Plasma's Successful Launch, Revenue Over TVL & the Future of Pump.fun - Ep. 910
How do stablecoin-first blockchains win distribution? Does TVL actually map to value? And why speculation may become the default language of online culture.
In this 3-part episode, we explore three different important stories.
Segment 1: CoinFund’s Seth Ginns explains how newly launched stablecoin chain Plasma aims to compete, plus why the “stablecoin race” with Circle and Stripe is just beginning.
Segment 2: Solana Foundation president Lily Liu lays out why revenue—not TVL—should be crypto’s north-star metric, whether TVL can be easily gamed, and what a better DeFi metric stack looks like.
Segment 3: Figment Capital’s James Parillo makes the case for Pump.fun and “AudienceFi”: how creator coins can financialize streaming, whether token collapses are a feature, and why both perps and memecoins rhyme with gambling.
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Guests:
James Parillo, General Partner at Figment Capital
Lily Liu, President of Solana Foundation
Seth Ginns, Managing Partner and Head of Liquid Investments at CoinFund
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What Liquid Funds Are Buying Featuring Seth Ginns & Cosmo Jiang
Gm! This week, Seth Ginns, from CoinFund, and Cosmo Jian, of Pantera Capital, join Yano to dive into the funds’ mandates, the overall outlook of the market, whether narratives or fundamentals drive price, how DATs play a role in the investor ecosystem and why sometimes non-consensus trades pay off!
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SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees.
SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at https://skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork
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Katana is a DeFi-first chain built for deep liquidity and high yield. No empty emissions, just real yield and sequencer fees routed back to DeFi users.
Pre-deposit now: Earn high APRs with Turtle Club [https://app.turtle.club/campaigns/katana] or spin the wheel with Katana Krates [https://app.katana.network/krates]
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Ledn is the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way to unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Ledn has issued over $9 billion in loans since 2018 and has never lost a single satoshi of client assets, earning a reputation as the name you can trust in the crypto space.
Visit https://www.ledn.io to learn more.
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Chapters:
(00:00) Intro
(02:34) Liquid Funds
(05:35) CoinFund’s Mandate
(06:40) Pantera Capital’s Mandate
(15:22) Portfolio Construction
(20:17) Ads (Skale, Katana)
(21:48) Token Picking Strategy
(29:20) Narrative Driven Markets
(35:42) Acquiring, Trading & Selling Tokens
(50:25) Ads (Skale, Katana)
(51:56) Investor Relations Advice For Founders
(55:03) DATs Explored
(01:12:29) Ads (LEDN)
(01:13:39) Convergence
(01:17:58) What Sectors Benefit Most From DATs
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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.
Why CoinFund Believes There’s Still a Strong Bull Case for Bitcoin and Crypto - Ep. 816
Tariffs were back on the table, and then they weren’t. Last week, the Trump administration stunned markets with an announcement of sweeping new tariffs, including a 10% blanket rate and a 125% tariff on Chinese imports. But within days, most of those tariffs were put on a 90-day pause.
The result? A rollercoaster in equities, credit, and crypto… and plenty of questions about what’s really next.
Seth Ginns, managing partner at CoinFund, is watching all of this closely. He says the data is flashing stress, but underneath, something else is building.
In this episode, Seth breaks down:
Why tariffs hit crypto harder than most investors expected
The metrics that could signal the next macro moves and their impact on digital assets
Why he’s still cautiously bullish, even amid volatility
Whether an altcoin season is coming
Why Bitcoin’s safe haven narrative might finally be tested
Why the Trump administration’s policies, despite the turbulence, boost crypto
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Guest
Seth Ginns, Managing Partner at CoinFund
Links
Subscribe to our new crypto + macro newsletter! https://bitsandbips.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Recent coverage of Unchained on the economy and tariffs:
Arthur Hayes on Why Tariffs Will Be Good for Bitcoin and Crypto
Bits + Bips: Why a U.S. Recession May Be Coming — And Still Isn’t Priced In
Bits + Bips: Trump’s Tariffs Are Causing Mayhem, But Will They Revive U.S. Manufacturing?
Trump Tariffs Sink Crypto, BlackRock Pumps Bitcoin’s Bags
Why Trump-Induced Stagflation Could Finally Make Bitcoin a Safe Haven
In Market Crash, What Should You Buy? Crypto VCs Are Making These Bets
Bitcoin Tops $83,000 as Tariff Pause Sends Markets Soaring
Crypto Traders See Another $1B Liquidated Amid Tariff Turbulence
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
🔁 3:23 Why Trump reversed course on the sweeping tariff announcement
📉 6:33 How tariffs ripple through crypto harder than most expect
🔍 8:38 What CoinFund is watching in macro — and where the silver linings might be
⚖️ 13:48 Why Seth urges short-term caution but sees long-term tailwinds
🚀 16:14 Could altcoins actually run? Here’s how Seth defines a real “alt season”
🏦 19:13 Is this the moment Bitcoin becomes a true safe haven asset?
💰 21:56 Will new stimulus hinge on tariffs — or something else entirely?
✅ 25:11 Why Seth is surprisingly optimistic about Trump’s crypto policy so far
📰 28:27 News Recap
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CoinFund's Playbook for a Crypto Supercycle | Jake Brukhman & Seth Ginns
In this episode, Jason sits down with Jake Brukhman and Seth Ginns, co-founders and managing partners at CoinFund. They dive deep into CoinFund's origin story, investment philosophy, and how the firm navigates the complex landscape of liquid and venture investing in the crypto space. Jake and Seth share their insights on the current crypto market cycle, drawing comparisons to previous cycles and discussing potential scenarios for how this one may unfold differently. They explore the intersection of AI and crypto, with Jake highlighting the importance of decentralization and democratization in the development of AI to avoid dangerous centralized control by a few big tech companies. Stay tuned for all of this and much more!
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Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.
If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad
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Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.
https://blckwrks.co/Marinade
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:50) CoinFund Origin Story
(12:53) Web2 vs Crypto Venture
(27:28) Liquid Investing
(36:00) Determining Valuations
(44:54) Monad Ad
(45:53) Marinade Ad
(47:00) Opportunity in Interop
(55:32) Market Cycles
(01:11:16) Crypto & AI Thesis
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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.