storied venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and U...

7 Mar 201757min

Why Nasdaq Is Even More Optimistic About Blockchain Than It Was 3 Years Ago

Fredrik Voss, Nasdaq's head of blockchain initiatives, discusses what the company has accomplished with the technology and how his firm evaluates whether potential projects could benefit from a blockc...

21 Feb 201750min

With Deadline Looming, Will The SEC Approve A Bitcoin ETF?

The SEC will make a decision on a proposed bitcoin ETF by March 11. Will it approve? An optimist and pessimist weigh in, touching upon bitcoin’s liquidity, the impact recent events in China have had o...

7 Feb 201757min

Is The IRS Justified In Demanding Information On Millions Of Bitcoin Users?

The IRS found three entities using bitcoin to evade taxes and has now demanded the records of millions of users at Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. An accountant and an attorney spe...

24 Jan 201751min

What Is One Of The World's Largest Derivatives Exchanges Doing With Bitcoin?

CME Group handles three billion contracts worth about $1 quadrillion annually. So why is it making a foray into bitcoin, whose market capitalization is a mere $16 billion? Sandra Ro, CME's head of dig...

10 Jan 201745min

Federal Prosecutor Kathryn Haun On How Criminals Use Bitcoin -- And How She Catches Them

Kathryn Haun put away the DEA and Secret Service agents who tried to make off with more than $800,000 in stolen bitcoin while investigating the darknet Silk Road marketplace. She talks about how the b...

1 Nov 201645min