The Crypto Conversation

Brave New Coin’s Crypto Conversation talks to the key people creating the Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrency future. Hosted by Andy Pickering, learn how this rapidly evolving industry is reshaping the world as we move towards decentralized finance, NFTs and Web3.

Themelia – Custom Crypto Indexes 03/18/2026

Themelia – Custom Crypto Indexes Jessica Ellerm and Kent Grogan are the co-founders of Themelia, a platform building the next infrastructure layer for crypto investment through custom indexing technology. Jessica comes from a fintech background — including a stint at ASX-listed payments platform Tyro and a superannuation startup she founded and sold — while Kent ran a hedge fund for years before moving into portfolio management and FinTech. Together, they're tackling one of the most underserved problems in digital assets: how do you get sensible, risk-adjusted exposure to a market of 52 million tokens without getting wrecked? Why you should listen Crypto has a reputation problem, and Kent and Jessica argue it's largely structural. Most tokens are created, pump briefly, and go to zero — which means a naive index that mirrors the full market is essentially a vehicle for buying failure at scale. The Themelia thesis is that an index needs to do better than that: not just collapse the market into something manageable, but actively filter for tokens with genuine staying power before they've already made their biggest moves. Kent draws a sharp analogy to equities — nobody in TradFi just buys one marquee stock and calls it a portfolio, yet that's essentially what most crypto investors do with Bitcoin. The pair make a compelling case that the infrastructure for smarter diversification is long overdue. The platform's most interesting innovation is the distinction between static and dynamic indexing. Jessica points out that most existing crypto index products — exchange bundles, early ETF attempts — don't move fast enough to keep pace with shifting narratives. Themelia's custom index builder lets users set their own filters, backtest against up to three years of historical data, then execute and auto-rebalance directly through connected exchange accounts like Coinbase, Binance, or Bybit. For those who don't want to build their own, the platform is evolving toward an "ensembling" model — aggregating the token picks of vetted crypto analysts into a curated house index that does the filtering work for you. The bigger picture is a genuine gap in the market. Jessica notes that index products now capture the majority of capital flows in traditional finance — from retail investors all the way to pension funds — yet less than 0.1% of the total crypto market is currently invested through indexes. That's not just an opportunity for Themelia; it's an argument for why the space needs this infrastructure to mature. If the house index can demonstrate better risk-adjusted returns than simply holding Bitcoin, it could become the entry point that brings cautious, sideline-sitting investors into the market for the first time. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are us /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/40521465

Stormrake – Old School Brokerage for the Digital Asset Era 03/12/2026

Stormrake – Old School Brokerage for the Digital Asset Era Bisher Khudeira is the COO of , a Melbourne-based digital asset brokerage offering best execution trading, institutional custody, and asset management across Bitcoin, digital assets, and tokenized real-world assets. Bisher joins Andy to explain why the brokerage model beats the exchange model for serious investors, what it takes to build a crypto business in one of the most hostile banking environments in the developed world, and why Stormrake is about to plant its flag in Dallas. Why you should listen Bisher has spent a decade in financial services, starting in foreign exchange brokering in 2015 and buying his first Bitcoin in a McDonald's car park in 2016 via peer-to-peer. He joined in 2022, bought into the business, and has helped scale it from fewer than a hundred clients — mostly friends and family — to over 10,000 across Australia, with a US launch now weeks away. He walks through the core brokerage proposition: Stormrake faces around 20 exchanges and OTC desks simultaneously, aggregates client orders to access deeper liquidity and sharper pricing, and charges a flat commission with no spread markup. The result is what Bisher calls the Satoshi maximiser — clients walk away with more Bitcoin per transaction than they would going it alone on a single exchange. The conversation covers two wholesale funds: the Cumulus class, which targets picks-and-shovels digital assets like Ethereum, Solana, Hyperliquid, and Chainlink alongside select private equity plays; and the Stratus class, a Bitcoin and gold fund designed to smooth out Bitcoin's volatility while improving on gold's growth profile. Bisher also details the custody offering — fully institutional grade with insurance, separation of funds, and cold storage as default — while stressing that fully supports self-custody for clients who want it. The US expansion into Dallas, two years in the making and launching end of April 2026, is built as a direct lift-and-shift of the Australian model into a jurisdiction where digital asset brokers are treated as normal participants in the economy rather than pariahs. Bisher doesn't hold back on the state of Australian banking, describing three personal debankings and ongoing hostility from the big four toward crypto businesses and their clients. He argues Australia is a decade behind the US on digital asset regulation, with an AFSL licensing regime for digital assets only coming into effect by mid-2026. Despite that, he frames the challenge as deeply rewarding — building a business from zero in a nascent industry with no playbook, bootstrapped the entire way, with the goal of becoming a digital-era complement to the likes of Charles Schwab or E-Trade. The episode closes with Bisher's market outlook: he sees Bitcoin within 10 to 20 percent of its bottom, expects three to four months of sideways chop, and is watching large institutional buyers accumulate aggressively at current levels ahead of what he believes will be a run toward $200,000 and beyond. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/40419655

Solayer – Hardware Accelerated Finance at the Speed of Metal 03/11/2026

Solayer – Hardware Accelerated Finance at the Speed of Metal Joshua Sum is the Chief Product Officer at Solayer, a hardware accelerated network built to move money at the speed of metal. Joshua joins Andy Pickering to explain how dedicated chip-level infrastructure is pushing blockchain throughput into territory no software-only chain can reach — and why that matters as payments, AI agents, and real-world asset tokenization all converge on the same rails. Why you should listen Joshua's path to crypto ran through direct-to-consumer e-commerce, a founding quant role at Treehouse, and building CollegeDow into the largest university blockchain network in the world, spanning around 120 campuses globally. He joined Solayer as a founding engineer and has grown with the company over two years into his current role leading product across multiple lines. He walks through how Solayer evolved from pioneering restaking on Solana — using it as a tool to improve transaction reliability and throughput — into building a full hardware accelerated Layer 1 that uses the Solana Virtual Machine but separates consensus across dedicated machines connected by low-latency, high-bandwidth equipment. The result is battle-tested performance of 200,000 to 300,000 transactions per second using messy, real-world transaction types, not the synthetic benchmarks that get loosely thrown around in the space. The conversation covers Solayer's $35 million ecosystem fund and why the team deliberately avoided a grants model in favour of a venture approach, investing in founders building sustainable, revenue-generating businesses rather than handing out free money for narrative-driven experiments. Joshua walks through three early-stage portfolio projects: Docs Exchange, a full-suite DeFi trading platform; BuffTrade, an AI agent launchpad where bots trade on your behalf and back their tokens with actual strategy performance; and SpoutFi, which tokenizes equities and lets users borrow against them the way high-net-worth individuals already do — without selling, and without triggering a tax event. Each use case maps directly back to the throughput thesis: more agents, more users, more overlapping state means you need a chain that can actually handle the load. Joshua also breaks down Solayer's consumer-facing push through Solayer Pay, which includes a mobile app, rotating private addresses for peer-to-peer transfers, and the Emerald crypto card with built-in travel rewards and partner airdrops. He explains why the chain will launch with SOL as its gas token — removing the onboarding friction that kills adoption on new L1s — before introducing a dual-token model with LAYER as the ecosystem matures. The episode closes with Joshua's take on the current market: tough conditions are positive for the long term because they flush out narrative-driven projects and reward teams building real products with real revenue, which is exactly where Solayer wants to be. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/40403705

UTEXO – Native USDT Comes Home to Bitcoin 03/08/2026

UTEXO – Native USDT Comes Home to Bitcoin Viktor Ihnatiuk is the co-founder and CEO of UTEXO, a Tether-backed global settlement network for native USDT and Bitcoin payments, powered by the Lightning Network and the RGB protocol. Viktor joins Andy Pickering to walk through a decade-long journey from Ukrainian fintech to the frontline of Bitcoin infrastructure — and to explain why the world's biggest stablecoin is finally coming back to the chain where it was born. Why you should listen Viktor traces his path from launching Ukraine's first peer-to-peer lending platform and first fintech conference — where he discovered Bitcoin in 2015 — through to building Boosty Labs, a 150-person dev shop that served Coinbase, Bitfinex, Ledger, MetaMask, and WalletConnect. That operation evolved into a venture studio, and a chance meeting with Tether at Bitcoin Prague in 2023 set the stage for what became UTEXO. Viktor explains how he helped push RGB to mainnet, and how a joint venture with Tether was rebranded into UTEXO, which has just closed a $7.5 million seed round co-led by Tether, Big Brain Holdings, and Plan B Ventures. The conversation digs into what UTEXO actually delivers: instant USDT and Bitcoin settlement at zero transaction cost, with client-side validation privacy baked in through RGB. Viktor breaks down why this isn't USDT arriving on Bitcoin for the first time — it originally launched on OmniLayer back in 2014 — but rather coming home, rebuilt on infrastructure that finally works. He makes the case that Lightning's scalability leaves every other chain behind, and walks through the key use cases UTEXO is targeting: native BTC-to-USDT swaps, new revenue models for wallets through transaction fee monetization, and cross-exchange high-frequency arbitrage. Viktor also lays out UTEXO's broader thesis on stablecoin adoption and payments. He argues that the biggest growth opportunity for stablecoins isn't in DeFi yield — it's in emerging markets where USDT already functions as everyday money for savings, remittances, and increasingly, point-of-sale payments. UTEXO is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer for that shift, working alongside partners like WalletConnect and aligning closely with Tether's distribution strategy. The episode closes with Viktor's take on what blockchain is actually good for — payments, trading, and gambling — and why ten years in the trenches taught him to ignore everything else. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/40359085

Open Frontier - The Coalition for Fair Crypto 02/25/2026

Open Frontier - The Coalition for Fair Crypto Open Frontier Executive Director Erik Balsbaugh and board member Amanda Wick join Andy Pickering for a wide-ranging conversation on crypto, politics, and the future of digital finance. The discussion explores why digital assets are too important to be left to partisan trench warfare, and why the real promise of crypto has less to do with speculation and more to do with reducing fees, expanding access, and breaking the grip of extractive financial intermediaries. Erik and Amanda make the case that this is ultimately a fight about fairness, affordability, and who the financial system is built to serve. Why you should listen Erik lays out the mission behind Open Frontier: to ensure progressive and broader public-interest voices stay engaged in shaping digital asset policy before the space is captured by incumbents and centralized financial power. He argues that crypto and fintech can help restore finance to everyday people by lowering remittance costs, reducing predatory fees, and enabling more transparent, accountable financial flows. Rather than letting digital assets become just another tool for concentrated institutions, Open Frontier wants to push for a democratic financial future—one where the benefits of innovation reach workers, immigrants, nonprofits, and small businesses, not just insiders and early winners. Amanda brings hard-earned perspective from the Department of Justice, FinCEN, Chainalysis, and Capitol Hill, and offers one of the episode’s sharpest reframes: crypto doesn’t uniquely create crime—it makes financial activity more visible. She argues that much of the outrage around crypto crime reflects a visibility problem, not a new crime problem, noting that scams, laundering, and illicit finance long predate blockchain. What changed is that crypto put more of it in plain sight. She also takes aim at the media and political tendency to reduce the entire sector to meme coins and scandals, while ignoring the less flashy but genuinely transformative use cases: stablecoins, cheaper cross-border payments, tokenization, digital identity, and financial infrastructure that can return value to consumers instead of extracting it. The conversation closes on the geopolitical and ethical stakes of the current moment. Amanda warns that stablecoins are becoming a major global channel for dollar access, and that U.S. policymakers risk undermining dollar influence if they fail to regulate intelligently and stay competitive while other jurisdictions move faster. At the same time, both guests address the reputational damage caused by political grift and conflicts of interest in crypto, stressing that corruption should be treated as a governance and ethics problem—not as evidence that the underlying technology should be discarded. Amanda ends with a broader call that goes beyond left versus right: in a world increasingly split between the haves and the have-nots, digital assets may be one of the few tools capable of shifting structural power in finance—if people pay attention before the opportunity is lost. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/40222305

Transak - The Crypto On-Ramp 02/08/2026

Transak - The Crypto On-Ramp Andy Werner is VP of Partnerships and Strategy at Transak, one of the world’s leading fiat-to-crypto on-ramp providers. Werner shares his journey through fintech — from big banks to startups — and explains how Transak is building the compliance and payments infrastructure that quietly powers hundreds of crypto platforms globally. While the company operates in what he jokingly calls the “boring” side of crypto, Werner argues that boring is exactly what payments infrastructure should be: seamless, reliable, and invisible to the end user. Why you should listen The conversation dives deep into the evolving role of stablecoins, which Werner frames not as ideological crypto instruments but as practical tools for builders. For developers and businesses, stablecoins function like programmable payment rails — enabling instant settlement, global reach, and lower costs through a single integration. He points to the past 18–24 months as a turning point, driven by clearer regulation in the U.S. and frameworks like MiCA in Europe. This regulatory momentum, combined with improving UX abstraction around wallets and compliance, is accelerating enterprise adoption and opening new product categories. Werner also reflects on stablecoin usage through the lens of his Argentine roots, where inflation and currency instability make the value proposition immediately obvious. In markets across Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia, dollar-backed stablecoins act as a digital escape hatch — giving consumers access to dollar savings, payments, and yield via nothing more than a smartphone. From remittances to trade finance and cross-border payroll, these real-world use cases are driving rapid growth. Transak is already seeing 30–40% of its volume in stablecoins, a figure Werner expects to exceed 50% — possibly 75% — within a year as adoption shifts from speculative crypto assets to everyday financial flows. The discussion closes on regulation and the future of financial services. Werner is strongly in favor of pending U.S. stablecoin legislation, particularly provisions that would allow issuers to pass yield to users — arguing competition with banks ultimately benefits consumers. Looking ahead, his conviction is clear: all financial services will migrate on-chain. His hot takes? He’s 90% Bitcoin maximalist, believes everything will eventually run on blockchain rails, and expects AI — still under-adopted today — to unleash massive productivity gains. His sci-fi pick to wrap it all up: Foundation by Isaac Asimov — a fitting nod to long-range technological inevitability. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/40036825

Veera - The OnChain Neobank 01/29/2026

Veera - The OnChain Neobank Andy sits down with SB, CEO and co-founder of Veera, to unpack a bold attempt at one of crypto’s oldest and most stubborn problems: making it usable for normal people. From launching BlackBerrys and building early mobile ad tech, to challenging Netflix with an Asian streaming platform and exiting a travel startup, SB’s winding entrepreneurial path now lands squarely in on-chain finance. The conversation traces how Veera is positioning itself as a true crypto neobank — not just a wallet with a card — and why user experience, not yield or hype, will decide whether crypto ever really breaks into the mainstream. Why you should listen SB starts by framing Veera as a product-led response to crypto’s stalled adoption curve. Despite hundreds of millions of internet users globally, crypto still lives in the “tens of millions” club, largely because it’s too complex for everyday users. Veera’s core idea is simple but ambitious: your mother should be able to swap tokens, stake assets, or move funds without knowing what a bridge, seed phrase, or protocol is. That philosophy has driven Veera’s focus on passkeys instead of seed phrases, simplified onboarding, and heavy use of abstraction to hide blockchain complexity behind familiar, intuitive design. SB positions himself as a “fresh eyes” builder in Web3 — someone who didn’t grow up native to crypto and therefore isn’t blind to how broken the experience still is. Geographically, Veera is betting on the same adoption arc the internet followed: emerging markets first, then deeper penetration in developed economies. SB points to Latin America, parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East as the next major growth zones, where access to global financial products is still limited. From there, he lays out Veera’s four-pillar model: Invest, Earn, Spend, and Borrow. That includes tokenized gold, upcoming tokenized equities for users who’ve never had realistic access to global stocks, multi-chain yield in a single interface, a crypto prepaid card with tens of thousands already waitlisted, and a longer-term push into on-chain lending using financial identity and credit scoring. The pitch is clear: a full-stack, crypto-native bank rather than a TradFi app with a blockchain sticker slapped on top. The conversation closes on the bigger picture — institutional capital, regulation, and what actually moves the needle for mass adoption. SB sees the market maturing, citing massive liquidation events that no longer crash the system as a sign of growing resilience and institutional presence. But for consumers, he’s blunt: UX is still the real bottleneck. Yields exist, volatility is slowly compressing, but the experience remains “so, so broken.” In the rapid-fire hot take round, he plants his flag as a multi-chain opportunist, calls Ethereum his firmest conviction, and predicts stablecoins will become the basic financial rails of the next decade. It’s a forward-looking, product-first take on a future where on-chain finance doesn’t feel like crypto anymore — it just feels like money. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39918285

New Book - The Intelligent Crypto Investor 01/20/2026

New Book - The Intelligent Crypto Investor John Hargrave, CEO of Media Shower and author of The Intelligent Crypto Investor, joins the show to unpack a radically calm, Buffett-inspired approach to crypto investing. From wiring money to Belarus to buy Bitcoin in 2013 to nearly losing his business in the 2018 crypto winter, John shares how hard-earned wisdom led him to a disciplined, diversified strategy that blends traditional assets with a carefully sized slice of high-quality crypto — and why this model has quietly outperformed traditional portfolios over the past several years. Why you should listen John traces his origin story from early Bitcoin believer to battle-tested investor, recounting the moment he and his wife went “all in” on crypto during the 2017 bull run — and the brutal reality check that followed when the market collapsed. That near-death experience for his marketing business reshaped his philosophy around risk, leading him to embrace diversification over maximalism. The result: a framework that treats crypto not as a lottery ticket or ideological crusade, but as a serious asset class that earns its place alongside stocks and bonds. At the core of John’s book is a simple but contrarian portfolio model: a traditional 60/30-style mix of stocks and bonds, plus up to 10% allocated to high-quality crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. He argues this small slice has historically captured outsized upside while strictly limiting downside risk — even in worst-case scenarios. John also takes aim at financial advisors for being “a decade behind,” suggesting everyday investors can now build and manage this strategy themselves with the right tools and long-term mindset. Beyond numbers, John brings storytelling and big ideas into the mix, drawing inspiration from legendary investors like Warren Buffett, Ben Graham, and Bill Miller to apply value-investing principles to blockchain projects. He shares his bold conviction that crypto and AI represent unevenly distributed futures — and that a global digital currency is not a question of “if,” but “when.” The conversation closes on sci-fi, Asimov, and the long arc of technological change, framing crypto not just as an investment, but as a bet on the architecture of tomorrow’s financial system. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39793610

OpenTrade - Stablecoin Infra & Yield for Financial Services 01/08/2026

OpenTrade - Stablecoin Infra & Yield for Financial Services Andy sits down with Dave Sutter, CEO and co-founder of OpenTrade, to unpack why stablecoins are rapidly becoming the most important financial primitive in crypto — and arguably the missing link between digital assets and traditional finance. Why you should listen Dave traces his journey from building early Bitcoin wallets and launching one of the first dollar-backed stablecoins, through years working with major regulated institutions, to founding OpenTrade in 2023. His core thesis is simple but bold: stablecoins are no longer a niche crypto product — they are evolving into internet-native dollars used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide for real payments, savings, and cross-border commerce The conversation dives deep into OpenTrade’s role as institutional-grade “yield-as-a-service” infrastructure for stablecoins, enabling fintechs, neobanks, and platforms to embed yield directly into their apps without building complex financial plumbing themselves. Dave explains how OpenTrade allows users to earn yield across a wide spectrum — from ultra-safe U.S. Treasuries and money market funds, through higher-yield bonds and private credit, to delta-neutral crypto strategies and curated DeFi markets — all while keeping funds liquid and accessible. This shift, he argues, flips the old crypto narrative on its head: stablecoins are no longer just a parking spot between trades, but a competitive alternative to bank savings accounts that offer better yields with fully reserved, transparent structures. Zooming out, Dave makes the case that stablecoins are not just a technological upgrade but a reinvention of money itself — permissionless digital cash that anyone with an internet connection can hold, move, and earn on. He points to growing regulatory clarity, adoption by giants like Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, and even banking lobby warnings about deposit flight as evidence of how disruptive this shift really is. His bold conviction: stablecoin market capitalization will exceed $10 trillion within the next decade. The episode wraps with rapid-fire hot takes on Bitcoin vs multi-chain futures, the convergence of DeFi and real-world finance, and a shared love of science fiction — fitting for a conversation about a financial future that, as Dave puts it, is already here but not evenly distributed. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39665610

SecondSwap - The Dex For Locked Tokens 01/06/2026

Tria - Live Free, Bank Freer 12/21/2025

Tria - Live Free, Bank Freer Vijit Katta is the CEO and co-founder at Tria, a self-custodial neobank that unifies spending, trading, and earning across all chains — without bridges, gas, or custodians. Why you should listen Vijit explains Tria’s core vision as building both a protocol layer and a consumer layer that abstracts away blockchain complexity for users and businesses. He describes how the fragmentation of chains, gas fees, bridges, failed transactions, and security risks have slowed mass adoption, and how Tria’s infrastructure removes these friction points across Bitcoin, EVM chains, Solana, and beyond. This foundation enabled the launch of Tria’s consumer-facing product, a self-custodial neo-bank experience where users can spend, trade, and earn without needing to understand the underlying blockchain mechanics. The conversation explores Tria’s early traction, including more than 50,000 users in its closed beta generating close to $100 million in transaction volume across spending, swaps, and bridges within just three months. Vijit attributes this growth to Tria’s ability to seamlessly bridge real-world payments and on-chain assets, allowing users to spend thousands of supported tokens directly via cards without manual off-ramps or asset conversions. The emphasis is on maintaining full self-custody while delivering a user experience comparable to traditional Web2 banking apps. Vijit also discusses Tria’s intent-based infrastructure, which routes transactions across multiple paths to reduce failure rates and improve reliability in a multi-chain environment. Rather than relying on single bridges or interoperability layers, Tria processes user intent and dynamically fulfills transactions through the most reliable route, ensuring users receive the outcome they want without being exposed to technical failures. The episode covers Tria’s card offerings, including virtual and physical cards across different tiers, each unlocking varying cashback rates, trading fee discounts, and access to curated DeFi yield strategies. Vijit explains how Tria aims to surface opportunities that are typically inaccessible or too complex for everyday users, while aligning rewards and benefits with long-term usage rather than speculation. Vijit outlines his conviction that blockchain-based payment rails will ultimately replace legacy systems and envisions Tria becoming a primary bank account for millions across emerging markets within the next decade. He also touches on emerging developments such as agent-driven payments, where AI systems initiate transactions on behalf of users, and reflects on the uneven distribution of technological progress. The episode concludes with Vijit sharing his optimism for borderless, accessible finance and his belief that seamless on-chain banking is closer than most people realise. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39487845

Pixion Games - The Next Generation of Play 12/18/2025

Pixion Games - The Next Generation of Play Kam Punia is the Founder and CEO of Pixion Games, the London based studio behind Fableborne and the $POWER gaming ecosystem. Why you should listen In this episode, Kam Punia, founder and CEO of Pixion Games, shares his background as a long-time game industry veteran and explains how that experience shaped the studio’s approach to building competitive, mobile-first games. He reflects on lessons learned from working on large global franchises such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, including how to scale game universes, balance progression, and design systems that keep players engaged over long periods of time. Kam also discusses the broader state of the gaming market and why mobile remains the dominant platform for global player hours. The conversation focuses on Pixion Games’ flagship title, Fableborne, a mobile action RPG that blends fast-paced combat with strategic base building and asynchronous PvP gameplay. Kam explains the core mechanics of the game, including hero collection, kingdom defence, and raid-based progression, as well as the fantasy setting of the Shatterlands. He outlines how Fableborne is designed to be accessible for casual players while offering deeper strategic layers for more competitive audiences. Kam discusses how Web3 elements are integrated into Fableborne in a way that supports gameplay rather than replacing it. He explains Pixion’s philosophy of optional blockchain participation, where players can enjoy the full game experience without needing to interact with wallets or tokens. The episode explores how Web3 can enable ownership, progression systems, and long-term incentives, while keeping onboarding friction low for traditional gamers. The discussion covers Pixion’s partnerships and ecosystem support, including collaborations with infrastructure providers and investors that help power live operations, scaling, and community engagement. Kam shares insights into how Pixion thinks about player trust, controlled economies, and sustainable reward systems as part of building a long-lasting game. Finally, Kam looks ahead to the future of gaming, outlining why competitive, mobile-first experiences with strong live-ops foundations are likely to lead the next wave of innovation. He explains how community-driven content, evolving game worlds, and optional digital ownership can coexist with proven free-to-play models, and why experienced game designers will play a critical role in shaping the next generation of hybrid games. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39461005

Vision: Bringing Retail and Institutions On-chain 12/17/2025

Vision: Bringing Retail and Institutions On-chain Florian Klein is the Commercial Lead at Bitpanda’s Web3 team. Bitpanda, one of Europe’s most regulated digital asset platforms (7M+ users, multiple MiCA licences), is expanding into Web3 through Vision ($VSN), its ecosystem token for compliant tokenisation and DeFi infrastructure. Why you should listen Vision is Bitpanda’s unified Web3 ecosystem designed to make decentralised technologies accessible through a familiar, compliant, and integrated framework. The initiative brings together a suite of products; one wallet, one protocol, one chain, and one token, intended to create a consistent experience for users exploring on-chain finance. By combining intuitive interfaces with regulatory alignment, Vision aims to bridge traditional finance and the decentralised web in a way that supports long-term adoption. The ecosystem is built around several core components: the Bitpanda DeFi Wallet, Vision Protocol, Vision Chain, Bitpanda Launchpad, and the Vision Token (VSN). The DeFi Wallet provides non-custodial access with features such as smart onboarding, sponsored and discounted gas fees for eligible actions, multichain swaps, staking and an Engage section coming soon, allowing users to earn monthly rewards through collecting XP by interacting with Web3. Vision Protocol acts as an interoperability layer that aggregates liquidity and routing across multiple chains and major DEX aggregators, while Vision Chain is presented as an Ethereum-based Layer-2 with compliance tools suitable for tokenisation and institutional on-chain activity. The VSN token serves as the unifying token that powers rewards, governance, and participation across the ecosystem. Staking VSN enables users to earn rewards, and in the future, owners of VSN may access early launchpad rounds, participate in governance, and benefit from Bitpanda’s loyalty programmes. Its tokenomics include a dynamic emission model that will be governed by token holders, a distribution structure designed to prioritise circulating supply and revenue flows, such as buybacks and programme funding, managed by the Vision Web3 Foundation. Together, these components form what Bitpanda describes as a connected Web3 environment where user activity reinforces the growth and utility of the network. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39444360

Canopy Network - Limitless Infra for Appchains 12/16/2025

Gallaxia - The Future of Gaming 12/09/2025

Haven - Blockchain With Biometric Authentication 12/03/2025

Haven - Blockchain With Biometric Authentication Haven is a blockchain ecosystem based on the foundations of anonymity and authenticated ownership. Using real and continuous biometric authentication it verifies that the user is the true authenticated owner at all times. It protects users from fraud, loss, and impersonation by making your face the ultimate key. No passwords, no seed phrases, no risks of theft. Why you should listen Haven is building what it calls the world’s first blockchain ecosystem powered by continuous biometric authentication. Instead of relying on passwords, seed phrases, or private keys, Haven ties wallet access directly to an encrypted, live biometric signature — essentially letting users interact with the blockchain simply by being themselves. The goal is to make digital ownership feel seamless and secure, removing one of the biggest points of friction in Web3: losing or managing keys. At the heart of the project is the Haven Blockchain, designed so every wallet and transaction is verified through the user’s biometric identity. This creates a user experience where onboarding is immediate, recovery is intuitive, and security is built in from the ground up. Haven’s approach also aims to bridge mainstream audiences into Web3 by offering familiar, easy-to-use authentication rather than complex crypto tooling. Haven is also positioning itself as a developer-friendly platform. Through Open Layer — their upcoming development environment — builders will be able to create dApps that automatically inherit Haven’s secure, biometric-first design. Their roadmap includes the Haven Wallet & App launch in October 2025, followed by a pre-ICO in November and a full blockchain release in 2026, promising a growing ecosystem built around identity-native Web3 experiences. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39245775

WebX - The Bitcoin Accumulation Company 12/01/2025

WebX - The Bitcoin Accumulation Company Bill Dafflon is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wondera.AI, an AI music company backed by leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms. Bill is currently an investor in WebX, the world's first Bitcoin Accumulation Company (BAC). Why you should listen WebX International Holdings Limited began its journey in manufacturing — transforming raw materials into value. Today, that same spirit of transformation drives the company towards a new frontier: computation power. Around the world, computation resources are abundant yet scattered — powerful, but often idle or misallocated. WebX saw an opportunity: to turn this fragmented infrastructure into a connected, efficient, and finance-enabled network. Evolving from a textile innovator into a computing-power pioneer, WebX builds the systems that convert energy and computation into digital value — redefining how infrastructure powers growth in the digital age. Backed by world-class partners across finance, technology, and blockchain, WebX connects global capital with computation power — unlocking transparent, sustainable, and enduring value creation. Digital asset treasury companies are booming, but WebX is taking a very different path. Instead of raising capital to buy and hold Bitcoin, the company accumulates BTC directly through operational revenue and targeted investments—feeding value back into the Bitcoin ecosystem over time. After securing an account with a regulated Hong Kong crypto trading provider, WebX recently completed its first Bitcoin purchase, fully funded from internal resources. The company’s strategy addresses a major problem in the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) sector. More than 100 publicly traded firms now hold Bitcoin and other digital assets, but most do so passively. Without income-generating operations tied to their treasury, traditional DATs rely heavily on external fundraising—often at inflated market prices—which dilutes shareholders and collapses in bear markets. WebX’s active accumulation model avoids these pitfalls by using its own operating business to steadily buy BTC. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39226150

LeveX - Built by Traders for Traders 11/27/2025

CreatorFi - Helping the World’s Best Creators Grow 11/25/2025

CreatorFi - Helping the World’s Best Creators Grow Jack Cameron is the co-founder of CreatorFi, a unified platform for creative capital, partnerships, and growth enablement to help the world’s best creators Why you should listen CreatorFi is a financing platform developed by the team behind Insomnia Labs, designed to provide working capital to digital creators across categories such as YouTube, music, and user-generated gaming platforms like Roblox. The product emerged after multi-channel networks and creator organizations—including Yoola, which represents around 3,000 creators—approached Insomnia seeking a more efficient way to lend against creators’ digital earnings. CreatorFi underwrites assets such as YouTube channels, music catalogs, and in-game item sales, determining how much a creator earns and how much can be advanced to them. The platform uses machine-learning models to evaluate creator data, behavioral patterns, and catalog performance to generate risk-adjusted financing offers. Because digital earnings can be redirected at the platform level, CreatorFi operates as a receivables-based lender—allowing repayments to occur in real time and reducing risk for liquidity providers. Underwriting challenges vary by vertical: YouTube and Roblox offer relatively clean data streams, while music earnings require additional normalization due to fragmented reporting systems. CreatorFi issues advances and repayments primarily in USDC and operates on Aptos, selected for its native USDC support, low transaction fees, and robust on-/off-ramp payment infrastructure. This stablecoin-based system enables faster, lower-cost global payments, particularly benefiting creators in regions where FX conversion fees can exceed 70%. CreatorFi has active partnerships with YouTube networks, music distributors, and Roblox studios, and the company is expanding its origination capacity following a newly announced $2 million strategic partnership with Aptos, with additional creator-focused partnerships planned. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/39170350

PlayAI Network - The Orchestration Layer for Crypto x AI 11/23/2025

Pharos Network - The Layer 1 For RWAs 11/20/2025

Fidelity Digital Assets - What’s Happening In the Markets? 11/16/2025

Nillion - The Base Layer For Private Data 11/09/2025

EMCD - Make Currencies Digital 11/07/2025

EMCD - Make Currencies Digital Jan Warmus is the director across Europe at EMCD — one of Europe’s fastest-growing crypto super apps with over 400,000 verified users. EMCD is positioning itself as a “Web2.5” bridge, offering fiat ramps, staking, and other retail-friendly crypto services in a highly compliant, accessible format. Why you should listen EMCD is a full-spectrum crypto ecosystem. You’ll find their mining pool (one of the top global SHA-256 pools), a multi-currency wallet, a savings-type product called Coinhold, and a peer-to-peer exchange all under one roof. Their wallet claims “no seed phrases, no middlemen,” and integrates swaps, mining-earnings transfers, and holdings in one interface. They make a clear play for convenience and control: plug-in your mining hardware, track accruals, deploy earnings into savings with up to ~14 % annualized yield (depending on term and asset) — all via one account. Additionally, their mining arm emphasizes daily payouts, low withdrawal thresholds, and global server infrastructure across Europe, Asia, and North America. EMCD has partnered with Stabul Finance. STABUL Finance operates as a specialized decentralized exchange focused exclusively on stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. The platform uses what it calls a “fourth-generation” automated market maker (AMM) that builds upon previous technologies like Uniswap and Curve. The EMCD-STABUL partnership addresses a significant market gap. While non-USD currencies account for over 40% of global forex trading, less than 1% of on-chain volume involves non-USD stablecoins. This partnership gives EMCD’s 400,000 KYC-verified users access to efficient stablecoin and commodity swaps through STABUL’s platform. For EMCD users, this integration means seamless access to international currencies and tokenized assets without leaving their primary platform. Users earning cryptocurrency through mining can convert to stable assets, earn yield through Coinhold, and eventually spend through the upcoming EMCD Card – creating a complete financial ecosystem. The timing aligns with EMCD’s broader expansion plans. The company offers zero percent mining fees through 2025 and is preparing to launch its crypto debit card, which will connect directly to users’ USDT balances for spending at any Visa or Mastercard merchant. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/38945745

DEIN - The Decentralized Insurance Network 11/04/2025

DEIN - The Decentralized Insurance Network DEIN, short for Decentralized Insurance Network, is a platform that offers permissionless, decentralized, and DAO-managed discretionary risk coverage. It is designed to provide insurance for smart contracts, stablecoins, centralized exchanges, and other vital services within the DeFi ecosystem. Why you should listen DEIN allows users to purchase coverage for their funds, enabling them to safeguard their assets against potential losses caused by hacks, rug-pulls, or other exploits leading to permanent loss of funds. Additionally, DEIN empowers individuals to actively participate in the insurance process by allowing them to provide coverage and liquidity for various smart contracts, exchanges, or listed services in exchange for yield. DEIN addresses the risks and uncertainties that exist within the DeFi space. By providing a decentralized insurance network, it aims to enhance the trust and confidence of users, allowing them to navigate the DeFi landscape with reduced concerns about potential financial losses. DEIN embraces the principles of decentralization and community governance. It is designed to be owned and governed by its users, ensuring that the decision-making process is inclusive and transparent. Through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) framework, DEIN allows individuals to actively participate in shaping the platform's policies and future development. DEIN has been architected with self-sustainability, flexibility, and scalability in mind. It aims to serve as an infrastructure that can be expanded and adjusted according to the needs of individuals and larger groups. By offering a modular approach, DEIN enables users to build their perfect solutions within the DeFi space, fostering innovation and growth. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/38912980

Uplink - Decentralized Connectivity 11/03/2025

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CoinTerminal - Access Token Presales Before CEX Listingsv 10/28/2025

CoinTerminal - Access Token Presales Before CEX Listingsv Maximiliano Stochyk is Head of Sales at CoinTerminal — a fundraising platform helping DeFi and Web3 founders raise millions transparently while giving retail investors a fair chance to participate. Why you should listen CoinTerminal lets you buy into the best new tokens before they list on exchanges. Just like your favorite leading funds. Buy presales at the lowest cost before they hit exchanges. You could get up to a 10x better price on CoinTerminal. CoinTerminal positions itself as a crypto launchpad built for everyone — no staking, no gating, just open access. Anyone with a crypto wallet can join presales for new tokens without needing to lock up collateral or hold platform-specific tokens. Their model is refreshingly straightforward: find promising early-stage projects, contribute via IDOs (initial DEX offerings), and claim tokens once they launch — with the option for refunds if things don’t pan out. They’ve funded 80+ ventures, distributed over $80 million, and already attracted more than 620,000 investors. What sets CoinTerminal apart is their “no bar, no hidden fees” ethos. There’s no minimum play beyond the $100 opening ticket, and they promise prices up to 10× lower than public listing. Transparency is baked in: winner selections are randomized and verifiable, and they publish transparency reports. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. Maximiliano Stochyk is Head of Sales at CoinTerminall — a fundraising platform helping DeFi and Web3 founders raise millions transparently while giving retail investors a fair chance to participate. Why you should listen CoinTerminal lets you buy into the best new tokens before they list on exchanges. Just like your favorite leading funds. Buy presales at the lowest cost before they hit exchanges. You could get up to a 10x better price on CoinTerminal. CoinTerminal positions itself as a crypto launchpad built for everyone — no staking, no gating, just open access. Anyone with a crypto wallet can join presales for new tokens without needing to lock up collateral or hold platform-specific tokens. Their model is refreshingly straightforward: find promising early-stage projects, contribute via IDOs (initial DEX offerings), and claim tokens once they launch — with the option for refunds if things don’t pan out. They’ve funded 80+ ventures, distributed over $80 million, and already attracted more than 620,000 investors. What sets CoinTerminal apart is their “no bar, no hidden fees” ethos. There’s no minimum play beyond the $100 opening ticket, and they promise prices up to 10× lower than public listing. Transparency is baked in: winner selections are randomized and verifiable, and they publish transparency reports. Supporting links If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using. /episode/index/show/thecryptoconversation/id/38812150

PACT SWAP - The Next-Gen Cross-Chain DEX 10/24/2025

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