The Crypto Conversation

Gaia

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This video is brought to you in partnership with Stabull Finance https://stabull.finance, the #stablecoin #DEX on #Ethereum and #Polygon that allows a growing number of fiat-backed stablecoins to be swapped against each other, liquidity pools, and a liquidity mining program. Make your first swap at https://app.stabull.finance or add liquidity at https://app.stabull.finance/pools

Me3 - AI-powered Engagement Infrastructure For Web3 Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

Matthew Ainscow is a co-founder of Me3, a web3 engagement and infrastructure platform. Matthew has built partnerships with several of Asia's largest E-sports and GameFi networks with the goal of converting Web2 users to Web3.

Why you should listen

In this conversation, Matthew discusses Me3, the innovative AI-powered engagement platform designed for Web3. He shares insights into the challenges of user retention in the crypto space, the technological advancements being implemented in their platform, and the upcoming token launch. The discussion highlights the importance of data analytics and user experience in enhancing engagement and sustainability in the Web3 ecosystem.

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Me3

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Raphael Coin - Tokenizing Fine Art Jun 16, 2025

Show notes

Aliyyah Koloc, a professional racing driver and advocate for autism awareness, shares her unique journey from tennis to motorsports, her passion for art, and her involvement with Raphael Coin. She discusses the challenges and rewards of racing, the importance of tokenization in making art accessible, and her insights on the future of crypto for her generation.

Why you should listen

Raphael Coin was founded in early 2025 with the mission to democratize ownership of historically significant fine art. Following the recent authentication and rediscovery of "Recto: Study for the Battle of the Milvian Bridge" by Renaissance master Raffaello, the project was created to enable public participation in cultural heritage through blockchain technology.

Raphael Coin uniquely allows public access and fractional ownership of an authenticated and recently rediscovered Renaissance masterpiece. It combines cultural importance, secure custody, and transparent ownership through blockchain technology.

Raphael Coin offers fractional ownership of a culturally important artwork, the "Recto: Study for the Battle of the Milvian Bridge" piece recently rediscovered. Using blockchain technology, Raphael Coin makes fine art ownership accessible, secure, and transparent, allowing individuals worldwide to become stakeholders in cultural history.

Founded in 2015, Gleec.com started as a comprehensive blockchain ecosystem aiming to simplify and secure digital asset management.

Today, Gleec provides integrated blockchain infrastructure, centralized and decentralized exchanges, crypto cards, secure chat, and banking solutions, all underpinned by strong regulatory compliance. Gleec's secure and licensed infrastructure now also powers innovative projects like Raphael Coin.

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Velora - The Intent-Based Trading Protocol Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

Mounir Benchemled is the founder of Velora, an intent-based crosschain trading protocol that makes complex trading strategies simple and accessible for users.

Why you should listen

Mounir's deep expertise in DEX aggregation and intent-based trading has positioned Velora as a leader in the DeFi space. As the platform evolves, Mounir is steering the next stage of growth by focusing on crosschain interoperability and agent-based execution, ensuring the best possible user experience with reduced gas costs, slippage, and revert protection.

Velora's core mission is to simplify access to DeFi by breaking down liquidity fragmentation—aggregating over 160 integrated protocols across Ethereum, BSC, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkEVM, and more.

One of Velora's standout features is Delta, a trading layer that shields you from MEV (miner extractable value) issues and rids you of gas costs. Delta uses "Portikus Infrastructure" and a fleet of competing settlement agents to secure best‑execution swaps—without upfront gas fees. On top of swaps, Velora offers on‑chain RFQ (request‑for‑quotes) from vetted market makers, yield optimization tools, and a public API/SDK for advanced integrations—making it a go‑to for DeFi devs and institutional teams. Velora is carving out the middle‑layer of DeFi—powering fast, secure, cross‑chain trades with gasless UX and plug‑and‑play tools for developers and institutions.

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Velora

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Obol - The largest Decentralized Operator Ecosystem in Ethereum Jun 09, 2025

Show notes

Kody Sale (Head of Product) and Anthony Bertolino (Head of Marketing & Ecosystem) are leading Obol's charge to scale the next generation of infrastructure networks. Together, they're building the largest Decentralized Operator Ecosystem in Ethereum and Web3—powered by Obol's groundbreaking distributed validator technology.

Why you should listen

Obol Network is building a decentralized staking infrastructure for proof‑of‑stake networks like Ethereum. Obol enables Distributed Validators (DVs): validator clusters made up of multiple operators who jointly run a validator, each holding partial key shares (via Distributed Key Generation). This setup boosts fault tolerance—if one or two nodes go offline or are compromised, the validator stays operational and the full private key is never concentrated in one place, significantly slashing security risk.

Obol also integrates a rewards distribution mechanism, Obol Splits, that lets cluster participants define on‑chain how staking rewards are split—non‑custodial, transparent, and immutable.

The Obol Stack is a plug‑and‑play framework that sits on Kubernetes and Helm, enabling users to deploy and maintain decentralized infrastructure—like Ethereum validators, full nodes, L2 sequencers, DePIN nodes, AI agents, and more—in an enterprise‑grade but user‑friendly fashion.

Whether you're a solo home operator or part of a global datacenter cluster, the Stack lets you package, version, and deploy your setup via Helm charts—then share or discover them through the Obol App Store. This means no wrestling with Bash, Docker Compose, or fragile scripts—everything's containerised, composable, and ready to scale.

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Obol

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Ledn - Bitcoin Backed Loans Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

Mauricio Di Bartolomeo is the Co-Founder of Ledn, a pioneer in the fast-growing Bitcoin-Backed Loans category. Ledn provides a secure and transparent way to access liquidity while maintaining your Bitcoin holdings.

Why you should listen

Ledn.io is a financial services platform that provides Bitcoin and digital asset-backed loans and savings products. Founded in 2018, Ledn specializes in offering secure, transparent, and regulation-conscious financial tools for cryptocurrency holders. It allows users to earn interest on their Bitcoin and USDC holdings or access liquidity through Bitcoin-backed loans without having to sell their assets. The company operates under strict financial regulations and emphasizes transparency, including regular third-party attestations of client asset balances.

One of Ledn's flagship products is its Bitcoin-backed loan, which enables users to borrow USDC or USD against their Bitcoin at competitive interest rates, while maintaining ownership of their crypto. Ledn also offers a Bitcoin and USDC savings account, where clients can earn compounding interest paid monthly. The platform distinguishes itself through its security-first approach, with assets held in institutional-grade custody via BitGo Trust Company, a qualified custodian regulated in the U.S. This custody structure gives clients additional protection and reassurance in an industry often plagued by custodial risk.

Ledn has raised significant venture funding from prominent investors including Coinbase Ventures, Kingsway Capital, and White Star Capital, signaling confidence in its business model. With a growing customer base in Latin America and other regions, Ledn continues to expand its product offerings while remaining committed to regulatory compliance and user-focused innovation in the Bitcoin finance space.

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Ledn

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Glitch Financial - The World's Biggest Open Hedge Fund Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

Arrash Yasavolian is the Founder and CEO of Taoshi, Inc and Glitch Financial. Taoshi is a decentralized trading platform that leverages AI and blockchain technology to democratize access to sophisticated trading strategies. Built on the Bittensor network, Taoshi's Proprietary Trading Network (PTN) allows traders to compete in a decentralized ecosystem, where they are graded on risk-adjusted returns across various asset classes. The platform emphasizes transparency and fairness, aiming to empower both individuals and institutions to invest with confidence.

Why you should listen

Glitch Financial, launched in 2024 as a subsidiary of Taoshi, is a SaaS platform designed to bring advanced, AI-powered trading strategies to everyday investors. It offers automated trading features, allowing users to link their external brokerage accounts and select from a range of AI-driven strategies. Glitch is non-custodial, meaning users retain full control over their funds, and it's built to be user-friendly, catering to both novice and experienced traders. It is currently in Beta testing.

Together, Taoshi and Glitch Financial represent a push towards making institutional-grade trading tools accessible to a broader audience. By combining decentralized AI infrastructure with user-centric design, they aim to transform the landscape of financial trading, offering tools that adapt to market volatility and empower users to make informed investment decisions.

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SSV - The Based Applications Protocol May 29, 2025

Show notes

Alon Muroch, founder of SSV Labs, the core development team behind ssv.network, a distributed staking infrastructure securing ~5% of all staked ETH. Alon's work with SSV 2.0 and the Based movement is paving the way for validators to extend Ethereum's security to emerging applications.

Why you should listen

In this conversation, Alon Murock, founder of SSV Labs, discusses the evolution of Ethereum, its current challenges, and the potential of based applications. He emphasizes the importance of decentralization and staking in securing Ethereum's future, while also addressing the need for a clearer narrative to attract users back to the ecosystem. Alon introduces the concept of based applications as a way to enhance the role of Ethereum validators and drive value back to the Ethereum network.

Even though Ethereum remains a leader in terms of total value locked (TVL), there is room for improvement. Network activity is down, and momentum is slipping. Without meaningful change, Ethereum risks becoming inaccessible to the builders and users it needs to thrive. Ethereum needs fresh ideas to bolster the ecosystem out of its slump, unify it, and genuinely support innovation.

Enter based applications (bApps), which are any application or service that uses the Ethereum validator set for security. Inspired by the based movement, bApps enable any project to bootstrap directly from the Ethereum layer 1 (L1), enabling interoperable, scalable and cost-effective development.

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IRA Financial - Invest Your IRA in Alternative Assets May 28, 2025

Show notes

Adam Bergman is the founder of IRA Financial, is a U.S.based fintech company specializing in self-directed retirement accounts, offering a platform for individuals to invest their retirement funds in alternative assets.

Why you should listen

Founded by Adam Bergman, a former tax and ERISA attorney, IRA Financial empowers individuals to take control of their retirement funds through self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. Unlike traditional retirement accounts that limit you to stocks and bonds, IRA Financial opens the door to alternative investments like real estate, precious metals, private placements, and even cryptocurrencies. With over 24,000 clients and $3.2 billion invested in alternative assets, they're making diversification more accessible than ever.

IRA Financial offers IRAfi Crypto, a platform that allows you to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies within your retirement account 24/7. Partnered with Bitstamp, it supports over 30 popular tokens, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The best part? There's no need to set up an LLC, and they handle all IRS reporting for you. For a $100 annual fee and a 1% trading fee, you get full control over your crypto investments, all within a tax-advantaged account . It's a modern twist on retirement planning, giving you the freedom to invest in the digital assets shaping our future.

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IRA Financial

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Ambire - The Web3 Wallet May 26, 2025

Show notes

Ivo Georgiev is the CEO & founder of Ambire Wallet, the Web3 wallet that just works. As the CEO of Ambire Wallet, Ivo leads a team of skilled developers and designers in building innovative products for the blockchain space.

Why you should listen

Ambire Wallet is a self-custodial smart wallet designed to simplify and enhance your Web3 experience. Built on the principles of account abstraction, it offers a user-friendly interface combined with powerful features, making it suitable for both newcomers and seasoned crypto enthusiasts.

Unlike traditional wallets, Ambire operates as a smart contract wallet, allowing for advanced functionalities such as transaction batching and programmable account behavior. It leverages account abstraction to provide features like seedless account creation using email and password, and the ability to pay gas fees in stablecoins or other tokens.

The wallet supports multiple EVM-compatible networks, enabling users to manage assets across different blockchains seamlessly. Ambire's unique Gas Tank allows users to prepay for transaction fees in various cryptocurrencies, offering savings and convenience. Additionally, the wallet supports hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor for enhanced security.

Ambire Wallet is designed with user-friendliness in mind. Its intuitive interface simplifies complex crypto operations, making it accessible for users at all levels. The wallet also provides human-readable transaction details, reducing the risk of errors.

With the introduction of Ethereum's Pectra upgrade and EIP-7702, Ambire has enhanced its wallet capabilities, allowing existing accounts to become programmable without compromising on functionality. This advancement enables users to enjoy the benefits of smart wallets without the need to create new accounts.

Ambire Wallet stands out as a robust and user-centric solution for managing digital assets in the Web3 ecosystem. Its combination of advanced features, security, and ease of use positions it as a compelling choice for anyone looking to navigate the decentralized internet confidently.

Supporting links

Ambire