When Airdrops Work: Linear, Pay-for-Performance Models

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, the crew dives into the shift from airdrops to ICOs as Monad, MegaETH, and Coinbase’s new sale format spark a rethink of how tokens should be distributed.

They discuss ICO Beast’s hedging fiasco, why most airdrops fail to create real users, and whether fixed-price ICOs are a better path for long-term alignment. The gang also unpacks Uniswap’s major “unification,” the end of Labs vs. Foundation, and UNI finally becoming the protocol’s value-accrual asset.

In the back half, they touch on the “low carb crusader” MEV trial, the hung jury, and the broader question of whether MEV games belong in criminal court at all.

A concise, high-signal look at where tokenomics, distribution, and crypto’s legal boundaries are heading next.

Show highlights

🔹 ICOs vs Airdrops, Again — Monad & MegaETH reignite the debate: should teams stop airdrop farming meta and lean fully into ICOs?

🔹 The ICOBeast Meltdown — Hedging tweets, revoked allocations, and “airdrop farmers are parasitic” spark a broader conversation about good vs. bad buyers.

🔹 Airdrops = Bad CAC — Most airdrops fail to create real users; the crew argues they’ve become toxic, easily gamed, and deliver almost no retention.

🔹 When Airdrops Actually Work — Only linear, DeFi-native “pay-for-performance” drops (Hyperliquid/Ethena style) reliably build product moats.

🔹 ICOs as the Cleaner Model — Fixed-price, IPO-style sales may be the better path for decentralization, long-term alignment, and selecting real holders.

🔹 Uniswap’s Great Unification — Labs + Foundation merge, fees turn on, 100M UNI burned; UNI becomes the single value-accruing asset at last.

🔹 Post-Lawfare Tokenomics — With Gensler-era pressure gone, protocols can finally ship real economic models without regulatory fear.

🔹 Simple Capital Structures Win — Tokens + companies with split incentives are a trap; unified value flow is the new meta.

🔹 MEV Showdown: Low Carb Crusader — Sandwiching the sandwichers leads to a hung jury; prosecutors want a retrial despite jurors in tears.

🔹 Is This Even Criminal? — The crew questions why murky MEV games get charged while blatant rug pulls go untouched.

Hosts⁠

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⁠Disclosures⁠

Links

Hayden Adams “UNIfication Proposal” 

🔗 https://gov.uniswap.org/t/unification-proposal/25881/1 

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:01 ICOBeast x MegaETH Allocation

10:40 Farming Airdrops vs. ICOs

21:00 Uniswap's Fee Switch and UNIfication

27:13 Unifying Shareholders: A New Meta

29:05 Legal & Regulatory Challenges

30:51 Celebrating Uniswap's Milestone

36:38 The MEV Bot Trial

48:36 Facing Accusers in Crypto Cases

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