Unchained Podcast – Episode 963:

Uneasy Money: Monad Soars After Launch. Was Its Slow ICO an Advantage in the End?

Date: November 27, 2025
Host: Laura Shin (panel notably features Kane Warrick, Luca Netz, Taylor Monahan)
Main Theme:
A deep dive into the hottest news in the crypto world this week: Monad’s much-anticipated mainnet launch, the mechanics and surprises of its ICO (initial coin offering), the shifting crypto exchange landscape as Binance skips a major listing, hiccups in other major launches, and broader reflections on predictions markets, stablecoins, and venture funding in crypto.

Episode Overview

This roundtable episode from the "Uneasy Money" series is hosted by three prominent Web3 builders—Kane Warrick (Synthetix founder), Luca Netz (Pudgy Penguins CEO), and Taylor Monahan (MetaMask security lead)—with Laura Shin producing. The group reacts in real time to some of the most significant on-chain events of the week, focusing especially on Monad’s mainnet launch, its unusual ICO process, and discussion points ranging from launch strategies and listing controversies to the cultural quirks of crypto startups. Plus, the team brings sharp, candid commentary on prediction markets, stablecoin narratives, and emerging VC deal oddities.

Key Discussion Points, Insights & Timestamps

1. Monad Mainnet Launch & ICO Dynamics

[03:52 - 19:12]

• Launch Overview: Monad, a project in the works for about four years, has finally launched its mainnet—becoming one of the longest pre-mainnet chains seen historically.
• ICO via Coinbase: Its token sale happened through Coinbase’s new platform, with a token price above 4 cents, implying a $4B FDV (Fully Diluted Valuation), albeit with only ~10% of the supply circulating initially.
• Contrast with Past Launches: Kane notes the radical difference compared to Ethereum’s much faster pre-launch phase:
  • “Ethereum was maybe a year, 18 months between the ICO and the Genesis block... Monad finally went live.”
• Supply Comparison: Luca references the different era of high circulating supply at launch for Pudgy Penguins:
  • “70% when you guys went live… Different time a year ago.”
• MetaMask Ships Day One Support: Taylor is proud their team built Monad integration for MetaMask immediately, noting the earlier sluggish support for other chains, e.g. “We shipped Solana like day 1,000… this is an improvement.”
• Launch ‘Meta’: Discussion about the evolution of chain launches:
  • Many projects used to bribe DeFi projects to bootstrap ecosystems, now meme coins and purpose-driven strategy get the spotlight. Luca offers a contrarian take: “I think people should be more purpose driven, meaning: go after a specific function, whatever that is. I’m not actually a general purpose believer…” [07:23]
• On Community Hype: “At the end of the day, if you have bag holders and people are making money, then they’re bullish and you’re doing a great job... They don’t really look at anything else under the hood.” (Luca, [08:16])

2. Exchange Listings: The Binance & Coinbase Dynamic

[08:44 - 14:43]

• Binance Sits Out: The team is surprised Binance didn’t list MONAD quickly, which bucks past precedent for hyped launches.
• Was Coinbase Involvement a Factor?: Taylor suggests the exclusive ICEO with Coinbase may have discouraged Binance:
  • “Historically Binance has... all these different incentives and reward programs. Coinbase doesn’t.”
• Project Listing Fees: Kane gets candid about exchange pay-to-play:
  • “My hot take is: markets are markets. If someone has a useful service... I don’t really see an issue with people paying for it... The debate’s about ‘listing should be free’ versus ‘listing should be paid.’” [09:53]
• Transparency & Economics:
  • “If you monetize your ability to put a token in front of all your users, that can get dark quickly... But if you’re genuinely filtering out bad projects and only allowing good projects, I don’t see an issue… but it always drags in all this stuff…” [10:25]
• Tokenomics Comparison: Discussion on different allocation/fill strategies between launches (bottom-up distribution vs. lottery), noting that trades offs are inherent—someone is always unhappy.

3. Monad ICO Mechanics – Distribution, Strategy, and Sentiment

[14:45 - 19:12]

• Bottom-Up Allocation: Luca explains how Monad’s ICO had a cap—maxed allocations to $50k per participant, so more people got in rather than large whales dominating.
  • “I tried to max fill on Coinbase… I submitted [for] half a million, but my friends who only submitted $50-$100k all got $50k. It was a good strategy: not one big person, or a constituency of whales.” [14:55]
• Kane on Design:
  • “They kind of did this round-robin fill, everyone from the bottom up… Compared to mega eth, where they were picking and choosing. Every solution has trade-offs. Someone’s happy, someone’s not.”
• Taylor on Distribution:
  • “You want most people to have it, but you want people to actually care and not instantly dump. I have respect for Monad—they seemed completely unfazed by not selling out instantly… Points to being confident in their long-term goals.”_ [17:10]
• Luca’s Approval:
  • “I was mad for literally 30 seconds and then happy... It’s a good way to get everyone a meaningful allocation. Optimize for maximum happiness among the most people.”_ [17:25]

4. MegaEth Chain Launch Woes & Lessons

[19:12 - 24:08]

• MegaEth’s TVL Campaign Fiasco:
  • Their launch fumbled due to delays and a prematurely staged Gnosis Safe transaction, which was exploited by a user who circumvented intended mechanisms, leading to confusion and an oversubscribed campaign.
• Kane’s Crypto Rule:
  • “Scrambling in crypto is never good… Pencils down, go back to first principles. In crypto, ‘here’s the solution, let’s quickly stage a transaction on our Gnosis Safe’ is not the answer.” [21:37]
• Taylor’s Perspective:
  • “Take a second. Never scramble in crypto.” [22:04]
• Silver Linings:
  • Despite the mess, no one was hacked or lost significant money. The panel agrees: “Blessings”—could have been far worse. [24:08]

5. Polymarket’s CFTC Green Light & Evolution of Crypto Prediction Markets

[24:08 - 30:53]

• Polymarket’s US Relicensing: After prolonged legal wrangling, Polymarket gets the green light to relaunch in the US; Kane reveals he’s an early investor, lauding founder Shane’s resilience through “reality distortion field” and regulatory hurdles (including an FBI raid):
  • “He is just an insane person. His level of reality distortion field—even by crypto standards—is insane. That’s why I love him… This is a guy that the FBI raided his house and an hour later he tweets ‘new phone who dis.’” (Kane, [24:48])
• Luca on Prediction Markets:
  • “Probably going to go down as one of crypto’s greatest use cases and innovations… It is completely changing the paradigm of the world… The TAM is trillions.” [26:34]
• Venture Returns: Kane discusses venture models (equity, token warrants, SAFEs) and how investing structure impacts dilution, comparing his outcomes in Polymarket to others:
  • “With equity… the dilution is actually pretty high, like 75% or so, versus a SAFT, where it’s I get 1% of the tokens and it doesn’t matter what happens between now and then.” [28:12]

6. Klarna, Stripe & Stablecoin Launches… On Testnet?

[32:18 - 39:27]

• Klarna’s USD Stablecoin: Fintech giant Klarna, along with Stripe and others, launches a USD RWA-backed stablecoin.
• Weirdest Detail: It’s live on the “Tempo” testnet—a non-production blockchain—leaving hosts puzzled:
  • “Are we launching stablecoins on testnets now?... We have so many networks; why [a] testnet? Feels weird.” (Kane, [32:18])
• Taylor’s Historical View:
  • Connects to large corporate blockchain ‘experiments’ circa 2017 (e.g., JP Morgan Coin), some of which fizzled.
• Luca on Klarna’s Business:
  • Notes 20% default rates on Klarna’s lending business: “Maybe it’s a narrative thing, to insert themselves into the stablecoin narrative and distract from the 20% default.” ([35:55])
• General Skepticism:
  • The group questions the purpose behind such launches, suspecting “narrative” over real utility.
    • “Welcome to the world of narratives. That’s the big unlock… That is the great unlock, I love.” (Luca, [37:43])

7. Cardano Chain Outage & ‘Vibe Coding’ Hacks

[39:27 – 50:08]

• Cardano Chain Halt: Cardano experiences a significant outage due to an exploit targeting its consensus; discussion swirls around whether the code exploited was “vibe coded” (i.e., quickly, nonchalantly written).
• Kane on History:
  • Recalls “chain racism” and the skepticism toward early blockchains, yet concedes that older chains like XRP and Cardano do now function—hence the outage is notable.
• Taylor on AI-Coded Exploits:
  • Dismisses the idea that AI is to blame:
    • “With this bug… it’s not that the AI went out on its own and broke Cardano. It’s that this guy… was able to execute this thing with the help of AI in various parts of the process.” [46:38]
  • Both she and Kane relate the story to the infamous 2017 Parity wallet “accidental kill” incident; they discuss how smart contracts must defend against accidental exploits.

8. Bear Chain’s $25M Refund Clause to Brevan Howard — A New VC Precedent?

[50:08 – 61:36]

• Refund Clause: Bear Chain allows Brevan Howard’s Nova Digital fund to reclaim $25M after token generation—an unprecedented “refund” right.
• Taylor’s Legal Curiosity:
  • “Are these types of side deals in series rounds normal? When I raised my rounds… there were no special terms given.” [51:55]
• Luca on Founders and VCs:
  • Praises Bear’s founder, sympathizes with tough negotiations, and candidly analyzes that, in crypto, many VCs are “retail with a large check size” and may leave legal loopholes.
• Transparency & Smart Contracts:
  • Kane (tongue-in-cheek): “What if we had a system [blockchain]… put a contract like this on some kind of chain so everyone could see it? …Do an ICO bro, everyone can see the deal.” [55:43]
• On Market Psychology:
  • The hosts agree founders often rationalize “unlikely” negative events when negotiating VC deals, leading to fraught surprises later.
• Taylor’s Final Take:
  • “I’m hoping there’s some piece missing to the story that explains how this happened… But even if you did that, your lawyer would be like, ‘Yo, you can’t do that. You have responsibilities and agreements.’” [59:02]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Monad’s ICO:
  • “They kind of did this round robin fill, everyone from the bottom up… There’s no real good solution, every system has tradeoffs.” (Kane, [15:37])
• On scrambling during launches:
  • “Take a second. Never scramble in crypto.” (Taylor, [22:04])
• On Polymarket’s founder Shane:
  • “This is a guy that the FBI raided his house and an hour later he tweets ‘new phone, who dis’—like, just levels of not giving a fuck that are insane.” (Kane, [24:48])
• On AI and smart contract exploits:
  • “It’s not that the AI went out on its own and broke Cardano. It’s that this guy… was able to successfully execute this thing… with the help of AI.” (Taylor, [46:38])
• On VC Reality:
  • “The majority of venture investors are really just retail with a large check size.” (Luca, [60:07])
• On Transparency:
  • “What if we had a system that was transparent and put a contract like this on a chain so everyone could see it… Do an ICO, bro.” (Kane, [55:43])
• On narratives and innovation:
  • “Welcome to the world of narratives. That’s the big unlock… Klarna is innovating, they’re thinking ahead. Right? So the AI agents can just use Klarna seamlessly and… that’s the great unlock.” (Luca, [37:43])

Engaging Takeaways

• Confidence and Community:
  Monad’s slow ICO and the bottom-up allocation strategy left the team admired for calm and a long-term focus, contrasting with previous scramble-heavy launches.
• Transparency Debate:
  Several moments returned to an industry-wide desire for less opaque dealmaking—both in exchange listings and VC rounds.
• Lessons in Launching:
  Panelists repeatedly cite historical gaffes (parity hack, TVL campaign stumbles), underscoring the importance of slow, thoughtful decision-making and the dangers of “scrambling” in crypto.
• The Vibe of Crypto:
  From chain outages to meme-worthy personalities (like Shane and Charles), the conversation repeatedly highlights the volatile, personality-driven, and sometimes surreal atmosphere of crypto development.

Structure & Tone

The episode is candid, insider-y, irreverent, and always grounded in both technical detail and a dry sense of humor—the speakers’ banter adding texture to the deeper technical and financial insights.

Episode Flow & Timestamps

• [03:52] Monad launches mainnet after a long wait
• [05:46] MetaMask day-one support for Monad
• [07:23] Launch strategies: DeFi vs Meme coins, purpose-driven chains
• [08:44] Binance and exchange listing controversies
• [14:45] Monad’s ICO fill strategy and market sentiment
• [19:12] MegaEth’s launch TVL campaign mishaps, lessons learned
• [24:08] Polymarket: Regulatory breakthrough, cultural stories
• [26:34] Prediction markets: Real innovation?
• [28:12] Venture models: Equity vs SAFEs
• [32:18] Klarna’s strange testnet stablecoin
• [39:27] Cardano’s chain outage, “vibe coding”, and accidental exploits
• [46:38] AI’s true role in blockchain hacks
• [50:08] Bear Chain, Brevan Howard’s refund clause, and VC psychology
• [55:43] Calls for on-chain transparency in venture deals
• [60:07] Hot takes on VCs, founders, and the realities of crypto investment
• [61:36] Wrap-up