Joanna Zeng is the co-founder and CEO of SOON Network, before establishing SOON (Solana Optimistic Network), Joanna used to be a currency trader on Wall Street, and has since held roles in business development and product management at Aleo , Optimism , and Coinbase . She also served as a founding board member of CryptoNYC and is an active angel investor. SOON is a Layer 2 (L2) blockchain built on Solana's Virtual Machine (SVM). It uses Optimistic Rollups to take Solana’s already impressive spee...
Apr 03, 2025•28 min•Ep. 427
Darius Tabai is the CEO and co-founder of Vertex Protocol, a leading decentralized exchange built on Arbitrum. Darius is an experienced trader with a history of working in FX, Commodities, and Crypto. Darius’ previous roles include the Head of Trading at JST Digital, Head of Trading at CrossTower, Global Head of Metals Trading at Merrill Lynch, and the Global Head of Precious Metals Trading at Credit Suisse. In this conversation, we discuss: - The story behind founding Vertex Protocol - What is ...
Mar 31, 2025•24 min•Ep. 426
Ian Smith is the CEO & CTO at Quantum EVM. He’s a seasoned technologist with 21+ years of experience spanning blockchain, cryptography, cloud microservices, and AI-driven solutions. Proficient in 20+ languages, including Golang, Python, and C++, he has led groundbreaking projects across industries. Ian has worked with major organizations like NASA, Oracle, VISA, and Boeing, contributing to secure, scalable systems in finance, IoT, and blockchain. With deep expertise in cryptography and post-...
Mar 27, 2025•36 min•Ep. 425
Yves La Rose is a global technology entrepreneur who founded the EOS Network and currently serves as its CEO. Yves is a long-standing, well-respected leader within the EOS community, known particularly for the pivotal role he has played in the ecosystem’s resurgence. In this conversation, we discuss: - The history and future of EOS Network - Blockchains need to upgrade themselves - EOS Rebrand to Vaulta - The New Era of Finance - How Web3 is Poised to Dramatically Disrupt Finance - Vaulta Bankin...
Mar 24, 2025•32 min•Ep. 424
Kyle Reidhead is Co-Owner & Head of Research at Milk Road, a leading crypto investing media company, and Founder of Impact3, a crypto-native marketing agency helping top protocols and brands in crypto grow. In this conversation, we discuss: - Current market sentiment - short-term pain for long-term gain - The market isn’t as bad as it seems - The USA needs to refinance their trillions of debt and they want lower interest rates - Trump is trying to cause a fake recession - "The Fat App" thesi...
Mar 20, 2025•39 min•Ep. 423
Seb is the founder and CEO of Sophon, the Consumer chain bridging Web2 to Web3 and the largest blockchain node sale, raising $65 million. He also serves as VP of Paper Ventures. He was previously at Matter Labs, the creators of ZKsync. In this conversation, we discuss: - Why is the market down bad? Trump trying to cut rates - US Bitcoin reserve - won’t be buying Bitcoin anytime soon - Mass adoption won’t happen by convincing people to use crypto - Mass adoption = better internet products, powere...
Mar 17, 2025•32 min•Ep. 422
Frederik Gregaard is CEO of the Cardano Foundation, the Swiss-based non-profit organization which exists to ensure the advancement of the Cardano protocol, while also contributing to the positive advancement of blockchain as a world-changing technology. A leader in fintech and blockchain, Gregaard previously served as Director and Head of Digital in PwC's Financial Services Advisory practice and as Director and Head of Institutional Business at Saxo Bank Switzerland. Whilst at the Cardano Founda...
Mar 13, 2025•39 min•Ep. 421
Aryan Sheikhalian is the Head of Research and helps with deal sourcing and due diligence at CMT Digital. Aryan joined CMT Digital in the summer of 2021 during Fund II to focus on blockchain research and venture. Aryan started his career at Accenture prior to starting college as part of the "Horizons scholar" program. He then worked and published research throughout his time at college with the Blockchain Research Institute under the leadership of Don Tapscott. He graduated from Columbia Universi...
Mar 10, 2025•35 min•Ep. 420
George Bousis is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor at the forefront of the payments, loyalty, and blockchain industries. As the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Raise, he launched the world's leading platform for digital gift cards. Under his leadership, Raise achieved over $5 billion in sales and saved its customers upwards of $250 million. In this conversation, we discuss: - Becoming a Dad! - $63M Strategic Raise & Smart Cards Initiative - Building Web3 tech that feels like web2 tech -...
Mar 06, 2025•34 min•Ep. 419
Dominic Schwenter is the COO of Lisk, the Layer 2 blockchain dedicated to bringing Web3 adoption in emerging markets back to Ethereum. Dominic’s understanding of blockchain technology and its applications has positioned him as a thought leader in the industry, contributing to numerous innovative projects and solutions. Dominic is dedicated to advancing the adoption of blockchain technology with a specific focus in emerging markets. His contributions continue to shape the future of decentralized ...
Mar 03, 2025•33 min•Ep. 418
Austin King is the Co-Founder of Omni Network and CEO of Labs, the abstraction layer for the Ethereum ecosystem. With a background in computer science from Harvard, Austin began his entrepreneurial journey by creating a payment network that scaled to over 10 billion transactions before being acquired by Ripple. Today, Austin, alongside Co-Founder Tyler Tarsi, is leading Omni’s mission to empower application developers to access users and liquidity across the entire Ethereum ecosystem without sma...
Feb 27, 2025•39 min•Ep. 417
Prabal Banerjee, co-founder of Avail, is a researcher and technical leader. He spearheaded the implementation of the Data Availability layer in 2020 and led a team of researchers to explore new frontiers in cryptography and blockchain technology. Prabal's interest in cryptography began in 2013, which led him to explore blockchain technology in 2016. He accumulated a wide range of internship experience with companies including IBM and Oracle. With his extensive expertise and passion for blockchai...
Feb 24, 2025•33 min•Ep. 416
William E. Quigley is a cryptocurrency and blockchain investor. He has incubated and invested in more than 30 bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency-related investments and co-developed the first crypto derivative used to trade pre-release Ethereum. He co-founded Tether, the first fiat-backed stablecoin and most traded cryptocurrency to date, GoCoin, a pioneering crypto payments processor, and co-founded WAX, a leading NFT blockchain platform. In 2013, Mr. Quigley co-founded Crypto Currency Part...
Feb 20, 2025•38 min•Ep. 415
Jayendra "Jay" Jog is the Co-Founder of Sei Labs, the team behind the Sei Network, a high-performance, low-fee, general-purpose blockchain designed for the best UX for developers and users. Before Sei, Jay was a software engineer at Robinhood, an experience that inspired his decision to build a layer-1 blockchain capable of Web2 scale. In this conversation, we discuss: - L1s vs. L2s - Working at Robinhood during the Gamestop saga - T+2 settlement period is archaic and crypto solves this - Sei’s ...
Feb 17, 2025•34 min•Ep. 414
Sean Ren is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AI, a decentralized blockchain platform built for AI. Backed by top investors in AI and Crypto, including Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Sequoia Capital, Samsung, Matrix Partners, and many more, Sahara AI has raised over $40 million to advance decentralized AI. Today, Sahara AI is trusted by 35+ leading tech innovators and research institutions, such as Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Character AI, and Snapchat. In this conversation, we discuss: - The Fu...
Feb 13, 2025•32 min•Ep. 413
Vijay Chetty is the CEO of Eclipse Labs, bringing a wealth of experience in business development and corporate strategy. Previously, he served as the Chief Growth Officer at Eclipse Laboratories Inc. and held advisory roles at Uniswap Labs. His career includes notable positions as Head of Business Development at both Uniswap Labs and the dYdX Foundation, where he played a pivotal role in enhancing liquidity and trading volumes. In this conversation, we discuss: - Combining Solana’s speed with Et...
Feb 10, 2025•34 min•Ep. 412
Ahmad Shadid is the Founder and CEO of O.XYZ, an ecosystem with a mission to build the world's first sovereign super intelligence. As Ahmad put it, "AI must be a tool for the people, not a weapon for profit." O.XYZ is a complex ecosystem, starting with it’s core – O.Super Intelligence which will help guide decisions, solve complex problems, and interact with people in the ecosystem; a toolbox with AI-powered products — tools that help you solve various problems using artificial intelligence; O.R...
Feb 06, 2025•33 min•Ep. 411
Brandon Goh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Treehouse Labs, the parent company of TRHX and Treehouse. The firm builds infrastructure, data, and standards to enable confident and informed investments in digital assets. Before founding Treehouse, Brandon held fixed-income roles at Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Securities, focusing on credit, derivatives, and asset-backed securities. He has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In this conversation, we discuss: - Summary of ...
Feb 03, 2025•32 min•Ep. 410
Raj Brahmbhatt is the CEO of Zeebu, a trailblazing company revolutionizing the telecommunications sector with cutting-edge blockchain solutions. Raj has been at the forefront of innovation in the Web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi) industries. Raj began his career addressing key challenges in the telecom industry, transitioning from Web2 to Web3, bringing blockchain technologies to markets heavily reliant on legacy systems. With a passion for entrepreneurship and a deep understanding of blockc...
Jan 30, 2025•28 min•Ep. 409
Gregg Bell currently serves as Chief Business Officer at The HBAR Foundation, the venture arm of the Hedera ecosystem. Previously, he was the Head of Growth at Binance.US overseeing several business lines. Before that, he co-founded and led the asset management business at A3 Financial Investments (NASDAQ listed fund) and the crypto lending business at Salt Blockchain, where he served as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Gregg’s entrepreneurial and investment experience spans...
Jan 27, 2025•31 min•Ep. 408
Gaurav Sharma is the Chief Technology Officer at IO.net, where he leads technology-driven departments with a focus on backend engineering, AI, and data infrastructure. With a track record of senior tech leadership, Gaurav has previously headed teams managing core engineering initiatives at organizations like Binance, Agoda, Amazon, eBay, and HP R&D. His career highlights include optimizing data processes and scaling technology solutions to meet complex demands. Driven by a passion for levera...
Jan 23, 2025•32 min•Ep. 407
Justin Banon is the founder of Boson Protocol, the foundational infrastructure enabling decentralized AI commerce by automating trust and transactions for the exchange of physical and digital goods. He is also the founder of Fermion Protocol, an extension of Boson designed to facilitate decentralized commerce for high-value items. In this conversation, we discuss: - Introduction to Boson and Fermion Protocols - Tokenization Should Provide More Usability Than the Traditional Asset - Solving the P...
Jan 20, 2025•29 min•Ep. 406
Nemil Dalal is the Head of Coinbase Developer Platform, a suite of tools designed to simplify and secure blockchain development. CDP aims to make building onchain applications as accessible as traditional software development, helping developers and creators of all skill levels innovate within the onchain economy. Nemil joined Coinbase in 2019 as Director of Crypto and has since been a key part of creating the building blocks for developers to build onchain experiences for a billion users. Befor...
Jan 16, 2025•37 min•Ep. 405
Ogle is a globally recognized cybersecurity and on-chain negotiation expert known for his work in recovering funds from major crypto hacks. He is the co-founder of Glue, a blockchain ecosystem that features a primary Layer 1, integrated Layer 2 solutions, an application hub and a user-friendly service layer for enhanced functionality. He has successfully helped recover over $400 million in cryptocurrencies from high-profile incidents involving platforms like Euler, Curve/Alchemix and Kyberswap. ...
Jan 13, 2025•28 min•Ep. 404
Phillip Alexeev, Chief Growth Officer at CrossFi is a distinguished growth marketing strategist who has architected success stories across Web2 and Web3. As a veteran growth advisor, he has helped companies achieve billions in revenue, multiple IPOs, and strategic acquisitions through data-driven marketing engines. His expertise spans from developing comprehensive omni-channel frameworks to implementing precise growth tactics that consistently deliver results. In this conversation, we discuss: -...
Jan 09, 2025•27 min•Ep. 403
Jason Li is the Co-founder of Solayer Labs, where he leads research and engineering. Solayer Labs is the company behind the pioneering restaking protocol Solayer, built natively on the Solana blockchain. The company has garnered support from prominent investors, including Polychain Capital, Hack VC, Binance Labs, and Big Brain Holdings. In this conversation, we discuss: - What is restaking? - Restaking to Scale Solana - Tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWA) - Hardware Scaling: Pushing Blockcha...
Jan 06, 2025•37 min•Ep. 402
Aaron Buchwald is a Software Engineer at Ava Labs. In this conversation, we discuss: - Moving from aerospace to blockchain - Current status and growth of the Avalanche ecosystem - Avalanche9000 is now live on mainnet - Launching an L1 for 99.9% cheaper than before - Every L1 is connected with Interchain Messaging - Many L1s that feel like 1 - Ava Labs EVM - Giving services and running dynamic fees - Keeping things cool = the ultimate meta - The future of L1s - The next killer crypto consumer app...
Jan 02, 2025•34 min•Ep. 401
Edan Yago is a Core Contributor of BitcoinOS. He is also an early core contributor to Sovryn, a decentralised Layer 2 Bitcoin trading, lending, and asset management platform. Earlier in his career, Yago founded several other companies in the Bitcoin and crypto space, including CementDAO and Epiphyte, which provided global remittance services. As an anti-finance financier and radical optimist, Yago is a passionate advocate for the mass adoption of open, borderless, and incorruptible finance. He b...
Dec 30, 2024•33 min•Ep. 400
Calanthia Mei is the Co-Founder of Masa and a leading global fintech investor and builder. She was a founding member of PayPal’s Venture Capital arm. At PayPal, she oversaw $250-million investments in hyper-growth global fintech startups, including Toss in South Korea, and incubated crypto product and investment strategy, including Coinbase’s 2018 partnership with PayPal. Calanthia most recently scaled a Stripe-backed Fintech startup to 450 employees, raised $130-million funding, and acquired by...
Dec 26, 2024•31 min•Ep. 399
Lucas Matheson is the CEO of Coinbase Canada. He is committed to helping create a more equitable financial system in Canada through the power of blockchain. Lucas has always believed in Coinbase’s mission. He opened his Coinbase account back in 2014, long before joining the company. In his role, he ensures Coinbase is built for Canadians and with their interests in mind. Working with partners, government and regulators, he is making crypto more accessible to Canadians. Prior to Coinbase, he was ...
Dec 23, 2024•35 min•Ep. 398
