The Chopping Block: Berachain’s Hype, Portnoy vs. Cramer, & Negative Market Sentiment - Ep. 783

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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’re joined by Laura Shin, host of the Unchained Podcast, for a no-holds-barred discussion on the current state of the crypto landscape. We dive into Berachain’s shaky launch, dissecting its tokenomics, insider allocations, and why the hype didn’t hold. Then we uncover the rise of celebrity memecoin scams—how influencers are cashing in while their followers get rugged. Finally, we tackle the Ethereum vs. Solana debate: is Ethereum losing its edge, or is Solana’s growth just a speculative bubble? It’s an episode full of bold takes and sharp insights you won’t want to miss. Show highlights 🔹 Berachain’s Big Faceplant: Launched with $10B hype, now scraping $2.5B FDV. There are too many VCs and not enough vibes to keep it afloat. 🔹 Memecoin Madness: Celebs faking hacks to rug followers? The dark side of crypto grifts gets exposed. 🔹 Is Ethereum Lost? Once the king of culture, it is now weighed down by L2 sprawl and fading relevance. Has Solana stolen the spotlight? 🔹 Solana’s Winning the Youth Vote: Fast, fun, and flooded with memecoins—exactly what Gen Z craves. 🔹 Peak Memecoin Energy: When the scams get this blatant, are we hitting the top—or just getting started? 🔹 Cramer vs. Meme Lords: Who’s worse for your wallet—a clueless TV pundit or a shameless influencer? 🔹 Regulators, Where You At? Chasing good actors while real frauds run wild. Classic crypto chaos. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures ⭐️Laura Shin, Journalist, Author of ‘The Cryptopians,’ Founder and CEO of Unchained Disclosures Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:53 Berachain Launch and Community Sentiment 05:23 Market Sentiment and Crypto Cycles 18:03 Kanye West Leaks Scam Playbook 32:17 Cramer’s Curse vs. Portnoy’s Pump 39:23 Ethereum & Solana Drama 49:06 Ethereum's Existential Crisis (Again?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	They kind of start off all idealistic and it's like people who are really interested in the technology for what it can build.
0:06.0	Once they kind of like prove that this can work, then all the kind of more scammery type people, they get in on it because they're like, oh, I can get rich quick, I can get rich quick.
0:16.0	And then you just have this like massive flood of all the get rich quick people.
0:20.0	This whole Dave Portnoy thing is, I wouldn't even call it a top signal.
0:23.8	It's like we've crested the hill now.
0:25.7	I want Portnoy to go on Unchained.
0:28.6	I would love to watch Laura interview Dave Portnoy.
0:32.8	Not a dividend.
0:33.8	It's a tale of two pawn.
0:34.8	Now your losses are on someone else's balance.
0:39.8	Generally speaking, air drops are kind of pointless anyways.
0:42.8	Unimmed trading firms who are very involved.
0:47.9	D5 protocols are the antidote to this problem.
0:50.6	Hello everybody, welcome the chopping block.
0:57.0	Every couple weeks, the four of us get together and give the industry insider's perspective on the crypto topics of the day. So quick intros, first you got Robert,
1:02.8	the Cryptoconucer, and Tsar of Superstate. Good evening, everybody. Next, we've got Tarun,
1:11.8	the Gigabrain, and Grand Puba at Contlet. Yo. So today we've got a big get for the show. I'm sure you're all very excited. We've got Laura, who's the CEO.
1:14.8	She runs Unchained Podcast, huge guests.
1:16.0	We've been trying to get her for a long time.
1:17.4	She's finally agreed to come on the show.
1:18.9	Laura, thanks for coming on.
1:24.2	I'm so lucky that I found a spot in my schedule to hop on here.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Laura Shin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Laura Shin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.