
In episode 10 of The Big Brain Podcast, Larry and Namik are joined by Gauntlet founder and CEO Tarun Chitra. Tarun recounts how an unexpected ADL event on a tiny test position pushed him to research how exchanges handle insolvency when liquidations fail, especially after October 10th. He argues the common ranking approach concentrates losses unfairly and may overshoot during cascading events. The discussion also covers transparency, insurance funds, and why improving these systems matters if perp exchanges want to onboard new users.
OUTLINE
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:00:54 - Tarun’s background
00:10:50 - Tarun's ADL paper
00:15:40 - ADL usage
00:26:25 - Transparency gap
00:31:44 - Critiques of Tarun's paper
00:36:32 - Impact of Tarun's paper
00:41:09 - Potential fixes
00:45:31 - Cult-like communities in crypto
00:52:42 - 10x verticals looking ahead
01:02:29 - Conclusion
Guest links:
Tarun Chitra - x.com/tarunchitra
Gauntlet - x.com/gauntlet_xyz
Show links:
- Apple: apple.co/43F3vmq
- Spotify: spoti.fi/44NT1lZ
- Larry: x.com/lawmaster
- Namik: x.com/NamikMuduroglu
- The Block Podcasts: x.com/TheBlockPods
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Dec 16, 2025
1 hr 3 min

In this episode of the Big Brain Podcast, Larry and Namik are joined by Wintermute Founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy to discuss the recent historic crypto crash, explaining how extreme leverage, exchange failures, and forced ADL liquidations led to market chaos and liquidity breakdowns across the ecosystem.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:45 What Happened?
04:46 Understanding ADL
12:25 Transparency and Privacy on Hyperliquid
16:35 Circuit Breakers
19:16 Occam’s Razor
21:25 Assessing the Damage
25:24 Lessons learned
28:39 Looking Ahead
30:21 A Maturing Market
32:13 Dealing with Extreme Volatility
35:19 Impact on DeFi
37:28 Wintermute as the Crypto Villain
41:47 What else does Wintermute do?
44:11 Conclusion
GUEST LINKS
https://x.com/evgenygaevoy
https://x.com/wintermute_t
This episode of the Big Brain Podcast is brought to you by our sponsor, Canton Network.
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Oct 14, 2025
44 min

In this episode of the Big Brain Podcast, Larry and Namik are joined by Dragonfly's Tom Schmidt Alok Vasudev of Standard Crypto. They dive into current trends in venture capital within the crypto space, touching on how market conditions have evolved since 2021, the role of treasury companies, and the evolving regulatory landscape.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction 01:06 Alok's Background 04:45 Tom's Background 06:21 Cap Table Competition 07:53 Crypto 'Metas' 13:09 Copycat Crypto Projects 15:26 Brand Positioning 17:45 Web3 Moats 19:29 Crypto Treasury Companies 27:28 Regulatory Tailwinds 30:38 Consumer Adoption
GUEST LINKS
https://x.com/tomhschmidt
https://x.com/AlokVasudev
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Sign up for a trial today: theblock.co/campus
Aug 25, 2025
41 min

In this episode, Guy Young & Rune Christensen discuss the evolution of DeFi, noting how it has become more grounded in reality and sustainable business models, moving away from the early hype and ideological claims.
OUTLINE:
00:00 Introduction
01:23 DeFi Ain't What it Used To Be
08:27 Ethena's Success
13:01 Get $HYPE(D)
15:08 HL L1
16:38 'Ecosystem Protocols'
19:32 DeFi User Capture
21:42 DeFi Endgame
22:05 Hyper-rational Users Onchain
24:53 Compressing DeFi Rates
27:16 Stealing from the Rich
28:43Onchain KYC
30:57 Forking DeFi
33:57 The Future of Finance
37:50 'MicroStrategy Playbook" for Alts
42:19 Bitcoin DeFi?
43:57 F.A.F.O. Onchain
SHOW LINKS:
- Apple: https://apple.co/43F3vmq
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/44NT1lZ
- Larry: https://x.com/lawmaster
- Namik: https://x.com/NamikMuduroglu
- The Block Podcasts: https://x.com/TheBlockPods
GUEST LINKS:
- Rune: @RuneKek
- Guy: @gdog97_
- Sky: https://sky.money/
- Ethena: https://ethena.fi/
Jun 11, 2025
49 min
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