The DeFi Decoded Podcast

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Alison Mangiero, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of U.S. Policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation. Listen in as they discuss the shifting regulatory landscape in Washington, why the GENIUS Act marked a turning point for digital assets, and what the CLARITY Act could mean for market structure, stablecoins, staking, and consu...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Joshua Riezman, Chief Legal & Strategy Officer of GSR. Listen in as they discuss how crypto-native firms like GSR are evolving from market makers into full-service financial institutions, why liquidity remains essential as stablecoins, RWAs, and tokenized assets scale, and how regulation is reshaping the global digital asset l...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Nom, Core Contributor of BONK. Listen in as they discuss how BONK emerged from the depths of the post-FTX bear market to help revive energy and community across Solana, why culture and fun still matter in an industry increasingly focused on institutions, ETFs, and regulation, and how meme coins can become lasting consumer bran...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Michael Egorov, Founder of Curve Finance. Listen in as they discuss how Curve pioneered decentralized liquidity infrastructure, the evolution of stablecoins and liquid staking, and how programmable blockchains are enabling entirely new financial systems. Michael shares his journey from physics to crypto entrepreneurship, expla...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Mike Cagney, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Figure. Listen in as they discuss how Figure is using blockchain to rebuild capital markets from the ground up, why putting loans, ownership records, custody, and secondary trading onchain can make credit markets more efficient, and how DeFi capital can lower borrowing costs fo...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Macbrennan Peet, Founder of Project 0. Listen in as they discuss why DeFi remains one of crypto's most important experiments, how recent exploits like Drift and KelpDAO exposed both the risks and resilience of onchain finance, and why AI is increasing the urgency around security, auditing, and protocol design. They also explor...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Carlos Pereira, General Partner of BITKRAFT Ventures. Listen in as they discuss why gaming has always seemed like a natural on-ramp for crypto, why Web3 gaming has struggled to break through despite major investment, and how the broader gaming market's battle for active attention has made the category even harder. They also ex...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management. Listen in as they discuss why crypto adoption among financial advisors is accelerating, how Bitcoin ETFs have opened the door for mainstream portfolio allocations, and why advisor personal ownership often comes before client allocations. They also explore the g...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Anthony Bassili, President of Coinbase Asset Management. Listen in as they discuss how digital assets have crossed the threshold into a true institutional asset class, why the conversation has shifted from if institutions adopt crypto to how, and how Coinbase is positioning itself at the center of this transition. They explore...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guests Avichal Garg, Co-Founder and General Partner at Electric Capital, and Ken Deeter, General Partner at Electric Capital. Listen in as they discuss how crypto venture capital is evolving beyond capital into deep technical expertise, why the best investors are increasingly becoming engineers, and how firms like Electric Capital a...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Ethan Buchman, CEO of Cycles Protocol. Listen in as they discuss Ethan's new venture Cycles and its mission to unlock the power of clearing by helping the most people settle the most debt with the least amount of money, why today's financial system ignores the graph of obligations that already exists between businesses and ins...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Mike Belshe, Co-Founder and CEO of BitGo. Listen in as they discuss why quantum computing has re-emerged as a serious long-term risk for Bitcoin and other digital assets, what the industry can do to become quantum-resistant before the threat becomes practical, and why public market investors are increasingly asking tougher que...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Scott Melker, the Wolf of All Streets. Listen in as they discuss why Bitcoin has begun outperforming traditional safe-haven assets during rising geopolitical tension, how market cycles and technical levels around $60K–$70K may signal a broader bottoming process, and why unexpected macro shocks—like the collapse of Silicon Vall...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest James Seyffart, Senior Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Listen in as they break down why ETF flows keep accelerating despite a choppy macro backdrop, how the "ETF wrapper" is expanding beyond plain-vanilla index exposure into active, options-based, and leveraged products, what the latest flow data is signaling about...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Sid Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of Maple. Listen in as they discuss Maple's evolution from the 2022 credit crisis to over $4B in AUM, why overcollateralized onchain lending is attracting family offices, funds, and institutional capital seeking T-bill-beating yields with daily liquidity, and how Maple is expanding beyond crypto-...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Rebecca Simmonds, Managing Executive of the Walrus Foundation. Listen in as they discuss why the next phase of AI won't just be about better models or smarter agents, but about trust, provenance, and ownership of the data those systems rely on. From decentralized storage and verifiable data markets to the rise of personal AI a...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Leonard Dorlöchter, Co-Founder of peaq. Listen in as they discuss the rise of the machine economy and agentic commerce, why blockchain is emerging as the economic layer for AI agents, robots, and connected devices, how concepts like DePIN and machine RWAs enable community-owned, revenue-generating infrastructure, why machines...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with Bill Barhydt, Founder and CEO of Abra, and Perianne Boring, Chair of the Board of Directors of The Digital Chamber. Listen in as they discuss why crypto feels like it's at an inflection point, Bill's macro case for a liquidity-driven risk-on setup (and why gold may be leading while Bitcoin lags), how stablecoin legislation has shifted the p...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Bhau Kotecha, Co-Founder and Head of Paxos Labs. Listen in as they discuss why stablecoins are becoming the default onchain financial building block, how Paxos and Paxos Labs power major tokenization and crypto brokerage initiatives (including PYUSD and USDG) while making DeFi services like lending, borrowing, staking, and yie...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Jillian Friedman, Chief Operating Officer at Symbiotic. Listen in as they discuss Jill's journey from founding a crypto-focused law firm in 2014 to helping pioneer Canada's early digital asset market infrastructure, why regulatory ambiguity has pushed talent and innovation out of Canada, how U.S. stablecoin policy is convergin...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Eric Piscini, CEO of Hashgraph. Listen in as they discuss Eric's early work building Deloitte's blockchain practice, why enterprises initially leaned toward private and permissioned systems, how today's focus has shifted from "buying blockchain" to buying real solutions, what makes Hedera's 32-member Governing Council model di...

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Thomas Uhm, Chief Commercial Officer at the Jito Foundation and Advisor to Jito Labs. Listen in as they discuss what Abu Dhabi Finance Week and Solana Breakpoint reveal about institutional crypto sentiment, why ADGM is emerging as a serious hub for digital asset regulation and capital formation (with major players spanning Bla...

Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of crypto with special guest Rachel Mayer, VP of Product at Arc. Listen in as they discuss Circle's launch of Arc as a USDC-centric layer one network designed for predictable gas fees, instant finality, and compliant privacy, the rapid shift in stablecoin regulation and the impact of the GENIUS Act, the rise of non-USD stablecoins and tokenized FX markets,...

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of crypto with special guest Federico Brokate, Global Head of Business Development at 21Shares. Listen in as they discuss the rapid rise of Bitcoin ETFs from IBIT's record-breaking launch to today's shifting mix of retail and institutional holders, the tension and interplay between DATs and ETFs as vehicles for crypto exposure, how new S...