The Defiant - DeFi Podcast
Camila Russo
The internet of money is being built with blockchain technology and without banks. We call it DeFi, short for Decentralized Finance, and this is where you can hear the builders and users of this cutting edge world tell their stories first hand. Hosted by Camila Russo.
The internet of money is being built with blockchain technology and without banks. We call it DeFi, short for Decentralized Finance, and this is where you can hear the builders and users of this cutting edge world tell their stories first hand. Hosted by Camila Russo.
THORChain Refused to Block the $387M Bitget Hacker. Here’s Why | Chad Barraford
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Bitget lost $387.5 million in a hack and asked THORChain to block the attacker’s addresses. THORChain said no. Weeks later, Tether froze four THORChain vaults on Tron holding 1.45 million USDT, then unfroze them three hours later. And in May, THORChain itself lost $10.7 million to a GG20 flaw and stayed halted for 39 days. Camila Russo sits down with Chad Barraford, THORChain’s technical co-founder, to tackle the question splitting DeFi: if a protocol can stop a hacker, should it? They cover why hackers run to Bitcoin to cash out, the difference between “can’t” and “won’t,” how THORChain compares to Bitcoin, Ethereum and NEAR Intents, and what comes next: Monero, Zcash, new chains, and the bet that DEXs will eventually beat CEXs.
The chip that stole more than $90 million from Ledger users costs less than $20 to build, snaps into place with three solder points, and has gone through at least three generations of design. Whoever makes it isn't planning a short run. Ledger says its own chip and software were never compromised, and that every confirmed case traces back to one Malaysian reseller, CryptoBilis. But implanted devices have also been reported from authorized shops in Singapore and from MediaMarkt in Germany, and Ledger had photos of the newer implant on its website months before the drains. Camila Russo talks with Mark Karpelès, the former Mt. Gox CEO who now runs Karpeles Lab, and who found the mass-produced implant after buying a half-price Nano X on Amazon Japan. He explains how the board is installed, why he thinks someone is selling it as a product, and why weighing your wallet won't catch it. He also responds to Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier, who said Mark's Mt. Gox record makes him no white knight, and argues that one well-placed warning could have saved most of the money. So who is building these implants, and who else is buying them? Mark walks through what to check on your own device, why panicking is the bigger risk, the open-source antenna detector he's building, and why he still thinks self-custody is the whole point of Bitcoin. "If you have a hardware wallet, it shouldn't contain a mobile antenna." Guest: Mark Karpelès (Karpeles Lab)Topics: Ledger, Nano X, hardware wallet implant, supply chain attack, CryptoBilis, MediaMarkt, seed phrase, Mt. Gox, Pascal Gauthier, Joe Grand, self-custody, multisig, crypto security, hardware security
What do you actually own when you buy a tokenized stock? Backpack founder Armani Ferrante breaks down the transfer agent, DTCC, SPV debt-security and Backpack models. Backpack’s version is 1:1 redeemable stock you can move between your brokerage and DeFi. Armani explains how that unlocks arbitrage and better price execution, how 24/7 trading and in-kind dividends work, and why the BP token gave zero tokens to founders, team or investors, with 20% of company equity set aside for stakers.Explore The Defiant ✨
Starknet says it is “actively considering becoming an L1” — leaving Ethereum to become what it calls the first fully quantum-resistant network, with 2027 as the target. StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson joins Camila Russo to explain the plan.The announcement came as a post on X on Oct. 8, with no governance proposal attached. STRK ran from $0.05 to $0.12 in five days and has since given back most of it. In the same week, StarkWare shipped Shadow Accounts, a privacy primitive that gives users a separate address per app, and launched OffMarket, a service for trading on Polymarket without linking positions to a public wallet.We get into:— What becoming an L1 actually means for Starknet, and what replaces Ethereum’s settlement guarantees— Who approves the move, and when a proposal goes to governance— Why Ben-Sasson thinks the quantum threat is “much closer than we think”— Where he lands in the “bunker mode” fight between Justin Drake, Vitalik Buterin and Yehuda Lindell— Why StarkWare is demoing ML-DSA signatures when Buterin named lattices as the next risk— Shadow Accounts, OffMarket, and building privacy on a counterparty that can switch you off— Starknet’s revenue, emissions, and whether an L1 changes the economicsGuest: Eli Ben Sasson
Up to $93M drained from more than 300 wallets, and the software was never touched. Ledger confirmed a physical implant inside signers sold through reseller CryptoBilis, reading recovery phrases off the screen at setup and sending them out over a mobile network.So the question stops being what happened and becomes who you trust. The vendor? The reseller? The sealed box? The device already sitting in your drawer? Yourself?Guest: Pablo Sabbatella (@PabloSabbatella), founder of Opsek (@opsek_io)
The SEC just gave tokenized U.S. stocks a five-year path to trade on AMMs outside exchange registration rules. The largest tokenized stock platform in the market doesn't qualify.Days after the Senate declined to move ahead on the CLARITY Act, the SEC issued an exemption order for "tokenized securities venues." It sets conditions: permissioned pools, public blockchains, and tokens that carry the full rights of the underlying share. Synthetic and linked products are outside the sandbox.Camila Russo sits down with Peter Curley of Ondo Finance, whose offshore equity-linked notes hold about $1 billion in TVL but aren't eligible; Gabriel Otte of Dinari, whose broker-dealer-issued dShares fit the order almost exactly; and Rodrigo Seira of Cooley, who explains why the order is a proof of concept built to survive a legal fight with Citadel and others.Gabe calls synthetic stock tokens "indisputably worse" for investors and says he's never heard a good argument for permissionless securities. Peter says Ondo already has product-market fit and the SEC has left room for more models. So is the order a set of red lines, or a first draft?"There is no rule book here. We're literally trying to build the future."Guests: Peter Curley (Ondo Finance) | Gabriel Otte (Dinari) | Rodrigo Seira (Cooley) Topics: tokenized stocks, SEC exemption order, tokenized securities venues, AMMs, Ondo Global Markets, Dinari dShares, synthetic stocks, equity-linked notes, permissioned DeFi, CLARITY Act, Hester Peirce, Paul Atkins, RWA
Solana just took the most historic step in its governance history: its first real on-chain vote, where any SOL holder — not just validators — could weigh in on the network's constitution, inflation and fees.Camila Russo sits down with Nick Almond, Head of Governance at the Jito Foundation, right as that shift collides with a new threat: Robinhood's own chain moving in on meme coins, the one corner of crypto that was always Solana's. Nick breaks down how the vote actually played out — including the disinflation proposal that was decided with eight seconds left after Kraken flipped its vote — how JitoSOL swung its entire stake pool with a 13% quorum trigger, and why he still thinks Solana's shot at attracting new apps, from tokenized stocks to meme coins, is stronger than people give it credit for.Presented by Oasis — a self-custody wallet built on a 2/3 multisig. You hold two keys, Oasis holds a recovery key, and never has unilateral access. Oasis is giving away a CryptoPunk to the first 500 new or upgraded plans through October 31: https://www.oasisvault.io/cryptopunk
Robinhood is surging on Arbitrum's stack, and today we're joined by ARB co-founder Steven Goldfeder to break down the boom.On this stream we discuss:Does the tokenization / meme craze have legs?Spiking Robinhood feesWhere's crypto's decentralization promise when Robinhood owns the sequencer?The landlord model and the ARB rallyWho's the next Robinhood?Guest: Steven Goldfeder, Co-Founder and CEO of Offchain LabsLike, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don't miss our next streams.
About a third of all ETH — over 41 million coins across nearly 900,000 validators — is already locked into staking. A new Ethereum proposal, EIP-8363, wants to make sure it never crosses 50%, by tapering staking rewards down to almost nothing as that threshold approaches.The proposal landed just 48 hours before the deadline to be considered for Ethereum's next upgrade, and it immediately set off one of the most heated governance fights the ecosystem has seen in years.We brought on both sides. Jérôme de Tychey, one of the EIP's co-authors and a solo staker since Ethereum's genesis, makes the case that an unchecked staking ratio threatens the network's neutrality and security. Mike Silagadze, CEO of ether.fi, argues the fix is worse than the disease — that it would push out solo stakers, gut DeFi, and hand more power to the biggest institutional players it claims to guard against.At the center of it all: does Ethereum have a real problem with how much ETH is staked, or is this a solution in search of a crisis?Jérôme has a public bet on the table with a co-author. Mike has one of his own, worth a million dollars. Neither is backing down.Guests: Jérôme de Tychey (EIP-8363 co-author) | Mike Silagadze (CEO, ether.fi) Topics: Ethereum, EIP-8363, staking, issuance, solo stakers, DeFi, liquid staking tokens, ether.fi, Lido, Ethereum governance
DTCC holds $114 trillion in assets. On July 15th, it showed the world how those assets can be converted into digital tokens, traded in real production conditions, and converted back — without disrupting anything. Nadine Chakar joins The Defiant to explain the digital twin model, why they chose Besu and Canton, what the Russell 1000 SEC authorization covers, and what realistic demand will look like at October's launch. She also confronts the big philosophical question: did blockchain disrupt Wall Street, or did Wall Street absorb blockchain? The answer might surprise you.Explore The Defiant ✨📰 Websitehttps://thedefiant.io/✉️ Free Daily Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...🤑 Weekly Premium Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...✊ Follow The DefiantX/Twitter: https://x.com/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant #DeFi #Decentralized #Finance #Blockchain #Web3
Brian Armstrong changed his profile picture to a memecoin. It pumped to thirty million. Ten thousand wallets piled in. Less than twenty-four hours later, he changed it back — and every one of those wallets felt it. That one move cracked open the week's biggest debate: what should Coinbase and Base actually be for? And what does it mean that Robinhood's new L2 — launched three weeks ago, supposedly for tokenized stocks — already has five hundred million in memecoin volume versus thirteen million in RWAs? This week on The Defiant, Camila Russo sits down with three guests who can't agree on anything — and that's exactly why this conversation works. Austin Campbell (Zero Knowledge / NYU Stern) says Base's behavior was both an intellectual and moral failing — memecoins are gambling, and Coinbase can't build payment infrastructure while promoting gambling to young people at the same time. Jason Yanowitz (Blockworks) says the strategy is closer to right than people admit, and the real problem is execution, not direction. Michael Lee (LienFi), a Base builder since day one, says Armstrong's PFP move caused real damage — but mercenary traders have also paid twenty million dollars to creators on Base, and nobody else is stepping in to do that. School bus. Rocket ship. Same company. That's the problem. Guests: Austin Campbell (Zero Knowledge / NYU Stern) | Jason Yanowitz (Blockworks) | Michael Lee (LienFi) Topics: Memecoins, Coinbase, Base, Robinhood L2, content coins, Brian Armstrong, crypto regulation, everything exchange
Fourteen days. That's the window the crypto industry has to get the CLARITY Act through the Senate — or wait until the 2030s for another shot.The combined draft dropped last week for the first time, merging the Senate Banking and Agriculture committee text into one bill. It added a law enforcement title (the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed it the same day). It added an ethics provision. And Democrats are rejecting that provision outright.This week on The Defiant, we're bringing three people living this fight from the inside: Miller Whitehouse-Levine (Solana Policy Institute), Amanda Tuminelli (DeFi Education Fund), and Adrian Wall (Digital Sovereignty Alliance). They don't all agree on how close we are — and one of them drops what might be the most explosive political take of the year: that Republicans, Democrats, financial institutions, and Coinbase may none of them actually want this bill to pass.The Polymarket odds: down from 80% in February to 37% this week. The stakes: if it fails, the next administration can undo anything the agencies do by rulemaking. Without a law, there's no floor. And innovation goes abroad.Guests: Miller Whitehouse-Levine (Solana Policy Institute) | Amanda Tuminelli (DeFi Education Fund) | Adrian Wall (Digital Sovereignty Alliance / Tron DAO US Policy) Topics: CLARITY Act, crypto regulation, SEC, CFTC, DeFi, stablecoins, blockchain policy, US Congress, ethics provision, RWAs
Michael Saylor built his entire identity around one promise: he would never sell Bitcoin. Last week, that promise ended. Strategy's board voted to authorize selling Bitcoin to cover dividend payments and build cash reserves — in the middle of MSTR and STRC crashing to record lows, the yield blowing up, and confidence in the whole experiment starting to crack. Is this a rational pivot? Or the beginning of the end for the world's largest corporate Bitcoin treasury? This week on The Defiant, I sat down with Scott Melker and Kaleo to get into all of it: the hollow signaling, the STRC question, whether Saylor should rip the Band-Aid and sell billions now — and what any of this actually means for Bitcoin. Spoiler: they disagree. Strongly. Guests: Scott Melker | Kaleo (CryptoKaleo) Topics: Strategy, Michael Saylor, Bitcoin, MSTR, STRC, corporate Bitcoin treasury, convertible debt
The Ethereum Foundation just cut 20% of its staff and 40% of its budget. Two co-executive directors are gone. And the talent exodus has been quiet but real. But the community didn't wait. In a matter of weeks, 50 institutions and Ethereum leaders came together to form ETH Labs — a new organization backed by Sharp Link, Joe Lubin, and Bitmain, with a mandate to build what the Foundation decided it no longer wants to. Is this a rescue? A power grab? Or the most important moment in Ethereum's 11-year history? Last week on The Defiant, I sat down with Josef Chalom (Sharp Link, the second-largest public ETH holder) and Viktor Bunin (Coinbase) to get into all of it: the funding structure, the credible neutrality question, the ETH asset vs. protocol tension, and what's actually coming in the Glastonbury upgrade — including a technical shift that could finally make Ethereum feel good to use. Guests: Josef Chalom, CEO of Sharp Link | Viktor Bunin, Coinbase Topics: Ethereum Foundation, ETH Labs, protocol governance, institutional adoption, Glastonbury upgrade
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce forced Anthropic to shut down Fable V for the entire world. One government, one decision, zero global access. Is this the definitive case for decentralized AI? Jake Brukhman (Coin Fund), Jesus Rodriguez (Sentora), and Haseeb Qureshi (Dragonfly) debate the hottest topic at the intersection of crypto and AI: whether frontier AI can and should be decentralized — or whether we're repeating the same mistakes as decentralized storage.What you'll hear: why the government hand-picked who gets access to Mythos (and it wasn't Anthropic's call), whether consumer GPU swarms can realistically compete with data centers, what's really happening with on-chain hacks in 2026, and Haseeb's most controversial take: the world's most powerful AI should be treated like a nuclear weapon, not a public good.No easy answers. No consensus. Just the most important debate of 2026.
How close did DeFi come to a real systemic collapse?In this episode, Camila Russo sits down with Mike Silagadze, co-founder and CEO of Ether.fi, to break down the Kelp exploit, the DeFi United rescue effort, and why Mike believes the default path could have been far worse if nobody had stepped in. He explains why the bigger lesson is not just smart contract risk, but operational security, app-layer responsibility, and the need to move past "decentralization theater."They also get into why Ether.fi wants to be "the safest place to stake," why application-layer protocols should have emergency controls, and how Ether.fi is evolving from liquid staking into a vertically integrated DeFi bank with vaults, card rails, and real-world utility.If you want to understand where DeFi security is failing, what serious builders are changing, and what the next phase of crypto products could look like, this is the episode to watch.
April saw some of the worst DeFi losses in recent memory, and even OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Aráoz warned people to get out. But while CT feels gloomy, institutions are not stepping back - they're leaning in with more diligence, stronger infrastructure requirements, and growing demand for onchain yield.In this livestream, Camila Russo is joined by John Zettler of Kraken, Sunand Raghupathi of Veda, and Anthony DeMartino of Sentora to break down what the latest hacks actually revealed: why many recent attacks look more like supply-chain and key-management failures than pure smart-contract exploits, why DeFi's next big challenge is operational security, and why that does not automatically kill the institutional DeFi thesis.They also unpack Kraken's new Bitcoin Vault, the rise of risk-curated vaults, why enterprises still see onchain finance as inevitable, and why fundamentals may be diverging sharply from price action. If you want the clearest view yet on whether DeFi is actually ready for institutions, this is the debate to watch.
Top Ethereum talent is leaving. The Ethereum Foundation is shrinking. And one question now hangs over the entire ecosystem: what happens to ETH if the EF steps back? In this livestream, Camila Russo is joined by Dankrad Feist, Laura Shin, Ajit Tripathi, and William Mougayar to break down the EF departures, leadership turmoil, the cypherpunk mandate, the debate over tokenomics, and whether Ethereum is still positioned to win as competition intensifies. The big tension in this conversation is clear: the EF may be choosing to do less, but the market is demanding more. So if Ethereum is entering a new phase, who organizes, who builds, and who fights for ETH from here? Explore The Defiant ✨
DeFi is approaching a breaking point.After a wave of hacks and growing concerns around smart contract risk, liquidity risk, and hidden dependencies, the biggest question in crypto is no longer just how much yield you can earn, but whether that yield is actually worth the risk.In this debate, Camila Russo is joined by Santiago Roel Santos of Inversion, Daniele Ugolini of Rysk Finance, and Mauricio Di Bartolomeo of Ledn to break down why DeFi yields may be fundamentally mispriced, what TradFi still does better, where DeFi still wins, and what has to change before institutions can trust it at scale.They get into:🟢 why some of the best-known DeFi protocols may still not compensate users for risk🟢 whether trapped onchain liquidity is distorting the market🟢 why builders need stronger guardrails, better risk management, and more transparency🟢 and whether DeFi is on the verge of becoming mainstream infrastructure, or staying niche until it grows upIf you're allocating capital onchain, building in DeFi, or trying to understand where crypto goes from here, this is the debate to watch.
Explosive debate: after one of DeFi's biggest attacks left Aave facing bad debt, DeFi United raised more than $300M to stop the contagion. But did the ecosystem prove its strength - or expose hidden trust assumptions, opaque risk, and the need for a real DeFi backstop? The Defiant's Camila Russo is joined by Dean Eigenmann (Markets Inc.), binji (Ethereum Foundation), and David Phelps (Confetti) to debate whether crypto bailouts are good for crypto, what this means for decentralization, and what DeFi must fix before it can scale to the mainstream.Watch the full discussion and decide for yourself. Big thanks to our sponsor; NEXO Nexo is a premier digital assets wealth platform that helps clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth through advanced interest-generating products, crypto-backed credit, advanced trading tools, and 24/7 client care. Get started at https://nexo.com/defiant
The Arbitrum Security Council just made one of the most controversial decisions in DeFi history — freezing $70M in ETH stolen by North Korean hackers from the KelpDAO bridge exploit. But was it the right move? And what does it say about the systems we're building? Griff Green (Giveth Co-Founder and Arbitrum Security Council member) and Gabe Shapiro / Lex_node (crypto lawyer, MetaLex founder, ZK Sync Guardian Council) go head-to-head on the decisions, the precedent it sets, and the hard questions the DeFi ecosystem can no longer avoid. They debate:Was freezing North Korea's funds the right call? Do Stage 1 rollups like Arbitrum have too much centralized power? How does the Arbitrum Security Council compare to PayPal, Bitcoin miners, and Ethereum validators? What would real accountability look like for security councils? What's the path to Stage 2 — and how long will it take?This is one of the most important conversations in DeFi right now. Don't miss it. 🔔 Subscribe to The Defiant for more crypto deep dives, breaking news, and live debates. Big thanks to our sponsor; NEXO Nexo is a premier digital assets wealth platform that helps clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth through advanced interest-generating products, crypto-backed credit, advanced trading tools, and 24/7 client care. Get started at https://nexo.com/defiant
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo sits down with Jing Wang to discuss how Optimism is evolving and why the debate over what counts as a “real” Ethereum L2 might be missing the point. Jing argues that the most important question isn’t whether a chain is an L1, L2, or sidechain. It’s whether the architecture actually serves users and real-world use cases. “If it looks like an L1, we’ll build that. If it looks like an L2, we’ll build that.” In the conversation we cover: Why Optimism now sees itself as a network of blockchains (the Superchain) The debate around Ethereum L2 decentralization sparked by Vitalik Buterin Why institutions are already using decentralized rails Why ZK proofs are the future And why Jing believes finance inevitably moves on-chain Nexo is a premier digital assets wealth platform that helps clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth through advanced interest-generating products, crypto-backed credit, advanced trading tools, and 24/7 client care. Get started at https://nexo.com/defiant Your Web3 product deserves solid payment infrastructure. Global on/off-ramps, custom APIs, and DeFi connectivity trusted by the biggest names in crypto: https://mercuryo.io/
Layer 2 was supposed to scale Ethereum. But what if it fragmented it instead? I n this episode, we break down: • Why public chains are “expensive databases” • Why composability is Ethereum’s real value • Why stablecoins don’t need blockchains • Why L2 may be weakening Ethereum’s core Is scaling helping Ethereum — or hollowing it out? Explore The Defiant ✨
Bitcoin Renaissance or JPEG Hype?In 2023, Bitcoin had what many called a renaissance.NFTs on Bitcoin.BRC-20 tokens.Runes.10x transaction spikes.Fee revenue surging to levels not seen since 2017.And then — just as quickly — it cooled.So was the Bitcoin renaissance just a flash in the pan?Or did Ordinals, BRC-20s, and Runes permanently change Bitcoin?In Episode 2 of our Beyond Digital Gold docu-series in partnership with StarkWare, we break down:• What Ordinals actually are and how they work• How BRC-20 tokens turned Bitcoin into a memecoin battlefield• Why Runes were introduced — and what they fixed• The fee spike impact on miners• How maximalism fractured• Why the Overton window for building on Bitcoin shifted permanentlyFeaturing:@isabelfoxenduke@0xBinari@rodarmor@domodata@NathanOnCryptoThe hype faded.But the structural shift didn’t.Watch to understand what really changed — and why the next battle for Bitcoin is infrastructure.⸻Chapters:Cold OpenEthereum vs Bitcoin EraTaproot ExplainedWhat Ordinals Actually DidBRC-20 ExplosionThe Cultural WarRunes & The RefinementWas It Just Hype?⸻#Bitcoin #Ordinals #BRC20 #Runes #BitcoinDeFi #Crypto #Taproot
"In a decentralized governance system, it's unavoidable to develop politics." Rune Christensen explains why DAO governance becomes a struggle for resources, how the "iron law of bureaucracy" emerges, and why Sky redesigned its architecture to survive it. From USDS growth to the Atlas rulebook and Genesis Capital — this is Sky's long-term vision for sustainable decentralized finance.
Robinhood is opening the testnet for its Arbitrum-based Ethereum Layer 2. In this episode, we sit down with the fintech’s head of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, to discuss the strategic move to build on Ethereum. He believes institutions can get the privacy and compliance guarantees they need on public chains like Ethereum, so building on private chains doesn’t make sense as they are just a “fancy database.” Kerbrat says he sees a future where most financial infrastructure and assets transact on public blockchains. Topics:Robinhood Layer 2 LaunchTokenized Stocks & Real-World AssetsThe "Adapt or Die" moment for BanksSelf-Custody vs. Platform Safety
Stablecoins have quietly become the most successful use case in crypto.In this episode, Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Circle, explains why USDC is more than a digital dollar — it’s a global financial network.We discuss economic inclusion, internet-scale finance, programmable payments, emerging markets, AI-driven payments, and why stablecoins are becoming the backbone of global money movement.
2025 marked a turning point for crypto.In this episode, Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional, sits down with Camila Russo to explain why institutional adoption accelerated last year. From ETFs and stablecoin regulation to banks using public blockchains in production, crypto crossed a line it can’t uncross.We explore how Coinbase evolved from a retail exchange into a global financial infrastructure layer, why tokenization is finally happening for real, and what regulation unlocked that years of innovation couldn’t.This is about the moment crypto became part of the financial system.
Kain Warwick—DeFi OG and founder of Synthetix and Infinex—is back on The Defiant Podcast with Camila Russo for a no-BS conversation at a pivotal moment: Infinex just ran its INX token sale and is heading into its TGE. We get into: Why Kain believes DeFi’s biggest bottleneck isn’t “more decentralization,” but UX + distribution The hard lesson OG DeFi learned: users won’t “learn to love complexity”—the product has to be holistically better The INX sale controversy: $2,500 cap → cap removed, one-year lockup stays, and why he says the sale “didn’t need to happen” (but still closed) What he’d do differently: market-driven pricing for locked vs. liquid tokens (and why he thinks the liquidity premium is brutal right now) Kaito / InfoFi: how incentives turned crypto Twitter into slop—and why he thinks it “blew up the public square” What INX actually does: early access, fee discounts, governance—and what demand looks like from power users Infinex’s product roadmap: Safe support, hardware wallets, integrating “competitors” like Hyperliquid, and the real metric he watches—share of wallet The bigger vision: a one-stop, non-custodial front-end that can serve both whales and newcomers (and why that’s the only way DeFi competes with fintech) Subscribe for more founder interviews and deep dives from The Defiant.
In this interview, Camila Russo sits down with Danny Ryan — former Ethereum Foundation researcher and a key leader behind Ethereum’s shift to proof of stake — now Co-Founder & President at Etherealize, to talk about the next big wave for crypto: institutional adoption of Ethereum. Recorded in Buenos Aires during Devconnect, Danny breaks down why the mood inside banks has flipped from “we can’t touch crypto” to “if we don’t adopt it, we’ll be left behind.” We dig into what institutions actually want beyond ETFs, why the biggest opportunity isn’t “tokenizing assets” but rewiring markets from first principles, and why privacy is table stakes for institutional-grade onchain finance. We also cover the regulatory whiplash of the last few years, what’s changed, what still needs to be written into law, and why Danny believes Ethereum is uniquely positioned for serious capital markets infrastructure. Key topics: Why banks suddenly have Ethereum FOMO The difference between “tokenizing assets” vs rewiring markets Where the biggest inefficiencies are (credit, fixed income, esoteric institutional markets) Why privacy + ZK are essential for institutionsCoordination problems, incentives, and who doesn’t want markets to upgrade Ethereum’s edge: neutrality, uptime, decentralization, and security 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with someone who still thinks institutions only care about ETFs.
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Chris Storaker sits down with Alex Garn, Chief Product Officer at Borderless, to unpack how stablecoins are quietly transforming cross-border payments — and what it actually takes to move money at scale across jurisdictions. Alex walks through Borderless’ role as an orchestration layer for global on- and off-ramps, why the company stays out of the flow of funds, and how a single API can replace dozens of fragmented integrations across local regulators, liquidity providers, and banking partners. We explore why stablecoins are moving beyond trading and DeFi collateral into real-world enterprise payments, where they already outperform legacy rails on settlement speed, transparency, and custody — especially across emerging market corridors like Latin America and Southeast Asia. The conversation also digs into the hard parts: liquidity constraints by corridor, KYC and compliance friction, why US–EU payments still favor SWIFT, and whether incumbents like Visa, Mastercard, and SWIFT are more likely to be disrupted or to acquire their way into the future. Finally, Alex shares his outlook on regulatory clarity post-GENIUS, the coming wave of corporate stablecoin adoption, and why distribution — not branding — will determine which stablecoins ultimately win. 00:00 — Intro: Alex joins The Defiant Podcast 01:30 — From DeFi & data science to stablecoin payments 04:10 — What Borderless does: orchestration vs custody 07:10 — Why cross-border on/off-ramps are still fragmented 10:00 — Stablecoins beyond DeFi: real enterprise payment use cases 12:45 — Treasury management, payouts, and B2B adoption 15:30 — Liquidity realities: when $10M+ stablecoin payments work 18:10 — Why US → Latin America leads stablecoin adoption 20:30 — Where stablecoins don’t win (yet): US–EU & SWIFT 22:50 — KYC as the biggest bottleneck in crypto payments 26:00 — Self-custody, bank risk, and corporate treasuries 29:30 — Stablecoins vs SWIFT: speed, cost, and settlement 33:00 — Visa, Mastercard, SWIFT, and the M&A race 36:40 — Regulation after GENIUS and global spillover effects 39:40 — What enterprise adoption looks like in the next 2–3 years 42:30 — Stablecoin fragmentation, liquidity, and consolidation 45:00 — Closing thoughts: what excites Alex most about the future
For consumer crypto to thrive it needs to embrace financialization to deliver a better experience, and maker sure crypto disappears everywhere else. Projects doing this right sit in an emerging sector called fantech. In this episode of the Avalanche Ecosystem Series, we explore the rise of Fantech: a new category where sports fans, music fans, creators, and event-goers become participants in real digital economies. From loyalty programs and ticketing to creator monetization and on-chain rewards, we look at how these experiences get a 10x lift when they go onchain, and why Avalanche is emerging as one of the leading infrastructures powering this shift. The episode opens with a real story from the Champions League final and expands into a global look at how blockchain is quietly reshaping fan engagement, payments, and ownership at scale. Featured conversations: Rain — using stablecoins to power global consumer payments and rewards Uptop — building wallet-based loyalty for major sports teams The Arena — enabling creators to monetize directly through social crypto Tixbase — rebuilding ticketing with on-chain transparency and fan identity In this episode: Why loyalty and rewards are a multi-billion-dollar global marketHow on-chain points and fan engagement differ from traditional programs Why ticketing may be one of the most natural consumer use cases for blockchainHow creators and fans are earning, not just speculating Why Avalanche’s architecture is uniquely suited for consumer-scale apps Why the future of consumer crypto won’t feel like crypto at all Chapters: 00:00 – The Ticket That Didn’t Work 01:30 – What Is Fantech? 04:00 – Payments as the Base Layer 06:30 – Loyalty Goes On-Chain 10:00 – Social + Fan Economies 13:00 – Fixing Ticketing 17:00 – Why Avalanche Works for Consumers 19:00 – The Future of Fandom Subscribe for more deep dives into crypto, DeFi, and the technologies reshaping finance and the consumer internet.
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams joins us right as the UNIfication (Unification) proposal has moved to a final governance vote—a sweeping plan from Uniswap Labs + the Uniswap Foundation that would activate protocol fees, introduce a programmatic UNI burn, and realign how value accrues across the Uniswap ecosystem. We go deep on what’s actually inside the proposal (and what isn’t), why this moment feels like the end of one DeFi era and the start of another, and how years of “regulation by enforcement” shaped Uniswap’s product decisions—down to Hayden’s firsthand experience with debanking, legal pressure, and the chilling effect on builders. What we coverWhy UNIfication is being pitched as a once-in-a-cycle reset for UniswapThe real mechanics of the fee switch(es) (plural) and how the “token jar” burn design worksThe perceived tension between UNI token holders vs. equity/VC value capture and whether this vote changes thatWhy Uniswap wants to shift from “best frontend” to protocol-first infrastructure (APIs, ecosystem engineering, aggregator hooks)How Unichain fits into the broader strategy—and what “near-free trading” could mean in practiceGovernance backlash: is Uniswap becoming more centralized or more decentralized?Context: the vote is live! Hayden shared that the UNIfication proposal is now in the final governance vote stage.Subscribe for more founder-level conversations at the intersection of DeFi, regulation, and market structure.
In this episode of The Defiant podcast, Camila Russo sits down in Buenos Aires (Devconnect) with Marissa Foster (Product, Ethereum Foundation) and Yoav Weiss (security researcher, Ethereum Foundation) to unpack The Trustless Manifesto and the Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL), why “trust assumptions” are quietly creeping into Ethereum’s stack, and what it will take to preserve Ethereum’s core values while making UX actually usable.We dig into the hidden places users are forced to trust intermediaries, from cross-chain interoperability and solvers to something most people never question: RPCs. Then we get practical: the guests walk through the EIL, a new approach to cross-chain UX that aims to deliver one-signature interop without introducing new trust assumptions, plus why the wallet becomes the center of the user’s security model.Finally, we zoom out: how should wallets warn users, what does “walkaway test” really mean, and why institutions may end up being one of the strongest forces pushing crypto toward less counterparty risk.Topic list: • Why Ethereum’s next phase is “mainstream adoption” — and why that raises the stakes • The Trustless Manifesto: what it is, why it was written, and what it’s trying to prevent • Where trust assumptions sneak in: bridges, interop protocols, sequencers, oracles • RPCs as a giant blind spot: “we trust RPCs blindly” and why that can have real-world consequences • Trustlessness vs UX: why “great values + bad UX” can still lose users • “You can’t build something trustless on top of something that isn’t trustless” • What users should demand — and why it can’t require everyone to be a security expert • How “beat” frameworks help: L2BEAT, upcoming interop criteria, and Walletbeat • The walkaway test: what happens if the team/server/intermediary disappears (or turns hostile)? • L2 sequencers: permissioned vs permissionless, censorship risk, and practical exit paths • Cloud dependencies (Cloudflare outage) and what it reveals about today’s “decentralized” apps • Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL) explained: one-signature, wallet-centric, self-executing interop • Why “solvers open the envelope” — and how EIL avoids that trust model • Liquidity providers, vouchers, and how users pay gas cross-chain without the usual friction • Standards and coordination: wallets, L2s, and dapps all need to meet in the middle • The HTTP analogy: Ethereum today as the “pre-HTTP internet” and what seamless interop could unlock • Institutions and counterparty risk: why big players may push hardest for trust-minimized infrastructure • What’s next: testnet learnings, audits, standards, wallet integrations, and 2026 mainnet targetExplore The Defiant ✨📰 Websitehttps://thedefiant.io/✉️ Free Daily Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...🤑 Weekly Premium Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...✊ Follow The DefiantX/Twitter: https://x.com/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant #DeFi #Decentralized #Finance #Blockchain #Web3
In this episode of The Defiant podcast we speak with Morgan Krupetsky, VP of OnChain Finance at Ava Labs, to break down one of the most significant shifts happening in crypto today: the rapid institutionalization of blockchain and Avalanche’s strategy to lead it. Morgan walks us through Avalanche’s “real-world adoption first” ethos, explaining how its unique architecture enables enterprises, fintechs, banks, governments, and consumer apps to build purpose-designed blockchains while tapping into a shared liquidity hub.
Robert Leshner — the mind behind Compound, and now the founder of Superstate — believes the next trillion-dollar shift will come from bringing the world’s assets on-chain. In this episode, Cami sits down with one of DeFi’s earliest pioneers to unpack: Why DeFi itself shouldn’t change — but assets will How tokenized T-bills, basis strategies, and even equities are finally getting institutional traction Why regulatory “tailwinds,” not new laws, unlocked the RWA boom The two competing models of tokenized stocks — and why both will win What happens when DeFi becomes the infrastructure powering TradFi What he’d do differently after Compound’s messy transition to decentralized governance Robert also gives us a candid breakdown of how Superstate is building “canonical tokenization” — letting public companies turn their actual stock into blockchain-native assets — and why the real breakthrough won’t come from issuance… but from DeFi use cases.
In a world of fast-advancing technology, we are told to trust in our own research. But as the crypto space matures, scams and exploits remain a constant presence. When your assets are gone, they are gone forever, with a near-zero chance of recovery. The old mantra of "Do Your Own Research" falls short against sophisticated threats like address poisoning, advanced malware, and convincing AI deepfakes. How, then, do we build a safer Web3 without sacrificing the decentralized ideals at its core? Alex Katz, CEO of the Web3 security solution Kerberus, joins us to explore this new frontier. We delve into the philosophical debate of autonomy versus protection, the push for auditing standards, and the future of wallet-native security. Chapters 00:00 Android vulnerability: why mobile crypto is risky 01:21 Building safer Web3 without sacrificing decentralization 02:10 Crypto’s Wild West: few rules, big risks 03:37 Why scams continue: prosecution, standards, protection gaps 05:44 Kerberus approach and results: zero user losses 06:24 Coverage up to $30K and growth needs 08:24 Why DYOR is insufficient for modern threats 09:33 Traders’ behavior, phishing risk, and automation 11:25 Crypto antivirus vision and malware threats 12:11 Hardware vs. hot wallets: balancing safety and speed 14:41 Address poisoning, clipboard privacy, and deepfakes 20:22 Autonomy vs. protection: beyond user education 24:44 Wallet security should be default, like antivirus 31:51 Getting grandma into Web3 safely 32:29 Lightning round: tools, myths, key lessons 36:04 Where to find Kerberus and closing notes
In the second episode of Ecosystems: Avalanche, we track the protocol’s trajectory, which included a peak valuation of $13 billion, followed by a period of consolidation and strategic redevelopment. The Defiant founder Camila Russo and Ava Labs' Chief Strategy Officer Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo are joined by founders from BENQI, Euler Labs, and LFJ, who are building on the Avalanche protocol. The conversation covers technical upgrades such as Octane and Etna, aimed at reducing fees, and Interchain Messaging, designed to enhance interoperability between blockchains. It also addresses the strategy to onboard institutional clients, including T. Rowe Price and Wellington, through customized Layer 1 solutions. Can Avalanche cultivate an ecosystem that thrives without relying on constant incentives, particularly regarding liquidity and user retention? Join us to find out.
In this conversation, May Zabaneh breaks down PayPal’s move into stablecoins with PYUSD and why it matters for financial inclusion. We explore how PYUSD could lower costs for cross-border payments, deliver faster settlement, and plug directly into PayPal’s existing ecosystem. The discussion covers why PayPal built a proprietary stablecoin, early adoption and real-world use cases, and plans for international expansion. We also examine the role merchants play in crypto acceptance, how DeFi and traditional finance are converging, and why interoperability will be essential in the next phase of digital payments. Chapters 00:00 PayPal’s Vision for Stablecoins 02:47 Why PYUSD? Rationale and Goals 05:18 Stablecoin Advantages: 24/7, Inclusion, Cross‑Border 08:22 Why Proprietary vs Supporting Others 11:06 Unlocking B2B and Rebuilding On‑Chain 12:20 PYUSD in the PayPal/Venmo Ecosystem 14:21 International Expansion and Global Transfers 17:02 Merchant Fit: Categories, Costs, Declines 19:32 User Segments: Crypto‑Curious to Super Users 23:28 Pay with Crypto: Scaling to Larger Merchants 29:38 PYUSD in DeFi: Open and Multi‑Chain 32:01 Liquidity, Partnerships, and the Three Pillars 35:56 Interoperability and Evolving Roles 39:11 AI x Payments: Agent‑Driven Commerce 40:42 Finding the Flywheel, What’s Next
In Web3, we find ourselves in an age of digital phantoms, a "click-farm" era where identity is flimsy and easily fabricated. But what if reputation could be real, portable, and valuable? Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu returns to explore this very question, detailing a vision for a trust layer built on zero-knowledge proofs. He reveals plans for a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, a joint venture with Standard Chartered and HKT awaiting regulatory approval, and unpacks the Mocaverse ecosystem where staking power and airdrops build a verifiable, cross-chain identity. We also explore the future of Web3 gaming, the coming meta shift from GTA 6, and a bold thesis: why the entire altcoin market may one day eclipse Bitcoin. Tune in to discover how we might build a more trustworthy digital future. Chapters 00:18 Solving Web3's "Click Fraud" Problem 01:01 Animoca's Plan for a Hong Kong Stablecoin 03:12 Navigating Hong Kong and China's Regulatory Landscape 09:11 The Composability and Promise of Stablecoins 11:09 Introducing the Mocaverse Loyalty SDK 12:56 Building an Interoperable Digital Identity 15:04 The Search for Trust in a Permissionless World 18:34 Data Custody, GDPR, and Self-Sovereignty 21:02 Can Reputation Live Across Multiple Chains? 27:07 The Limits of KYC and Airdrop Farming 28:49 Staking Power and Airdrops as a Form of Credit 40:34 Rumors of a US Listing for Animoca 45:13 The Future of Web3 Gaming and the GTA 6 Effect 56:22 Why Altcoins May One Day Eclipse Bitcoin
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Vinny sits down with Ahmad Shadid—former quant trader turned founder—who redirected the 2022 GPU crunch into a decentralized GPU network and now leads a bold push toward “sovereign superintelligence”: an AI CEO framework that can govern, fund, and scale itself transparently. We unpack vibe coding (building with AI at 20x speed), how zero-knowledge proofs and decentralized networks could reshape AI, and why security must keep pace in a world moving faster than audits. We talk leadership, the democratization of software, and the next wave of founders shipping products in days—not months. We discuss: How vibe coding empowers anyone to ship working demos fast Where AI CEOs make sense—and where humans still matter Why Web3 UX, wallets, and cross-chain could leap forward The real bottleneck: security and audits in a 20x build world Practical risks for builders and consumers—and how to stay safe Chapters 00:00 The internet-magnitude moment for building 01:13 Sovereign superintelligence and AI CEO 01:38 Vibe coding: ship 20x faster 01:53 Speed vs. security: the new bottleneck 03:03 From GPU crunch to GPU networks 03:22 Why AI + Web3 will drive the decade 06:51 Will AI replace “managers” or leaders? 09:53 Vibe coding explained—anyone can build 14:05 Tools outpace human code reading 16:30 Building an AI-first product workflow 21:13 Build fast, but build safely 32:00 Toward decentralized AI-managed organizations 37:34 What’s driving the vibe coding wave 39:58 Democratization vs. industry gatekeeping 42:45 Anyone can start—opportunities everywhere
Avalanche says it can finally square the circle: sub‑second finality, a large decentralized validator set, and thousands of sovereign L1s connected through native messaging for shared liquidity. In the genesis episode of our new ECOSYSTEMS podcast, Camila Russo and guest cohost Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo of Ava Labs unpack the Avalanche story—from Team Rocket’s probabilistic consensus and the stadium sampling intuition, to today’s “city of chains” (C‑Chain liquidity hub, P/X chains, and customizable L1s). We discuss: How random sampling achieves speed and safety/liveness guarantees Customization without fragmentation via inter-chain messaging (ICM) L1 vs L2 trade-offs: shared security vs shared risk, costs, and interoperability Enterprise paths (FIFA, Toyota, fintechs), privacy options, and Ava Cloud’s “L1 in minutes” Decentralization in practice: validator counts, Nakamoto coefficient, and hardware accessibility What real adoption looks like for payments, DeFi, and emerging markets If Avalanche is right, it has the chance to make finance programmable at scale. If not, we add to the L1 graveyard.
Crypto’s next chapter isn’t a shinier coin—it’s invisible rails. In this episode, we sit down with Aryan Sheikhalian, Research Lead at CMT Digital, to unpack the shift from “crypto as an asset” to crypto as infrastructure: 24/7 markets, instant clearing and settlement, and new structured products that couldn’t exist before. We talk about tokenized equities (wrappers vs. native tokenization and why dividends/governance matter), how identity layers and ZK proofs unlock mainstream distribution through banks and fintechs, and where regulation is pushing builders toward partnerships and licensed rails. Chapters 00:00 Hook: crypto as infrastructure, not asset 01:15 Guest intro and research focus 02:06 Incentives, psychology, and mechanism design 04:03 ICO lessons, maturity, and red flags 07:09 CMT Digital’s thesis and “strictly better” 10:27 Tokenized equities drivers and demand 13:40 Wrappers vs native: dividends, governance 16:06 Fintech rails, velocity, cost efficiency 18:26 Banks, distribution, and competitive incentives 20:29 New assets: GPUs, data, energy tokens 23:23 Identity layers and ZK proofs for scale 25:55 State of crypto VC and fund trends 27:51 Overlooked sectors: DePIN and decentralized data 31:26 Prediction markets and resolution design 34:18 Regulation, licenses, and partnerships 39:45 Market outlook: TVL, stables, volatility 42:45 Founder advice: conviction and user focus
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, we sit down with Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital, to discuss the explosive growth of Solana, the future of stablecoins, and the evolution of digital asset treasury companies. Paul shares insights on Pantera's $1.2 billion Solana fund, the role of institutional capital in this crypto cycle, and why he believes Solana is poised to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum. Tune in for a look into the next wave of blockchain innovation, from payments to gaming and beyond. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to stablecoins as a practical store of value 01:00 - Guest introduction: Paul Veradittakit of Pantera Capital 01:37 - Pantera’s $1.2 billion Solana fund: Why Solana? 02:36 - Evolution of digital asset treasury companies 04:13 - Pantera’s bullish stance on Solana: Technology and adoption 06:03 - Investment strategies for single-asset treasury companies 08:30 - Managing Solana in Helios: Staking, DeFi, and M&A 10:35 - Addressing Solana’s decentralization and downtime concerns 12:22 - Meme coins and their role in Solana’s ecosystem 18:18 - Stablecoins: A growing demand in Latin America 20:01 - Future use cases for Solana: Payments, AI, and Deepin 23:00 - The rise of specialized blockchains for vertical use cases 26:17 - Stablecoins as a payments hub: Key players to watch 28:14 - Altcoins’ potential to outperform Bitcoin in this cycle 33:15 - Crypto gaming: The underestimated vertical 35:37 - Closing thoughts: Solana’s future and Pantera’s vision
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, we sit down with Ben Nadareski, CEO and Co-Founder of Solstice Labs, to explore DeFi on Solana and why it’s becoming a magnet for institutional adoption. Ben shares how Solstice Labs is pioneering permissionless, institutional-grade yield strategies and launching the US token, a fully collateralized stablecoin designed to unlock new levels of trust and scalability in DeFi. We dive into Solana’s unique advantages—speed, low costs, and composability—and how it’s shaking off its “meme chain” reputation to emerge as a serious contender in the blockchain space. Ben also addresses the challenges of scaling trust in crypto, the rise of yield-bearing stablecoins, and how DeFi is empowering users in emerging markets. We also tackle: How can Solana maintain its edge in a crowded blockchain market? What’s being done to address past network outages? And how can regulation strike the right balance between protecting users and fostering innovation? Chapters 00:00 – Scaling Trust in Crypto 00:22 – Solana’s DeFi Momentum 01:16 – Why Solana Stands Out 03:43 – From Meme Chain to DeFi Leader 05:57 – The Rise of Yield-Bearing Stablecoins 08:01 – Regulation and Trust in DeFi 12:45 – Solstice Labs and the US Token 18:19 – DeFi’s Role in Emerging Markets 25:13 – The Future of DeFi on Solana 33:08 – Building a Transparent and Scalable DeFi Ecosystem
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, we sit down with Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, to explore how StarkNet is revolutionizing blockchain scalability with ZK proofs. From Bitcoin staking to the creation of an "integrity web," Eli shares groundbreaking insights into the future of decentralized finance, Bitcoin's execution layer, and the role of StarkNet in shaping the blockchain ecosystem. Tune in to discover how StarkNet is leading the charge in decentralization, scalability, and innovation. Chapters 00:00 – Introduction to Eli Ben-Sasson & StarkWare 00:24 – StarkNet’s mission: Scaling blockchain with ZK proofs 01:30 – StarkWare’s achievements: $8B valuation & global impact 03:22 – BTC Phi: Bitcoin staking & $100M incentive program 07:05 – How Bitcoin staking works on StarkNet 17:11 – StarkNet as Bitcoin’s execution layer: The vision 27:21 – Verifying Bitcoin headers in milliseconds: A breakthrough 41:02 – StarkNet’s role in the "integrity web" 49:51 – Why corporate chains won’t work in crypto 51:53 – Closing thoughts: Decentralization, scale, and the future
Why did Game Square, the Jerry Jones-backed media powerhouse, bet $100 million on Ethereum instead of Bitcoin? In this episode of The DeFiant Podcast, Vinny sits down with crypto pioneer Ryan Zurrer to explore the strategy behind this bold move. Ryan, who co-wrote the MakerDAO whitepaper and now leads Dialectic, shares why Ethereum dominates 5 out of 6 real-world crypto use cases, from stablecoins to DeFi, and how it’s emerging as the financial substrate of the future. Learn how Game Square is leveraging Ethereum’s programmability to earn yields of up to 14% and why this strategy could set a new standard for corporate crypto adoption. The conversation dives deep into the evolution of DeFi, the lessons learned from past crypto cycles, and the importance of decentralization and fair launches in building sustainable ecosystems. Ryan also shares insights into Dialectic’s automated DeFi machine, which uses hyper-diversification and risk-adjusted strategies to maximize returns. Chapters 00:00 - Litmus Test for Crypto Projects 00:28 - MakerDAO and Stablecoin Innovation 01:23 - Game Square’s $100M Ethereum Bet 02:32 - Ethereum’s Real-World Dominance 05:09 - Dialectic’s DeFi Machine 06:12 - Compounding Yields with Ethereum 10:01 - Lessons from Crypto History 16:01 - The Evolution of Crypto Governance 28:02 - Polkadot’s Interoperability Vision 40:00 - Ethereum as the Corporate Crypto Blueprint
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Paul Faecks, CEO of Plasma Chain, discusses the platform’s approach to stablecoin payments and its potential to reshape global financial infrastructure. From gasless USD transfers to a $2 billion liquidity launch, Paul explains how Plasma Chain plans to compete with established players like Tron and Ethereum while focusing on emerging markets and decentralization. The conversation also touches on regulatory challenges, partnerships with Tether and Binance, and the broader future of stablecoins. Chapters: 00:00 – The role of DeFi in stablecoin chains 00:30 – Why subsidizing gasless transfers makes sense 00:58 – Meet Paul Faecks and Plasma Chain 01:26 – From poker to crypto: Paul’s journey 02:28 – The vision behind Plasma and Tether’s involvement 03:00 – Stablecoins as a $1 trillion market opportunity 05:21 – Plasma’s technical innovations: Gasless USD transfers 07:19 – Why USDt is prioritized on Plasma 09:22 – Building a sustainable DeFi ecosystem 12:31 – $2 billion in stablecoin liquidity at launch 15:22 – Navigating regulations and the Genius Act 19:22 – The future of stablecoin payments globally 21:02 – Emerging markets as the biggest opportunity 26:23 – Plasma’s path to decentralization 39:02 – Launch timeline and ecosystem readiness
Stablecoins are no longer just a buzzword—they’re transforming the way the world moves money. In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, we sit down with Reeve Collins, co-founder of Tether, co-founder of WeFi, and chairman at STBL, to explore the groundbreaking evolution of stablecoins. From their early days as a simple payment solution to their role in reshaping global finance, Reeve shares insider insights on how stablecoins are building trust, driving financial inclusion, and securing the future of money. We’ll dive into: ✅ The origins of stablecoins and their $246 billion impact ✅ How stablecoins are revolutionizing cross-border payments and DeFi ✅ The rise of Stablecoins 2.0 and what it means for users ✅ Why major players like Visa and JPMorgan are entering the space Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction: Stablecoins and their impact 00:51 - Meet Reeve Collins: A Web3 trailblazer 01:34 - The origin of stablecoins: Tokenizing the US dollar 02:58 - Stablecoins today: A $246 billion industry 05:17 - The rise of Stablecoins 2.0 07:45 - Yield-bearing stablecoins: User benefits explained 10:01 - Tokenized assets in 401(k)s and traditional finance 12:28 - Major players entering the stablecoin space 14:04 - How stablecoins are transforming banking 17:10 - Blockchain’s promise: Removing the middleman 19:06 - Financial inclusion through decentralized banking 22:55 - Mobile-first, wallet-native financial solutions 25:27 - Building trust in underserved communities 28:16 - Stablecoins 2.0: Transparency and compliance 38:13 - Mass adoption: Public companies and crypto treasuries 40:27 - Closing thoughts: The future of blockchain 🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more deep dives into the world of Web3, blockchain, and decentralized finance!
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, we sit down with Joseph Onorati, CEO of DeFi Development Corp, the second-largest Solana treasury company. Joseph shares the journey of transforming DeFi Development Corp into a Solana-focused treasury powerhouse, their innovative yield strategies, and why Solana's volatility and native yield make it a compelling treasury asset. We also dive into the broader case for crypto treasury companies, the risks and rewards of staking strategies, and the future of Solana in the blockchain ecosystem. Plus, Joseph shares his bold prediction: Solana flipping Ethereum by market cap. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of DeFi, treasury management, and the Solana ecosystem. Chapters 00:00:00 Why Solana as a Treasury Asset? 00:00:41 Volatility, Convertible Debt, and Cost of Capital 00:01:20 Introducing Joseph and DeFi Development Corp 00:02:10 The Evolution of DeFi Development Corp 00:03:56 Staking, Validators, and Yield Strategies 00:05:40 Breaking Down Solana Yield Strategies 00:10:10 Risks in Staking and Looping Strategies 00:12:03 The Case for Crypto Treasury Companies 00:15:03 Solana Per Share Growth and Fundraising Flywheels 00:20:02 Challenges with NAV Premium Compression 00:27:16 Solana’s Market Share in Treasury Companies 00:30:00 ETFs and Their Impact on Crypto Treasuries 00:36:01 The Future of Public Market Crypto Instruments 00:46:14 Risks and Controversies in Crypto Treasuries 00:54:16 Locked Solana and OTC Markets 01:06:15 DeFi Development Corp’s Treasury Accelerator Program 01:08:09 Bull Case for Solana and Price Predictions