Crypto’s Legal Lines, MegaETH Launched But Delayed TGE, and LayerZero's Bombshell
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  February 10, 2026 at 20:00 UTC  |  2:40:22  |  Unchained (Chopping Block)
Speakers
Laura Shin — Host
Peter Van Valkenburgh — Coin Center
Jessica Peck — Crypto Lawyer/Prosecutor background
Namik Muduroglu — MegaETH
Amir Almaani — MegaETH
Brian Pellegrino — LayerZero Labs

Summary

  • LayerZero Pivots to L1: LayerZero is launching "Zero," a new Layer 1 blockchain capable of millions of transactions per second (TPS) using ZK-compression. Crucially, they are not launching a new token; the existing interoperability token (ZRO) will function as the native gas and staking asset.
  • Institutional "Build" Phase: Major traditional finance players (DTCC, ICE/NYSE, Citadel Securities) are moving beyond "exploring" technology to actively building global market infrastructure on permissionless chains like Zero.
  • MegaETH's "Consumer Chain" Thesis: MegaETH is delaying its TGE to focus on KPIs (50k daily revenue, $500M USDM TVL). They validate Vitalik Buterin's roadmap by offloading consensus to ETH L1 while specializing purely in execution speed (10ms block times) to enable "Web2-like" apps (e.g., on-chain Roblox).
  • Legal Hostility toward Privacy: The DOJ's current interpretation of money laundering statutes treats software developers (like Tornado Cash devs) as conspirators if they don't actively prevent crime, creating a "strict liability" environment for privacy code until legislation like the BRCA passes.
Trade Ideas
Ticker Direction Speaker Thesis Time
WATCH Peter Van Valkenburgh
Research Director, Coin Center
The DOJ is applying "conspiracy to money launder" statutes to software developers who publish code used by criminals, even if the devs don't control the funds. Peter notes this creates "strict liability" for publishing privacy software. Until the "Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act" (BRCA) or similar legislation passes to explicitly exempt non-custodial software publishers, the legal risk premium on privacy protocols remains extreme. The sector is effectively uninvestable for institutions until this legal "wild goose chase" ends. WATCH (Avoid until regulatory clarity). Legislative failure leads to a permanent ban on privacy tech development in the US. 20:23
LONG Brian Pellegrino
Co-founder & CEO, LayerZero Labs
LayerZero has secured partnerships with ICE (Intercontinental Exchange, parent of NYSE) and an investment from Tether (USDT) to build "global markets" and payments infrastructure on the Zero chain. This represents a shift from "tokenization experiments" to core infrastructure migration. ICE building on a permissionless chain signals high-conviction institutional adoption. Tether's direct investment suggests USDT will be the dominant medium of exchange on this high-throughput layer, reinforcing its moat against USDC. LONG. Regulatory hurdles preventing ICE from launching live markets on a permissionless chain. 136:18
ETH
LONG Namik Muduroglu
Columnist, Milliyet
MegaETH is building a "performance first" L2 but chose to "offload consensus to whoever does consensus best," explicitly naming Ethereum L1 as that layer. They view Vitalik's recent roadmap pivot as validation of this split (L1 for security, L2 for speed). The emergence of "Consumer Chains" (MegaETH) that require 100k+ TPS does not compete with ETH; it entrenches ETH as the settlement layer. As these high-performance apps grow, they pay rent to ETH for security, driving value to the base asset while abstracting execution complexity. LONG. L2s becoming parasitic to L1 revenue if data availability costs drop too low (blobs). 7:12
LONG Namik Muduroglu
Columnist, Milliyet
MegaETH has established "partnerships with players like Chainlink where we're able to enshrine oracles and provide really really powerful data feeds." High-frequency/low-latency chains (10ms block times) require oracle updates at speeds traditional push-oracles struggle with. Enshrining Chainlink at the protocol level on a high-performance chain secures LINK's relevance in the next generation of "real-time" DeFi and consumer apps. LONG. Emergence of specialized low-latency oracle competitors. 35:26
ZRO
LONG Brian Pellegrino
Co-founder & CEO, LayerZero Labs
LayerZero is launching a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain called "Zero" (1M+ TPS). Brian explicitly states: "There is not going to be any net new token... ZRO is the only asset and it is going to be the underlying gas asset and staking asset." Typically, a new L1 launch involves a dilutive Token Generation Event (TGE). By consolidating the utility of a major new L1 (gas, staking, sequencing) into the existing ZRO token, the asset transitions from a pure governance/bridging token to a fundamental L1 commodity with programmatic demand from institutional partners. LONG. Technical failure of the new "Zero" architecture; failure to attract liquidity despite partnerships. 149:57