Crypto super apps, perp wars, and a governance revolution at Lido

Good Saturday! Here’s what we unpacked on the pod this week:

• 🧱 Why Robinhood Chose Arbitrum – Robinhood is rebuilding its platform on Arbitrum tech. 

• 👨🏼‍✈️ Zelensky’s Suit Bet — Polymarket’s vague rules sparked a massive controversy over a bet on presidential fashion.

• 📊 Bits + Bips: Perps Take Over, Tokenized Stocks Rise, Altcoin ETF Summer? – The crew breaks down why perps are crypto’s killer app, Robinhood’s financial super app ambitions, and the coming wave of altcoin ETFs.

• 🛡️ Is Lido Now the Safest Place to Stake ETH? – Lido’s new dual governance model could make ETH staking institution-ready, but does it also dilute LDO token power?

• 🔍 The Chopping Block: Robinhood Chain, Solana’s ETF Debut & Perp Wars – From the Robinhood Chain and tokenized stocks to validator politics and ETF hype, the panel dissects the shifting rules of crypto’s new frontier.

Catch up on anything you missed 👇

Why Arbitrum Won Over Robinhood + A $59 Million Polymarket Controversy

Robinhood is rebuilding its core product on crypto rails. And Polymarket may have just fumbled a $59 million bet on what counts as a “suit.”

This week, we’ve got two very different stories in one episode.

First, Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, joins Unchained to explain why Robinhood is rebuilding its product on the Arbitrum tech stack, what it says about crypto’s evolution, and how this could finally bridge Web2 and Web3.

Then, Calvin Hamilton breaks down the bizarre $59 million bet on whether President Zelensky wore a suit — and why vague rules, a fateful tweet, and one protocol’s vote could damage Polymarket’s reputation.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Bits + Bips: Why Crypto’s Next Step Is Perps, Tokenized Stocks and Altcoin ETFs

Why Robinhood is building a financial super app on its own chain, perps will “eat the world,” and this will be altcoin ETF summer.

Crypto is bleeding into traditional finance faster than anyone expected.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, the hosts dig into Robinhood’s move into tokenized stocks and perps, what’s actually holding back tokenized equities, and why perps might “eat the world.” 

Plus, they talk crypto ETFs, altcoin summer, and whether staking in ETFs is the next big unlock.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Does Lido’s Dual Governance Now Make It the Safest Place to Stake ETH?

Is Lido’s new governance system the breakthrough that makes staking safe for institutions?

Lido just rolled out one of the most ambitious governance overhauls in DeFi: a dual governance system designed to give power back to stakers—and make it harder for malicious proposals to pass.

But what does it actually do?

And could it make Lido the safest place to stake ETH?

Hasu, a strategic advisor at Lido, and Lido co-founder Vasiliy Shapovalov join Unchained to break it all down.

• How the dual governance model works

• Whether this dilutes LDO token value

• What this means for DeFi, and if others will follow

• Whether this might get institutions off the sidelines

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

The Chopping Block: Robinhood’s Tokenized-Stock Gambit, Solana’s ETF Splash & the Proof-of-Stake Reality Check

Robinhood Chains, Solana ETFs, and the Proof-of-Stake Mirage: How Fin-Tech’s New “24/7” Hype, Tokenized-Stock Caps, and Validator Power Games Reveal the Real Rules of Modern Markets

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 week, we’re joined by Jon Charbonneau and Ryan Watkins to unpack the bombshell news of Robinhood Chain—an Arbitrum-based network debuting tokenized U.S. stocks, 3× crypto perps, and that head-scratching $500 K liquidity cap. From riffing on whether proof-of-stake yields are just “money in a box,” to debating Solana’s first U.S. staked ETF, to sizing up the looming perp wars between Robinhood and Coinbase, the crew maps a common thread: corporate chains and regulatory work-arounds are colliding with crypto’s decentralization ideals, forcing builders, traders, and even ETF hawks to rethink where real security, fairness, and opportunity will live next.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights

🔹 Robinhood Chain Revealed – Why the trading-app giant paid up to launch an Arbitrum-based “Robinhood Chain,” starting with 24/5 perpetuals and tokenized U.S. stocks, plus a rumored $500 K–liquidity cap that has Crypto Twitter howling.

🔹 Tokenized-Stock Gold Rush – From Tesla and SpaceX pre-IPO shares to on-chain S&P stalwarts: does 24/7 trading finally make equity tokens stick, or is it just another CFD in disguise?

🔹 Perps Arms Race – Coinbase’s 5-year “quasi-perp” futures vs. Robinhood’s 3×-leverage launch vs. Hyperliquid’s 20× turbo deck—who wins the battle for retail flow?

🔹 Solana ETF First-Mover – RexShares files a staked-SOL C-Corp ETF, beating BlackRock to the punch and testing Wall Street’s appetite after ETH’s lukewarm debut.

🔹 Proof-of-Stake Reality Check – The crew dismantles the “economic security” myth, asks whether validator cartels make inflation rewards pointless, and floats proof-of-governance as the next model.

🔹 Hyperliquid vs. The World – Why a single Tokyo data center is eating CLOB volume, what zk-rollup challengers are planning, and how latency games redefine “decentralized exchange.”

🔹 $2 B Prediction-Market Beef – Paradigm-backed Kalshi clashes with PolyMarket after a viral “little rats” tweet; inside the influencer war and the CFTC license flex.

🔹 Conference FOMO No More – New-York-privileged hosts roast ETH CC in Cannes and declare the age of fly-to-France crypto tourism officially over.

🔹 Reg-Tech vs. Fin-Tech – From transfer agents to T+1 settlement: why outdated TradFi plumbing, not blockchains, still blocks global access to U.S. securities.

🔹 Super-App Skepticism – The panel pokes holes in “super-app” buzzwords and explains why sequencing—product-first, chain-later—matters more than catchy slogans.

In Case You Missed It 👀

Ripple’s Legal Saga Is Over. But With Its Stablecoin Pivot, Where Does XRP Go?

The company is finally ending its battle with the SEC. But its blockchain still sees little use and its stablecoin is facing an uphill battle.

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