Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the gang sits down with guest Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures, whose tweet thread pushed the Wall Street Journal to correct its story that Hamas had raised tens of millions in crypto. Carter discusses the challenges in tracking how much crypto Hamas has actually received, the declining prospects for Sam Bankman-Fried’s acquittal, and ongoing dramas surrounding staking protocol Lido and decentralized exchange dYdX.
Show highlights:
- Why the cross-examination has not gone well for Sam Bankman-Fried
- how the Wall Street Journal misinterpreted data and may have overstated the amount of crypto donations flowing to Hamas for terrorist activities
- why it’s difficult to pinpoint how much funding Hamas has raised in crypto donations
- how extensive crypto funding for terrorists is believable to many outside observers of the industry, even recently some of its supporters in Congress, but does not reflect reality
- Why Hamas has decided on its own to stop trying to raise funds in crypto
- how Lido is upset at the way Layer Zero has pre-marketed its bridge
- why dYdX’s pivot to decentralization with fees going into its token is a positive development but does not give the protocol the moral high ground to attack erstwhile competitors such as UniSwap.
Hosts
Guest
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Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Ventures
Links
Previous coverage by Unchained on the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried:
Hamas
Layer Zero/Lido
dYdX
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