Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest in crypto. Robert is out this week.
The hosts start with Vitalik's claim that ETH should be valued as a store of value rather than a fee chain. Tarun says it feels like giving up on the infinite garden, Haseeb says it finally makes the L2s make sense, and Tom says a store of value has to be earned by not changing. Haseeb argues Bitcoin is way behind on quantum and that this is Ethereum's best shot, Tarun makes the case that Zcash has the better store of value story, and Haseeb bets AIs will pick Ethereum for its predictable governance. Then a former EF employee sues the Foundation and Vitalik over the Mandate and its seppuku license, and Tom calls it the twilight of the EF. Next, the report tying Jensen Huang to an alleged Chinese intelligence asset at Megaspeed and what it does to the chip export fight, Tarun's game of who in crypto would be the most surprising person to get honeypotted, and Tarun standing up for North Korea. They close on Trump's interview about World Liberty Financial and Patrick McHenry blaming Coinbase for CLARITY.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights
🔹 Vitalik says ETH is a store of value, not a fee chain. ETH fell about 4% the day he said it.
🔹 Tarun says a store of value pitch feels like giving up on the infinite garden: gold 2.1 if Bitcoin is gold 2.0.
🔹 Haseeb says the L2 maximalism thesis only works if ETH is a store of value; otherwise the L2s are parasitic.
🔹 Tom says Bitcoin earned its credibility by being hard to change, and ETH has changed its emission curve too many times.
🔹 Haseeb's leaky bucket: blockchains struggle to capture the value they create, while AI just charges by the token.
🔹 Haseeb says Bitcoin is way behind on quantum and expects a reshuffling of value within two to three years.
🔹 Tarun argues Zcash has the better store of value story: proof of work, privacy, and post-quantum security.
🔹 Haseeb bets AIs will pick Ethereum for its predictable governance.
🔹 A former EF employee sues the Foundation and Vitalik over the Mandate and its seppuku license.
🔹 Haseeb's advice to founders, and the EF: innovate on one thing and keep everything else vanilla.
🔹 Tarun: guys, it's not 2017 anymore. Tom says we're in the twilight of the EF.
🔹 The report tying Jensen Huang to an alleged Chinese spy at Megaspeed, and why Haseeb thinks it ends the chip export debate.
🔹 Tarun asks who in crypto would be the most surprising person to get honeypotted. Haseeb: you get honeypotted as a service in crypto.
🔹 Haseeb's PSA: if you're dating any Chinese resellers of your GPUs, keep it extracurricular.
🔹 Tarun stands up for North Korea, and Tom calls them the original agents.
🔹 Trump on World Liberty Financial: it's not corrupt because he knows nothing about it.
🔹 Patrick McHenry blames Coinbase for CLARITY, and Tarun reads it as a lobbyist pointing at who's next.
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot VenturesDisclosures
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:49 Is ETH Digital Gold?
10:19 Bitcoin's Quantum Problem
14:01 The Case for Zcash
19:22 The EF Seppuku Lawsuit
28:39 Jensen and the Alleged Spy
37:21 Who Gets Honeypotted?
44:01 Trump on World Liberty
48:02 McHenry Blames Coinbase
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