Crypto Hipster

What separates believing in a revolutionary technology from knowing whether it's a good investment? In this episode of Crypto Hipster, host Jamil Hasan welcomes Courtney Olujobi, Principal of Portfolio and Investment Strategy at Moon Pursuit Capital, for a conversation about investment discipline, market cycles, institutional adoption, and the evolving digital asset landscape. Courtney's j...

What does it take to build infrastructure that no longer depends on its creator? In this episode of Crypto Hipster, host Jamil Hasan welcomes Yassir Haouati, Co-Founder and COO of Brickken, for a conversation about real-world asset tokenization, institutional adoption, governance, and the evolution of a founder's responsibilities. Yassir's entrepreneurial journey began in Morocco, where he...

What is the most valuable thing in a trustless world? Jason Carpenter, founder of EtherBridge, joins Jamil Hasan on the Crypto Hipster Podcast for a conversation that begins with his family’s experience in Zimbabwe and ultimately reaches the future of open financial infrastructure. Jason traces his journey from studying accounting in South Africa and initially dismissing Bitcoin to discovering a m...

Who owns risk in DeFi? Jamil Hasan sits down with Marko Zelman, co-founder of Tapir Protocol, to trace a founder journey that began in finance and e-commerce before moving through crypto hackathons, liquid staking, protocol design, Marinade, SSV Network, and ultimately Tapir. The conversation explores why risk doesn’t disappear in decentralized systems—it simply moves—and how markets can allow par...

What actually happens after you hit “send”? Ryan Kirkley, founder and CEO of Global Settlement Network, joins Jamil Hasan to explore the infrastructure underneath the movement of money—and why much of the world still relies on systems that are slow, expensive, fragmented, and difficult to connect. The conversation moves from cross-border settlement and stablecoins into interoperability, CBDCs, mon...

Paul Sztorc, co-founder and CEO of LayerTwo Labs, inventor of Drivechain, and author of BIP 300 and BIP 301, joins Jamil Hasan for a wide-ranging conversation about Bitcoin’s future. They explore Drivechain, scaling, sidechains, miner incentives, Lightning, Ethereum, and the tension between preserving Bitcoin and allowing experimentation around it. But the conversation ultimately reaches a deeper...

Leone Parise, Co-Founder and CTO of Trace Finance, joins Jamil Hasan to explore the journey from engineer to fintech founder. Leone discusses his early work in crypto and Trust Wallet, the realities of building global payment infrastructure, and why regulation, banking relationships, compliance, and trust can be harder problems than the technology itself. The conversation moves from blockchain and...

What separates conviction from stubbornness? In this episode of the Crypto Hipster Podcast, Jamil Hasan sits down with Utkarsh Ahuja, founder of Moon Pursuit Capital, for a conversation about investing, risk, emerging technology, and the lessons that come from being wrong. Utkarsh traces his journey from building and exiting a technology and marketing company to discovering Bitcoin, trading throug...

Tanner Taddeo, CEO and co-founder of Stable Sea, joins Jamil Hasan to discuss what it means to build a company when both technology and markets are changing at extraordinary speed. Tanner shares the journey from Block to Stable Sea, why his team embraces constant experimentation, and why founders need to separate their self-worth from the products they create. Then the conversation turns to a bigg...

Jupiter IV: What We Really Inherit What happens when something you create becomes larger than you? In this solo episode of the Crypto Hipster Podcast, Jamil Hasan continues his journey through Inheriting Saturn by revisiting four conversations from the podcast archive—conversations that once seemed to be about NFTs, art, technology, and innovation. Five years later, they sound very different. A gr...

What does it take to rebuild trust after years of broken promises? Harvey Liu shares his journey from computer science and venture capital to becoming a founder focused on transparency, responsibility, and long-term thinking. Together, we discuss leadership, conviction, stewardship, and what founders learn when they move from investing in companies to building one themselves. A conversation about...

What does it take to build trust in the next generation of financial infrastructure? In this episode of Crypto Hipster, I sit down with Ludovico Rossi , Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Brickken, to explore the founder journey behind building institutional infrastructure for tokenized assets. Rather than focusing on products or price, our conversation explores: • Why trust matters more than...

Building Trust Before Building Hype | Nancy Li | Crypto Hipster Podcast What separates companies that gain lasting trust from those that simply generate attention? In this episode of the Crypto Hipster Podcast, Jamil Hasan sits down with Nancy Li, co-founder of Sevenfold, to explore entrepreneurship, leadership, and the role narrative plays in building enduring companies. Nancy shares her journey...

What does it take to build trust in an industry that has lived through repeated cycles of hype, collapse, and reinvention? In this conversation, I sit down with Kyle Sonlin , Co-Founder & President of Global Settlement Network, to discuss the founder's journey behind the technology. Rather than focusing on products, we explore: • Building through multiple market cycles • Leadership under press...

Andrey Didovskiy is the Founder and CEO of Seasons , where he is building decentralized financial infrastructure focused on long-term incentives, yield generation, and sustainable on-chain systems. In this episode of the Crypto Hipster Podcast, we move beyond product announcements and token prices to explore the founder's journey. Andrey shares how growing up as a competitive chess player shap...

What allows a system to endure long after its creator steps away? In this episode of Crypto Hipster's Curtain Calls , Jamil Hasan brings together four conversations that, on the surface, appear to have little in common—but together reveal one of the central themes of Inheriting Saturn . Featuring: David "Oz" Osterczy Drew Miller Sara Nemati Amelia Tomasicchio From creativity and resi...

What does it take to leave a successful career in traditional finance and build something entirely new? In this episode, Kevin Lepsoe reflects on his journey from the trading desks of traditional finance to entrepreneurship in Web3. We discuss the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis, navigating uncertainty, building teams, earning trust, and why founders must stay focused on their long-term visio...

Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin, but his greatest contribution may have been something far less technical: the decision to disappear. In this episode, I explore why stewardship begins when ownership ends, and why every founder eventually faces the same question: Can the system survive without me? Using Satoshi as a lens, we examine legacy, decentralization, leadership, and the responsibilities t...

Most conversations focus on technology. This one focuses on the person building it. Karl Kreder, Co-Founder of Dominant Strategies and an architect behind Quai Network, joins Crypto Hipster to discuss the founder's journey behind ambitious engineering. From academia and engineering to entrepreneurship, Karl shares lessons about leadership, uncertainty, sacrifice, family, and building organizat...

What does it take to build financial infrastructure that spans borders? In this Founder's Journey episode, Bernardo Brites shares how a curiosity about technology evolved into building Trace Finance, a company focused on connecting traditional finance with stablecoin-powered payments. We discuss entrepreneurship, Brazil's financial ecosystem, the practical role of stablecoins, regulation,...

Artificial intelligence is reshaping digital trust. In this episode, Kat Cloud joins me to discuss identity verification, fraud prevention, and how organizations build trust in a world where AI makes impersonation increasingly convincing. Using the World Cup as a case study, we explore the broader challenges facing digital identity and what they mean for the future. It's a conversation about t...

In Episode 2 of Inheriting Saturn , Jamil Hasan explores the idea of stewardship through four founders building on Solana: Mitchell Gildenberg, Joanna Zeng, Chris Chung, and Michael Repetny. Rather than focusing on technology or market cycles, this episode asks what it means to inherit a system you didn't create—and the responsibility that comes with improving it for those who follow. Part of...

Today we begin the Inheriting Saturn Series . This series asks a simple but profound question: When does a system stop belonging to its creator? Using examples from recovery, cryptocurrency, business, and institutional leadership, we explore the people who demonstrated that great systems don't endure because of founders alone—they endure because someone chooses to steward them. In this episode...

Every founder has a beginning. Before blockchain, before digital assets, and before becoming a respected voice in the industry, Agne Linge was simply a young student fascinated by finance and determined to understand how the world worked. In this inaugural Founder's Journey episode of the Crypto Hipster Podcast, we leave token prices and market headlines behind to explore the experiences that...

Every founder begins with ownership. Every enduring system eventually requires stewardship. In this solo episode, I explore one of the most overlooked transitions in entrepreneurship: the moment when what you've built becomes bigger than you. What happens when a company, protocol, community, or movement no longer depends on its creator? Why do some systems thrive after their founders leave whi...