MoneyNeverSleeps

Scaling human expertise isn’t a technology problem — it’s a trust problem. In this episode of MoneyNeverSleeps , Pete Townsend speaks with Joni Pirovich , founder of Crystal aOS , about where crypto and AI quietly hit their limits — and why human judgment remains the real constraint as systems scale. Joni explains how her background in legal and regulatory work exposed a simple truth early on: exp...

Surviving the hard days of startup life isn’t about working more - it’s about building the right support around you. In this episode of MoneyNeverSleeps, Pete Townsend speaks with Ollie Walsh, founder of Pipit Global (exited to Qenta), about founder burnout, resilience, and what actually helps founders get through the hardest stretches. Ollie explains why cutting hours helped more than pushing har...

Crypto doesn’t win in 2026 by being louder - it wins by becoming boring. In this episode of MoneyNeverSleeps, Pete Townsend is joined by Alejandro Gutierrez for a sharp set of 2026 predictions on where crypto, onchain finance, and AI actually go next, as the hype keeps fading and the infrastructure takes over. This is Alejandro’s 11th appearance on the show, and the first in the new era of MoneyNe...

Why are stablecoins suddenly a geopolitical issue? Pete Townsend and Garrett Cassidy break down dollar dominance, EU pushback, AI’s role in digital money, and the future of global financial rails — in one fast 14-minute riff. We cover: • Why dollar-based stablecoins are spreading globally • Why European policymakers are pushing back • What Martin Wolf gets right (and wrong) in the FT • How AI coul...

Hey there, I’m Pete Townsend, and this is MoneyNeverSleeps - where we look inside the minds of entrepreneurs and at the crossover of startups, enterprise, finance, technology, and life as we know it. This one’s different. We’re live from The Podcast Studios at HeadStuff HQ in Dublin - the legendary former Westland Studios where artists like U2 and Hozier recorded in the past - for Episode 300 . Se...

Alejandro Gutierrez joins me to talk Solana in Ireland, stablecoins, and tokenized securities - plus I share the launch of Norio Ventures Fund I and what’s ahead for Episode 300. 🔹 Scaling Solana Superteam Ireland and building community across the island 🔹 Stablecoins moving mainstream + tokenized securities gaining momentum with Nasdaq 🔹 My launch of Norio Ventures Fund I and what’s next for M...

This week, we're doing something different on MoneyNeverSleeps. You're coming inside the room for the Techstars Web3 Demo Day 2025 , recorded live at Civic Hall in NYC during NY Tech Week, where we brought 5 incredible Web3 startups to the stage for a standing-room-only crowd of founders, investors, and builders. These aren’t founders chasing hype - they’re building with traction, with pur...

This week, I caught up with Jesse Phillips, co-founder and CEO of Trustware , and one of the most quietly determined founders I’ve ever backed. I invested in Jesse and his co-founder Jonathan Frazier through the Techstars Web3 accelerator in 2023, and since then, Trustware⁠ have done what most early-stage startups only dream of—shipping a real product, signing real customers, and generating real r...

This week, I sat down with my longtime Techstars colleague and friend Allard Luchsinger, Managing Director of the ABN AMRO + Techstars Future of Finance Accelerator in Amsterdam. Allard and I have been on each other’s investment committees for years, so this conversation hits a bit differently. We’ve traded notes across dozens of startups, and we’ve seen each other call the shots on what makes an...

This week, I’m joined by Scott Ashmore and Rob Halligan , co-founders of Shuttle - a platform giving individuals access to venture capital deals that have traditionally been reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Scott and Rob are best friends of 25 years, first-time founders, and the type of guys who rolled up their sleeves, built something that didn’t scale, tore it all down, and came back with somethi...

This week, I’m joined once again by Alejandro Gutierrez, now officially leading Solana Superteam Ireland, a new initiative powered by the Solana Foundation to accelerate Web3 innovation across the entire island of Ireland. In this conversation, Alejandro and I go deep on how Solana Superteam Ireland came to life, why the momentum is building so quickly, and what this means for Ireland as a Web3 hu...

Simon Brown joins me to share how his role at Consensys has evolved since his last appearance in January 2024 and why he’s now leading the charge on the Consensys Network State. It’s all about reconnecting the sprawl of the Ethereum ecosystem, reinforcing the cultural gravity that made Ethereum magical in the first place, and creating a more cohesive network of builders, founders, and ecosystem ex...

This week, I’m welcoming back Ollie Walsh, formerly the co-founder and CEO of Pipit Global, and now, the President of Qenta , following Qenta’s recent acquisition of Pipit.  This is Ollie’s fourth appearance on MoneyNeverSleeps, making him the all-time guest record holder on the show. This conversation is a special one. Not only has Ollie been building something purpose-driven and globally relevan...

This week, I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Fergal McGovern , founder and CEO of VisibleThread , for one of the most enlightening founder chats I’ve had in a while. Fergal’s been building for decades—starting with enterprise systems in the '90s, then launching and selling his first startup SteelTrace, and eventually pivoting VisibleThread through the 2008 crash into a trusted platf...

This week, I sat down with Yev Broshevan, co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer at Hacken , a leading blockchain security firm focused on making Web3 a safer, more trustworthy place for everyone. Even better? Yev’s birthday is the same day this episode drops - happy birthday, Yev! Yev’s story goes way back to her early days as a cybersecurity engineer in Ukraine, where weak institution...

This week, I’m joined by the ever-insightful and gloriously unfiltered Laura Walsh for a whirlwind spin through the crypto-political multiverse. From BlackRock’s Larry Fink flirting with Bitcoin as the next global reserve currency to Trump-World and Cowboy State stablecoins, this episode has more layers than a Siberian haplogroup. What’s inside? Larry Fink’s crypto come-up – From “index of money l...

Anthony Rose is the co-founder and CEO of SeedLegals, the #1 platform for startup funding and legals in the UK. But long before he was helping tens of thousands of founders raise capital and avoid legal potholes, Anthony was in the digital trenches – first turning the music industry on its head with Kazaa, then helping reinvent online streaming at the BBC with iPlayer, before building and selling...

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by my good friend and returning guest co-host Alejandro Gutierrez, and we get into the thick of what I like to call “worlds colliding” — the convergence of Web3 and TradFi that’s playing out in real time. From Robinhood stepping into prediction markets, to ETF filings for Solana, XRP, and even Sui, and even the Fed making front-page crypto headlines, this one&#39...

In this episode, we’re announcing the Techstars Web3 Accelerator Class of 2025 featuring founders from the six web3 startups that Techstars are investing in and accelerating in 2025 and beyond.  Get ready for insights from: Satyam Agrawal , founder of 0xBridge , enabling seamless, non-custodial, and efficient two-way Bitcoin movement across blockchains, allowing users to mint 1:1 pegged BTC withou...

This week, we’re taking a look back at some of my favorite moments from the past year—the conversations that stuck with me long after we hit stop on the recording. If you missed them the first time around, now’s your chance to catch the highlights! And here’s the kicker—every one of the eight segments I pulled together features a mentor from the Techstars Web3 Accelerator that I lead. It’s part hi...

Alejandro Gutierrez joins me once again to dive into some of the biggest conversations in crypto right now, including: The fallout from Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the debanking of crypto startups —what it means for the industry and how regulatory shifts in the U.S. and Europe could reshape the future of digital assets. Why Solana is having its moment —how Solana's DEX volume is outpacing Ethereu...

This week, we’re tapping into the intersection of hip-hop, technology, education and startups with a true pioneer—Arabian Prince. If you know your rap history, you know Arabian Prince as one of the founding members of N.W.A, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rap group that redefined music and culture. But what you might not know is that he’s also a lifelong technologist, entrepreneur and futurist—a k...

Laura Walsh returns this week to help me unpack the whirlwind of events shaking up crypto, finance, and politics—from Trump’s memecoin antics to regulatory shifts and the ever-increasing adoption of crypto by institutional finance. Laura Walsh is a Techstars All Star Mentor, advisor, founder, web3 OG and friend, and in this episode, we dive into: Trump’s Memecoin Playbook – How the former U.S. pre...

Brian McDonald is a partner at Bay Advisory , a corporate finance firm helping founders navigate funding, scaling, and exiting their businesses. Brian first joined the show in 2021, and now, four years later, he returns to share updated insights on startup exits, valuations, and the evolving market landscape. From the importance of staying true to your business identity to understanding deal struc...

In this special year-end episode, Pete Townsend is joined by returning guest co-host Alejandro Gutierrez for a wide-ranging conversation about what the future may hold in 2025. Together, they explore transformative ideas, emerging trends, and groundbreaking technologies that could shape industries, disrupt norms, and redefine global innovation. From traditional finance’s embrace of tokenization to...