When Shift Happens Podcast

Hunter Horsley, co-founder and CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, makes the case that this is the most bullish moment in crypto's entire history - with major banks scrambling to catch up and every structural tailwind pointing in the same direction. From the $400 trillion in global assets beginning to shift toward crypto, to institutions going "zero to 500 miles an hour" on adoption, Hu...

Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, reveals how he led the company back from the biggest crypto theft in history - filling the $1.5 billion hole in just 8 months while still paying bonuses and dividends. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: http...

Jeff Park is a macro strategist and Bitwise advisor who believes the financial system is broken beyond repair for young people - from unaffordable housing to AI displacing an entire generation's jobs.  He breaks down why real estate is actually a depreciating asset, why Bitcoin is the ultimate escape, and how AI will ignite the biggest wave of Bitcoin adoption the world has ever seen. THE SHIF...

Gracy Chen went from a divorced single mom to CEO of Bitget, a top 5 crypto exchange doing $20B in daily volume with 25 million users.  THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto-web3-newsletter ___________ PARTNERS...

Armani Ferrante is the Founder and CEO of Backpack, a regulated global crypto exchange with over $420 billion in trading volume and one of the leading builders in the Solana ecosystem. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier...

Xin is the Group CEO of GSR Markets, one of crypto's oldest market-making firms - bootstrapped with $20K over twelve years ago and still independently funded today.  In this episode, he breaks down why crypto's market structure is fundamentally broken, how misaligned incentives are holding the industry back, and why GSR is transforming into crypto's first full-service investment bank m...

Xiao-Xiao is the President of Jupiter, the leading DeFi super app on Solana, and former digital assets lead at KKR, one of the world's top private equity firms.  In this episode, he reveals why he left Wall Street to go all-in on crypto - and how Jupiter is building zero-fee global payments that could disrupt a $5 trillion market.  THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Sh...

Bobby Ong is the co-founder and CEO of CoinGecko, the crypto data platform he bootstrapped with $200 over 12 years - no VC money, no shortcuts. In this episode, Bobby reveals why most crypto founders are destined to fail, how he caught employees taking bribes for listings, and what it really takes to survive in an industry designed to destroy you. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscri...

Evan Cheng co-founded SUI after leading Facebook's Libra project -  then threw away everything they built because it wasn't good enough.  THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto-web3-newsletter ___________...

Anand Gomes, CEO of Paradex, exposes how most crypto token launches really work, reveals the red flags that separate serious builders from teams that cash out and disappear, and explains why Paradex locked 80% of its own team tokens to public performance milestones. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw take...

Jeff Yan, founder of Hyperliquid Labs, returns after one of crypto's most extraordinary moments - a $1 billion community airdrop that grew to $10 billion, built by a team of just 11 people who didn't stop to celebrate. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When...

Avichal Garg is co-founder of Electric Capital, one of crypto's most respected early-stage funds, and an early backer of Solana, Kraken, Figma, and Bitwise. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto-web3-newsletter...

Anthony Pompliano, founder and CEO of Professional Capital Management, reveals how he put 95% of his net worth into Bitcoin and why extreme concentration backed by deep research isn't gambling - it's conviction. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift...

Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise, explains why Bitcoin could reach $6.5 million and why Solana has "the best setup I've ever seen" for a 10x to $1 trillion. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto-web3-ne...

Kostas Chalkias, co-founded Sui after leaving Facebook's Libra - and named his son Kryptos. While other blockchains compete on speed, Sui built what nobody else prioritized: quantum-safe cryptography, AI-ready infrastructure, and blocks large enough for robots.  Governments and developers are quietly choosing Sui over Ethereum and Solana. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to...

Andrej Majcen, CEO of Bitcoin Swiss, built a $6 billion crypto empire from $500 Bitcoin without VC funding. In this conversation, Andrej explains why we have a 5-year window to build generational wealth - and why Bitcoin, not crypto, is the answer. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-...

Raags, CEO of Kast, lost a $100M company and spent 8 years paying back debt.  Now he's building what he believes will be a trillion-dollar stablecoin bank serving 150+ countries.  THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier....

Raoul Pal shares his framework for making it in crypto in 2026 without getting lucky: hold the right assets and do absolutely nothing.  THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto-web3-newsletter ___________ PARTNERS...

Sandeep Nailwal, founder of Polygon, went from living in a storage room where his grandfathers were servants to building a $30 billion blockchain company.  THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto-web3-newsletter _...

Meow, founder of Jupiter, reveals how his team built crypto's largest DEX aggregator with over $2 trillion in volume and $300M annual revenue - and why their token still failed. While other protocols obsess over technology, Jupiter focused on making crypto accessible to everyone by building the "Google of finance." But despite massive product success, communication failures and commu...

Matej  Zak, CEO of Trezor, reveals why 98% of crypto users are vulnerable to hacks - and what the $1.5 billion exchange hack proves about crypto security. From inventing the first hardware wallet to discovering security flaws in competitor devices, Matej  explains why only 2% actually control their crypto and what happens when you trust exchanges. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscri...

Brian Armstrong built Coinbase from when Bitcoin was $6 to a $100 billion public company -  surviving government attacks, multiple 90% market crashes, and 13 years of chaos. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.com/crypto...

Anand Gomes, CEO of Paradex, reveals why decentralized exchanges are becoming the new Wall Street - combining banks, brokerages, and clearing houses into one platform with zero fees. THE SHIFT NEWSLETTER 💡Go beyond the mic - subscribe to The Shift, my new weekly newsletter where I share the uncut stories, raw takes, and behind-the-scenes notes from When Shift Happens: https://www.kevinfollonier.c...

Mert Mumtaz, CEO and co-founder of Helius, reveals why he's betting everything on privacy, Solana infrastructure, and long-term conviction plays like Zcash and Hyperliquid. While most crypto investors chase short-term gains, Mert operates on 3-5 year time horizons, building core infrastructure for Solana and defending privacy as crypto's most unsolved problem.  From explaining how connecti...

Seung Yoon Lee, CEO and co-founder of Story Protocol, is building crypto infrastructure to unlock the $80 trillion creative asset class. After selling his previous company Radish Fiction to Kakao for $440 million, Seung saw a bigger problem: streaming platforms like Netflix make billions while creators who make the content get almost nothing.  Story Protocol lets creators own and trade their work...