meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Unchained

The Chopping Block: DATs Break Below NAV — Consolidation, Buybacks & Quantum Fear - Ep. 955

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Chopping Block unpacks crypto’s DATpocalypse — NAVs collapsing, volumes drying up, and consolidation on the horizon. Plus: Vitalik sparks a wave of quantum panic, what Q-Day really means for Bitcoin and smart-contract chains, and why “qubits per share” might become the next great crypto meme. 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 opens with the DATpocalypse: almost every DAT is now below NAV, volumes have collapsed outside Bitmine and MicroStrategy, and the market is finally confronting what happens when issuances outrun demand. We get into consolidation talk, preferred-share experiments, capital-structure pivots, and whether any DAT should actually be selling crypto to buy back shares at a discount. Then we shift into quantum mania. Vitalik’s “2028” comment lit up Q-Day fears, and we separate genuine hardware progress from pure panic. We discuss why post-quantum upgrades are simple for Bitcoin but brutal for stateful chains, and how hype alone could trigger a wave of “quantum-resistant” speculation. And yes — the running gag: DATs using quantum machines to steal Satoshi’s coins. Tough markets, weird narratives, and institutions quietly holding the line. Let’s get into it. Show highlights 🔹 DATpocalypse — Most DATs now trade below NAV; Bitmine and MicroStrategy dominate the only real volume. 🔹 Supply & Demand — Issuances outpaced buyers; M/NAV compresses toward 1 across the entire class. 🔹 Consolidation watch — Sub-scale DATs may merge to form multi-billion-dollar vehicles that can compete. 🔹 New financing era — Preferreds, debt, and MicroStrategy-style capital engineering become the next playbook. 🔹 Buyback dilemma — Trading at 0.5× NAV suggests selling crypto to buy shares—if liquidity exists. 🔹 Retail gone, institutions steady — Tokens follow the 4-year retail cycle; equity deals reflect institutional conviction. 🔹 Token vs equity split — Depressed token markets contrast with mega equity raises like Kraken’s $20B round. 🔹 AI distraction — Retail rotates into Nvidia/AI stocks, starving page-2 tokens of attention. 🔹 Quantum mania — Vitalik’s “2028” comment triggers Q-Day fears, despite quantum still being far from breaking ECC. 🔹 Post-quantum headaches — Bitcoin is easy to migrate; Ethereum/Solana transitions will be complex and messy. 🔹 Q-Day = Y2K energy — Expect years of hype and “quantum-resistant” pumps before reality catches up. 🔹 Qubits-per-share meme — DATs running quantum computers to steal Satoshi coins becomes the episode’s running gag. 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 Timestamps 00:00 Intro  01:14 BTC Breaks Down 02:52 DATpocalypse Begins 05:01 DAT Playbooks & Buybacks 20:48 Equity Boom, Token Bust 28:00 Retail vs. Institutions 34:01 Quantum Panic Hits Crypto 41:45 Post-Quantum Problems 46:32 Road to Q-Day & Y2K Vibes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm just excited for, you know, the first dat to go steal another dat's, you know, Bitcoin. I'd invest in that. So if you're working on that, you know, let us know. A dad running a quantum computer has their strategy. Honestly, that's pretty hilarious. That would be pretty, that would actually be very bullish. Robert, maybe one of your dads that sound bad tell them, get a quantum computer, steal Satoshi's coins. That's a narrative we can invest in to it. Not a dividend.

0:21.8

It's a tale of two fun.

0:23.0

Now, your losses are on someone else's balance. Generally speaking, air drops are kind of pointless anyways. Unnamed trading firms who are very involved. I like that E is the ultimate pump. D5 protocols are the antidote to this problem. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Chopping block. 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 intro, it's first you got Tom, the Defy Maven and Master of Memes. Hello, everyone. Thanks, you got Robert, the Crypto connoisseur and Tsar of Super State. Hey, everybody. next we've got to to Rune, The Gigabrain and Grand Puba at Gauntlet.

0:55.7

Yo.

0:57.3

And joining us today, I'm the Seed the Head Hype Man at Dragonfly. We are early-stage investors in crypto, but I want to caveat that nothing we say here is investment advice, legal advice, or even life advice. Please see chopping blocks and XYZ for more disclosures. So for those of you who are tuning in our audio, I'm wearing an exceptionally bright shirt today

1:11.7

because we decided that today we're going to try to cheer everybody up. more disclosures. So for those of you who are tuning in over audio, I'm wearing an exceptionally bright

1:11.1

shirt today because we decided that today we're going to try to cheer everybody up. Markets are not so

1:15.9

cheery. Markets are doing much no bueno. It's been really ugly out there. Bitcoin has been flirting

1:23.0

with being over or being under 90K. It's now regained the 90K level, but it's kind of holding

1:28.5

on for dear life.

1:29.7

We've seen a big reversal in the markets.

1:31.9

This is true on the public side.

1:33.6

So we've seen circle down, I think, minus 40% in the last 30 days.

1:38.0

Coin is down, I think, 23% in the last month.

1:40.4

Galaxy down 28%.

1:41.5

Gemini is down 58% since its ICO price in September.

1:46.4

It's been... IPO.

1:47.3

IPO. Sorry, IPO. Sorry, IPO. Sorry, crypto is broken my brain a little bit.

1:52.2

We've also seen a massive pullback across the DAD complex. So people are calling this a DAPPocalypse.

1:57.9

We've seen now almost every single dat is trading below nav.

2:02.0

Very few exceptions. Even BMNR, Bitmine, which is the largest ETHDAT, second largest asset

2:07.4

in the DAT universe, is also now trading below NAV, which has really put a cabosh on any

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

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.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.