This Week on Unchained: Base Token, L1s vs L2s, and More!

Good Sunday! Here’s what we unpacked this week on Unchained:

• 📊 Bits + Bips: The Base Token Question – Could a token turn Coinbase into a true super app?

• 💵 Debate: Stablecoin Chains – Should stablecoin rails live on Ethereum L2s or their own L1s?

• 🪙 Will Base Launch a Token? – Why Coinbase’s L2 might finally mint one and how Solana fits in.

• ⚖️ The Chopping Block: Stablecoin-as-a-Service – Is branded money the future of crypto or just more fragmentation?

Bits + Bips: Could a Base Token Be Coinbase's Key to a Super App?

Base may be launching a token. What utility might it have, and what could it mean for Coinbase’s shareholders? Plus: the upcoming Fed decision on rates.

This week on Bits + Bips, hosts Steve Ehrlich and Ram Ahluwalia speak with Blockchain.com’s Nic Cary and Franklin Templeton’s Max Gokhman.

We talk about how the potential Base token would alter the L2 landscape, and who should capture the value if Coinbase becomes the backbone for DeFi. Also, whether Web2 and TradFi giants will buy their way onchain, why privacy infrastructure is overdue, and how TON’s superapp strategy could pressure social platforms to follow suit.

Plus: how Franklin Templeton is valuing L2s and other tokens, why the FOMC’s decision matters for crypto risk, and how tariff talk could spill into digital assets.

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

Debate: Should Stablecoin Chains Have an Ethereum L2 or Their Own L1?

Tempo announcing it would not become an Ethereum layer 2 sparked a fierce discussion on X. Justin Bons and Haonan Li zoom back and debate it all.

In this episode, Cyber Capital’s Justin Bons and Codex’s Haonan Li challenge the new orthodoxy: whether payments chains should be alt L1s or Ethereum L2s, how “neutrality” and finality matter for real-world transactions, and why fragmentation could make or break onchain dollars.

We dig into Stripe’s Tempo (and its permissioned start), what it would take for L2s to reach true decentralization, and whether stablechains undercut general-purpose chains.

Plus: the trade-offs of sequencers, paying gas in dollars, and whether protocol-native stables are the future.

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

Base Will Likely Have a Token: Why Now, Who Wins, and How Big It Gets

At BaseCamp, Jesse Pollak announced Base was considering a token, plus a Solana bridge. Is this setting the stage for a Base vs. Solana matchup?

Base just crossed its own Rubicon. After months of saying “no token,” Jesse Pollak now says Base must decentralize and is “exploring” a token. What changed?

On this episode, Proof of Play’s ICO Beast and former Coinbase Ventures investor Ryan Yi unpack why “exploring” is the operative word, how policy (the Clarity Act) could shape the rollout, and what a points-driven airdrop might look like.

We dig into governance realism (what Coinbase will and won’t give up), token utility and valuation math, and how a Base↔Solana bridge could ignite a fight for DeFi liquidity while Solana keeps winning Gen-Z consumers.

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: Stablecoin-as-a-Service: The Next Big Crypto Gold Rush?

From Circle’s Arc to Stripe’s Tempo, Solana’s stablecoin gambit, and the rise of ‘stablecoin-as-a-service,’ the crew debates whether this flood of new stables fixes crypto’s money problem — or just fragments liquidity.

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 Gordon Liao, Chief Economist at Circle, to dissect the Stablecoin Wars. From Circle’s Arc and Stripe + Paradigm’s Tempo, to Solana’s native stablecoin push and Hyperliquid’s deal, we unpack why everyone suddenly wants their own chain or branded stablecoin. Is this the future of crypto’s monetary layer — or just a fragmentation nightmare? We dig into FX use cases, PMF for stablecoins, collective bargaining power of ecosystems, and whether “stablecoin-as-a-service” is the next killer primitive or a liquidity trap.

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

In Case You Missed It 👀

The Onchain5 Part 2: Robinhood and Stripe Upgrade Finance’s Back End

Both companies became billion-dollar businesses by disrupting slow and expensive incumbents. Now they are going onchain to flip the script again.

OPINION: America Is Becoming The Crypto Capital of CeFi. Here’s Why That Must Change

Bo Hines left his perch in the White House without making much progress on decentralized crypto. Here’s how his successor Patrick Witt can become a champion of DeFi.

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