Algorand Foundation - Why TVL is a Poor Metric For Investment Decisions
The Crypto Conversation
Staci Warden is the Algorand Foundation CEO, and Dr. Matthew Brigida is Chief Economist at Algorand Foundation. In June, the Algorand Foundation’s tokenomics team released a new study questioning the assumption that TVL is a meaningful investment signal. Despite being widely cited as a proxy for legitimacy, the research found that TVL doesn’t correlate with token performance, even when adjusted for known distortions like double-counting. Why you should listen The team analyzed 300+ cryptocurrencies from 2023–2024, simulating weekly long/short strategies based on TVL rankings. The result?...
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Coinpass - The UK Crypto Platform for Businesses
The Crypto Conversation
Jeff Hancock is the CEO of Coinpass, a UK-based crypto exchange acquired by OANDA in 2023. He’s bringing crypto and traditional finance closer together in a secure, regulated way. Why you should listen Born in London in 2018, Coinpass climbed the regulatory mountain early, securing an FCA crypto-asset registration and then catching the eye of multi-asset heavyweight OANDA, which snapped up a majority stake in August 2023. Now the exchange enjoys the deep pockets and risk-management chops of a global FX giant while keeping its Union-Jack credentials intact. Coinpass is...
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Pi Squared - The Verifiable Settlement Layer for AI and Crypto
The Crypto Conversation
Grigore Roșu is a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois and a former NASA engineer, where he developed the K Framework - an open-source “Rosetta Stone” for programming language semantics. A day-one contributor to the Ethereum Foundation, he later founded Runtime Verification, now the leading formal verification company in Web3. In 2023, he founded Pi Squared with the vision of bringing the next million developers to Web3 by utilizing his revolutionary K Framework. Why you should listen Pi Squared solves the fragmentation and trust limitations of today’s blockchain...
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Signals - Fixing NFT Launches
The Crypto Conversation
Nick Sainato, the Co-Founder of Gamma, has just launched Signals to fix NFT launches. Signals is a first-of-its-kind go-to-market platform that uncovers hidden demand signals and helps determine a fair market price for items within any launch, on any blockchain, on any drop site. Why you should listen NFT launches are famously chaotic: dummy wallets farm allow-lists, creators guess at a mint price, and traders pray the gas-war gods are kind. Signals flips that script. Built by the Gamma team, the Signals platform lets any collection on any chain list a drop in a neutral pre-launch lobby where...
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Gaia - Decentralized AI Inferencing
The Crypto Conversation
Shashank Sripada merges institutional rigor with systemic change. After managing $7B+ in assets and advising the White House, he co-founded Gaia to prove decentralized models can scale equitably. Gaia aims to empower anyone—from individual knowledge workers to domain experts—to build, launch, scale, and monetize their own AI agents. Why you should listen Gaia aims to empower anyone—from individual knowledge workers to domain experts—to build, launch, scale, and monetize their own AI agents. Each agent runs as a Gaia “node,” a lightweight, sandboxed runtime powered by technologies...
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Me3 - AI-powered Engagement Infrastructure For Web3
The Crypto Conversation
Matthew Ainscow is a co-founder of Me3, a web3 engagement and infrastructure platform. Matthew has built partnerships with several of Asia’s largest E-sports and GameFi networks with the goal of converting Web2 users to Web3. Why you should listen In this conversation, Matthew discusses Me3, the innovative AI-powered engagement platform designed for Web3. He shares insights into the challenges of user retention in the crypto space, the technological advancements being implemented in their platform, and the upcoming token launch. The discussion highlights the importance of data...
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Raphael Coin - Tokenizing Fine Art
The Crypto Conversation
Aliyyah Koloc, a professional racing driver and advocate for autism awareness, shares her unique journey from tennis to motorsports, her passion for art, and her involvement with Raphael Coin. She discusses the challenges and rewards of racing, the importance of tokenization in making art accessible, and her insights on the future of crypto for her generation. Why you should listen Raphael Coin was founded in early 2025 with the mission to democratize ownership of historically significant fine art. Following the recent authentication and rediscovery of “Recto: Study for the Battle of the...
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Velora - The Intent-Based Trading Protocol
The Crypto Conversation
Mounir Benchemled is the founder of Velora, an intent-based crosschain trading protocol that makes complex trading strategies simple and accessible for users. Why you should listen Mounir’s deep expertise in DEX aggregation and intent-based trading has positioned Velora as a leader in the DeFi space. As the platform evolves, Mounir is steering the next stage of growth by focusing on crosschain interoperability and agent-based execution, ensuring the best possible user experience with reduced gas costs, slippage, and revert protection. Velora’s core mission is to simplify access...
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Obol - The largest Decentralized Operator Ecosystem in Ethereum
The Crypto Conversation
Kody Sale (Head of Product) and Anthony Bertolino (Head of Marketing & Ecosystem) are leading Obol’s charge to scale the next generation of infrastructure networks. Together, they’re building the largest Decentralized Operator Ecosystem in Ethereum and Web3—powered by Obol’s groundbreaking distributed validator technology. Why you should listen Obol Network is building a decentralized staking infrastructure for proof‑of‑stake networks like Ethereum. Obol enables Distributed Validators (DVs): validator clusters made up of multiple operators who jointly run a validator, each...
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Ledn - Bitcoin Backed Loans
The Crypto Conversation
Mauricio Di Bartolomeo is the Co-Founder of Ledn, a pioneer in the fast-growing Bitcoin-Backed Loans category. Ledn provides a secure and transparent way to access liquidity while maintaining your Bitcoin holdings. Why you should listen Ledn.io is a financial services platform that provides Bitcoin and digital asset-backed loans and savings products. Founded in 2018, Ledn specializes in offering secure, transparent, and regulation-conscious financial tools for cryptocurrency holders. It allows users to earn interest on their Bitcoin and USDC holdings or access liquidity through Bitcoin-backed...
info_outlineHarsehaj Singh is the CEO and co-founder of Avantis, an on-chain exchange for trading and market-making cryptocurrencies, forex, and commodities.
Why you should listen
Built on Coinbase’s Layer 2 chain, Base, Avantis is designed to offer traders permissionless access to crypto, forex, metals, and real-world commodities—all directly from their wallet. It's backed by serious players like Pantera Capital, Founders Fund, and Galaxy Digital. Unlike typical decentralized exchanges that just handle crypto, Avantis allows you to trade a wide array of assets with leverage—up to 100x on forex and commodities, and 50x on crypto—making it an ambitious bridge between traditional finance and DeFi.
The trading experience itself is designed to be more user-friendly and risk-aware. Avantis has baked in features like loss rebates, which can return up to 20% of a trader's losses under specific conditions, and incentives for positive slippage that make getting in and out of trades potentially smoother and more profitable. For liquidity providers, the platform offers USDC vaults with junior and senior tranches, giving LPs control over their risk exposure and rewards. LPs can also time-lock their deposits to earn additional yield and XP rewards. It’s a system that balances the need for deep liquidity with the safety of the capital involved, which is crucial in high-leverage environments.
What makes Avantis stand out is its focus on engagement through gamified incentives. Their XP rewards program gives users points for trading, providing liquidity, and referring others. These XP points can lead to future perks, governance rights, and seasonal leaderboard rewards, making it feel more like participating in a game or social network than using a traditional exchange. Between the wide range of tradable markets, its advanced risk tooling, and this immersive rewards system, Avantis is building something that feels like the future of trading—accessible, global, and defi-native.
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