No Altcoin Season? Tell That to the TradFi Players - Uneasy Money
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  February 15, 2026 at 21:30 UTC  |  1:12:19  |  Unchained (Chopping Block)
Speakers
Kane Warrick — Host
Taylor Monahan — Co-host / Security Expert
Luca Netz — CEO of Pudgy Penguins

Summary

  • Institutional DeFi Adoption: BlackRock is not just using Uniswap rails for its $2.2B tokenized treasury fund but is actively acquiring UNI tokens, signaling a shift from using the tech to owning the governance assets.
  • LayerZero's Pivot: LayerZero is launching "Zero Chain," positioning itself as the "last blockchain" with claims of exceeding Solana's performance while running on Raspberry Pi hardware.
  • Base's Strategic Retreat: Coinbase's Base L2 has pivoted away from social/consumer apps (Farcaster integration) to focus strictly on a "trading app" experience, prioritizing immediate revenue over experimental product-market fit.
  • AI Acceleration: The hosts argue we are in a "fast takeoff" scenario where AI agents will soon transact autonomously, creating a massive new economy for crypto payment rails (Stripe/Stablecoins) regardless of human safety concerns.
Trade Ideas
Ticker Direction Speaker Thesis Time
UNI /BLK
LONG Kain Warwick
Founder, Synthetix / Infinex 		BlackRock has chosen Uniswap X for its $2.2B tokenized treasury fund and has explicitly acquired UNI tokens (buying the asset, not just using the software). Historically, institutions avoided "alts" (tokens other than BTC/ETH). BlackRock buying UNI creates a "token sink" and legitimizes DeFi governance tokens as investable assets for TradFi, moving beyond the "valueless governance token" meme. LONG UNI as the premier institutional DeFi rail; LONG BLK as the beneficiary of tokenized RWA fees. Regulatory crackdown on DeFi interfaces; KYC/Permissioned pools failing to gain traction. 8:04
ZRO
LONG Luca Netz
CEO, Pudgy Penguins (Igloo Inc.) 		LayerZero is launching "Zero Chain," claiming it runs on Raspberry Pi hardware (high decentralization) while offering performance faster than Solana and effectively zero gas fees. Citadel and other TradFi players are buying ZRO. This shifts ZRO from a backend interoperability protocol to a consumer-facing L1 execution layer. If the tech holds up (high throughput + low hardware reqs), it solves the "Solana centralization" critique while maintaining speed. LONG ZRO as a "Solana Killer" hedge and institutional bet. Execution risk (new chain launch); "Ghost chain" syndrome if no users migrate; tech claims unproven in production. —
SOL
WATCH Luca Netz
CEO, Pudgy Penguins (Igloo Inc.) 		LayerZero's new chain targets the exact niche Solana dominates: high-throughput, low-latency execution for AI agents and high-frequency trading. If Zero Chain delivers on its promise of "Solana performance on Raspberry Pi hardware," it attacks Solana's primary moat (speed) while solving its primary weakness (validator centralization/hardware costs). WATCH SOL for market share erosion if ZRO gains traction. Solana's network effects and developer moat are massive and hard to displace. —
COIN
LONG Luca Netz
CEO, Pudgy Penguins (Igloo Inc.) 		Base (Coinbase's L2) has removed social features (Farcaster) to pivot back to a pure "trading app" experience. While culturally "boring" and a retreat from ambitious consumer crypto apps, this is a financially prudent move. Trading generates fees; social does not yet. This aligns with Coinbase's need to show revenue as a public company. LONG COIN as they double down on their highest-margin activity (trading/fees) via Base. Loss of innovation edge; competitors (like Solana) capturing the "consumer crypto" market while Base becomes just another exchange extension. 37:04
AI AGENTS /CRYPTO PAYMENTS
LONG Kain Warwick
Founder, Synthetix / Infinex 		Stripe is launching agent payments, and AI models are accelerating to a point where they will autonomously transact. AI agents don't sleep and don't need to be "convinced" to buy; they just execute tasks. This creates a high-velocity, 24/7 economy where agents pay agents. Crypto rails (stablecoins) are the native currency for these non-human actors. LONG infrastructure that enables machine-to-machine value transfer. AI safety regulations capping autonomous payments; centralized rails (Stripe) capturing value over decentralized protocols. 16:46