Image Credits: TechCrunch

The crypto markets buckled this week as fears of cascading failures of key blockchain finance players showed just how fragile things are for the asset class, which dipped below a $1 trillion total market cap as Bitcoin and Ethereum led a plunge in token prices.

There was plenty for us to talk about this week’s episode of the Chain Reaction podcast, where we unpack and explain the latest crypto news, drama and trends, breaking it down block by block for the crypto curious.

Alongside the latest flavor of crashing crypto prices, we talked about some of the existential risk ahead and how blockchain bulls are growing increasingly bearish as broad economic uncertainty points to a recession-sized, winter which could drag tokens to unexpected lows and kill off even the most-prepared startups. The downturn isn’t coming at a great time, as regulators start to take more pronounced aim at the crypto industry, launching investigations, lawsuits and legislation.

We spent a little time diving into some of the week’s less gloomy news, including Jack Dorsey’s newly announced “web5” efforts.

Our guest: Box CEO Aaron Levie

The guest on our show this week was a prolific web3 critic who just happens to also run a very successful tech business. We chatted with Box CEO Aaron Levie, who hasn’t been secretive of his web3 skepticism. On this week’s episode, we got him to lay out some of his critiques while highlighting where he does see promise in crypto’s model for a more decentralized web.

Chain Reaction podcast episodes come out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PDT. Subscribe to us on Apple, Spotify or your alternative podcast platform of choice to keep up with us every week.