The Chopping Block: Quantum FUD, Circle vs. Tether & WLFI Drama
Quantum computing risk, USDC vs. Tether drama after the Drift hack, and World Liberty Financial’s governance circus take center stage as Haseeb, Tom, Tarun, and special guest Joshua Lim dissect market signals, institutional FUD, Trumpcoin shenanigans, and ask: is crypto VC dead or just getting started?
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 is joined by special guest Joshua Lim, Head of Derivatives at FalconX (and self-described Quantum FUD Whisperer). Ever wondered what happens when a quantum computer finally threatens public key cryptography? We break down the real and imagined risks of “Q Day,” what markets are actually pricing in, and why watching for Satoshi’s coins moving is still the ultimate market panic trigger.
Next up, the hosts tackle the messiest storyline in stablecoins: the massive Drift hack, North Korea’s role, and the blame game between USDC and Tether. Is Circle’s “wait for the court order” approach defensible, or are PR wins up for grabs for whoever moves fastest?
We would never forget the crypto car crash that is World Liberty Financial: from drama-filled governance votes that magically extend lockups, to Justin Sun’s redemption arc versus Trumpcoin, to whale-scale DeFi leverage that could nuke a protocol. It’s a masterclass in governance theater and permissioned shenanigans.
Finally, we level with all the “crypto venture is dead” crowd — who’s still building, where the real capital is now, and why bear markets always demand an extra shot of conviction.
From quantum nightmares to meme coin melodrama, 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
🔹“Q Day” decoded: What quantum risk really means for Bitcoin and the markets
🔹 How institutional allocators cite quantum FUD — but are they just making excuses?
🔹 Why “watching for Satoshi’s coins moving” would nuke market confidence
🔹 Drift hack dissected: USDC vs. Tether, North Korea fingerprints, and Circle’s PR headache
🔹 Is Circle’s don’t-freeze-without-court-order policy defensible or just bad optics?
🔹 World Liberty Financial’s (Trumpcoin) greatest hits: forced lockups, governance theater, and Justin Sun’s crusade
🔹 Tether’s “PR coup” and the stablecoin migration on Solana
🔹 Are most crypto VCs washed? Debating the right-sizing of venture capital in the bear
🔹 Hot takes on “revenue meta,” mature infrastructure, and why there’s less room for dreamers
🔹 Who’s actually still building in crypto — and why cycles always come back
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Joshua Lim, Head of Markets at FalconX
Links:
Joshua Lim’s Q-Day Thread: https://x.com/joshua_j_lim/status/2044602429002367330?s=20
Disclosures
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Why Bitcoin Is Down, Plus the Rare Bright Spot in Crypto: Hyperliquid
Thank you to our sponsor!
Fuse
Bitcoin's collapse is accelerating. Continuing a descent that began last week, the asset this week has all the price progress made under the Trump administration. The price action begs the question why amid greater adoption and support.
In this episode of Unchained, FalconX Head of Markets Joshua Lim highlights two main reasons for Bitcoin's regression and offers his outlook for the year. Is it 2022 all over?
Plus, how gold's run resembles GameStop in 2021 and why Hyperliquid is a bright spot amid market weakness.
Guest:
Joshua Lim, Head of Markets, FalconX
Links:
Bitcoin Sinks as Markets Price In a More Hawkish Fed
Has Bitcoin Failed to Live Up to the Digital Gold Narrative?
Why HYPE Is Up While Every Other Crypto, Including Bitcoin, Is Down
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Josh Lim on how Trump’s election is opening the door for institutional crypto adoption
Joshua Lim is the co-founder of Arbelos Markets.
In this episode, Lim and Chaparro discuss the crypto market surge sparked by Donald Trump's election as U.S. President. Lim sheds light on how the Trump administration's regulatory stance could pave the way for institutional investors to dive deeper ino the crypto space, potentially driving higher trading volumes and boosting liquidity across the ecosystem.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:01 Macro Tailwinds
03:17 Flows & Volume
08:14 Market Opportunities
12:29 ETF Flows' Impact on Crypto
21:30 Crypto Credit Market
24:52 MicroStrategy's Strategy
27:37 Market Predictions
33:08 Banks & Crypto Adoption
This episode is brought to you by our sponsors, Polkadot & Bitkey.
The Block Community
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The Block Newsletters
The Block's newsletters bring you the latest news and analysis of the fast-moving crypto and DeFi markets. To subscribe, visit theblock.co/newsletters
GUEST LINKS
Joshua Lim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-lim-1b27098/
Joshua Lim on X - https://x.com/joshua_j_lim
Arbelos Markets - https://arbelos.xyz/
Arbelos Markets on X - https://x.com/arbelosxyz
Why Bitcoin ETF Options Could Unlock Massive Amounts of Capital for Crypto - Ep. 711
With Bitcoin ETF options on the horizon, the crypto market is bracing for significant changes. In this episode, Joshua Lim, co-founder and CEO of Arbelos Markets, joins us to explain what the launch of Bitcoin ETF options means for the broader market. Could they unlock vast amounts of capital and set off a new altcoin boom? Josh also dives into the potential effects on Bitcoin volatility, DeFi lending, and even the onchain options markets. Plus, what could the 2024 U.S. presidential election mean for Bitcoin?
Show highlights:
What are options and why they are significant for bitcoin ETFs
How they will affect the price of BTC
When options will actually launch and what needs to be done
How the launch of IBIT options could lower Bitcoin volatility and compress spreads
Whether dominant players in derivatives will suffer from this launch
How the launch of options could lead to an “altcoin boom”
Why Josh thinks the SEC delayed its decision on ether ETF options
How rising Bitcoin options interest could trigger volatility during major options expiries
What Josh thinks the impact of the US presidential election will be on the markets
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
Coinbase
iTrustCapital
Polkadot
Mantle’s FBTC
Guest:
Joshua Lim, Co-founder and CEO of Arbelos Markets
Links
Approval for BlackRock’s IBIT
The Block: Bitcoin ETFs set to attract liquidity and speculation as IBIT options trading gains approval
CoinDesk: BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Options to Set Stage for GameStop-Like 'Gamma Squeeze' Rally, Bitwise Predicts
Decrypt: SEC Hits Pause on Ethereum ETF Options Following Bitcoin Nod -
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:48 What Bitcoin ETF options are and why they’re significant
05:41 Impact on BTC price
08:17 When Bitcoin ETF options will launch
10:03 How IBIT options could reduce volatility
15:53 Will dominant players in derivatives be affected?
20:40 How options could trigger an altcoin boom
24:12 Thoughts on potential ether ETF options approval
24:47 Rising Bitcoin options interest and volatility risks
28:22 Impact of the 2024 US election on crypto markets
31:48 News Recap
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Here's how the crypto market shifted last year, according to an exec trading billions of dollars
2021 was a landmark year for Genesis Global.
The trading firm — which operates a wide-range of businesses spanning lending and prime services — clocked in more than $100 billion in spot crypto volumes in 2021. On the lending side of the house, cumulative loan originations stood at more than $130 billion.
On this episode of The Scoop, head of derivatives at Genesis Joshua Lim helped unpack the dynamics shaping the market behind its headline Q4 numbers.
In addition to a compression in the popular, and once very juicy, basis trade, Lim explained that the market became more dynamic with big new hedge funds entering the fold. At the same time, existing participants become more engaged with the market – holding crypto on their balance sheet for not just investment purposes, but for operational use as well.
“It could be linked to receiving payments denominated in tokens from projects that they had executed for other firms. It could be related to running nodes on a blockchain,” Lim said. “It could be more traditional kind of crypto native use cases like receiving a percentage of whatever assets under custody as sort of a revenue stream.”
“We saw those types of firms really engaging on derivative hedges that would, you know, protect them on the downside, which was actually kind of useful.”
Lim added that as more firms enter the space through the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), demand for such hedging tools could extend beyond the crypto native investors that Genesis is used to dealing with. The firm has already started accepting NFTs as collateral for certain loans. Still, it’s early days for NFT-related lending.
“It's not something that we do on a regular basis,” Lim said. “I think from a business perspective, it's still, let's say, less than 50 basis points of our overall lending business in terms of the magnitude of the collateral value.
Episode 8 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Joshua Lim, Head of Derivatives at Genesis Global Trading.
Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Fireblocks, Coinbase Prime & Chainalysis
Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.
Billion dollar bitcoin funds are reshaping the crypto derivatives market
Genesis Global Trading—the New York-based crypto firm that bills itself as a prime brokerage—turned over more than $8 billion worth of derivatives last quarter.
Joshua Lim is the man behind those billions as the firm's Head of Derivatives. Lim joined The Scoop this week to unpack Genesis' second quarter report, explaining how new preferences among investors and traders have shaped the make up of derivatives. He told The Block's Frank Chaparro that the growth of crypto-native hedge funds have increased their need for derivatives, including options and futures, to hedge their positions.
"I think it's mostly crypto negative hedge funds that we deal with that were more willing to engage with us on hedging strategies," he said. As bitcoin was approaching $55,000, he said many were "looking for attractive pricing on the implied volatility across two different strikes such that they could buy some cheap sort of protection for their portfolio."
That desire to hedge among crypto players was echoed in Genesis' report, which was released Wednesday:
"As BTC/USD marched to new highs in April, a number of our forward-thinking crypto-native hedge fund and corporate treasury counterparties meaningfully stepped up their systematic put-hedging programs."
As for the second-quarter specifically, Lim pointed out a number of trends that played out, including the tightening of the spread between spot and futures and a reversal of the popular basis trade that aims to profit from that spread.
In this episode Lim also unpacks:
How the derivatives market in crypto evolved from linear products to a wide-range of products
How the spread between spot and futures can indicate how frothy the market is
The big takeaways from Genesis' second quarter report
What needs to happen in the NFT market for it to support derivatives
The emergence of market neutral strategies in crypto
Episode 45 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Genesis Global Trading's Head of Derivatives Joshua Lim.
Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Eventus, Kraken, and Exodus
Eventus is the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Eventus offers a powerful, award-winning trade surveillance platform that is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. The company’s rapidly growing client base relies on Eventus’ responsive support and product development teams to overcome its most pressing regulatory challenges.
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