Bits + Bips: Could Blackrock Someday Feel Compelled to 'Fire' Bitcoin Core Devs?

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2026

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Figure is giving away $25,000 in USDC. Deposit into Democratized Prime, earn ~9% APY hourly—and every $1 you keep in for 25 days is 1 entry. Enter here --- Bitcoin slid toward $60,000 on Feb. 5 in a brutal, cross-asset selloff that hit gold, equities, and crypto alike. With leverage unwinding and basis trades breaking, long-time bitcoin holders are distributing to institutional buyers who, by 13F data, are mostly underwater. The mood across digital assets is bleak. Against that backdrop, Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures argues that key Bitcoin narratives have quietly failed—and warns that developers’ inaction on quantum risk could open the door to institutional control. If devs don’t act, Carter says ETF giants like BlackRock will. The panel then widens the lens: declaring the token-centric VC model dead, debating whether AI now rivals the industrial revolution, and stress-testing it all across topics ranging from Solana vs. Hyperliquid to Japan’s political shift and MrBeast’s fintech play. --- If you want your crypto taxes done carefully — not guessed — Crypto Tax Girl is offering $100 off one-on-one crypto tax services. Their team focuses solely on crypto and has been helping investors navigate tax season since 2017. Save $100 here 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: Nic Carter, Founding Partner at Castle Island Ventures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think the devs will probably continue to do nothing.
0:03.7	They say that there's some stuff happening.
0:05.2	There's not a lot.
0:06.5	And I think the big institutions that now exist in Bitcoin, they will get fed up and they
0:12.8	will fire the devs and put in new devs.
0:17.1	If you're BlackRock and you have billions of dollars of client assets in this thing and the problem's not being addressed, what choice do you have?
0:24.6	I think the token side of the industry is basically over in its current form. I think there will always be tokens.
0:32.6	But the VC backed Flashy L1 token side is done.
0:44.4	All right.
0:45.4	Hey, everybody.
0:46.2	Welcome to Bits and Bips, where we explore how crypto and macro collide one
0:50.5	basis point at a time, hopefully without getting the stream banned thanks to
0:54.4	Rom's AV.
0:55.7	I'm your host, Austin Campbell, High Scholar of Zero Knowledge Consulting, here with my co-hosts,
1:01.5	Ram Al-Alawalia, maister of wealth, leader of Lumina, and Chris Perkins, who I think still has
1:07.5	not named the spinoff yet, so I'm not even going to pretend this type, Chris.
1:10.9	You've got to get this done. And then today I am super excited. We have personal friend,
1:16.5	I think, to several of us off the pot, Dick Carter here, to talk about exciting topics,
1:21.4	not just the market, but also what the future of Bitcoin might look like or not if people
1:26.4	don't fix some things. But before we get into
1:29.5	all of that today, first, just remember that nothing we say here is investment advice. Check
1:34.9	Unchained Crypto.com bits and bips for more disclosures. And secondly, before we begin,
	...

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