Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing

On today's Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn sits down with Brett Redfearn, President of Securitize and former SEC Director of Trading and Markets, to trace how tokenization has evolved from floor-based trading rooms to onchain capital markets. Brett explains why he thinks we're entering the most transformative market structure shift in 20 years, why tokenized stocks might be the next major frontier, what the SEC's expected innovation exemption could unlock, and why there are conversations happening right now with bulge bracket banks about bringing tokenized IPOs to onchain investors within the next year or two.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Understanding Tokenization

02:44 The Evolution of Capital Markets

05:09 Regulatory Landscape and Innovation

09:11 Institutional Adoption of Tokenization

13:22 Brett's Transition to Leadership at Securitize

16:15 Growth Opportunities for Securitize

20:12 Advice for Traditional Firms Entering Digital Assets

21:56 The Importance of Networking in Crypto Events

24:26 The Shift of Tokenization from Disruption to Integration

27:09 Bridging Traditional Finance and Blockchain

30:07 Understanding the Landscape of Tokenization

32:33 The Future of Tokenized Assets

39:42 Regulatory Perspectives on Tokenization

42:47 Envisioning the Future of Tokenization

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. 

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

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens 

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

On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Torab Torabi, CEO of Move Industries, to discuss Movement’s strategic reorientation toward becoming a stablecoin settlement and yield layer for emerging markets. 

Torab shares what he learned from sitting down with the Ethiopian president and Ministry of Finance, why governments in these markets don’t want an unchecked flight to dollars, and why he thinks most teams chasing emerging markets with tokenized stocks or T-bill yields are headed straight for a brick wall.

Torab also discusses the Movement Network Foundation repurchasing approximately 19% of MOVE tokens previously allocated to investors and what it means for the tokenholders going forward.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction to Move Industries and Torab Torabi

02:07 Evolution of Move Industries and Market Dynamics

05:07 Why the Foundation Bought Tokens Back

08:12 Focus on Emerging Markets and Government Engagement

12:12 Security Concerns in DeFi and User Fund Protection

15:19 Differentiating Markets: Developed vs. Emerging

19:04 Stablecoins and Gold in Emerging Markets

23:09 Sharia Compliance and Financial Products for Emerging Markets

24:30 Tokenization and Emerging Markets

26:24 Understanding Compliance in Financial Products

28:34 The Role of Government in Financial Scalability

31:48 Challenges in Currency Exchange and Adoption

34:09 Key Metrics for Success in Emerging Markets

36:10 Institutional Adoption vs. Emerging Market Focus

40:58 Strategic Reorientation and Future Plans

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. 

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

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens 

Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek   

Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens   

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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 Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Bart Smith and Laine Litman, CEO and COO of AVAT, the Avalanche Treasury Company, two traditional finance veterans who both spent years watching institutions talk about crypto before finally deciding to go all in themselves. 

Bart and Laine get into what makes AVAT different from the pile of treasury companies trying to copy the MicroStrategy model, and why their bet is on giving investors exposure to the whole Avalanche ecosystem rather than just stacking the token. Institutional conversations almost always start as investment discussions and quickly turn into implementation discussions, but the Clarity Act might be the unlock most people aren't paying close enough attention to. 

TIMESTAMPS 

02:49 From ETFs to Crypto

05:48 Laine's Path from Voice Trading to Blockchain

09:00 Why AVAT Is Not Another MicroStrategy

13:40 The Private Market Problem

14:57 What Institutional Conversations Look Like Right Now

28:43 The Role of Debt Structure in a Bear Market

35:39 AI, Agentic Payments, and What to Watch in 2026

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. 

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

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens 

Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek   

Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens   

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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 our first episode of Strata Research presented by Talking Tokens & Token Relations, Jacquelyn sits down with Institutional Research Analyst Alex Beaudry to breakdown agentic payments. Alex walks through why it isn't one market but three distinct payment flows, each with completely different infrastructure requirements, and why the machine-to-machine category is where stablecoins have a real structural edge over traditional rails. They also get into the four things that actually need to happen before this market scales, and why the narrative is still running well ahead of the transaction volumes to back it up.

Check out the associated newsletter for more details: https://www.token-relations.com/p/agentic-payments-where-we-are-and-where-we-re-going 

TIMESTAMPS 

00:00 Introduction Strata Research

01:24 Understanding Agentic Payments

04:54 The Flows of Agentic Payments

07:24 Challenges and Frameworks for Scaling

11:39 Recent Developments and Future Outlook

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. 

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

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens 

Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek   

Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens   

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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 Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Lorenzo Romagnoli, co-founder of USDT0, a stablecoin protocol that has moved over $90 billion in USDT across 25+ blockchains since launching in January 2025. Lorenzo makes the case that stablecoins were not just built for Americans or Europeans but for people in emerging markets across Africa, Latin America, and Asia who needed a way out of crushing inflation, and explains why that's the core reason Tether's dominance is so hard to compete with. They also get into what it will actually take for AI agents to transact onchain at scale, and why Lorenzo believes the teams still building with true decentralization in mind are the ones worth watching.

TIMESTAMPS 

00:00 Introduction to USDT Zero and Its Founders

02:31 The Evolution of USDT and Decentralized Finance

05:36 Understanding the Mechanics of USDT Zero

08:33 User Behavior and Volume Trends

11:34 Tether's Role in the Global Financial Ecosystem

15:38 Targeting Emerging Markets with Stablecoins

18:45 The Competitive Landscape of Stablecoins

21:12 The Future of Stablecoins

24:05 Global Adoption and Use Cases

27:32 The Rise of USDT and Market Dynamics

30:11 Innovation and Staying Ahead

34:23 The Role of Decentralization in Finance

39:45 Advice for Future Innovators

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. 

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

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek   

Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens   

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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.

In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Erik Reppel, head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform and creator of x402., They discuss why the internet struggled without a native payment protocol and why AI agents finally made the problem urgent enough to solve. Erik explains how x402 lets computers send money as easily as they send data, and why Visa, Mastercard, and others are all founding members of its x402 Foundation.

He walks through why the 402 HTTP status code was reserved for "payment required" but left empty for decades, how publishers can now charge AI agents with micropayments instead of losing traffic to scraping, and why agents with wallets are fundamentally more useful than agents without them. The conversation covers why stablecoins are uniquely suited for low-dollar transactions, how Coinbase uses AI internally to make every engineer 3x more productive, and why the best infrastructure eventually becomes invisible.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Intro
(01:25) Why AI becoming an economic actor made the internet's missing payment layer urgent
(03:21) What x402 actually is
(05:14) How x402 works like HTTP but for money and with any client, server, or payment
(06:26) What Erik wants people to build with x402: new business models beyond ads and subscriptions
(08:31) Who is already using x402: CoinGecko, Messari, a16z, and agent native publishers
(09:56) Why the 402 status code sat empty for decades
(11:15) Where x402 stands today: 15+ chains, stablecoins first, credit cards next
(12:50) Why Visa and Mastercard joined the x402 Foundation
(15:41) Biggest use cases right now
(17:16) Are AI agents good traders? Why wallets for payments matter more than wallets for trading
(19:17) What needs to happen for AI agents to participate more meaningfully onchain
(21:44) Do AI agents understand value? Economic reasoning and budget awareness
(23:22) Long-term vision for x402
(26:40) Final advice: play positive sum games with positive people

ESSENTIALS You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/

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.

In this episode of Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Jason Barraza, head of institutional business development at RedStone, about why blockchain oracles are evolving from simple price feeds into the institutional intelligence layer that tokenized finance still needs. Jason, who previously served as COO at Security Token Market where he helped track over 800 tokenized real world assets, explains how RedStone powers NAV feeds for BlackRock, Apollo, and Franklin Templeton, and why the firm's acquisition of Credora for onchain risk ratings is part of building a full-stack intelligence platform.

He walks through why RWAs as DeFi collateral is the next big unlock and why the buy-build-or-lease question is splitting institutions into fundamentally different infrastructure strategies. The conversation covers why private credit is gaining so much attention, how Securitize’s Computershare partnership lowers barriers for corporates wanting to tokenize, and why standardization around compliance and portable identity is the key to scaling institutional adoption.

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

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Intro
(01:36) What feels materially different from the last cycle
(02:08) What RedStone does: oracles, risk ratings, and the institutional intelligence layer
(03:13) Where oracle demand is highest right now: NAV feeds and RWAs as collateral
(04:21) How Credora's risk ratings help institutions compare vaults yielding the same returns
(05:16) DeFi exploits and how RWAs with transfer agents offer a safety net
(07:27) Balancing speed and safety: co-creating solutions with institutions
(08:49) What's coming in the next 6-18 months
(10:12) Why vaults are gaining traction as streamlined fund infrastructure
(12:12) Where institutional capital is being deployed today: money markets, stablecoins, and private credit
(14:14) Tracking 800+ tokenized asset and what surprised him
(16:01) Crypto native vs traditional institutions: the split in tokenization adoption
(17:11) Buy, build, or lease: how institutions are choosing their tokenization infrastructure
(20:31) What real institutional adoption looks like: full lifecycle onchain
(22:10) Why collateral is the new conversation, not just tokenization for its own sake
(24:40) Final advice to get educated and get on board

ESSENTIALS

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/

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.

In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Ben Reynolds, SVP and head of Big Business Banking at SoFi, about why the company launched its SoFi USD stablecoin on Solana and what it means for the firm’s broader vision to become a stablecoin liquidity hub. Ben, who joined Silvergate in 2016 and helped build the Silvergate Exchange Network before the bank shut down in 2023, explains how commercial banks are finally building in the space now that the regulatory environment has changed under the current administration.

He walks through why SoFiUSD reserves are held in a Fed master account with zero credit, liquidity, or duration risk and why stablecoin infrastructure is still far less mature than people think. He also explains how the next catalyst for onchain payments could come top down from banks with built-in network effects rather than bottoms up from crypto companies. The conversation covers why non-dollar stablecoins at scale would transform cross-border payments, how SoFi's 15 million users and card processing business create unique synergies, and why building stablecoin-agnostic infrastructure is the smartest strategy right now.

This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign that Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast are doing, diving into founders' journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying newsletter on www.token-relations.com

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Intro

(01:04) Ben's journey from: Silvergate in 2016 to joining SoFi six months ago

(02:33) How commercial banks think about digital assets today vs 10 years ago

(03:29) Launching SoFiUSD on Solana: cost, settlement speed, and throughput

(04:30) Catalysts for onchain payments: non-dollar stablecoins, DeFi friction, and regulatory clarity

(07:07) Stablecoin liquidity is overestimated: the emerging market conversion problem

(08:07) Advice for big banks: build stablecoin-agnostic and understand the risk differences

(09:26) Why SoFi USD reserves sit in a Fed master account

(10:06) How Operation Choke Point 2.0 chilled bank building and why the environment is different now

(10:44) Biggest realization at SoFi: how early stablecoins still are and how fast SoFi ships

(12:18) The big vision: SoFi as the stablecoin liquidity hub for big business banking

ESSENTIALS

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/

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.

In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Mike Silagadze, founder and CEO of EtherFi, and Joseph Chalom, CEO of SharpLink, following SharpLink’s deployment ofed $200 million of its $2 billion ether treasury into EtherFi in January and what the due diligence process actually looked like from both sides. Mike explains why EtherFi is building a ‘DeFi bank,’ an end-to-end self-custody alternative to traditional banking with hundreds of thousands of users and over $5 billion in deposits.Joseph, who spent two decades at BlackRock before joining SharpLink, walks through how his team hired people from Bridgewater and FalconX specifically to underwrite DeFi risk, why tail risk is still risk, and how its permanent capital gives SharpLink an advantage most crypto allocators don't have. The conversation covers why the recent wave of DeFi exploits could have been stopped with basic intervention tools, why stablecoin rails will be the main way crypto reaches the real economy, and tokenization growing as NYSE and Nasdaq opens for 24/7 trading.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Intro
(01:30) The relationship between EtherFi and SharpLink and why they work together
(01:46) What EtherFi is building: the DeFi bank with $5-6 billion in deposits
(02:24) SharpLink's $2 billion Ethereum treasury and why they deployed $200 million into EtherFi
(03:38) Balancing speed and safety: why the DeFi risk playbook hasn't been written yet
(05:28) Why institutions move slow deploying, but go fast when monitoring problems
(07:25) How EtherFi approaches security: in-office teams, formal verification, and constant audits
(08:26) Decentralization theater: why performative decentralization makes protocols less safe
(09:17) Why EtherFi is building an emergency “red button” intervention system without compromising self-custody
(10:53) How SharpLink's team underwrites DeFi risk
(13:28) Why institutions are still in the first inning of DeFi adoption
(17:28) How tokenized securities will unlock DeFi at a scale far beyond bitcoin and ether
(22:11) Qualified custody with Anchorage and why ops alpha matters for institutional DeFi
(23:09) What's next for EtherFi: global licensing and becoming a viable alternative to banks
(25:56) Stablecoin rails as the main way crypto reaches the real economy
(28:31) Tokenization about to expand as NYSE, Nasdaq, and DTCC opening up 24/7
(29:44) Final advice: stay safe, don't chase yield, and invest in young builders

ESSENTIALS

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/

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.

In this special episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek sits down with eight crypto leaders at an event in Miami hosted by StrataMedia alongside GSR and Alpaca for a rapid-fire mini interview series. Each guest is asked a similar set of questions: what their company is working on, how they describe the state of the crypto market, whether bearish sentiment is overhyped, what they would tokenize if they could tokenize anything, and what else they're paying attention to that listeners should be watching too.

Guests include Asheesh Birla (CEO, Evernorth), Phil Fogel (CEO and co-founder, Cork Protocol), Neil Chopra (head of strategy and BD, Fireblocks), Scott Dykstra (co-founder and CTO, Space and Time), David Reising (founder and CEO, Lotus Protocol), Yoshi Yokokawa (co-founder and CEO, Alpaca), Tom Murphy (head of communications, Securitize), and Jakob Palmstierna (president, GSR). Answers range from wanting to tokenize chickens and avocados to entire balance sheets, and the through line is clear: institutions are here, the infrastructure is maturing, and the people still building through a tough market are the ones who will define what comes next.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Intro
(00:32) Asheesh Birla, CEO of Evernorth, on active XRP treasury management and tokenizing compute
(05:48) Phil Fogel, CEO and co-founder of Cork Protocol, on risk infrastructure DeFi is still missing
(12:08) Neil Chopra, head of strategy and BD at Fireblocks, on convergence of crypto native and traditional markets
(18:10) Scott Dykstra, co-founder and CTO of Space and Time, on its new institutional Virtual Vvaults and decentralization after exploits
(21:56) David Reising, founder and CEO of Lotus Protocol, on tranched lending and DeFi insurance
(24:36) Yoshi Yokokawa, co-founder and CEO of Alpaca, on tokenization infrastructure and the paradigm shift ahead
(28:11) Tom Murphy, head of communications at Securitize, on its new Jump and Jupiter partnership, Computershare announcement, and tokenized stocks
(34:38) Jakob Palmstierna, president of GSR, on market structure evolution and tokenized equities trading 24/7

ESSENTIALS

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/

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.