Unchained

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Figure Uniswap Robinhood is moving toward offering a full suite of crypto services and overhauling the infrastructure underpinning its stock trading services with blockchain technology.  In this episode of Unchained, Robinhood Crypto Senior Vice President and General Manager Johann Kerbrat discusses the company's “super app ambitions” and potential competition with Coinbase.  He also discusses the platform's entry into prediction markets and resistance from state regulators. Could state opposition to prediction markets drive businesses offshore? Plus, will tokenized stocks make IPOs redundant? And where are we in the crypto market? Guest: Johann Kerbrat, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Robinhood Crypto Links: Previous appearances on Unchained: Why Robinhood, a TradFi Hub, Is Growing Its Crypto Business Globally Unchained: Robinhood Is Building Its Own Layer 2 Blockchain Perps Are Coming to America. Will Coinbase and Robinhood Win the Race? OpenAI Says Robinhood’s Stock Tokens Are Not Equity Coinbase Expands Into Tokenized Stocks and Prediction Markets Coinbase Launches Digital Token Sales Platform Coinbase Buys Cobie’s ‘Up Only’ NFT and Echo in $375 Million Deal Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction  🤔 1:33 What drove Robinhood's 3x year-on-year crypto revenue growth in Q3? 💡 5:34 Why Johann says we are still far from a bear market 💥 7:49 How the crypto users on Robinhood have evolved overtime ⚔️ 11:08 How Robinhood views competition from Coinbase 🧏 14:30 What Robinhood's Susquehanna deal for prediction markets brings to the table 👀 18:48 Could state opposition to prediction markets drive businesses offshore? 💡 20:34 Why Robinhood chose Ethereum over Solana 🤔 25:19 When will Robinhood bring perps to other jurisdictions? 📍 27:00 Why Robinhood chose to invest in Lighter over the competition ⚠️ 29:17 Why Johann says the crypto industry needs to build resilience after 10/10 📈 33:50 How Robinhood's tokenized stock offering might come to the US 💥 39:16 Why Johann says private companies would eventually seek retail participation 💡 43:26 What tokenization of physical assets would look like 💫 47:12 How tokenization could impact the financial lives of users 🚨 49:18 Why Johann thinks crypto founders should talk less about the protocol 🧏‍♂️ 51:19 How Robinhood is looking to combine with DeFi  🤔 53:03 Will Robinhood follow Coinbase to launch an ICO platform? ⚡️ 54:22 Why Robinhood is expanding to Indonesia 🗣 56:28 What being a “super app” means for Robinhood  🔮 58:11 Johann reveals his crypto predictions for 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The SEC this week held a roundtable on financial surveillance and privacy in another sign of the major shift in the regulator's approach to crypto. In this DEX in the City episode, Espresso co-founder Jill Gunther joins hosts Jessi Brooks and Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos to unpack the major talking points and takeaways from the roundtable. And more importantly, what it signals about the SEC’s approach to crypto and privacy. With legacy financial institutions coming onchain, like JPMorgan and DTTC, they discuss how crypto can actually help prevent data breaches and have a better product for users and companies alike.  Interestingly, Jill recounts how she lost $30,000 in an exploit involving crypto mixer Railgun and why she didn’t even try to hide it from regulators at the roundtable.  Plus, was Do Kwon's sentence excessive? Well, according to Jessi, it’s a complicated question, but she unpacks what people misunderstood about the judge’s decision. Hosts: Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare Guest: Jill Gunter, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Espresso Systems Links: Unchained: Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action Do Kwon Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison Jessi's and Katherine's paper on programmable risk management Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction  ⚡️ 3:23 How SEC privacy roundtable marks a sea change in the regulatory approach to crypto  💡 12:39 Why privacy is also important for legacy institutions moving onchain  📍 17:31 How projects and institutions can be compliant while collecting less data 🤧 24:57 Jill recounts being the victim of a hack and seeing the hackers use a privacy protocol ❕️ 30:36 Why Jill says the hack did not change her perspective on crypto privacy 😎 33:30 How far the crypto industry has come since Tornado Cash ⚔️ 35:54 The debate over proof of innocence  ⚖️ 42:09 What everyone misunderstood about Do Kwon's sentence 💫 52:24 Shoutout to Save the Children for their innovative Bitcoin initiative Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. This episode features special guest Vladimir Novakovski, Founder of Lighter, joining the crew to unpack the fallout from October 10’s historic perpetuals liquidation event and the ADL research that sparked a public clash with Hyperliquid. The panel digs into how auto-deleveraging really works, why these failures were long hidden inside centralized exchanges, and what decentralized perps must fix to truly outperform TradFi. The conversation then turns to the intensifying perp wars. With Lighter’s zero-fee trading model, premium tiers for pros, and a looming token launch, the hosts debate whether crypto is headed for a Robinhood-style fee reset, why TVL may matter more than volume, and how RWAs, FX perps, and cross-margining are reshaping market structure. Finally, they tackle the growing divide between tokens and equity as devcos get acquired and tokenholders are left behind. Perps are evolving, incentives are breaking — let’s get into it. Show Highlights 🔹 ADL research ignites a firestorm — Tarun’s paper on auto-deleveraging sparks a public clash with Hyperliquid and Paradigm, exposing how opaque ADL systems really are. 🔹 October 10 liquidation shock — Repeated ADLs during crypto’s largest liquidation day reveal structural fragility long hidden inside both CEXs and DEXs. 🔹 Fairness vs predictability in perps — Why traders care less about perfect algorithms and more about knowing when and how ADLs will hit. 🔹 Lighter’s design tradeoffs — Vladimir Novakovski explains Lighter’s less-aggressive ADL approach, insurance fund buffers, and trader-friendly risk parameters. 🔹 Zero-fee perps debate — Lighter’s free retail tier + paid pro tier raises the question: is crypto headed for a Robinhood-style fee reset? 🔹 TVL beats volume — The panel argues TVL is the most honest signal of trust in perp exchanges, especially during market stress. 🔹 RWAs and FX perps surprise — Euro and index perps outperform expectations, challenging assumptions about which real-world assets actually trade onchain. 🔹 Tokens vs equity explode — Devco acquihires (Axelar, Tensor) leave tokenholders behind, reigniting debates over incentive alignment and crypto M&A. Hosts: ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures Guest ⭐️Vladimir Novakovski, Founder & CEO. Lighter. Links: Tarun Chitra’s Autodeleveraging: $653 million lost to a greedy heuristic? 🔗 https://x.com/kenchangh/status/1994854381267947640  ⁠Disclosures⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:38 Tarun’s ADL Paper Sparks Backlash 05:24 Research vs Bag Defense 06:27 How ADLs Actually Work 12:27 Fairness vs Predictability 24:14 Tarun’s Inspiration  28:17 Zero-Fee Perps Explained 34:12 Perp Wars Heat Up 38:15 RWAs Trade Onchain 41:49 Token Launch Reality 47:19 Tokens vs Equity Clash Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to our sponsors, Mantle!On this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell, and Chris Perkins are joined by Elisabeth Kirby, Head of Market Structure at Tradeweb, for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of crypto markets — and who will control them. They unpack why US market structure legislation stalled, how the SEC’s enforcement-first approach shaped the last cycle, and what it signals that JPMorgan, BlackRock, and others are moving forward with tokenization.  The group debates whether Ethereum’s institutional edge is durable, whether Canton can scale beyond early adopters, and why Solana’s “decentralized Nasdaq” vision still faces hard questions. The episode closes with a sober look at macro conditions, risk appetite, and why crypto may be stuck waiting, even as the long-term institutional thesis quietly strengthens. 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: Elisabeth Kirby, Head of Market Structure at Tradeweb Links: The S.E.C. Was Tough on Crypto. It Pulled Back After Trump Returned to Office. Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🗳️ 1:56 Impact of crypto market structure legislation getting pushed into 2026 📰 12:55 Howthe New York Times articleof the SEC’s regulation of crypto missed crucial context  🏦 22:12 How JPMorgan’s tokenized money market fund on Ethereum changes the tone for TradFi onchain 🏛️ 32:18 Whether Canton can become the real institutional chain and what could derail it 🧑‍💻 45:10 What Solana’s “decentralized Nasdaq” pitch gets right and where it still looks shaky 🌍 49:58 How macro, Fed expectations, and a rotation into “boring” assets are squeezing crypto risk-taking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe to Bits + Bips: https://bitsandbips.beehiiv.com/subscribe On this bundled episode of Bits + Bips, Unchained executive editor Steve Ehrlich digs into the less obvious risks shaping crypto returns, from DeFi yield to tax reporting. First, Sebastien Derivaux, co-founder of Steakhouse Financial, explains why chasing high yield can be dangerous, how institutional risk curation works onchain, and why the future of stablecoins won’t be limited to the US dollar. Then, Shehan Chandrasekera, CPA and Head of Tax Strategy at CoinTracker, breaks down what crypto investors need to know heading into 2026, including tax loss harvesting, the wash sale gray zone, hidden tax obligations in crypto ETFs, and why the new 1099-DA form won’t tell the full story. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guests: Shehan Chandrasekera, CPA, Head of Tax Strategy at CoinTracker Sebastien Derivaux, Co-Founder & Partner at Steakhouse Financial Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🧾 1:10 How crypto fits into existing tax law 📅 2:14 What investors should be thinking about before year-end—and how tax loss harvesting works 🔁 4:54 The wash sale rule: Is it safe to use in crypto? ⚖️ 9:27 How upcoming legislation could change crypto taxes 💵 11:22 Stablecoins and taxes: Are there any special rules? 📊 13:47 The hidden tax complexity of trading crypto ETPs and ETFs 📄 16:39 What the new 1099-DA form is—and what it will (and won’t) tell the IRS 👀 22:31 The key things Shehan says crypto investors should watch closely 22:32 Intro 22:59 Understanding Steakhouse Financial and its growth rate 24:59 What “risk curation” actually means and why Steakhouse focuses on institutions 27:52 How Steakhouse vaults generate stablecoin yields 30:39 What risk curators can—and can’t—control in a decentralized environment 35:28 What recent volatility revealed about DeFi vaults and the collapse of Stream Finance 39:33 Whether “safe” high yield is even possible 41:33 The liquidity problem with tokenized credit funds onchain 49:48 How Steakhouse is positioning for the stablecoin boom 51:24 How stablechains like Tempo and Plasma could change the game 52:47 Why Steakhouse plans to integrate tokenized deposits 54:55 Steakhouse’s 2026 bet on non-USD stablecoins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices