Are Swap Fees Protocol Revenue?

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 Aave DAO civil war: a CoWSwap integration that allegedly routed swap fees to Aave Labs/Avara instead of the DAO, igniting “stealth privatization” claims, a “poison pill” push to seize Aave IP/brand, and a bigger fight over who really owns Aave.com and the protocol’s front door.

Next, the crew unpacks the Flow hack (a $3.9M mint exploit) and the wild rollback talk that followed — plus why forks and bridges make rollbacks dangerous, turning bridges into accidental custodians and breaking old security assumptions.

Finally, they break down Coinbase’s System Update and the “Everything Exchange” strategy — stocks, tokenization, perps, prediction markets, stablecoin rails — and whether this approach can win against Robinhood. DAO wars, chain chaos, and super-app ambition — let’s get into it.

Show highlights

🔹 Aave DAO civil war erupts — CoWSwap fees reportedly route to Aave Labs/Avara, not the DAO, fueling “stealth privatization” claims.

🔹 “Poison pill” proposal — DAO demands Aave IP/brand and Aave.com control, turning governance into a DevCo vs DAO showdown.

🔹 No foundation, messy ownership — Aave’s pre-foundation setup exposes off-chain IP risk, jurisdiction questions, and untested legal theory.

🔹 Christmas vote drama — 41% abstain signals a redo; OG/Asia backlash pits “property rights” vs “commons” narratives.

🔹 Flow hacked for $3.9M — chain pause + rollback idea sparks outrage (and wouldn’t even stop the attacker).

🔹 Rollbacks meet bridges — forked history can wipe innocent bridgers; bridges become custodians when chains reorg or rewind.

🔹 Interconnected chains break security — old models crumble, and small chains “die twice” when bridges/oracles unplug.

🔹 Coinbase goes “Everything Exchange” — stocks/ETFs, tokenization, perps, prediction markets; can Coinbase beat Robinhood’s funnel?

Hosts:

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner [MIA], CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

Links:

Aave Cowswap Integration- Tokenholder Questions (aave discussion) 

https://governance.aave.com/t/aave-cowswap-integration-tokenholder-questions/23530?u=ignas 

Aave Will Win: 2026 Master Plan by Stani Kulechov

https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2001036446098919461 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:51 Aave Civil War Erupts

06:37 CoWSwap Fees Spark Aave IP Debate

10:20 Can a DAO Own IP?

15:25 Aave’s Pre-Foundation Legal Quirk

28:20 Flow Hacked: $3.9M Mint Attack

33:50 Small Chains Die When Bridges Leave

34:33 App Chains Boom Is Over

36:32 The Hidden $20M L1 Tax

43:29 Coinbase System Update: Everything Exchange

57:43 Coinbase vs Robinhood: Build vs Buy

Disclosures

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