Around The Coin

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Why AI Agents Need Blockchain Identity? - Yat Siu | ATC #610 May 06, 2026

Show notes

Host Stephen Sargeant interviews Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, covering his background (German mother tongue, education work) and views on how AI is changing the purpose of school and future jobs, emphasizing creativity, humanities, and entrepreneurship. Siu connects cycles from the dot-com era to crypto, arguing technologies that are better for society ultimately win, and frames Animoca’s evolution from gaming to NFTs, DeFi, RWAs, and institutional efforts including Anchor Point’s stablecoin license in Hong Kong. He explains digital ownership as identity and freedom enabled by blockchain, and outlines Web4/agentic commerce where billions of AI agents need on-chain identity, reputation, and payments. Siu describes Animoca Minds with EtherSwarm as low-cost agent infrastructure and a tokenized marketplace for agent “skills,” and shares a blueprint to get his attention: build with Animoca Minds and post results on X.

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Is Your Crypto Safe From Hackers? - Dyma Budorin | ATC #609 Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

Join host Stephen Sargeant on this special edition of the Around The Coin podcast as he sits down with Dyma Budorin, CEO of Core3 and co-founder/executive chairman of Web3 cybersecurity firm Hacken—to unpack security transparency, risk analytics, and accountability in crypto. Budorin recounts starting Hacken after a 2017 Kyiv competition led to an ICO, and explains why smart contracts are improving while operational security, key management, and supply-chain risks remain major weaknesses, with audits as the main standard and CCSS as a more crypto-relevant framework than ISO/SOC2. He describes Core3 as a public risk-analytics platform—likened to Moody’s or a “Whoop” score—that evaluates exchanges and protocols using public data (including GitHub, wallet analysis, concentration, and social signals) to encourage better practices, detect wash trading, and support institutional due diligence. Budorin also discusses his whistleblowing contributions about alleged gaps around Sumsub’s ownership, audits, and past ties to Smart Engines, urging regulators to investigate.

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Why Stablecoins Succeed Where Banks Struggle - Arnold Lee | ATC #608 Apr 22, 2026

Show notes

Host Stephen Sargeant interviews Arnold Lee, CEO and co-founder of Sphere Labs, about building stablecoin-enabled payment infrastructure during the 2022 downturn and focusing on real end-user needs rather than “stablecoin” narratives. Arnold explains how Sphere helps businesses move money cross-border faster and cheaper by optimizing banking and compliance plumbing, especially in emerging markets where correspondent banking is weak and documentation expectations don’t match local realities. He discusses learning from events like Luna/Terra and FTX, reading the Bank Secrecy Act to understand why bank requirements exceed written regulations, and why compliance and localized data (IDs, real-time payment systems like Pix/UPI) can determine whether transactions clear. They cover geopolitics and supply-chain volatility as drivers of adoption, the evolving provider landscape, and Arnold’s skepticism about near-term agentic AI payments hype.

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Are You Reporting Crypto Taxes Correctly? - Lawrence Zlatkin & Wendy Walker | ATC #607 Apr 15, 2026

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Join host Stephen Sargeant interviews Lawrence Zlatkin, Vice President of Tax at Coinbase, and Wendy Walker, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Sovos, about the fast-changing tax and regulatory landscape for digital assets heading into 2026. They discuss the rollout of US crypto information reporting including Form 1099-DA, the challenges of incomplete cost basis when assets move across wallets and platforms, and the growing burden of high-volume reporting including stablecoin activity, gas fees, and dust transactions. They compare the US approach with global frameworks like CARF and note the lack of parity with traditional finance and the risks of over-reporting and privacy and surveillance concerns. They also cover IRS modernization, real-time and transaction-level validation trends abroad, and how AI could help sift massive datasets and improve compliance and efficiency, plus advice for new tax professionals to pair tax expertise with technology.

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AI Changing Crypto Compliance and Security - Rick Harmsen | ATC #606 Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the Around The Coin Podcast, host Stephen Sargeant is joined by Rick Harmsen, CTO of DataExpert, to compare key takeaways from two conferences happening at the same time: Chainalysis Links in New York and ECC in Cannes. They discuss the growing convergence of AI, regulation, tokenization, stablecoins, and compliance across both developer and blockchain analytics communities, including how DeFi protocols are increasingly “front-running” regulation by building compliance programs early. Rick shares insights on Chainalysis’ new AI investigation product, the importance of data transparency, and the risks of over-relying on AI without investigative skill. They also cover investigation costs, side-event culture, law enforcement request verification, and preview DataExpert’s upcoming Digital Experience event in Stockholm bringing together law enforcement and private-sector investigators.

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Retail Crypto Trading Is Driving Markets - Vugar Usi | ATC #605 Apr 01, 2026

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In this episode of the Around The Coin podcast, host Stephen Sargeant sits down with Vugar Usi, CEO of MEXC, to discuss his path from traditional finance and marketing to running a global crypto exchange. Vugar explains what makes MEXC stand out—serving 40M users across 170+ markets with a 99% retail user base, a “list-first” approach with 3,000+ projects, and near-zero fees that he says returned $1.1B to customers last year. They explore retail trends like tokenized real-world assets (stocks, gold, oil) and shorter, sharper market cycles, plus key risks in leverage trading such as liquidation and slippage. Vugar also covers MEXC’s new prediction market, fragmented global regulation, proof-of-reserves publishing, and a $100M Guardian Fund with plans to grow it. The conversation closes on exchanges evolving into finance super apps and marketing’s focus on user attention, retention, and trust.

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How Tokenized Assets Work in Crypto Markets? - Ran Goldi | ATC #604 Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

Stephen Sargeant interviews Ran Goldi, SVP of Payments & Network at Fireblocks, revisiting his earlier prediction that stablecoins would become a dominant payments rail and discussing 2025 as a breakout year for stablecoins. Rand shares lessons from algorithmic trading and First Digital’s rapid 2017 growth, followed by a severe downturn that forced him to cut the team from 70 to 7, and how founder resilience and long-term belief shaped his decisions. He argues stablecoins will keep growing short term but may eventually be displaced by tokenized deposits and new bank-led frameworks, with stablecoins remaining important for certain cross-border uses. Rand explains why Fireblocks was the right acquirer, outlines Fireblocks’ core use cases (secure wallets, treasury/ops orchestration, and ecosystem network), highlights newer areas like vetted on/off-ramp partner coverage, reconciliation via Trusts, and non-custodial wallets via Dynamic, and reflects on institutional adoption, interoperability challenges, AI-driven product velocity, and the next wave toward tokenized real-world assets.

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How Tokenized Assets Work in Crypto Markets? - Jesse Knutson | ATC #603 Mar 18, 2026

Show notes

Host Stephen Sargeant interviews Jesse Knutson, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities, about his path from investment banking (Barclays, Macquarie) to early Blockstream work and the Blockstream Mining Note, which he describes as an early flagship tokenized security. They discuss Liquid and the Lightning Network, why stablecoins and taxation affected Bitcoin payments, and how Bitfinex Securities (launched 2021) has grown to about $250M in assets with tokenized bonds, microfinancing bonds, ETFs, US treasuries, litigation finance, and Bitcoin hashrate contracts on a 24/7/365 platform. Jesse explains STO vs ICO differences, the 60–90 day issuance/listing process, regulatory and disclosure requirements (including El Salvador’s shorter “relevant information document”), why tokenized markets are complementary to TradFi, and future goals like collateralized tokenized securities, dual listings, and broader access to capital in Latin America.

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Are Stablecoins Replacing Global Payment Rails? - Kevin Lehtiniitty | ATC #602 Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

Join host Stephen Sargeant as he interviews Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO and founder of Borderless.xyz, about stablecoin infrastructure and global payment flows, including the Genius Act and why stablecoins are more practical for payments than Bitcoin. Kevin explains Borderless’s branding, his early work launching TrueUSD, and how trust features like qualified custodians and attestations mattered before clear regulation. He outlines three issuance models—building on existing tokens, consortium-issued coins, and white-label issuance—and why large enterprises may prefer white-label or consortium approaches. Kevin describes Borderless as an open stablecoin payments network plus an orchestration “payments hub” that connects fintechs to multiple providers for redundancy, price discovery, and operational automation. They discuss Borderless’s stablecoin-to-fiat FX benchmark, stablecoins’ biggest value in unlocking prefunded trapped capital, expansion priorities (GCC and APAC), compliance needs (KYC/KYB, sanctions, travel rule, risk), skepticism of closed networks, and his interest in AI’s impact on labor constraints.

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Why Financial Institutions Fear Vendor Lock-In - Natalya Thakur | ATC #601 Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

Stephen Sargeant interviews Natalya Thakur, CEO and founder of Knova, about how traditional financial institutions are transitioning into digital assets. Thakur recounts her early exposure to blockchain at BlackRock, where she supported initial Bitcoin ETF work and later promoted digital-asset education for women. She explains Knova’s B2B infrastructure software, which runs on-prem or cloud-agnostic inside client environments to unify traditional and tokenized assets via patented “digital twins,” standardized asset representations, and transaction templates that turn complex multi-system workflows into single API calls and a unified dashboard. The discussion covers scaling, privacy, interoperability at the asset level, integrations such as Canton, common institutional hesitations like vendor lock-in and short-term pilots, and longer-term themes including assets converging into one ecosystem, rebundling fragmented services, and AI shifting from reactive reporting to proactive risk and opportunity guidance.

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