Why Phantom Is Launching Perps + Why Bit Digital Ditched BTC for ETH - Ep. 866

In this episode of Unchained, Laura Shin presents a doubleheader interview format, first engaging with Brandon Millman, CEO of Phantom Wallet, to discuss the wallet's new perpetual swaps feature utilizing HyperLiquid, focusing on its accessibility, leverage, and market reach, excluding the US due to regulatory constraints. Then, Shin interviews Sam Tabar of Bit Digital about the company's strategic shift towards becoming an ETH treasury company, driven by a favorable regulatory environment and Ethereum's perceived potential, despite Bitcoin's recent strong performance. Additionally, Steve Ehrlich discusses his research on crypto treasury companies, identifying potential price crashes due to PIPE funding mechanisms and over-dilution. The episode concludes with a crypto news roundup, covering topics such as Pump.fun's token launch, controversy surrounding a Polymarket prediction, MetaPlanet's digital bank acquisition plans, CoreWeave's acquisition of Core Scientific, the dropping of Tornado Cash sanctions, Circle's USDC partnerships, crypto M&A activities, and a GMX exploit paired with a Brazil bank hack.