Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Smart Economy Podcast: Real-World Blockchain Applications with Crypto, DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Reserve co-founder Nevin Freeman to discuss the project's long-term goal of creating an asset-backed currency capable of preserving purchasing power. They explore Bitcoin's evolution as a store of value, Reserve's experience bringing stablecoins to Venezuela, the potential for tokenized real-world assets to expand DeFi, and the regulatory barriers standing between today's financial system and globally accessible on-chain markets.

Maciej Cepnik, chief marketing officer at Aureo, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss what it takes to build Bitcoin financial infrastructure in Mexico. Cepnik explains how Aureo grew from a tool its founders built to spend their own Bitcoin into a non-custodial brokerage, why navigating Mexico's financial system can become a competitive advantage, and why the company's next opportunity may lie in serving businesses and larger Bitcoin holders.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski sits down with Al Qureshi, CEO and co-founder of Black Lake Digital Markets, to discuss how blockchain infrastructure could modernize mortgage capital markets. They explore the role of tokenization, zero-knowledge proofs, and asset verification in improving transparency, reducing costs, and creating new opportunities for institutional finance while connecting traditional capital markets with blockchain networks.

Andrés Salcedo, head of business development at Etherfuse, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to explore how tokenized sovereign debt is expanding access to financial services across Latin America and beyond. Drawing from firsthand experience living through Venezuela's hyperinflation, Salcedo explains why stablecoins became a necessity, how blockchain is modernizing cross-border finance, and why yield-bearing stable assets may reshape the future of payments, savings, and financial infrastructure.

Christian St. Louis, partner at Ethereal Ventures, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss venture capital, crypto startup investing, AI-driven entrepreneurship, and the long-term future of blockchain adoption. St. Louis shares insights from evaluating hundreds of founders, explains why conviction and creativity matter more than ever in an AI-powered world, and explores how stablecoins, agentic commerce, and real-world adoption are quietly reshaping the crypto industry.

Anndy Lian, author of Web4: The Age of Autonomous Intelligence, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss the convergence of AI and blockchain, why he believes Web3 never fully delivered on decentralization, and how autonomous AI systems could reshape digital ownership, governance, and online coordination. Lian shares insights from more than a decade in crypto, his work advising governments worldwide, and his vision for a more decentralized and intelligent internet.

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss AI operating systems, agent harnesses, chain abstraction, and the growing role of AI agents in blockchain ecosystems. Polosukhin explains how NEAR’s original vision emerged from AI infrastructure challenges, why AI harnesses are evolving into operating systems, and how NEAR Intents enables users and agents to interact across blockchains without dealing with backend complexity. The conversation also explores AI security, formal verification, confidential inference, and why blockchain infrastructure may increasingly operate behind the scenes as AI agents become primary users.

Alexis Sirkia, captain of Yellow, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss how decentralized clearing and settlement infrastructure could reshape crypto trading, AI agent economies, and institutional adoption. Sirkia shares his journey from early market making to building Yellow, explains how state channels are designed to remove counterparty risk, and why AI agents may become crypto’s biggest real-world use case.

Vivek Raman, co-founder and CEO of Etherealize, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss how Ethereum is moving from experimentation to real institutional use. Drawing on his time trading credit on Wall Street, Raman explains why banks are revisiting public blockchains, how tokenization is being implemented in practice, and why Ethereum’s structure continues to come up in those conversations.

Greg Osuri, founder of Akash Network and CEO of Overclock Labs, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss decentralized cloud infrastructure, the growing demand for AI compute, and why traditional cloud providers may struggle to keep up. Osuri explains how Akash is building a peer-to-peer marketplace for compute, why GPU shortages are just the beginning, and how distributed systems could play a bigger role as AI adoption accelerates.

George Zeng, chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss the convergence of AI agents, crypto infrastructure, and user-owned intelligence. Zeng explains why decentralized AI matters, how agent-based systems could become the primary interface for the internet, and why combining crypto with AI may unlock new forms of ownership, privacy, and digital coordination.

David Johnston, OSS code maintainer at Morpheus, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss the convergence of AI agents, crypto infrastructure, and open-source intelligence. Johnston explains why owning your own AI agent may become essential in the coming wave of automation, how decentralized infrastructure could prevent Big Tech from dominating AI, and why networks like Morpheus aim to provide the rails for open and permissionless AI access.

Laszlo Szabo, co-founder and CEO of Kiln, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to explore how staking has evolved into institutional infrastructure and how on-chain vaults, DeFi, and tokenized RWAs are beginning to intersect. Szabo explains why staking often grows during bear markets, how institutions approach on-chain yield, and how Kiln’s Railnet initiative is aimed at connecting DeFi protocols with tokenized assets.

Olivia Vande Woude, head of tokenization at Ava Labs, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss RWAs, institutional adoption, distribution economics, and how Avalanche is bringing real assets on-chain.

Zeymer Montes, founder of MOCA, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to talk about building crypto products that real people can actually use. From gasless payments and QR-code POS systems to smart wallets and encrypted messaging, Montes shares how MOCA is rethinking crypto UX, onboarding merchants, and making on-chain payments feel as simple as Venmo, without giving up self-custody.

Tomasz Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss Ethereum’s leadership evolution, L2 strategy, institutional adoption, and how the Foundation is preparing the protocol for its next phase.

Brian Smocovich, co-founder of PistachioFi, joins host Dylan Grabowski to explore the challenges facing everyday users in Web3 and how a smart wallet can remove friction through security, recovery, and gasless transactions. He shares his journey from TradFi to crypto, why UX remains Ethereum’s biggest bottleneck, and how PistachioFi aims to make safe, high-quality DeFi accessible to anyone.

Cian Breathnach, founder of Matariki Labs and contributor to Keel, joins host Dylan Grabowski to break down how Keel intends to become Solana’s capital engine. Breathnach explains the evolution of the Sky ecosystem, why Solana’s high-throughput environment works well with on-chain credit creation, and how RWAs and institutional liquidity are poised to unlock the next era of DeFi.

Alex Gluchowski, co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, joins host Dylan Grabowski for a deep dive into ZKsync, the rise of zero-knowledge technology, and the rapid evolution of Ethereum’s scaling landscape. He shares how personal experiences shaped his mission of economic freedom, why privacy must evolve for global adoption, and how the Elastic Network aims to unite consumer, enterprise, and institutional use cases under one ZK-powered ecosystem.

Sebastien Borget, co-founder and global ambassador of The Sandbox, joins host Dylan Grabowski to discuss the long road from mobile gaming startup to a leading voice in metaverse. Borget explains why SANDchain, the new L2 for creators, represents the next step in decentralizing digital ownership, how The Sandbox navigates market cycles, and what sustained building looks like after the hype fades.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Nick Hansen, team lead at The Graph Foundation, an indexing protocol for organizing blockchain data. Together, they unpack The Graph’s mission to become the “Google of blockchains,” and discuss why decentralized indexing matters more than ever.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Satraj Bambra, CEO and co-founder of Rails and managing partner at Round13 Capital. Together, they explore Rails’ hybrid trading model, its collaboration with Kraken’s Ink layer-2, and what these developments signal for the future of decentralized finance. Satraj unpacks how Rails blends on-chain user custody with centralized execution for speed, compliance, and transparency, while offering a candid take on post-FTX lessons, institutional market entry, and why Ethereum’s rally is powered more by momentum than fundamentals.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Mirza Uddin, head of business development at Injective, a blockchain-based platform building infrastructure for DeFi, aiming to enable truly open, permissionless, and interoperable financial systems. Together, they sat down for an insightful conversation about long-term thinking in crypto, creative inspiration from anime, the rise of decentralized finance infrastructure, and how Injective achieved true product-market fit.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Ian Rogers, Chief Experience Officer at Ledger, a hardware and software security provider for digital assets and Web3. Together, they explore the parallels between early internet adoption and crypto security, discussing how lessons from the web’s evolution inform today’s digital asset protection strategies.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Aryan Sheikhalian, Head of Research at CMT Digital, a global blockchain and Web3 proprietary trading and venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments that accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology. Together, they dive into what it really takes to build sustainable decentralized systems.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Marc Tillement, Director of the Pyth Data Association, an independent entity pursuing decentralized financial data distribution through the Pyth Network ecosystem. Together, they explore how Pyth Network aims to transform financial data distribution through its oracle network that serves over 100 blockchains.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Josh McIntyre, Chairperson of the CCE Committee at C4, a non-profit organization advancing the understanding and adoption of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and secure private key management. Together, they explore essential blockchain security practices that both newcomers and veterans often overlook.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Sam MacPherson, CEO and co-founder of Phoenix Labs, the R&D company behind the multi-chain DeFi platform Spark. Together, they dive into how Spark Protocol is aiming to transform multi-chain liquidity management, delivering risk-adjusted yield through stablecoin solutions, and bridging the gap between DeFi and traditional finance.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Aaluxx Myth, co-founder of Maya Protocol, a decentralized liquidity solution enabling native L1-to-L1 token swaps. Together, they discuss building decentralized liquidity solutions, the creation of the TCY token following the THORFi crisis, and the importance of permissionless finance in emerging economies.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Ryan Galvankar, the founder of Plaza Finance, a platform built on Base that is specializing in programmable derivatives. Together, they discuss how Plaza's innovative bond and leverage products are making sophisticated financial instruments accessible on-chain.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Gregory Di Prisco, co-founder and Chief Architect at M0, the stablecoin infrastructure that seeks to enable developers and businesses to build and integrate programmable, interoperable, and secure digitized dollars.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Paul Neuner, the Founder and CEO of Telcoin, acompany leveraging blockchain technology to provide low-cost DeFi products for mobile phone users globally, to explore how their Nebraska-based digital asset bank charter is reshaping the future of payments, stablecoins, and digital banking infrastructure.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Alan Orwick, the CEO of Dominant Strategies, a development entity creating tooling and applications on the Quai Network. Together, they discuss the future of stablecoins, PoW innovation, and how the Quai Network is developing a new type of energy-backed cryptocurrency system.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Ingo Ruebe, the founder of Kilt Protocol, a decentralized digital identity solution serving enterprises, governments, and consumers, to explore the critical yet often overlooked world of decentralized digital identity.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by David Hoffman, the co-founder and host of Bankless, a cryptocurrency media brand and community that focuses on educating and empowering individuals to navigate the decentralized financial landscape. Together, they discuss the evolution of crypto media, the challenges of maintaining editorial independence, and the misconceptions surrounding the intersection of for-profit media and venture capital in the blockchain space.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski sits down with Patrick Young, Head of Go-to-Market at Galxe, a leading platform for Web3 community growth and engagement. From their Quest system that's processed over 1.1 billion completions to their Galxe Passport identity solution, discover how Galxe is bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3 while preparing for the future of AI integration. Whether you're a blockchain project looking to build sticky communities or a developer interested in identity solutions, this conversation offers valuable insights into the evolution of Web3 engagement and the upcoming Gravity blockchain. Tune in to learn how Galxe's suite of tools is helping onboard the first billion users to Web3.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Joe Doll, general counsel at Magic Eden, a leading cross-chain NFT marketplace. Together, they explore the evolving U.S. regulatory landscape under the new administration, Magic Eden's growth story, the future of NFTs, and why stablecoins could be the key to mass crypto adoption.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Eli Cohen, general counsel at Centrifuge, a platform for tokenized real-world assets. Together, they explore the evolving landscape of RWAs on-chain, the intersection of TradFi and DeFi, DAO governance, and the promising outlook for RWAs amid changing U.S. regulatory landscapes.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Zac Williamson, CEO and co-founder of Aztec, a startup operating in the blockchain technology space focusing on privacy. Together, they dive into the evolution of ZK technology, the importance of privacy in blockchain, and the exciting developments leading up to Aztec's Mainnet launch in 2025.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Mingchao (Fisher) Yu, co-founder and CTO of Babylon Labs, a non-custodial staking protocol that uses the underlying value of Bitcoin to secure a variety of proof-of-stake networks. Together, they dive into Bitcoin's previous limitations in providing liquidity to Defi protocols, how Babylon aims to turn Bitcoin into a first-class staking asset, Babylon's approach to bridging into other ecosystems, the team's multi-phased approach to launching its protocol, and so much more.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Alexei Zamyatin, co-founder of BOB, a Layer 2 blockchain aiming to combine the security of Bitcoin with the versatility of Ethereum. Together, they discuss how BitVM empowers building in the Bitcoin ecosystem, how Bitcoin and Ethereum mutually benefit one another, Bitcoin's developer renaissance, bridging solutions and their trust assumptions, forthcoming Bitcoin-enabled applications, and so much more.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Lombard co-founder Jacob Phillips. Together, they discuss how Bitcoin's market capitalization is an ideal solution for DeFi's need for liquidity, the differences in the mentality of deploying Bitcoin as an asset into DeFi versus deploying other assets like Ether, building on the Babylon staking protocol, upcoming Lombard releases, and much more.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by LunarCrush co-founders Joe Vezzani and Jon Farjo. Together, they discuss how social media metrics can help determine the appetite for specific digital assets, the metrics and categories that LunarCrush follows, how AI has improved the team's ability and processes, the forthcoming rise of AI agents, and so much more.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Mounir Benchemled, founder and CEO of ParaSwap, a platform in the decentralized finance landscape. Together, they explore what ParaSwap is bringing to the DeFi space, delve into the technical challenges of building on blockchain, and discuss the future of decentralized exchanges. Mounir also shares his vision for driving mass crypto adoption through scalable infrastructure and user-centric experiences.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Anthony Day, head of strategy and marketing at Midnight, a Layer 1 protocol developed by Input Output (IOHK). Together, they discuss the importance of data protection and privacy, why Web3 needs to be professionalized for mass adoption, the value of blockchain for enterprise and large-scale entities, and how Midnight is building itself to be a fourth-generation blockchain network.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Ganesh Swami, CEO and co-founder of Covalent to discuss blockchain data infrastructure, AI integration, and the evolution of Ethereum. They explore how Covalent is helping bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3, the importance of decentralized infrastructure for AI, and the development of tools like the Ethereum Wayback Machine.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by JP Thor, Founder of THORChain. They explore how close we are to mainstream crypto adoption, THORChain's user-friendly features, why SwapKit could be the key to decentralized wallet integration, and how THORChain approaches cross-chain swaps.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Fabian Gompf, Chief Executive Officer of the Web3 Foundation. They dive into Polkadot's early days, how Parity drives Polkadot's ecosystem forward, and why enterprise giants are eyeing Polkadot. Fabian also shares applicable and less applicable uses for blockchain technologies, modular versus monolithic blockchains, and the recent uproar about the Polkadot ecosystem’s treasury spending.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Ken Timsit, head of Cronos Labs. They discuss crypto as a viable solution to modern banking, the relationships between centralized exchanges and their blockchain ecosystem counterparts, and the regulatory environment and political influence on crypto policy. Ken also shares insights about the Cronos tri-blockchain ecosystem, lessons learned from building on the zkEVM and Cosmos tech stacks, and the forthcoming Cronos triple yield-bearing thesis for the zkCRO token.

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski engages in a conversation with Rebecca Liao, co-founder and CEO of Saga. They delve into the evolving landscape of Web3 gaming and the challenges faced by indie game developers. Rebecca shares insights into Saga's protocol, designed to simplify blockchain integration for game developers and enhance user experiences. The discussion covers topics such as cross-game economies, IP collaborations, and the role of NFTs in shaping the future of gaming. Additionally, Rebecca touches upon her diverse background in law, politics, and blockchain, offering valuable perspectives on leadership and the transformative potential of Web3 technologies.