Circle's IPO and Market Euphoria

This chapter delves into the dramatic fluctuations of Circle's stock after its IPO, including its brief surge past Coinbase and subsequent market valuation highs. The speakers engage in a light-hearted yet critical analysis of the retail excitement surrounding Circle, comparing it to the GameStop phenomenon and discussing the disconnect between traditional valuation and meme stock speculation.

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Episode notes

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 Vlad, the leverage legend behind Lighter, a zk-powered DEX taking aim at Hyperliquid in the rising CLOB wars. We unpack the new Token Transparency Framework from Blockworks and whether self-regulation can fix crypto’s disclosure problem. Should VC wallets be public? Are market-making deals legally risky? And why do most projects still say nothing?

Plus: Vlad explains how Lighter uses zero-knowledge proofs to enforce fairness and fight toxic flow—without harming retail. And Circle’s stock goes full meme mode, TikTok retail piles in, and Robert reveals he’s short. Is crypto finally growing up—or just evolving its chaos?

Show highlights

🔹 Token Transparency Framework Debated – Blockworks’ 40-point voluntary disclosure system sparks industry-wide discussion on what teams and investors should reveal

🔹 Disclosures vs. Reality – Most projects don’t lie—they just don’t publish. The real problem isn’t fraud, it’s silence

🔹 VC Wallets Stay Dark – Debate over whether investor wallet addresses and cost bases should be disclosed; consensus: team vesting should be public, investor holdings still a gray area

🔹 Exchange Listings & Disclosures – Exchanges are considering using the transparency framework to prioritize listings, creating pressure for teams to comply

🔹 CLOB Wars Continue – Lighter joins the battle against Hyperliquid with zk-proven verifiability and zero-fee trading for retail

🔹 Lighter’s Architecture Edge – Built as a ZK L2 on Ethereum, Lighter pitches composability + security vs. Hyperliquid’s standalone stack

🔹 Fighting Toxic Flow – Instead of cancel-order tricks, Lighter adds subtle latency and fee mechanics to penalize HFT bots without harming retail

🔹 Dark Pools for DeFi? – Vlad teases ZK-based private order flow as a future feature, merging institutional behavior with onchain guarantees

🔹 DEX Future = Specialization – Vlad predicts no single winner: future DEXs will specialize in niches—memecoins, structured products, prediction markets

🔹 Circle Becomes a Meme Stock – Robert discloses his short position as retail pumps Circle to an $80B FDV off TikTok hype and the Genius Act tailwinds

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest

⭐️ Vladimir Novakovski, CEO & Founder of Lighter

Token Transparency by Blockworks: https://blockworks.co/token-transparency

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:49 Token Transparency Report by Blockworks

04:17 Token Disclosures

08:52 Challenges and Future of Token Transparency

23:22 Circle Mania Continues

25:06 Circle Valuation and Market Reactions

30:15 CLOB Wars