On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Gordon Liao, Chief Economist and Head of Research at Circle, to talk about why traditional financial plumbing is still the biggest bottleneck in money movement globally. 

We discuss Arc, Circle's new institutional blockchain, which is being built from the ground up to handle everything from agentic nano payments to quantum-resistant encryption. Gordon believes that Arc being quantum-ready from day one isn't just a nice-to-have but a decision that could define whether the network and its users survives the next decade of security threats. Gordon also breaks down the three things he thinks the market is underestimating right now and how 99.5% of x402 payment protocol volume is already running through Circle’s USDC.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction to Gordon and His Background

02:45 The Future of Onchain Finance

05:56 USDC and Its Market Position

08:54 Agentic Commerce and AI Integration

11:57 The Launch of Arc and Its Vision

15:00 Challenges in Blockchain Adoption

17:55 Privacy and Security in Blockchain

20:57 Quantum Computing and Its Implications

24:10 Market Perspectives and Economic Insights

30:02 Final Thoughts and Advice

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

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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 Dakota Campbell, Head of Marketing at Collector Crypt, the platform that generated $165 million in volume in April alone by putting trading cards and physical collectibles onchain with Solana. 

Dakota explains the resurgence of physical collecting is what's actually pulling people toward digital ownership, and why Solana's low fees were the thing that finally made tokenizing a five-dollar card make sense after years of the idea being cost-prohibitive on Ethereum.

He also dives into how he thinks about marketing to everyday collectors vs crypto audiences, what it took to scale the business over the past few years and expansion beyond trading card games.

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 The Evolution of Collectibles

02:55 Digital Collectibles and Nostalgia

06:12 Collector Crypt's Success and Market Dynamics

09:02 The Role of Solana in Collector Crypt

12:02 User Experience: Crypto Native vs. Mainstream Collectors

15:14 Marketplace Dynamics and Price Discoverability

17:45 Attracting Non-Crypto Collectors

21:01 Marketing Strategies for Diverse Audiences

25:21 Understanding Audience Engagement

28:41 Navigating Marketing in the Crypto Space

33:34 Expanding Beyond Trading Card Games

37:18 Rapid Fire Insights on Collectibles

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   

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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 this episode of Strata Research, presented by Talking Tokens & Token Relations, Jacquelyn sits down with Institutional Research Analyst Alex Beaudry to dig into crypto neobanks. Apps are rebuilding what Chime and Revolut did a decade ago, but on stablecoin rails and Alex explains how founders can set themselves up for success. Alex’s insights cover why the float and yield model is both the most lucrative and the hardest to sustain through a bear market, and where the real opportunity sits for anyone watching this space over the next 12 to 24 months.

Check out the associated newsletter for more details: https://www.token-relations.com/p/the-neobank-playbook

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction to Crypto Neobanks

02:59 Revenue Models and Market Dynamics

06:02 Challenges and Risks in Crypto Neobanking

08:04 Future Trends and Considerations

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   

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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 Morgan Krupetsky, VP of Onchain Finance at Ava Labs, to break down where institutional adoption of blockchain actually stands right now. 

They discuss why Morgan thinks the industry has officially crossed the chasm from experimental pilots to in-production deployments. Morgan deep dives into the embedded finance stack she's seeing resonate across global markets, why private credit and asset-backed finance are better suited for blockchain rails than equities, and why the deals being announced today were quietly in the works 12 to 18 months ago.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 The Shift in Institutional Crypto Adoption

10:08 Understanding Institutional Strategies

20:22 Tokenization and Its Impact on Financial Markets

30:07 Stablecoins: The Gateway to onchain Finance

40:54 Future Innovations in onchain Finance

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   

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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 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   

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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   

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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   

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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   

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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.