The Chopping Block: Corpo Chains, Monero’s AI Vampire Attack, and DAT Mania - Ep. 887
64
Companies
82
Key Quotes
3
Topics
3
Insights
🎯 Summary
Podcast Episode Summary: The Chopping Block: Corpo Chains, Monero’s AI Vampire Attack, and DAT Mania - Ep. 887
This episode of The Chopping Block dives into two major, contrasting narratives dominating the crypto space: the rise of “Corpo Chains” launched by established fintech giants, and a bizarre, high-profile 51% attack on the privacy coin Monero, orchestrated by an AI-focused project.
1. Focus Area
The discussion centers on Crypto Infrastructure and Market Dynamics, specifically focusing on:
- The emergence of new Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions being built by major corporations (Corpo Chains).
- The technical and philosophical implications of these centralized efforts versus the decentralized ethos of crypto.
- A significant Proof-of-Work security event involving Monero and an AI training project.
2. Key Technical Insights
- Corpo Chain Architecture: Circle’s Arc chain is detailed as a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) chain built by Malachi, aiming for high throughput (3,000 TPS) with only 20 validators, featuring confidential transfers (hiding amounts, not addresses) and using USDC as the gas token.
- Monero 51% Attack Mechanism: The attack was unique as it was executed not by a traditional miner spending capital, but by a project (Cubic) leveraging GPU resources initially gathered for training an AI model (AIGarth). They subsidized a Monero mining pool until they controlled over 51% of the hash rate.
- ASIC Resistance vs. GPU Mining: Monero’s RandomX algorithm is designed to be ASIC-resistant, allowing GPUs to be effective miners. This GPU dominance enabled the Cubic project to rapidly accumulate the necessary hash power for the attack.
3. Market/Investment Angle
- Corpo Chain Reception: The market reaction to Circle and Stripe launching their own L1s was mixed; Circle’s stock rose, but the broader crypto community (especially Crypto Twitter) reacted negatively, viewing these as fragmented, centralized efforts that ignore existing L2 scaling solutions on Ethereum.
- Security of Smaller PoW Chains: The Monero incident serves as a stark warning that smaller Proof-of-Work tokens, even established ones like Monero, are fundamentally vulnerable to 51% attacks if their mining ecosystem can be subsidized or manipulated by external actors.
- The Value of Distribution: Panelists argued that for corporate chains, the primary differentiator and source of success will not be the underlying technology (L1 vs. L2), but the existing user distribution and product hook the corporation brings.
4. Notable Companies/People
- Circle: Announced its new L1 chain, Arc, focused on stablecoins and FX payments.
- Stripe: Reportedly developing its own L1 chain called Tempo, allegedly built from the ground up by Paradigm.
- Matt Wong (Paradigm): Reportedly named CEO of Tempo, despite his role at Paradigm, raising eyebrows about governance and commitment.
- Cubic/AIGarth: The project responsible for the Monero 51% attack as a “proof of concept” for their GPU-leveraged infrastructure.
- Christian Catalini: Mentioned for his past work on Libra and his current skepticism regarding the necessity of new L1s when scaling solutions exist.
5. Regulatory/Policy Discussion
The discussion touched on the philosophical divide between corporate adoption and crypto ethos. The panelists noted that while these corporate chains utilize blockchain technology (unlike CBDCs), their centralized, permissioned nature clashes with the “cypherpunk” ideal of permissionless innovation. The panel ultimately sided with supporting any corporate effort that brings more users and activity on-chain, regardless of the specific architecture (L1/L2).
6. Future Implications
The conversation suggests a future where the crypto landscape is bifurcated:
- Corporate Ecosystems: Large fintechs will continue to build specialized, high-throughput, permissioned chains optimized for their specific business needs (like stablecoin settlement), prioritizing speed and control over open permissionlessness.
- Decentralized Core: Smaller PoW chains face increasing security risks, implying that only the largest decentralized networks (like Bitcoin) or those heavily integrated into the Ethereum L2 stack may remain truly secure against coordinated external attacks.
7. Target Audience
This episode is highly valuable for Crypto Investors, Blockchain Developers, and Web3 Strategists who need an insider perspective on emerging infrastructure trends, corporate adoption strategies, and the evolving security landscape of decentralized networks.
🏢 Companies Mentioned
RandomX
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Crypto Infrastructure/Algorithm
Codex
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defi
Compound Chain
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defi
Lightspark
✅
infrastructure
Coinbase
✅
exchange
Maybe I
✅
unknown
Mag Seven
✅
unknown
Tom Lee
✅
unknown
Because Monero
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unknown
AI Garth
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unknown
Garth Brooks
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unknown
If I
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unknown
All I
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unknown
Compound Chain
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unknown
Like Plasma Stable
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unknown
💬 Key Insights
"But the one I think that I like the fan fiction one is the GPU debt market grows way too big."
"Trump recently passed an executive order allowing anybody to buy quote alternative assets in their 401(k), including digital assets, crypto. So, that means 401(k) now—401(k) plans cannot offer crypto exposure via managed funds if the fiduciaries deem it prudent to do so."
"This is a preview of what will someday happen to Bitcoin, right? Because Monero has a tail emission... at that point, it becomes trivial to 51% attack Bitcoin the same way that you saw that AIGarth was able to do this to to Monero."
"My guess is actually EVM is like a natural place because you have a huge market cap base coin, and these smaller ones which you can like earn yield from that was much higher than the market cap with these smaller coins."
"yeah, probably we're at—we're well at the point where these Proof of Work tokens that are smaller than Bitcoin probably are not fundamentally secure."
"I don't really know what to think of this other than that, yeah, probably we're at—we're well at the point where these Proof of Work tokens that are smaller than Bitcoin probably are not fundamentally secure."
📊 Topics
#artificialintelligence
109
#aiinfrastructure
15
#investment
2
🧠 Key Takeaways
start mining some Monero
start using some of the Cubic rewards to incentivize people to join our Monero mining pool
have been worried about Oracles manipulating you