Happy 10th Anniversary! 🥂
This Sunday marks 10 years of Unchained — a decade of conversations at the frontier of crypto, blockchain, and the future of money. Thank you for being part of this journey. We're keeping the celebration low-key, but tune in Monday for something a little different: Laura sitting down with Haseeb Qureshi for a casual, unscripted chat to mark the occasion.
AI may be headed for its first real stress test.
Some investors now believe the biggest AI companies face a structural problem: users love the products, but the economics may not work. And with OpenAI, Anthropic, and others racing toward IPOs, the cracks are becoming harder to ignore.
Laura sits down with Tom Shaughnessy of Delphi Ventures to unpack why open-source AI is gaining ground, what it means for the upcoming AI IPO wave, and how crypto could help solve the industry's biggest funding challenge.
Meanwhile, Anthropic's newest model did something remarkable: it uncovered a four-year-old bug in Zcash that multiple expert audits missed.
But there's a catch. The newest model released now refuses to perform most security work, raising a new question: if defenders can't use frontier AI, who can?
On Uneasy Money, Kain Warwick, Taylor Monahan, and Luca Netz break down the AI security paradox, the end of heavily subsidized AI compute, and why the next generation of models may not be available to everyone.
Here’s more on what we unpacked this week on Unchained:
A Claude model discovered a critical flaw that could have enabled unlimited counterfeit ZEC, forcing an emergency fix and reigniting the debate around AI-powered security. The Chopping Block panel explores why formal verification may become essential, whether defenders can keep pace with AI attackers, and if NEAR’s vision for agent-to-agent commerce is finally becoming reality.
Strategy’s first Bitcoin sale in years may have been tiny, but critics argue it shattered one of the company’s core promises. The Unchained discussion with Glenn Cameron dives into STRC, retail investor exposure, and why Strategy’s growing obligations could leave Michael Saylor with fewer options than investors realize.
Bitcoin and Ethereum suffered their sharpest weekly declines in years, but the Bits + Bips panel argues the real story is Strategy’s weakening financial engine. From preferred shares trading below par to billions in future obligations, they examine whether Strategy is facing a structural problem that no amount of bullish sentiment can solve.
All these episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
In Case You Missed It 👀
Strategy disillusionment, phantom whales, the AI boom; everyone has a finger to point when it comes to crypto’s recent price crashout.
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