Shows / Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Talking Tokens is StrataMedia’s flagship podcast and newsletter, delivering two episodes a week to a growing global audience of crypto-native and traditional finance professionals. The award-nominated show features conversations with the founders, investors, market makers, and leaders shaping the onchain economy. Hosted by Jacquelyn Melinek, founder & CEO of StrataMedia and former senior crypto reporter at TechCrunch. Subscribe: https://talkingtokens.beehiiv.com/ Follow on X: @_TalkingTokens
Episodes
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
How Aerodrome Dominated DeFi on Base: The Zero VC Approach with Alexander Cutler
On this episode of Talking Tokens, host Jacquelyn Melinek sits down with Alexander Cutler, CEO of Dromos Labs and core contributor to Aerodrome, the largest…
Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, InvestingTalking Tokenization: Why Tokenizing Stock Beats Traditional Shares | Maja Vujinovic
In this episode of Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn Melinek interviews Maja Vujinovic, CEO and co-founder of Digital Assets FG Nexus. Maja unpacks FG Nexus’s…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Talking Tokenization: Why Tokenizing Stock Beats Traditional Shares | Maja Vujinovic
In this episode of Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn Melinek interviews Maja Vujinovic, CEO and co-founder of Digital Assets FG Nexus. Maja unpacks FG Nexus’s…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
How dYdX’s President is Building the Future of Decentralized Trading
On this episode of Talking Tokens, host Jacquelyn Melinek sits down with Eddie Zhang, President of dYdX. Eddie shares his journey from product building at Meta…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Bitcoin ETFs & The Next Decade of Crypto Investing | Hong Kim
In this episode of Talking Tokens, host Jacquelyn Melinek sits down with Hong Kim, co-founder and CTO of Bitwise Asset Management, recorded live at Token2049…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Inside World Liberty Financial: USD1, Governance, and Building Trust in Crypto
On this episode of Talking Tokens, we’re sharing Jacquelyn Melinek's fireside chat from Korea Blockchain Week with Zak Folkman, co-founder of World Liberty…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why Bitcoin Adoption is a Once-in-a-Generation Financial Revolution | American Bitcoin
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek sits down with Mike Ho, Matt Prusak, and Donald Trump Jr. from American Bitcoin. They discuss Bitcoin as…
Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, InvestingTalking Tokenization: Bringing Wall Street to Ethereum | Vivek Raman
In this episode of Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn Melinek interviews Vivek Raman, CEO of Etherealize and former Wall Street high yield credit trader. Vivek…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
PayPal Just Made a HUGE Crypto Move | Matt Tabbiner
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Matthew Tabbiner, CEO of Stable, a layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoins. Stable…
Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, InvestingIntroducing Talking Tokenization : The Future of Finance Tokenizing Wall Street
Welcome to Talking Tokenization, a new podcast series unlocking how onchain assets are transforming finance, capital markets, and the way the world trades…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Tokenize Everything? The Real World Asset Debate in 2025
Today’s episode was recorded at the Real World Asset Summit, where leaders from across capital markets and crypto came together to chart the future of…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Solana Genius Behind Mad Lads & Backpack | Armani Ferrante
In this episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Armani Ferrante, co-founder and CEO of Backpack. Armani explains how Backpack EU became one of Europe’s first fully…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why Solflare Thinks the Bear Market Is an Advantage | Vidor Gencel
In this episode, Vidor Gencel, Co-Founder of Solflare, shares the journey of building one of the most widely used crypto wallets in the Solana ecosystem. This…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why Your Data Gets Hacked Every Week (And How ZK Proofs Fix It) | Shiv Shankar
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn welcomes Shiv Shankar, CEO of Boundless, a protocol for verifiable compute across any chain, powered by the RISC…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Fireblocks Network for Payments is Building the Future for Stablecoins | Michael Shaulov
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn interviews Michael Shaulov, CEO and co-founder of Fireblocks, the firm securing over $10 trillion in digital…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
What’s Next for Stablecoins, Banks, and Instant Settlement | Farooq Malik
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, a company building the payment rails powering the next…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why Staking Is Becoming the “Savings Account” for Wall Street | Lorien Gabel
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Lorien Gabel, co-founder and CEO of Figment, a leading non-custodial staking provider supporting…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Inside the Wyoming Conference Where Fed Officials Met Crypto Leaders | John Darsie
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with John Darsie, CEO of SALT and managing partner at SkyBridge Capital, best known for connecting Wall…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Hart Lambur on Solana Expansion, Open Intents and Fast Bridging
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn welcomes Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol, back to the show to break down Across’s next big move: live…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
How Digital Asset Treasuries Outperform: DeFi Dev Corp’s Strategy | Joseph Onorati
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Joseph Onorati, CEO of DeFi Development Corp. (formerly Janover), a publicly traded digital asset…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Arianna Simpson on web3, Stablecoins & Global Adoption
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Arianna Simpson, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) crypto, one of the most influential…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why Is Robinhood Building on Arbitrum | AJ Warner
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with AJ Warner, Director of Strategy at Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, one of Ethereum’s top…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
SKR to Airdrops: Everything You Need To Know About Solana Seeker | Emmett Hollyer
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Emmett Hollyer, General Manager at Solana Mobile — the team behind Saga and now Seeker, crypto’s…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Gracy Chen on BGB Token, Wallets & AI Agent for Bitget
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, one of the world’s top crypto exchanges. Under her leadership, Bitget…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Can Bitcoin Earn You Yield Without Leaving Your Wallet? | Hong Sun
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Hong Sun, head of institutions at Core. Core is a bitcoin-secured, EVM-compatible L1 powering a new…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Inside Telegram's Gaming Revolution | TON Foundation x Mighty Bear | Simon Davis & Martin Masser
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Simon Davis, co-founder and CEO of Mighty Bear Games, and Martin Masser, head of growth at TON…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
What Stripe’s Crypto Play & Acquiring Privy Really Means | Henri Stern
On this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Henri Stern, co-founder and CEO of Privy, the wallet infrastructure powering over 75 million…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Real World Assets Are the Big Crypto Narrative — Here’s Why | Chris Yin
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Chris Yin, Co-founder and CEO of Plume Network — a blockchain built for real-world assets (RWAs)…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why Token Standardization Will Power the Next Crypto Boom | Stephen Hess
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Stephen Hess, founder of Metaplex and director of the Metaplex Foundation — the protocol that…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Tokenized Whiskey Is Real — And You Can Borrow Against It | Tzvi Wiesel
In this episode of Talking Tokens, we’re joined by Tzvi Wiesel, co-founder and CEO of BAXUS — a Solana-powered marketplace for high-end wine and spirits. We…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
TradFi, Tokenization & DeFi Are Finally Converging — Here's What That Looks Like | Annelise Osborne
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Annelise Osborne, Chief Business Officer at Kadena — a proof-of-work Layer 1 built by former JP…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Why This Crypto Fund Is Doubling Down While Others Panic | Jonas Kristensen
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sits down live at the Finance Leaders Collective with Jonas Kristensen, Head of Wintermute Ventures — the…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Symbiotic Team Quietly Raised $29M and then Went Live on 16 Chains | Misha Putiatin
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Misha Putiatin, co-founder of Symbiotic — the cross-chain staking protocol that quietly raised $29M…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
How This Chain Is Redesigning Crypto for AI + Stablecoins
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Jack O’Holleran, co-founder of SKALE Network and CEO of SKALE Labs. Jack shares why MEV is a hidden…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey Backed This — Here’s What Happened
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Abubakar Nur Khalil, CEO of Recursive Capital and board member and CEO of Btrust — the Bitcoin…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Kevin Boon | Why Sui’s Core Team Rejected the ETH Rollup Model
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Kevin Boon, President of Mysten Labs, the core team behind the Sui blockchain. From fine arts and…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
MC Lader | How Uniswap Is Building the Full Crypto Stack
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Mary-Catherine “MC” Lader, President and COO of Uniswap Labs. Uniswap is behind the world’s largest…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Mary Gooneratne | Why DeFi Credit Markets Are Being Rebuilt From Scratch
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Mary Gooneratne, co-founder of Loopscale. Loopscale is a lending protocol on Solana designed to give…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Amir Haleem | How Helium’s Crypto Infrastructure Is Quietly Replacing Mobile Networks
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Amir Haleem, CEO and co-founder of Helium. Helium has a decentralized wireless network powered by…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Muneeb Ali | Why Bitcoin Layer 2s Are Suddenly Getting Interesting
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Muneeb Ali, the founder of Stacks. Stacks is a Bitcoin layer-2 blockchain that turns BTC into…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Chris Maurice | The $90 Bank Fee That Launched a $200M Crypto Company
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Chris Maurice, the co-founder and CEO of Yellow Card. Yellow Card powers on-and-off ramp payments…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Tomer Weller | You Can Move Millions Without a Bank. He Already Did.
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Tomer Weller, Chief Product Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation. Stellar is a blockchain…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Gabe Otte | Why Tokenized Stocks Could Revolutionize the Global Economy
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Gabe Otte, CEO and Co-Founder of Dinari. They discuss why Gabe decided to focus on tokenized…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Stani Kulechov | Inside Aave’s New Plan to Scale DeFi Beyond Billions
Today’s episode is a fireside chat Jacquelyn recorded with Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave Labs, while at the Avalanche Summit in London last week. They…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Chris Pavlovski | Tether’s $775M Bet on Rumble: The Future of Free Speech & Bitcoin
Today we’re sharing Jacquelyn’s fireside chat with Chris Pavlovski, founder and CEO of Rumble, at Consensus 2025. Rumble is a video, streaming and cloud-based…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Chris Osborn | This Solana Startup Is Finally Making Crypto Easy to Use
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Chris Osborn, CEO of Dialect. About a year ago, Dialect co-launched blockchain links, or blinks…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Pranav and Wyatt | Inside VanEck’s Crypto Playbook: From Liquid Funds to Tokenized IPOs
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Pranav Kanade, portfolio manager for digital assets at VanEck, and Wyatt Lonergan the GP of VanEck…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Anthony Scaramucci Thinks Bitcoin Is Going to $500K
Today’s episode is with Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge and founder and chairman of SALT.We recorded this episode at SALT…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Michael Sonnenshein | Securitize's COO Shares Why Institutions Like BlackRock Are Tokenizing
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Michael Sonnenshein, chief operating officer at Securitize. Securitize is focused on tokenizing real…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Rubail Birwadker | How Visa Will Dominate Crypto Payments
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s SVP, Head of Growth Products & Partnerships They discuss Visa’s multi-year…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Nathan Allman | Is 2025 the Year Everything Gets Tokenized?
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Nathan Allman, CEO of Ondo Finance.They discuss bringing finance onchain, how 2025 may be the year…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Ansem Says The Solana Bull Run Will Warm Back Up
Today’s episode we’re sharing Jacquelyn's fireside chat with Ansem from the Solana Crossroads event.Ansem is a well known crypto investor, former amateur boxer…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Jeff Zirlin | What Web3 Games Get Wrong (And How Ronin Plans to Fix It)
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of Sky Mavis. They discuss Ronin’s recent expansion to open up its gaming…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Ben Leventhal | Ex-Resy Co-Founder Explains Why He's Building Blackbird on Web3
On today’s (100th!) Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Ben Leventhal, Co-founder of Resy, Eater and Blackbird. They discuss his decades-long…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Dylan Abruscato | Crypto The Game Is Going Viral
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Dylan Abruscato, the creator of Crypto The Game (acq. by Uniswap). Crypto The Game wrapped up its…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Lucas Bruder | How Jito Generated $1.1B in Solana Rewards
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Lucas Bruder, CEO and co-founder of Jito Labs. Jito Labs is building high-performance MEV…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Sandy Carter | How Digital Identity is Changing the Future
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Sandy Carter, COO at Unstoppable Domains. They discuss onchain domains, how people are using digital…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Lavande | How Crypto Decisions Get Made
For this week’s Tuesday episode, we’re airing the fourth Optimism x Token Relations webinar Jacquelyn moderated with Lavande, head of governance at Optimism…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Tiffany Fong Talks Sam Bankman Fried, Elon Musk, Celsius and Internet Fame
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Tiffany Fong, an online personality and YouTube content creator. We discuss her rise to fame, how…
- Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing
Dan Tapiero | Bitcoin Could Reach $180k This Cycle
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Dan Tapiero, founder, CEO and CIO of 1RoundTable and 10T Fund. They discuss Dan’s perspective on…