Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing

In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Jake Chervinsky, founder and CEO of Hyperliquid Policy Center, to discuss how perpetual futures could move beyond crypto and what it would take to bring regulated onchain markets to the U.S

Jake breaks down why 24/7 price discovery matters, how perpetual futures could complement traditional derivatives markets, and why oil could be a natural next market for onchain trading. They discuss Hyperliquid's role as infrastructure for exchanges, the potential for regulated perpetual futures in the U.S., how onchain markets could improve liquidity and price discovery, and why not every traditional market necessarily needs to trade 24/7. 

Timestamps

00:00 Jake Chervinsky and the Hyperliquid Policy Center  

02:37 Why Jake believes in Hyperliquid  

05:03 What makes Hyperliquid different  

06:21 Taking perpetual futures beyond crypto  

09:39 Perpetual futures explained  

11:25 What 24/7 markets reveal about price discovery  

13:01 Why pricing doesn't stop when markets close  

14:08 Should every market trade 24/7?  

16:01 Why oil could be the next market for perpetual futures  

18:44 Who would use oil perpetuals?  

19:18 What Hyperliquid could change about financial markets  

21:00 Bringing regulated perpetual futures to the U.S.

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This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard 

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com 

This episode is brought to you by GSR, crypto’s capital markets partner, learn more at https://www.gsr.io/

In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Jake Chervinsky, founder and CEO of the Hyperliquid Policy Center, to discuss how perpetual futures could move beyond crypto and what it would take to bring regulated onchain markets to the U.S.

Jake breaks down why 24/7 price discovery matters, how perpetual futures could complement traditional derivatives markets, and why oil could be a natural next market for onchain trading. They discuss Hyperliquid's role as infrastructure for exchanges, the potential for regulated perpetual futures in the U.S., how onchain markets could improve liquidity and price discovery, and why not every traditional market necessarily needs to trade 24/7. 

Timestamps

00:00 Jake Chervinsky and the Hyperliquid Policy Center  

02:37 Why Jake believes in Hyperliquid  

05:03 What makes Hyperliquid different  

06:21 Taking perpetual futures beyond crypto  

09:39 Perpetual futures explained  

11:25 What 24/7 markets reveal about price discovery  

13:01 Why pricing doesn't stop when markets close  

14:08 Should every market trade 24/7?  

16:01 Why oil could be the next market for perpetual futures  

18:44 Who would use oil perpetuals?  

19:18 What Hyperliquid could change about financial markets  

21:00 Bringing regulated perpetual futures to the U.S.

New episodes every week 

https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141

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This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard 

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com 

This episode is brought to you by GSR, crypto’s capital markets partner, learn more at https://www.gsr.io/

Today we are announcing Convergence, our new institutional product for sophisticated investors, in a joint venture between StrataMedia's Token Relations product & Talking Tokens podcast alongside The Rollup, and is presented by WisdomTree. 

For our debut launch, WisdomTree's Head of Digital Asset's Will Peck joins us for Episode #1 of Convergence.

WisdomTree's onchain assets went from $30 million to over $1 billion, and Will Peck says money market funds did the heavy lifting. On episode one of Convergence, Will explains why tokenized funds complement stablecoins rather than compete with them, and how WisdomTree got SEC exemptive relief to let a tokenized money market fund trade 24/7 through a broker dealer. He also pushes back on the private-markets tokenization thesis, arguing illiquidity isn't a record-keeping problem. 

Will Peck is the Head of Digital Assets at WisdomTree, a global asset manager and ETF sponsor with roughly $170 billion in assets under management.

Convergence is powered by The Rollup and StrataMedia, covering the convergence of legacy finance and onchain finance.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:52 What Convergence Actually Means

04:30 Why WisdomTree Started In 2018

05:38 Exporting US Capital Markets

08:56 Institutional Versus Retail Distribution

10:32 The Innovation Exemption Explained

13:14 DTCC's Forty Firm Pilot

16:00 Three Models Of Tokenization

19:35 Why WisdomTree Chose Issuer-Led

21:10 Thirty Million To One Billion

22:45 What Drives The Next Era

25:05 Why Private Markets Aren't It

28:05 Who Wins The Tokenization Wave

30:14 The Perfect Storm For Adoption

33:08 WisdomTree's North Star

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𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥: 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘍𝘪 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴.

In today's episode of Solana Sessions, Jacquelyn sits down with Andrea Miele, CEO and founder of Beezie, to explore how gamification, tokenization and onchain infrastructure are changing the way consumers discover and buy collectibles.

Andrea breaks down how Beezie grew from tokenized trading cards into a broader gamified commerce platform, recently crossing $200 million in volume and $100 million in total revenue. They discuss Beezie's expansion into luxury markets through its partnership with The Luxury Closet, how users can access everything from Pokémon cards to luxury handbags through its digital claw-machine experience, and why Andrea believes the future of shopping is about more than simply searching, clicking and buying. She also explains why Beezie abstracts away the blockchain experience for mainstream users, how onchain transparency can help build trust, why Solana has become a key ecosystem for the company, and where gamified commerce could expand next.

Timestamps:

00:10 Andrea journey from collector to founder

02:26 How shopping behavior is changing

03:20 How Beezie's digital claw machine works

05:25 Why trading cards found product-market fit

06:49 Building through doubt as a founder

07:51 What drove Beezie's growth

08:51 Growing to $200M in volume and $100M in revenue

11:28 User growth and retention

12:35 Expanding beyond crypto-native collectors

13:03 Beezie's move into luxury

14:48 How the luxury experience works

15:49 Vaulting and securing physical assets

16:17 Authenticating luxury goods

17:16 Why Beezie is selling “the chase”

18:14 The future of gamified commerce

19:19 What Beezie learned from sneakers

20:17 What's next for tokenized commerce

21:07 Bringing luxury buyers onchain

23:25 Building trust through authentication

27:23 What traditional collectibles markets get wrong

28:46 Why onchain transparency matters

29:36 Who is the future Beezie customer?

30:10 Andrea's advice for founders

30:38 Why Beezie chose Solana

This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign between Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast, diving into founders' journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying newsletter on www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/solana 

As part of the episode, we’re giving away one code for the fastest listener: LUX92244527. Head to solana.beezie.com/claw/Platinum-TCG-9 and sign up for an account, and apply the promo code for the premium Platinum TCG claw machine. 

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Robinhood Chain has quickly emerged as one of the fastest-growing blockchains, with roughly 620,000 average daily active users, $1.3 million in daily fees, and $4.26 billion in TVL, at the time of recording. But  Alexander, from our institutional research team, explores in his latest report that some of the most interesting activity isn’t coming from stock tokens alone but also from what happens when tokenized stocks, memecoins, and 24/7 crypto markets collide.

Alexander & Jacquelyn  breaks down how Robinhood Stock Tokens work, why memecoins tied to specific stock tokens have created unusual new trading dynamics, and how one HIMS-related stock token traded more than 100% above its underlying asset before reverting. We discuss why limited minting and redemption windows can create price dislocations while crypto markets continue trading, how 24/7 equity markets could reduce those gaps, and the differences between wrapped vs issuer-led tokenization. Alex also explains what has fueled Robinhood Chain’s rapid growth and why he believes the current memecoin-driven boom may already be approaching its end.

Timestamps

00:10 The Stock Token Saga and New StrataMedia Research

01:12 Why Robinhood Chain Is Growing So Fast

03:20 How Robinhood Stock Tokens Work

04:55 The Risks Behind Wrapped Stock Tokens

06:11 Why Stock Tokens Are Getting Attention

06:52 When Memecoins Meet Tokenized Stocks

07:58 How a Stock Token Traded 100%+ Above Its Underlying

09:17 The Risks for Companies and Investors

10:51 The Problem With 24/7 Stock Token Trading

12:15 Wrapped vs. Issuer-Led Tokenization

13:17 Is the Robinhood Chain Boom Ending?

13:33 Why Alex Thinks the Market Could Cool Down

15:16 What Comes Next

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In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Nicola White, VP of Institutional at Robinhood, to discuss how Robinhood is expanding its institutional crypto business and why tokenized assets could reshape the way traditional financial markets operate.

Nicola breaks down how Robinhood's acquisition of Bitstamp plays a role in expansion, the evolution of institutional demand from crypto pilots to real-world use cases, and the growing role of stock tokens, perpetual futures, collateral and capital efficiency. They also explore how Robinhood's stock tokens work, the path toward issuer-led tokenization, and why assets ranging from equities and private markets to money market funds, credit and FX could eventually move onchain. 

Timestamps:

00:10 Nicola White's path from TradFi to crypto

03:11 Building Robinhood's institutional business

04:23 How Bitstamp expanded Robinhood's global footprint

05:57 Connecting retail and institutional markets

07:12 What TradFi professionals need to understand about crypto

08:38 What traditional finance still gets wrong

09:44 Are institutions moving beyond crypto pilots?

10:41 What's working for Robinhood

12:34 What are stock tokens?

13:51 Wrapped vs. issuer-led tokenization

14:55 Are stock tokens a bridge?

15:47 Robinhood's biggest tokenization opportunities

16:57 What does an institutional Robinhood look like?

17:48 What institutions are asking for now

18:34 Why capital efficiency matters

19:34 What could unlock the next phase of U.S. institutional adoption

This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard 

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com 

This episode is brought to you by GSR, crypto’s capital markets partner, learn more at https://www.gsr.io/ 

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In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Sam Broner, CEO of The Better Money Company, to unpack what stablecoins need to become everyday payment infrastructure and why interoperability could matter more than which stablecoin ultimately wins. Drawing on his experience across Microsoft, the Federal Reserve, a16z and now building stablecoin infrastructure, Sam explains why today's payment system still has significant room for improvement.

They discuss why companies are launching their own stablecoins, how a stablecoin clearinghouse could connect an increasingly fragmented market, and why consumers may eventually use stablecoins without even realizing it. Sam also breaks down the economics of card fees for merchants, whether stablecoins threaten Visa and Mastercard, and why AI agents could increasingly use stablecoins as a default way to transact online.

Timestamps

00:00 — Meet Sam Broner

00:44 — From Microsoft and the Fed to stablecoins

02:21 — Why Sam saw the stablecoin opportunity early

04:54 — Is today's money system actually working?

05:23 — What is a stablecoin clearinghouse?

07:17 — Why stablecoin issuers need interoperability

10:10 — Why companies want their own stablecoins

12:25 — Why Better Money doesn't issue a stablecoin

13:40 — What happens if there are thousands of stablecoins?

17:13 — When stablecoins become everyday money

18:56 — What needs to happen for mainstream payments?

21:05 — How quickly could stablecoin payments become normal?

22:53 — The economics of credit card fees

24:41 — Do stablecoins threaten Visa and Mastercard?

26:42 — Stablecoins vs. banks and existing payment rails

28:05 — Why AI agents could pay with stablecoins

30:23 — Your AI agent may use stablecoins without you knowing

31:41 — How much money should you trust an AI agent with?

33:54 — When consumers stop thinking about stablecoins

36:43 — Sam's vision for the future of money

37:10 — Sam's career advice

This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard 

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com 

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In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of zerohash, to explore how crypto infrastructure is becoming embedded inside some of the world’s largest banks, brokers, fintechs and payment companies. Zerohash powers digital asset and stablecoin capabilities for companies including Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, Stripe and Visa, helping traditional financial institutions move from crypto trading toward a broader onchain financial stack.

Edward Woodford explains why he believes banks will enter onchain finance through wealth and crypto before expanding into stablecoins, tokenized deposits, money market funds and tokenized stocks. They discuss why blockchain usability remains a major obstacle to mass adoption, the importance of abstracting away from chain complexity, how stablecoins could increase the velocity of global money movement, and why Edward has become increasingly bullish on onchain lending and vaults as financial markets move toward faster and more atomic settlement.

Timestamps

00:10 Zerohash and the Evolution of Onchain Infrastructure

01:01 From Crypto Trading to Onchain Finance

02:50 How Zerohash Has Changed Since 2017

05:43 Why Blockchain Fragmentation Still Matters

07:44 Solving Crypto’s Usability Problem

08:32 Building Infrastructure for Major Financial Institutions

11:20 How Banks Expand From Crypto Into Onchain Assets

14:26 Why Trust Matters More Than Innovation

17:39 Why Zerohash Says No to Certain Business

20:51 Why Zerohash Stayed Independent

23:47 Building Through Crypto Market Cycles

25:40 How Zerohash Makes Its Biggest Bets

27:27 The Road to Mass Onchain Adoption

30:55 Where Stablecoins Still Have Untapped Potential

33:20 Why Onchain Lending Could Be Next

35:10 Edward’s Advice for Crypto Builders

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Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com 

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.

On today's Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn sits down with Andrew McCormick, Head of Institutional and Market Development at Chainlink Labs, to explore how banks, retail brokers and traditional financial institutions are moving deeper into tokenization and why simply putting assets onchain is no longer enough. Andrew explains why institutional conversations have shifted from “what is a blockchain?” to “how can we plug in?” as well as why large Wall Street banks are increasingly exploring DeFi, and how retail brokers that aren't offering tokenized assets by 2030 could be left behind. They also discuss why tokenized equities could become a breakout category, how programmable collateral can make tokenized assets more useful, and how Chainlink is expanding beyond its origins as an oracle network to support data, interoperability, privacy, compliance and financial infrastructure.

Plus, Andrew breaks down why crypto price matters less in institutional conversations today, what DTCC's move into tokenized securities could mean for TradFi-DeFi convergence, and why collateral may be one of the biggest unlocks for the next phase of onchain finance.

Timestamps:

01:56 How Andrew defines tokenization

02:32 How the meaning of tokenization has changed

03:06 What “institutional” means at Chainlink

04:11 How institutional adoption changed in 2026

05:48 How banks are changing their view of digital assets

07:19 Chainlink's evolution beyond oracles

08:37 How Chainlink positions itself with financial institutions

09:19 Institutional demand behind the scenes

10:30 How long institutional partnerships take

11:59 Which financial firms are moving fastest?

13:06 Will every retail broker offer tokenized assets?

13:32 How early is tokenization today?

14:13 Could public equities move fully onchain?

15:07 Could stocks eventually function like cash?

15:39 Rebuilding financial workflows with blockchain

17:15 Why institutions may have no choice but to follow

18:32 Which tokenized asset category breaks out next?

19:41 Why retail matters as much as institutions

22:26 Why Wall Street is increasingly interested in DeFi

24:09 What's driving institutions toward DeFi

24:54 Why putting assets onchain isn't enough

25:54 What Chainlink's institutional partnerships reveal

27:43 Do institutions trust crypto more now?

28:48 Why crypto prices matter less to institutions

29:37 How TradFi and DeFi could converge

30:07 What DTCC tokenization could unlock

31:35 Chainlink as financial infrastructure

32:31 The next catalyst for tokenization

33:29 From crypto skeptic to blockchain believer

35:23 Why collateral could be the next major unlock

36:13 Andrew's advice

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This episode is sponsored by Securitize, the proven leader in tokenized funds, equities, and private markets. Discover more at securitize.io 

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.

DeFi vaults are having a breakout year, with roughly $15 billion in value now sitting across the sector. But as Alexander Beaudry from our institutional research team found in his latest survey, rapid growth doesn’t necessarily mean institutional adoption has arrived. In this episode, we break down StrataMedia’s survey of seven industry leaders from Aave, Veda, Sky, Loopscale, Gauntlet, RockawayX, and Space and Time to explore what’s actually driving the rise of DeFi vaults and why one exec calls 2026 “the year of the vault.”

Alex breaks down why distribution is emerging as one of the sector’s strongest competitive moats and reveals a striking divide around institutional demand, with survey respondents rating it anywhere from roughly 4 out of 10 to nearly 10 out of 10. We discuss why exchanges, neobanks, and fintechs rather than institutions themselves are currently driving some of the biggest vault use cases, how tokenization could bring more institutional capital onchain, and why track record, transparency, curation, and regulatory clarity may determine what comes next.

Timestamps

00:00 DeFi Vaults and the New StrataMedia Research

01:58 Why DeFi Vaults Are Taking Off

03:30 Distribution Is Becoming the Real Moat

05:22 How Strong Is Institutional Demand?

06:18 Who Is Actually Using DeFi Vaults?

07:18 Tokenization Could Be the First Step

08:17 The Biggest Surprise From the Survey

09:47 Why Sophisticated Capital Is Changing

10:50 What StrataMedia Research Is Exploring Next

▫️Check out the full report: 

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