Episode Summary
Executive Summary: The inaugural Chopping Block episode reviews crypto’s chaotic 2021 through awards for biggest winners, losers, surprises, memes, and mechanisms, then offers 2022 predictions. The panel argues that alt-L1s, NFTs, public crypto companies, and new mechanism designs were the year’s big winners, while Bitcoin relevance, GBTC arbitrage, and EOS/block.one struggled. They frame COVID, remote work, and changing geography as long-term tailwinds for crypto and expect more DAOs, privacy layers, NFT finance, legislation, and another DeFi cycle in 2022.
Main Topics: 2021 crypto winners (Priority: 5/5): The panel’s biggest winners included alternative L1s (Solana, Avalanche, Luna, BSC, Polygon), public crypto companies like Coinbase and MicroStrategy, OpenSea, Lido, Dogecoin, and individual investors like Kyle Simani/Multicoin for Solana. Best mechanism design (Priority: 5/5): The group debates the most important crypto mechanisms of the year, highlighting Olympus/OHM, ESD as a cautionary precursor, Uniswap v3, Convex/Curve, and staking-derivative driven models such as Lido and Luna’s ecosystem. 2021’s biggest losers (Priority: 5/5): Bitcoin’s narrative and dominance are viewed as weakened, Grayscale’s GBTC arbitrage trade is identified as a major structural loser that altered crypto capital flows, and EOS/block.one is called out as a major underperformer. Biggest surprises (Priority: 4/5): The panel is surprised by the rise of NFTs and PFP culture, the success of Board Ape Yacht Club over CryptoPunks, Uniswap v3 one-bip pools, and Luna’s burn/staking-derivative model. Best meme and narrative shifts (Priority: 4/5): Memes such as SBF’s Capitol shoes, the Web3 rebrand, Grimes’ 3-3 tweet, and the explosion of dog coins are discussed as cultural signals that crypto has entered mainstream conversation. 2022 predictions (Priority: 4/5): Predictions include a DAO boom, privacy-preserving L2s, NFT finance, crypto-native legislation in the U.S., a DeFi rebound, a spot Bitcoin ETF, and continued decline of traditional GameFi models. COVID, remote work, and geography (Priority: 3/5): The speakers argue that COVID accelerated crypto adoption by normalizing remote work, global teams, and the migration of talent and capital away from San Francisco/New York toward more distributed hubs like Miami.
Key Arguments: Alternative L1s were the year’s biggest winners because both price performance and developer adoption shifted materially away from Ethereum. Publicly traded crypto firms became legitimacy anchors for the industry, with Coinbase and MicroStrategy serving as important bridgeheads for TradFi investors. Convex and other curve-war mechanisms showed that protocol incentives can create massive second-order businesses on top of DeFi primitives. Bitcoin lost narrative momentum because crypto now has competing use cases and stories beyond sound money. GBTC’s flip from premium to discount was a major hidden structural event that reduced borrowing demand and changed market plumbing. NFTs surprised many by becoming mainstream beyond celebrity drops, with PFP communities and on-chain art driving demand. Luna’s staking derivatives and token burns demonstrated that tokenomics can meaningfully bootstrap demand and market cap. The panel believes 2022 will bring more collective purchasing via DAOs, more sophisticated privacy infrastructure, and more regulatory attention. COVID and remote work accelerated crypto’s decentralization of talent, capital, and company formation away from legacy hubs. GameFi as a venture-style category is seen as overhyped, while crypto-native games and blockchain-native mechanics are expected to endure.
Data Points: Uniswap v2 fork/copy rank: Most copied deployed contract on Ethereum-based chains - Tarun cited a rough analysis of deployed contract reuse across chains. Synthetix minter contract rank: #2 most copied deployed contract - Tarun compared it with Uniswap v2 and OHM/OM-inspired systems. OHM contract rank: #3 most copied deployed contract - Tarun used this to argue OHM was a highly influential mechanism. Convex market cap: Higher floating market cap than Curve - Robert used this as evidence that Convex became a major mechanism-layer winner. Block.one Bitcoin holdings value: About $2 billion - Laura/Hasib discussed EOS/Block.one’s continued wealth despite EOS underperformance. GBTC assets: About $15 billion of Bitcoin - Robert explained the scale of the GBTC trade and its impact on crypto markets. Dragonfly founder concentration in Bay Area: Dropped from 30%-40% to less than 10% - Hasib described the decline in Bay Area founder concentration over the year. One-bip fee pools: 1 basis point fee tier - Hasib noted Uniswap v3 pools evolved from a 5-bip minimum to 1-bip pools. Original minimum Uniswap v3 fee tier: 5 basis points - Hasib said 5 bips had been the smallest fee range before one-bip pools. Luna burn effect: Burned a gigantic portion of supply - Tarun argued Luna’s burn plus staking derivatives boosted token economics. SBF Capitol shoes: Black athletic shoes at a Capitol hearing - Used by the panel as a meme symbol of crypto wealth and irreverence. Board Ape floor flip: BAYC floor price surpassed CryptoPunks - Robert highlighted this as a major surprise in NFT culture.
Pivotal Quotes: "I think that COVID, in a twisted way, is actually pro-crypto." — Haseeb Qureshi: Argument that pandemic-driven distrust in institutions and normalization of digital life benefited crypto adoption. "Convex today has a higher floating market cap than Curve does." — Robert Leshner: Used to underscore Convex as a standout mechanism-layer success in DeFi. "I think the biggest loser this year was Bitcoin." — Tom Schmidt: Tom argued Bitcoin lost mindshare and narrative dominance to newer crypto categories.
Implications: The episode suggests crypto’s center of gravity shifted in 2021 from Bitcoin to new platforms, protocols, NFTs, and composable incentives. For 2022, the panel expects more regulation, DAOs, privacy tech, and financial products built on-chain, while weaker narrative-only sectors may fade.