The Chopping Block: USDH Bake-off—Native Markets, Validators & the “Beauty Contest” Debate
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 Guy founder of Ethena as a special guest, as a single ticker (USDH) sparked a weeklong spectacle: Hyperliquid’s “Bake-off” to award the USDH stablecoin brand. Native Markets surged ahead as validators signaled support, Paxos rallied late with partners and incentives, and Ethena ultimately withdrew. Was this always a vibes‑based beauty contest, or a deliberate move to pressure Circle and re‑route bridge yield? We parse the incentives, the governance, and the market microstructure — and peek at what happens if every big chain/app tries the “native stablecoin” playbook. Show highlights 🔹 Hyperliquid RFP, Explained — Validators signaled early; stakers could migrate; the USDH “ticker” confers no explicit fee rights, yet bidders offered huge economics. 🔹 Why Native Won — “Vibes-based beauty contest”: homegrown team fit the HL ethos; speed, alignment, and community trust trumped external credentials. 🔹 Paxos Allegation — Late claim of validator bribery surfaced; Paxos denied; no receipts provided; underscores governance fragility to extra‑protocol incentives. 🔹 The Real Prize — Bridge control & yield capture (+ tail‑risk management) mattered more than a brand: even a “just a ticker” beachhead can evolve to real economics. 🔹 Masterstroke Marketing — The public Bake-off dragged every major issuer onstage, boosting HL mindshare and potential leverage in any USDC negotiation. 🔹 Open vs. Closed — If you want a native team, say so; calling it an “RFP” for service providers while preferring insiders created dissonance and drama. 🔹 Odds vs. Votes — Polymarket odds rapidly converged on Native despite splashy rival bids—perception and validator reality diverged from Twitter takes. 🔹 Issuer Margins Compress — Public bids commoditize stablecoin issuance; expect 5–15 bps “asset‑manager” style economics unless you’re Tether‑scale. 🔹 App/Chain Rent Wars — Who captures the float? Apps, wallets, and chains will increasingly demand economics for distribution; UX and liquidity fragmentation loom. 🔹 Liquidity Gotchas — Forcing a nonstandard stable can impair quotes vs. USDT pairs elsewhere; exchanges risk killing their golden goose to save a few bps.
Anthony Scaramucci Slams Trump's Crypto Plans for America
Americans in #crypto are grappling with the pros and cons of President Trump turning America into the crypto capital of the world. And perhaps no one has a right to be more conflicted than Anthony Scaramucci. In a wide-ranging interview with Coinage, Trump's former White House communications director made clear that while he’s all for Bitcoin adoption, the way President Trump is going about it could wind up doing more harm for America than good. “According to the watchdogs, he's made $3.4 billion since he started the presidency the second time. I don't know if that's good for the country,” Scaramucci said. “I would actually say you say it less passive aggressive and say that's bad for the country.”
Hats, Hacks & Betr ways to meme: GM Farcaster ep289 with guest cohost Toady Hawk
Hats, Hacks & Betr ways to meme: GM Farcaster ep289 Friday, September 12, 2025 with guest cohost Toady Hawk TL:DR 🧢 Swag battle over rare hats 💸 Degen wallet hack loses $500K but price pumps 📞 Dev call updates on storage, profile tokens & mini apps 📲 Telegram scams roasted and wallet feature wish list shared 🎰 betr spins, staking and poker From our ChatGPT Intern: Prof and “NotAdrienne.eth”(Toadyhawk) opened Friday’s GM Farcaster with a swag-off that turned into a fashion critique of very yellow hats, before pivoting to the Degen wallet hack where $500K vanished but the token price mysteriously moonwalked upward. Fromthere they dunked on Telegram scams, riffed on developer jargon they barely understood, and turned protocol updates into punchlines about “manifesting” apps and Poland time. Full Show Notes and Links on YouTube Copyright 2025 cc-by GM Farcaster - reuse/remix allowed with attribution and link back to GMFarcaster.com. NOTE: Cryptocurrencies are often volatile assets. Nothing in this episode should be considered financial advice and is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing should beconsidered investment advice, nor solicitation to buy or sell any assets. NFA, DYOR. Chapters: 0:00:00 GM 0:05:54 Degen hack 0:10:20 FC News 0:26:52 Base App0:29:58 builders building0:37:51 Clanker v4 liquidity 0:41:57 betr
Are Layer 2s Failing Ethereum? A New Proposal Advocates for Native L2s
Martin Köppelmann, co-founder of Gnosis, has proposed that Ethereum should have native rollups—a vision aimed at addressing scalability and decentralization. Köppelmann critiques the current state of layer 2 solutions, highlighting their limitations in fully inheriting Ethereum’s security and composability. He proposes a bold alternative: 128 Ethereum-native rollups designed to expand block space, strengthen alignment with Ethereum’s core principles, and ensure long-term viability for developers and users. Plus, Martin tackles the controversies: Are L2s parasitic? Could native rollups spell the end for existing solutions? And why should they rely on zero-knowledge proofs instead of optimism?
Artcoins on Zora
We’re joined by Andrei - the founder of ArtRun to chat about the debut of their new platform for secondary markets on Zora.
