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The Chopping Block: Perp Wars & Stablecoin Battles: Hyperliquid, Aster, Tether - Ep. 911

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Manage episode 508593918 series 1822984
Content provided by Laura Shin. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Laura Shin or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

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, we’re joined by Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, as two parallel wars erupt across crypto: the Perp DEX war between Hyperliquid and the CZ-backed Aster, and the deepening battle for stablecoin dominance. As Aster rockets to $30B in daily volume, we debate whether it’s real adoption or points-fueled froth — and what it means for Hyperliquid’s lead. Then we dive into Tether’s shocking $500B valuation play, Circle’s shrinking moat, and how Rain is building real-world rails for stablecoin payments. If crypto has two new battlegrounds — trading venues and money itself — this is where the future is getting drawn.

Show highlights

🔹 DEX Wars: Aster vs. Hyperliquid – Aster hits $30B daily volume; is it real demand or a points-fueled surge? Hyperliquid’s dominance faces its first real threat.

🔹 CZ’s Return to Form – Aster’s Binance links, aggressive fee model, and possible “James Wynn” conspiracy theory raise the stakes in the perp DEX arena.

🔹 Wash Trading & Open Interest Gaps – Aster’s $2B TVL contrasts with $1.25B open interest vs. Hyperliquid’s $10B, sparking questions about organic traction.

🔹 Incentive Wars – Aster rewards takers 2x over makers; Hyperliquid and Blur praised for long-game design that built sticky liquidity instead of short-term volume.

🔹 The Execution Advantage – Haseeb: “Asia executes better than it innovates”; Aster may stumble now but could out-iterate and outscale its rivals.

🔹 Stablecoin Shockwave: Tether’s $500B Valuation Leak – Tether quietly seeks $15–20B in private funding, aiming for a $500B valuation—matching OpenAI and SpaceX.

🔹 Circle vs. Tether – Circle trades at 0.5x supply, Tether seeks 3x; the panel debates margins, moat, and whether USDC can survive the “reverse momentum.”

🔹 Rain’s Real-World Stablecoin Rails – Farooq Malik shares how Rain powers payroll, P2P, cards, and merchant payments on stablecoins—without touching fiat.

🔹 New Use Cases: Stablecoins in the Wild – On-chain credit cards, just-in-time lending, cross-border Facebook ad funding, and more—all enabled by 24/7 money.

🔹 Global Adoption: LatAm, MENA, Asia – Rain’s data shows stablecoin usage exploding outside the U.S., especially in regions with FX controls and unstable banks.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest

⭐️Farooq Malik, Co-Founder & CEO of Rain

Disclosures

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:02 Aster vs. Hyperliquid

14:25 Regulatory Capture: L2s, Sequencers, CFTC

26:08 Tether’s $500B Valuation: Bubble or Bargain?

31:36 Tether vs. Circle: Stablecoin Economics

42:56 Rain: Stablecoin Payments Infra

47:16 Stablecoin Use Cases; Cards, Payroll, P2P

54:04 Global Stablecoin Growth

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  continue reading

959 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 508593918 series 1822984
Content provided by Laura Shin. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Laura Shin or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

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, we’re joined by Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, as two parallel wars erupt across crypto: the Perp DEX war between Hyperliquid and the CZ-backed Aster, and the deepening battle for stablecoin dominance. As Aster rockets to $30B in daily volume, we debate whether it’s real adoption or points-fueled froth — and what it means for Hyperliquid’s lead. Then we dive into Tether’s shocking $500B valuation play, Circle’s shrinking moat, and how Rain is building real-world rails for stablecoin payments. If crypto has two new battlegrounds — trading venues and money itself — this is where the future is getting drawn.

Show highlights

🔹 DEX Wars: Aster vs. Hyperliquid – Aster hits $30B daily volume; is it real demand or a points-fueled surge? Hyperliquid’s dominance faces its first real threat.

🔹 CZ’s Return to Form – Aster’s Binance links, aggressive fee model, and possible “James Wynn” conspiracy theory raise the stakes in the perp DEX arena.

🔹 Wash Trading & Open Interest Gaps – Aster’s $2B TVL contrasts with $1.25B open interest vs. Hyperliquid’s $10B, sparking questions about organic traction.

🔹 Incentive Wars – Aster rewards takers 2x over makers; Hyperliquid and Blur praised for long-game design that built sticky liquidity instead of short-term volume.

🔹 The Execution Advantage – Haseeb: “Asia executes better than it innovates”; Aster may stumble now but could out-iterate and outscale its rivals.

🔹 Stablecoin Shockwave: Tether’s $500B Valuation Leak – Tether quietly seeks $15–20B in private funding, aiming for a $500B valuation—matching OpenAI and SpaceX.

🔹 Circle vs. Tether – Circle trades at 0.5x supply, Tether seeks 3x; the panel debates margins, moat, and whether USDC can survive the “reverse momentum.”

🔹 Rain’s Real-World Stablecoin Rails – Farooq Malik shares how Rain powers payroll, P2P, cards, and merchant payments on stablecoins—without touching fiat.

🔹 New Use Cases: Stablecoins in the Wild – On-chain credit cards, just-in-time lending, cross-border Facebook ad funding, and more—all enabled by 24/7 money.

🔹 Global Adoption: LatAm, MENA, Asia – Rain’s data shows stablecoin usage exploding outside the U.S., especially in regions with FX controls and unstable banks.

Hosts

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Guest

⭐️Farooq Malik, Co-Founder & CEO of Rain

Disclosures

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:02 Aster vs. Hyperliquid

14:25 Regulatory Capture: L2s, Sequencers, CFTC

26:08 Tether’s $500B Valuation: Bubble or Bargain?

31:36 Tether vs. Circle: Stablecoin Economics

42:56 Rain: Stablecoin Payments Infra

47:16 Stablecoin Use Cases; Cards, Payroll, P2P

54:04 Global Stablecoin Growth

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  continue reading

959 episodes

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