Onchain, Honestly!

Tokenizing an asset doesn’t create demand for it. 

In this episode, Ryan Wen joins us to explain why the company shifted its focus from growing a blockchain to growing a multichain vault business. We explore how Plume selects the assets it backs, earns management and performance fees, and reaches investors through exchanges, wallets, and neobanks.

We discuss:

- Why Plume turns down most assets offered for distribution.
- How those rejections led to a new vault-wrapper business.
- What justifies another layer of fees in the investment stack.
- Why Plume makes its vaults available across competing chains.
- How distribution partnerships put products in users’ hands.
- What stands between Plume and its ambition to reach US retail investors.

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Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
02:18 Plume’s business model and vault products
07:05 Why Plume shifted from blockchain to vault growth
11:33 Vault economics and revenue drivers
15:59 Why distribution matters more than tokenization
20:03 What stands between Plume and the US market?

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Ryan Wen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-w-15917b5a/ 
Plume: https://www.plume.com/ 
Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/ 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/
 
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DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: RMDP8CFOQHNWZRMR

How to turn perps and prediction markets into businesses that can serve US customers?

Mansi Birla joins us for an episode to talk about the regulatory infrastructure behind these markets and how it shapes product design, distribution, and competition.

We discuss why a license alone may not give institutions enough confidence to commit capital, how regulated platforms could use Hyperliquid’s liquidity and technology, and why bringing perps onshore creates a commercial challenge.

We also explore prediction markets as a data business. When probabilities become headlines, manipulation can serve a purpose beyond trading profits.

00:00 Introduction
02:53 What does the CFTC actually regulate?
07:35 Regulatory permission versus regulatory durability
13:18 Perps beyond crypto: pricing and liquidation risks
16:55 Where does Hyperliquid fit in regulated markets?
24:11 Why states are fighting for jurisdiction
28:30 Centralized versus decentralized resolution
30:47 Can smaller players compete?
34:57 The cost of litigation

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Mansi Birla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mansi-b-3677708b/
Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/ 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 

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DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice. Mansi’s comments reflect her personal views, not those of her employers, past or present. This discussion is general commentary and does not constitute legal or investment advice.

What happens when the legal team helps design the product instead of just signing it off?

In this episode of Onchain, Honestly!, Kaisa and Alenka speak with Eli Cohen, Chief Legal Officer at Centrifuge, about the operational realities of building onchain.

Eli explains why legal sits at the table from day one in crypto, how much of today’s "regulatory uncertainty" is real, and why some products, like a US version of Centrifuge’s deRWA token, get shelved once the compliance costs are counted. We also discuss who is actually buying tokenized funds, why so much of crypto is based in the Cayman Islands, and Centrifuge’s decision to turn its token holders into equity holders.

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Eli Cohen: https://blockworks.co/author/eli-cohen
Centrifuge: https://centrifuge.io/
Centrifuge X: https://x.com/centrifuge
Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch
Spotify:
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/

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DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

—
CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Eli’s two roles at Centrifuge and Anemoy
03:17 When legal enables new products
04:34 Legal uncertainty: real obstacle or excuse?
08:55 Centrifuge’s plans for the US market
10:58 Legal as part of building the product
13:58 When compliance costs outweigh a product idea
16:14 Fund rules and who actually buys tokenized funds
19:51 White-label issuers and lessons from early pools
21:26 Why crypto gathers in the Cayman Islands
24:43 What makes tokenized fund structures hard to reuse
30:22 From token holders to equity holders
33:10 Lessons learned and what Centrifuge would do differently

How much is regulatory predictability worth when you’ve already invested in building a business?

In this episode of Onchain, Honestly!, we speak with Nick Gersh, Senior Regulatory Counsel at Paxos, about the practical work behind issuing stablecoins and choosing where to operate.

Nick explains why he values Europe’s regulatory certainty despite his frustrations with MiCA. His account of issuing USDG across borders shows how much work sits behind a product that should feel the same to every holder. We also explore the business case for launching your own stablecoin and what happens when reserve requirements meet the realities of finding banking partners.

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LinkedIn Nick Gersh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-gersh/ 
Paxos: https://www.paxos.com/company 
Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/ 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 
—

DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Europe’s changing crypto market  
04:12 Issuing one stablecoin across borders  
10:44 Compliance costs, competition, and partnerships  
15:12 Tokenized gold and MiCA’s categories  
18:31 Working with regulators in Europe  
23:47 Reserve requirements and banking risk  
28:25 Where the next wave of stablecoin growth could come from  
31:24 Branded stablecoins and consortium models  
33:55 Tokenized assets beyond stablecoins  
38:37 Choosing where to build and the value of predictable rules  

What makes stablecoins worth the investment for a bank? In this episode of Onchain, Honestly!, Kaisa and Alenka speak with Ninad Nirgudkar, who leads Tempo’s work with traditional financial institutions, about turning institutional interest in blockchain into products customers can use.

We explore how Tempo helps institutions move from a business case to a live product, and what motivates banks to make that investment. Drawing on its previous work and feedback from financial institutions, Ninad explains how customer needs shape what Tempo builds and how the team thinks about measuring success.

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Ninad Nirgudkar LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninadnirgudkar/  
Ninad Nigurdar X: https://x.com/ninadnirgudkar 
Tempo: https://tempo.xyz/ 
Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/ 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 

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DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Tempo’s approach to payments
07:16 From a business case to a live product
10:46 Tempo’s relationship with Stripe and Paradigm
15:20 Where institutions see opportunities onchain
19:00 Why banks are exploring stablecoins
23:15 Deel’s payroll use case
27:03 Bringing traditional finance and crypto expertise together
29:17 Account controls and privacy
34:37 Moving enterprise clients into production
36:59 Measuring customer outcomes
39:50 What’s next for Tempo?

Can a digital asset treasury build value beyond the tokens it holds? In this episode of Onchain, Honestly!, Kaisa and Alenka speak with Laine Litman, COO of Avalanche Treasury Co. (AVAT), about AVAT’s strategy and the business case for institutional blockchain adoption.

We discuss AVAT’s approach to holding and staking AVAX, its ambitions for broader involvement in the Avalanche ecosystem, and what institutions need to consider before choosing a blockchain. Drawing on examples from California’s DMV, Broadridge, and FIFA, Laine explores how blockchain fits into everyday operations and why early infrastructure choices can create costly migration work later.

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Laine Litman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laine-litman-ab143014/ 

Laine Litman X: https://x.com/Laine_Litman

AVAT: https://www.avat.com/  
Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/ 

Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 

Spotify: 

Apple:

Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 

Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 

Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 

Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 

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DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

—
CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Laine’s background
07:40 Digital asset treasuries and AVAT’s strategy
13:11 Why Avalanche?
15:02 Institutional adoption in practice
18:58 Blockchain hype, migration costs, and changing attitudes
24:38 Operational barriers to moving onchain
29:12 How the blockchain landscape could evolve
33:58 FIFA, ticketing, and consumer adoption

This episode of Onchain, Honestly! is a little different. We look back at summer 2026 and the developments that made institutional adoption more tangible.

We explore the growing importance of viable operating models, the evolving US regulatory framework, and tokenization’s move from issuing assets to building the markets around them.

From Tether’s first full financial statement audit and the unresolved CLARITY Act to banks entering stablecoins and new infrastructure for tokenized securities and liquidity, the market is entering a more practical phase.

The question is no longer simply whether assets can move onchain, but whether they can trade, settle and be used there at scale.
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Alea Research: https://alearesearch.io/reports 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 
—
DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

AI can analyze market data, test strategies, and produce investment analysis at a speed once available only to larger teams. As these capabilities become widely accessible, what still creates an edge for an asset manager?

In this episode we speak with Matthew Snider, CEO and co-founder of Block3 Strategy Group, about how AI is changing investment analysis and what that could mean for asset managers, advisors, and their clients.

We discuss how digital-asset investing is moving toward revenue and fundamental analysis, why tokenization alone does not create value or liquidity, and how AI could affect both public-market competition and the discovery of private-market opportunities. The conversation also covers institutional custody, portfolio construction, client suitability, and what happens to the asset-management business as more analysis and operational work becomes automated.

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Matthew Snider LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsniderj/
Matthew Snider X: https://x.com/bit_finance_ 
Block3 Strategy Group: Alea Research: https://www.block3strategy.io/ 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 
—

DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction
01:10 Who is Matthew Snider?
02:25 How digital-asset investing is changing
06:34 What qualifies as a digital asset?
08:47 How institutions access digital assets
13:46 Why the investment type comes before the token
15:39 How AI is being used in asset management
18:48 What's the moat for asset managers
21:23 How AI could affect private markets
26:23 Building digital-asset portfolios for clients
33:59 What happens to the asset manager’s role?

Putting private credit onchain can shorten settlement and reduce servicing overhead. It does not remove the need for underwriting, legal protections, monitoring, or a plan for defaults.

In this episode we speak with Matteo Pandolfi, co-founder and CEO of Pareto Credit, and Thibault Labidi, Director of M11 Credit, about what changes when institutional credit moves onchain.

They explain how Pareto turns traditional credit agreements into programmable credit infrastructure, while M11 Credit originates, structures, underwrites, and monitors the underlying deals. The conversation follows the full process from borrower selection and legal structuring to administration, distribution, capital efficiency, and default management.

We cover:

• Why Pareto moved from Idle Finance’s yield-optimization model into private credit.
• How same-day drawdowns and repayments compare with T+2 settlement.
• Where 50–100 basis points of servicing overhead may be removed.
• How lenders can use an onchain credit position as collateral without exiting the underlying exposure.
• How Pareto and M11 Credit divide responsibility for infrastructure, underwriting, monitoring, and distribution.
• What sits behind FalconX’s $170 million Credit Vault.
• Why onchain credit will continue to depend on offchain businesses and legal structures.
• How the market should prepare for defaults as it scales.

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Matteo Pandolfi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pandolfimatteo/ 
Matteo Pandolfi X: https://x.com/pan_teo_ 
Pareto: https://pareto.credit/ 
Thibault Labidi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thibault-labidi/ 
Thibault Labidi X: https://x.com/Bablidi_Thib 
M11: https://maven11.com/ 
Alea Research:  https://alearesearch.io/ 
Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 
Spotify: 
Apple:
Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 
Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 
Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 
Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 
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DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.

In this episode, David Newns, Director of Axiology, Founder of Substrate Advisory, and ex-CEO of SIX Digital Exchange, discusses what institutional adoption of blockchain actually requires and why the technology itself is rarely the hardest part.

We cover how blockchain infrastructure must connect with the systems, licences, and legal frameworks institutions already use, why collateral mobility is emerging as one of the strongest use cases, and where decentralization offers real value without removing accountability.

We also discuss the role of regulation in accelerating adoption, the importance of executive sponsorship and interoperability, why traditional and blockchain rails will coexist for years, and what initiatives from SDX, DTCC, JPMorgan, and Standard Chartered reveal about the future of institutional finance.
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David Newns LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidnewns/ 

David Newns X - (19) David Newns (@DavidNewns2) / X 
Alea Research:  https://alearesearch.io/ 

Alea Research X: https://x.com/AleaResearch 

Spotify: 

Apple:

Alenka X: https://x.com/alenka_on_x 

Alenka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-shmalko/ 

Kaisa X: https://x.com/kaisakaisa_ 

Kaisa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaisa-k-4aa212194/ 

—

DISCLAIMER: This Content is Provided Solely for Informational and Educational Purposes. It does Not Constitute Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice.