Should Crypto Tokens Come With Investor Rights? - Uneasy Money
Unchained | Jul 31 2026 | 01:11:48
BitMEX shut down without an angry tweet. Offchain Labs CEO Steven Goldfeder joins Kain and Taylor on why dead tokens never get that mercy. Plus, Kyle Samani's Multicoin blowup.
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BitMEX shut down after 11 years and crypto Twitter answered with nostalgia. When a token project dies, the same audience spends weeks dragging it.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and CEO of Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, joins Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to work through why. Goldfeder argues crypto's grant-funded, revenue-optional era is over, and explains why Arbitrum licensed its stack so that partners like Robinhood Chain have to keep paying for it, while Base pays Optimism.
They trace the DPRK crewhacking crews now rotating through bridge exploits, debate whether Uniswap's new permissioned pools point toward tokens that carry real investor rights, and ask Goldfeder whether he would trade Arbitrum's open token for a restricted one only a fraction of the world could hold.
The conversation closes on Kyle Samani telling Solana builders that Multicoin, the firm he co-founded, is working against them, and what that says about how much of an ecosystem can rest on a single fund.
Hosts:
Kain Warwick - Host of Uneasy Money and Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
Taylor Monahan - Co-host of Uneasy Money and Security Expert
Guest:
Steven Goldfeder - Co-Founder and CEO of Offchain Labs
Timestamps
📣 00:47 Cape: Get 33% off six months at https://cape.co/unchained
🪦 01:47 Kain opens wondering whether crypto itself is quietly dying in 2026
📊 03:41 Steven on Arbitrum's project tracking and the 'massive consolidation' hitting L2s
⚔️ 10:03 The proxy war: Robinhood Chain and Base now fight instead of Arbitrum and Optimism
🪦 14:23 Why BitMEX's shutdown felt nostalgic while token deaths trigger real anger
🌉 26:21 Hacks of the week: the DPRK crew behind the AFX perp DEX bridge exploit
👽 32:51 Kain's take: bridges got safer until 'aliens landed' and started hacking again
🏛️ 40:32 Permissioned DeFi: Uniswap's compliance pools and Superstate's equity-like tokens
🎯 57:32 Would Steven trade Arbitrum's open token for a 5% investor-only model?
🥊 01:05:42 Kyle Samani's Multicoin tweet and Solana's VC fight over Hyperliquid
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
========================================================
Thank you to our sponsors!
Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).
========================================================
BitMEX shut down after 11 years and crypto Twitter answered with nostalgia. When a token project dies, the same audience spends weeks dragging it.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and CEO of Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, joins Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to work through why. Goldfeder argues crypto's grant-funded, revenue-optional era is over, and explains why Arbitrum licensed its stack so that partners like Robinhood Chain have to keep paying for it, while Base pays Optimism.
They trace the DPRK crewhacking crews now rotating through bridge exploits, debate whether Uniswap's new permissioned pools point toward tokens that carry real investor rights, and ask Goldfeder whether he would trade Arbitrum's open token for a restricted one only a fraction of the world could hold.
The conversation closes on Kyle Samani telling Solana builders that Multicoin, the firm he co-founded, is working against them, and what that says about how much of an ecosystem can rest on a single fund.
Hosts:
Kain Warwick - Host of Uneasy Money and Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
Taylor Monahan - Co-host of Uneasy Money and Security Expert
Guest:
Steven Goldfeder - Co-Founder and CEO of Offchain Labs
Timestamps
📣 00:47 Cape: Get 33% off six months at https://cape.co/unchained
🪦 01:47 Kain opens wondering whether crypto itself is quietly dying in 2026
📊 03:41 Steven on Arbitrum's project tracking and the 'massive consolidation' hitting L2s
⚔️ 10:03 The proxy war: Robinhood Chain and Base now fight instead of Arbitrum and Optimism
🪦 14:23 Why BitMEX's shutdown felt nostalgic while token deaths trigger real anger
🌉 26:21 Hacks of the week: the DPRK crew behind the AFX perp DEX bridge exploit
👽 32:51 Kain's take: bridges got safer until 'aliens landed' and started hacking again
🏛️ 40:32 Permissioned DeFi: Uniswap's compliance pools and Superstate's equity-like tokens
🎯 57:32 Would Steven trade Arbitrum's open token for a 5% investor-only model?
🥊 01:05:42 Kyle Samani's Multicoin tweet and Solana's VC fight over Hyperliquid
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices