Mantle

The crew is joined by Selini Capital’s Jordi Alexander to break down Open USD, the no-fee stablecoin from a 140-firm consortium spanning Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, all aimed at the Circle and Tether duopoly. Plus Saylor’s new Digital Credit framework for MicroStrategy, the Ansem-fueled memecoin comeback, and ENS reigniting the “DAOs are fake” 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. Joining the panel “at the moment of max pain” is Jordi Alexander, CIO of Selini Capital. First up: MicroStrategy in crisis, with MSTR down about 30% in five days and STRC hitting $71, and Saylor’s answer, a new Digital Credit framework with an 18-month cash cushion and a jumbo dividend hike to 12%. Then the headline story, Open USD: a no-fee stablecoin from a 140-member consortium including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, built to break the Circle and Tether duopoly. The back half covers the memecoin comeback around the Ansem coin, and ENS reigniting the “DAOs are fake” debate after Nick Johnson single-handedly blocked a governance vote, before the crew debates whether consortia are just DAOs in a suit. Let’s get into it. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights 🔹 MSTR falls about 30% in five days and STRC hits $71. Saylor answers with a new “Digital Credit” framework, an 18-month cash cushion, and a jumbo dividend hike to 12% 🔹 Jordi calls the death-spiral panic overblown: “Luna was worthless; you cannot print Bitcoin” 🔹 Tarun stands by “Luna for suits,” comparing STRC’s marketing to Anchor, right down to the AI ad of Saylor escaping the Titanic 🔹 Open USD launches: a no-fee, no-cap stablecoin backed by 140 firms including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, aimed at the Circle and Tether duopoly 🔹 Circle drops about 7 to 8% on the news, and Tether’s Paolo Ardoino “welcomes” a real competitor, the same bit he ran on Libra 🔹 Haseeb’s take: a 140-member consortium is “a signed petition,” good for expanding the market but not for taking Tether’s or Circle’s turf 🔹 Tarun says it all comes down to the revenue share. Set the wrong rules and someone just farms the rake 🔹 The Ansem coin sparks a memecoin revival, a roughly $100M cap the market hasn’t seen in a long time 🔹 ENS reignites the DAO debate as Nick Johnson blocks a treasury restructuring with about 50% of the vote. Are consortia just DAOs in a suit? Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly  ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly  ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures Guest ⭐️Jordi Alexander, CEO of Selini Capital Disclosures Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:07 The DeSci beef and Tarun’s Ponzi crusade 03:30 MicroStrategy in crisis: Saylor’s Digital Credit reset 09:34 Is STRC still “Luna for suits”? 19:24 Open USD: 140 firms take on Circle and Tether 29:42 Why a 140-member consortium is just a “signed petition” 42:13 Coinbase’s two masters: USDC vs Open USD 47:01 The memecoin comeback and the Ansem coin 51:57 ENS blows up the DAO: Nick Johnson blocks the vote 57:26 DAOs vs consortia, and can AI save governance? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

This week Jordi Alexander joins the show live from the Origin Summit, hosted by Story and Blockworks alongside Forward Guidance host Felix Jauvin. We deep dive into where are we in the cycle, is DAT season over, finding opportunity as an investor & more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jordi: https://x.com/gametheorizing Follow Felix: https://x.com/fejau_inc Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Timestamps: (0:00) Introduction (1:33) Where Are We In The Cycle? (4:40) Perp DEXs (8:49) What To Focus On As An Investor (11:06) Is DAT Season Over? (16:41) Final Thoughts -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

DeFi tokens have faced significant challenges in recent years. However, are we now on the verge of a new bull market? Arthur Cheong, founder and CIO of DeFiance Capital, and Jordi Alexander, founder of Selini Capital and chief alchemist at Mantle, join the show to discuss why they believe DeFi is poised for growth. They dive into how DeFi's security and user experience have improved, the impact of Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum, and whether Ethereum or Solana will drive the next bull run. Plus, they discuss whether interest in memecoins takes attention from DeFi, and why sustainable tokenomics matters when it comes to valuing coins.  Are DeFi tokens finally ready to shine again? Show highlights: Why they believe that DeFi is poised for a bull cycle  How DeFi's security and UX have improved Whether DeFi activity can be sustained in the long term Why Jordi thinks that Layer 2s are not parasitic to ETH but Arthur thinks they are Whether the DeFi bull case is stronger on Ethereum, Solana or other chains Whether the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin should be more proactive in supporting DeFi How memecoins reflect a broader societal problem  The importance of tokens that don’t have big unlocks How the lack of solid frameworks for valuing tokens might be causing capital misallocation in crypto Whether a liquid venture investing approach is better for crypto Why Jordi says that there’s a lot of “potential to unlock” with the overlap of Bitcoin and DeFi Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Mantle Guests: Arthur Cheong, founder and CIO of DeFiance Capital Aave, the Core Pillar of Decentralized Finance and Onchain Economy Liquid Venture Investing in Crypto Jordi Alexander, Chief Alchemist at Mantle, Founder of Selini Capital Links Previous coverage of Unchained on this cycle & DeFi :Has Decentralized Finance Hit Bottom? Kain Warwick’s tweet on Vitalik being anti-DeFi Cointelegraph: Vitalik Buterin responds to criticism that Ethereum ‘doesn’t care’ about DeFi The great return of DeFi, by @tradetheflow Bitcoin DeFi Bitcoin Layer 2s Aim to Attract Ethereum-Like Dapps. Will They Succeed? Bitcoin Is Worth Over $1 Trillion. How Much Will Coinbase’s New cbBTC Grab? L2s and ETH: ETH Is Down Bad, While Layer 2s Are Ripping. Are L2s Parasitic to Ethereum? Are L2s ‘Parasitic’? Analysis Shows Ethereum Only Gets a Tiny Percentage of Fees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arthur Cheong

Founder

DeFiance Capital

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

In this episode, Jordi Alexander exposes the fundamental flaws in how capital is allocated in crypto. Jordi dissects the misaligned incentives, short-term thinking, and hype-driven decision-making that plague the space. He unpacks his take on token economics, the pitfalls of venture capital deals, and the often-overlooked dynamics of supply and demand. Jordi also shares insights on how projects like Mantle are attempting to rectify these issues, and provides a sobering outlook on what needs to change for crypto to realize its true potential. Thanks for tuning in! - - Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Jordi: https://twitter.com/gametheorizing Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7ww Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Cronos zkEVM has launched its Pioneer Program,offering early users loyalty points for engaging with Cronos zkEVM & its dapps. Join the first quest by depositing CRO in the Cronos zkEVM bridge to receive zkCRO & loyalty points at mainnet launch, as well as a chance to win a part of a $30,000 zkCRO giveaway by depositing in the bridge. Visit zkevm.cronos.org/bridge for more info - - Harpie sets the standard in on-chain security, actively monitoring and safeguarding your crypto wallet against theft in real time. It detects, blocks, and recovers stolen assets from risky transactions before they execute, shielding you from even the most advanced hacks and scams. Harpie is free to use and compatible with all Ethereum, Base, Polygon, and Arbitrum wallets. Protect your crypto today at harpie.io. - - Supra Containers are secured by Supra’s L1 nodes and get access to Supra’s 500k TPS throughput, sub-second consensus latency, and all their built-in services like oracle price feeds and onchain randomness without any overhead. Supra is also MultiVM compatible so you can easily deploy your EVM, Move, and SVM smart contracts here. Get all the freedom, control, and tools you need to build super dApps and bring the world onchain. To learn more, visit www.supra.com/blockworks - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:37) Crypto Today (07:30) ETH's Journey (15:25) Truth About Currency Yield (20:46) Fractionalizing ETH Value Accrual (27:53) Valuating Digital Assets (42:49) Cronos Ad (43:49) Surpa Ad (44:45) Harpie Ad (45:38) Venture Dynamics (56:14) Mantle's Origin & Strategy (01:07:18) 2025 Outlook  - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

✨ DEBRIEF | Ryan & David unpacking the episode: https://www.bankless.com/debrief-l2-tokens/ ------ Are Layer2 Tokens bullish or are they just worthless governance tokens? We’ve brought a team of expert panelists to help us answer that exact question. Mike Ippolito, Jordi Alexander and Anthony Sassano explore Layer2 business models, where value is accrued and how to capture that upside. ------ 🥩PRIMESTAKED | MINT primeETH NOW https://bankless.cc/Origin-pod  ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24  https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2   ⁠  🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo   🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/toku   🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 💸 CRYPTO TAX CALCULATOR | USE CODE BANK30 https://bankless.cc/CTC 🦄 UNISWAP | SWAP SMARTER https://bankless.cc/uniswap ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 7:50 L2 Value Capture 13:37 Short-Term vs Long-Term 17:30 L2 Business Model 28:24 Worthless Governance Tokens? 42:04 Immutable & Base 53:40 Vertically-Integrated Chains 1:05:24 Do L2s Need Tokens? 1:15:38 L2 Experimentation 1:32:44 Capturing L2 Upside 1:38:44 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES L2Beat https://l2beat.com/scaling/summary  ETH in 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rPF8zNnfnE  Anthony Sassano https://twitter.com/sassal0x  Mike Ippolito  https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_  Jordi Alexander https://twitter.com/gametheorizing  ------ Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Mike Ippolito

Co-Founder

Blockworks

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

Anthony Sassano

Creator

The Daily GweiEthHub

✨ DEBRIEF | Ryan & David unpacking the episode: https://www.bankless.com/debrief-eth-2024  ----- 2023 wasn’t great for Ethereum… from a price perspective. But it was fantastic from a building perspective. Where does Ethereum go from here? What does 2024 have in store for ETH the asset and Ethereum the network? Anthony Sassano, Mike Ippolito, and Jordi Alexander join to give a high level overview of the Ethereum ecosystem. The problems, the solutions, and the future. ----- 🏹 Airdrop Hunter is HERE, join your first HUNT today https://bankless.cc/JoinYourFirstHUNT     ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE ⁠https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2   ⁠ 🦊METAMASK PORTFOLIO | MANAGE YOUR WEB3 EVERYTHING ⁠https://bankless.cc/MetaMask   ⚖️ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo  🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/Toku ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 6:13 Ethereum in 2023 17:40 ETH as Money 24:30 The Internet Bond 30:00 From Execution to Settlement 37:40 Inside vs Outside Crypto 43:20 Restaking and Data Availability 1:10:00 Layer 2s and Modularity 1:23:00 Fragmentation 1:33:15 Decentralization 1:46:50 Wrapping Up 1:51:00 ETH Price Predictions ------ RESOURCES Anthony Sassano https://x.com/sassal0x?s=20 Mike Ippolito https://x.com/MikeIppolito_?s=20 Jordi Alexander https://x.com/gametheorizing?s=20 ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://bankless.com/disclosures

Anthony Sassano

Creator

The Daily GweiEthHub

Michael Ippolito

Co-founder

Blockworks

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

Today we are joined by Lyn Alden and Jordi Alexander to discuss the Bitcoin blockspace debate, Bitcoin's long-term security and money vs tech crypto. Lyn and Jordi are two of the most prominent macro and Bitcoin investors. You don't want to miss their hot (and often conflicting) takes on the evolution and future of Bitcoin! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Bitcoin Blockspace Debate (10:59) The Bear Case and Long-Term Security (36:03) Quicknode (37:50) Kwenta (38:45) Money Crypto vs Tech Crypto (51:53) Bitcoin's Attack Vectors (57:56) Incentives for Bitcoin Development (01:09:29) Macro’s Impact on BTC (01:14:45) The Bitcoin Halvening - - Follow Lyn: https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact Follow Jordi: https://twitter.com/gametheorizing Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/  - - This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan! - - This episode is brought to you by Kwenta, the premier derivatives trading platform on Optimism that offers deep liquidity, low fees and up to 50x leverage across 24+ assets. Go to Kwenta.io and start trading today! - - Resources Lyn Alden's website https://www.lynalden.com/ Selini Capital https://www.selinicapital.com/ - -  Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Lyn Alden

Independent Analyst and Investor

Lyn Alden Investment Strategy

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

While the crypto market may seem chaotic to the outside observer, game theory can be used to analyze the underlying dynamics that lead to volatile price action. Jordi Alexander, Founder & CIO of Selini Capital, has a track record for utilizing game theory to predict crypto market events — including the collapse of the TerraUSD 'stablecoin' last year.  In this episode of The Scoop, Alexander unpacks how individual cryptocurrencies derive their value, and explains how game theory can be used to demystify crypto market behavior. According to Alexander, the value of cryptocurrencies comes largely from their potential for some future utility: “A lot of these tokens, including the big ones, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, they’re options, and you have to understand what gives an option value . . . Ethereum is an option on all the future apps that can be built and use that platform . . . Bitcoin is a call option on it being an alternative to the fiat financial system.” In addition to economic predictions, game theory can also be applied to crypto in a geopolitical context when it comes to regulation. As Alexander explains, the United States unilaterally banning crypto would do little to stop the growth of the industry: "If they ban [crypto] over here, game theory stipulates that there's going to be so much demand that will get satisfied by another country providing it that maybe it's actually not good for the United States to ban and assume that this is going to go away because it's not going to stop crypto from developing — it'll just drive it to somewhere else." This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Circle, Railgun, Flare Network, NordVPN About Circle Circle is a global financial technology company helping money move at internet speed. Our mission is to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. Visit Circle.com to learn more. About Railgun RAILGUN is a private DeFi solution on Ethereum, BSC, Arbitrum, and Polygon. Shield any ERC-20 token and any NFT into a Private Balance and let RAILGUN’s Zero-Knowledge cryptography encrypt your address, balance, and transaction history. You can also bring privacy to your project with RAILGUN SDK and be sure to check out RAILGUN with partner project Railway Wallet, also available on iOS and Android. Visit Railgun.org to find out more. About Flare Flare is an EVM-based Layer 1 blockchain designed to allow developers to build applications that can use data from other blockchains and the internet. By providing decentralized access to a wide variety of high integrity data from other blockchains and the internet, Flare enables new use cases and monetisation models. Build better and connect everything at Flare.Network About NordVPN NordVPN is essential for keeping crypto transactions secure, hiding your IP address and protecting your devices from hackers and data theft. Get premium cyber-security on up to 6 devices for the price of a cup of coffee a month. Get your exclusive NordVPN Deal and try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee: Visit https://nordvpn.com/thescoop

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

Jordi Alexander returns to debate David Hoffman on whether or not next week's Ethereum Merge is bullish or bearish for ETH. The debate is moderated by none other than, Ryan Sean Adams. Let us know if you're bullish or bearish in the comments or on Twitter: @banklesshq ------ 📣 ConsenSys | Mint a Merge NFT! https://bankless.cc/themerge  📣 Converge 2022 | Register with code Bankless250 for $250 off https://bankless.cc/Circle  ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🚀 ROCKET POOL | ETH STAKING https://bankless.cc/RocketPool  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  ❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across  🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave  🌴 MAKER DAO | DECENTRALIZED LENDING https://bankless.cc/MakerDAO  🔐 LEDGER | SECURE STAKING https://bankless.cc/Ledger  ------ Topics Covered: 0:00 Intro 3:03 David & Jordi's Luna Debate 10:07 Why the Merge is Overhyped? 16:50 Merge Bulls 21:05 Long ETH? 23:10 The ETH Narrative Play 32:05 Overestimating the ETH Yield 42:38 Blockspace Demand 1:02:05 Multichains 1:06:17 Ethereum's Gravitational Pull 1:09:57 Value Accrual 1:17:23 ETH Not Monetary Premium? 1:28:50 Price Range Predictions ------ Resources: Jordi Alexander https://twitter.com/gametheorizing  Jordi's Article https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/is-the-merge-overhyped  David's Rebuttal to Jordi's Article https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/a-rebuttal-to-jordi-alexander-and  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

Jordi Alexander and Mika Honkasalo join Jason and Santiago on today’s episode of “Empire" to discuss the meltdown of UST, Terra's stablecoin. The match was lit Sunday with UST de-pegging from one dollar, and it's now become the single biggest wealth destruction event in crypto. Jordi and Mika explain what led to UST's demise, how this could have been prevented, and what's in store for the future of UST and Terra. Is this the end of decentralized stablecoins? Can the market recover? Tune in to find out. - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Jordi: https://twitter.com/gametheorizing Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc -- (00:00) Introduction (01:07) What Happened to UST? (04:32) Utility vs Ponzi Mechanics (12:13) BTC Reserve (15:26) The Attack (20:32) How Did Institutions Play This? (24:31) Macro's Impact (26:52) Future of Decentralized Stablecoins (35:46) How Could UST Be Designed Differently? (43:21) The Multiplier Effect (44:44) The Soros Test (46:57) What's Next for UST? (56:16) The Arbitrage (59:12) The Systemic Effects (1:05:40) The Investment Outlook -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jordi Alexander

Chief Investment Officer

Selini CapitalMantle

Mika Honkasalo

Independent Crypto Researcher

The BlockAccess Protocol