The DeFi Decoded Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Journey From Crypto Market Maker to Financial Powerhouse with Joshua Riezman of GSR Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

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 landscape. Josh also explains GSR's expansion into advisory, venture, asset management, and capital markets, why tokenization could unlock new forms of global capital formation, and how on-chain markets may eventually compete with Wall Street's traditional investment banking model.

Can BONK Make Crypto Fun Again? With Nom of BONK Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

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 brands when paired with real products, utility, and community participation. Nom also shares how BONK's early airdrop strategy targeted Solana power users, why crypto's next wave may depend on making apps both useful and weird again, and how BONK is expanding into RWAs, prediction markets, AI, and neo-banking.

The New Laws of Money with Michael Egorov of Curve Finance Jun 17, 2026

Show notes

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, explaining how his scientific background shaped his approach to building financial protocols from first principles and why automated market makers represent new "laws of physics" for money. The conversation explores Curve's role in powering onchain liquidity, the challenges of impermanent loss, innovations in concentrated liquidity and decentralized lending, and why traditional finance has been slower to adopt DeFi. Alex and Michael also discuss smart contract security, the impact of AI on crypto, the future of autonomous financial systems, and Michael's latest venture, Yield Basis, which aims to solve one of DeFi's biggest challenges.

Why the Banking "Super App" May Actually be a "Super dApp" with Kash Dhanda of Jupiter Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Reimagining Financial Services from First Principles with Mike Cagney of Figure May 27, 2026

Show notes

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 for real-world consumers. They also explore the limits of tokenization, what assets actually belong onchain, why L1 token value remains difficult to underwrite, how public equities and private credit could become blockchain-native, and why AI-native startups may force every financial company to rethink how it operates.

Can DeFi Survive the AI Age with Macbrennan Peet of Project 0 May 19, 2026

Show notes

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 explore how DeFi can become safer than traditional finance through transparency, circuit breakers, and open-source risk monitoring, why AI agents may become major users of crypto-native financial rails, and how Project 0 is building DeFi-native prime brokerage infrastructure on Solana to unify fragmented liquidity, margin, and risk across protocols.

Prediction Markets, Gaming and the Attention Economy with Carlos Pereira of BITKRAFT Ventures May 14, 2026

Show notes

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 explore how AI agents, gamified consumer apps, and prediction markets are reshaping internet-native entertainment, why game mechanics like quests, rankings, rewards, and community can drive retention across non-gaming products, and where BITKRAFT sees opportunities emerging around prediction market infrastructure and applications built on top of new consumer finance platforms.

Why Advisors Finally Care About Crypto with Matt Hougan of Bitwise May 07, 2026

Show notes

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 growing disconnect between crypto fundamentals and price action, why stablecoins and tokenization are becoming the key institutional narratives, how the CLARITY Act could unlock the next wave of adoption, and why investors may increasingly look at crypto assets and crypto equities together as complementary ways to gain exposure to the digital asset economy.

Getting Institutions Off Zero with Anthony Bassili of Coinbase Asset Management May 01, 2026

Show notes

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 the role of Bitcoin as a macro asset, how institutions are thinking about portfolio construction and diversification, and why market structure upgrades—not just price—are driving adoption. The conversation also dives into tokenization as the next evolution of ETFs, the rise of onchain credit and stablecoin yield strategies like CUSHY, and how the future of asset management may converge across traditional finance, crypto, and even AI-driven investing.

Why the Best Investors are Builders with Avichal Garg and Ken Deeter of Electric Capital Apr 16, 2026

Show notes

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 are building internal AI systems to gain an edge. They explore the intersection of AI and crypto, the rise of agentic software, and what it means to build "user-owned" technology in a world increasingly dominated by centralized platforms. The conversation also dives into how AI is reshaping company building—enabling smaller teams, new business models, and a wave of innovation across both software and real-world infrastructure. Finally, they unpack the current state of tokens, where real value is accruing today, and why global demand for dollar-denominated yield could be one of the most important drivers of crypto adoption going forward.

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