The Crypto Conversation

Alexei Zamyatin is the co-founder of BOB, the gateway to Bitcoin Defi. Bob’s hybrid model aligns with both Bitcoin and Ethereum, fusing the strengths of both networks to put BTC at the heart of DeFi. Why you should listen Bitcoin has long been the undisputed heavyweight in value, but its role in DeFi has been embarrassingly small—just 0.3% of total value locked (TVL), compared to Ethereum’s ~30%. BOB positions itself as the answer to this imbalance: a secure, hybrid, multichain gateway aiming to capture the roughly $750 billion in “latent capital” locked out of Bitcoin-native DeFi. By providing seamless access to yield and liquidity across chains, while preserving Bitcoin’s ethos and combining it with Ethereum-style programmability, BOB wants to make Bitcoin DeFi not just possible—but massive. To overcome the trust and fragmentation issues holding Bitcoin back, BOB introduces two key innovations. First, native BTC DeFi powered by Bitcoin staking finality and the BitVM bridge—meaning BTC on BOB is literally just “BTC,” not wrapped or custodial. Second, a revolutionary Bitcoin Intents system and hybrid vaults let users swap between native BTC, wrapped BTC, and DeFi positions—or deploy BTC into strategic yield-bearing vaults—with a single transaction. Together these features unify experience and security, enabling any EVM-compatible chain to integrate BOB and unlock trustless, composable Bitcoin DeFi. Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  BOB Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin   If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.  

Frank Hepworth is the CEO and Founder of Yieldschool. Yieldschool helps high-net-worth investors build responsible crypto allocations with proper risk management and strategic positioning. Why you should listen Yieldschool is a specialist educational and consultancy service aimed at serious crypto investors. Its core proposition is guiding clients to the “primary crypto markets”—that stage where crypto assets are first issued, before zigzagging through traditional retail exchanges—enabling users to acquire assets earlier and generally cheaper. Led by founder Frank Hepworth, a regulatory lawyer with experience in guiding crypto exchanges and involvement in launching early crypto ETFs, the operation offers angel-investor-style insights, supported by a full-time research and consulting team with TradFi and crypto backgrounds.  Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  Yieldschool Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.  

Bryce Ferguson is the founder of Turnkey. Turnkey provides secure, flexible, scalable wallet infrastructure. Turnkey is private key management made simple. Create wallets, sign transactions, and automate onchain actions, all with one elegant API. Why you should listen Turnkey provides secure, flexible, scalable wallet infrastructure, offering developers an elegant API to create wallets, sign transactions, and automate on-chain actions. Built on non-custodial principles and leveraging Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), Turnkey ensures that private keys remain fully under the users’ control while also delivering enterprise-grade performance with low latency (around 50–100ms) and high availability (99.9% uptime). Their infrastructure supports multichain operations and is designed for scale—capable of signing millions of transactions in minutes, and able to power embedded wallets seamlessly across diverse applications in DeFi, payments, developer tooling, consumer apps, and AI agents. Turnkey is on a mission to secure the open internet by building verifiable, programmable primitives for crypto applications. The founding team brings deep expertise from their work at Coinbase Custody, and together they’ve amassed over 100 years of experience in cryptography, security, and low-level systems design. In June 2025, Turnkey raised a $30 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Crypto (with support from Sequoia, Lightspeed Faction, Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute, and Variant), reaffirming its vision to provide open, composable, developer-friendly infrastructure for the next generation of crypto services. Turnkey recently earned recognition as one of CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies, underscoring its growing influence and leadership within the financial technology landscape. Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  Turnkey Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin   If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Radix DLT is a Layer-1 distributed ledger—think blockchain for DeFi, but without the clunky blocks. It's built from the ground up to make decentralized finance smoother, safer, and more scalable. Why you should listen Radix DLT is a full-stack Layer-1, distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform purpose-built for the next wave of decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 development. Unlike traditional blockchains, Radix isn't chained to blocks—it's a true DLT leveraging its novel Cerberus consensus algorithm, offering atomic composability across shards and effectively limitless scalability. That means DeFi dApps can interoperate seamlessly in a single transaction without choking on traffic—Radix is engineered to scale to the needs of global finance. Radix isn’t just about raw speed—it doubles down on usability. On the user side, the Radix Wallet brings clarity: no more blind signing or seed-phrase nightmares. Transactions are human-readable, and multi-factor, decentralized account recovery makes losing access a bore of the past. For developers, Radix gives you Scrypto—the world’s first asset-centric smart contract language—and the Radix Engine, a DeFi-optimized “game engine” for building secure, composable dApps fast. Think of it as trading in clunky old engines for a sleek, intuitive ride that actually encourages innovation. Radix wasn't tinkering around—it’s OECD-scale serious. With integrated, platform-native identity solutions baked right into its design, Radix is tackling one of the biggest barriers to real-world adoption: bridging crypto and compliance. That means institutional investors can actually bring capital on-chain, using verifiable, on-ledger identity in a way that’s compatible with KYC/AML frameworks. If Web3 is ever going mainstream, it needs to solve identity—not just scalability and UX. Radix aims to check all three boxes. Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  Radix Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin   If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.  

Yu Xiong is Co-President of Luffa, a Web3 decentralized instant messaging app designed specifically for security. Why you should listen Luffa is a next-generation Web3‑powered social and messaging app built on the decentralized Endless protocol. Its core mission? To give users a clean, private, and distraction‑free experience—no user tracking, ads, or hidden analytics in sight. Everything is end‑to‑end encrypted, including photos and voice messages, and there’s a distributed storage mechanism—so not even Luffa can peek at your chats. Oh, and yes, it's entirely free—no subscriptions, no in‑app purchases necessary. But Luffa doesn’t stop at secure messaging—it’s more like a mini Web3 ecosystem. You get a multi‑chain wallet, AI translation to help you chat globally, and even a token issuance roadmap promising content and transaction monetization. Users can display or set NFTs as avatars, mint their own on Endless Chain, and manage them all within Luffa’s unified wallet experience. In short, it’s where state-of-the-art privacy meets next-level social finance—and it’s trying to be more than just another chat app. Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  Luffa Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

David Byrne is a technologist building Daiko, a Web3 Pet-Tech platform that combines real-world pet care with blockchain rewards. Why you should listen To understand Daiko, think Fitbit for dogs meets gamified pet ownership, with a smart leash, virtual pet system, and a Proof-of-Woof model that turns daily walks into tokenized incentives. Daiko recently rolled out its smart leash ecosystem and already has thousands of early users signing up for their beta. The high-tech dog leash syncs with the Daiko Rewards App. Walk your pup, earn tokens, and interact with a gamified virtual pet right from your phone.  They’ve baked in some serious bonus features too: a safe‑lock mechanism, titanium carabiner, integrated DooPod waste bag holder, and a super-strong rope tested up to 200 kg. Daiko isn’t just about fetching rewards—it’s about redefining “pet ownership in the metaverse,” or at least in a Web3-flavored reality. By rewarding real-world activity (like walking your dog) with crypto tokens, they blissfully blur the line between IRL routines and digital perks. It’s gamification meets leash tech for dog lovers around the world. They’re expanding globally this year with plans to integrate NFTs, utility tokens, and community-driven rewards. Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  Daiko Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Sam Klehr is Global Head of Sales and Business Development at Chorus One, a leading institutional staking infrastructure provider founded in 2018.  Why you should listen Chorus One operates secure, enterprise-grade validator infrastructure across 50–60+ Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain networks—ranging from Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, Avalanche, and Near to newer entrants like TON and Stacks—positioning itself as one of the largest staking service providers globally. The company offers a suite of services tailored to institutions, exchanges, wallets, foundations, and private investors, including whitelabel validators, ETH staking vaults (OPUS), staking SDKs, and API-based rewards reporting—all backed by ISO 27001-level security, robust infrastructure, and slashing protection mechanisms. Chorus One’s value proposition centers on reliability, transparency, and ecosystem engagement. They emphasize continuous uptime, redundancy, and security through custom infrastructure—including hardware security modules and geographically distributed server clusters—thanks in part to partnerships like the one with DataPacket. The firm also provides a $250,000 delegator protection pool, refreshed quarterly, to safeguard user assets. Beyond staking services, Chorus One is deeply involved in ecosystem development, offering research and MEV insights, managing an investment arm (Chorus Ventures), and pioneering institutional solutions like TON Pool (for streamlined TON staking) and support for Bitcoin Layer‑2 protocol Stacks. Supporting links Fidelity Crypto Careers  Chorus One Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin   If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

David Kinitsky is the CEO of Everstake, a leading global non-custodial staking provider serving institutional and retail clients, with $6.5 billion staked across 85+ networks. David was the founding General Manager of Grayscale Investments, now one of the world’s largest digital asset managers, and previously led operations for SecondMarket, the private market platform later acquired by NASDAQ. Why you should listen Everstake is a professional staking provider founded in 2018 by a team of Ukrainian engineers. The company specializes in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) validation, helping individuals and institutions participate in securing blockchain networks while earning staking rewards. Today, Everstake supports more than 70 networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and Cosmos, and operates with a strong technical focus, maintaining over 99.9% uptime for its users. In terms of scale, the platform has worked with more than 735,000 stakers, facilitated over $6.5 billion in assets staked, and distributed around $712 million in rewards. Beyond being a validator, Everstake positions itself as a broader infrastructure partner within the Web3 ecosystem. The company has contributed to well-known projects such as Solana, Wormhole, The Graph, and Pyth, and has provided advisory and engineering support to help these networks grow. One of its most visible initiatives was managing the Aid for Ukraine crypto fundraising campaign, in partnership with the Ukrainian government and other industry players, which raised over $60 million for humanitarian and defense support. Recently, Everstake has also expanded into institutional services. Through a collaboration with io.finnet, it now enables enterprises to stake assets like ETH and SOL directly from secure multiparty computation (MPC) wallets, removing custodial risk while simplifying the staking process. This shows Everstake’s dual focus: serving the crypto community at large while also providing infrastructure for institutional adoption. Supporting links Stabull Finance Everstake Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Danny Chong is co-chair of the Digital Assets Association (DAA) Singapore, a Singapore-based non-profit association dedicated to guiding individuals and organisations through the landscape of digital assets. Danny is also Co-Founder and CEO of Tranchess, a leading structured liquid staking protocol. Why you should listen Danny discusses the importance of regulatory clarity in driving digital asset growth across Asia and how to attract institutional investments from Asia’s financial giants while protecting retail users. Bridging TradFi and digital assets for institutional adoption in Asia is underway. Drawing on his APAC expertise, Danny explains how integrating TradFi’s risk management with blockchain’s transparency enables institutions to adopt tokenised assets, positioning Asia as a pioneer in blending traditional finance with digital innovation. He's an advocate for RWA tokenisation’s two-way flow: Aside from moving assets like bonds and equities on-chain, RWA tokenisation also brings DeFi innovations like liquid staking into TradFi.   Supporting links Stabull Finance Digital Assets Assocation Tranchess Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin   If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Zac Townsend is CEO and Co-Founder of Meanwhile, the first life insurance provider denominated and operating in Bitcoin. Life Insurance serves a critical role in developed economies, and Meanwhile is building a defining financial institution for the global Bitcoin economy. Why you should listen Meanwhile is the world’s first fully Bitcoin‑denominated life insurance company, licensed and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Operating out of Hamilton, Bermuda, it offers Bitcoin Whole Life policies that allow users to pay premiums in BTC, accumulate savings denominated in Bitcoin, and carry out legacy planning—all without exposure to fiat currency volatility. Meanwhile’s regulatory status as a Class IILT insurer—stemming from its graduation from Bermuda’s innovation sandbox in July 2024—gives it unique legitimacy as a crypto-native institution working within a fully regulated financial framework. In June 2025, Meanwhile made history by publishing its first-ever audited financial statements fully denominated in Bitcoin. As of December 31, 2024, the company held approximately 220.4 BTC in assets and generated net income of 25.29 BTC—a 300 % year‑on‑year increase. Meanwhile is not only the first life insurer to report in Bitcoin, but is also prohibited from liquidating its BTC holdings except when policyholders redeem under strict regulatory rules—making the company’s BTC reserve inherently long‑held and less subject to market speculation. Meanwhile sells its policies directly via its website, meanwhile.bm, and offers personalized consultations to prospective clients. Positioned at the intersection of insurance and decentralized finance, it offers high‑net‑worth and crypto‑savvy individuals a novel way to secure, grow, and pass down wealth using Bitcoin. Supporting links Stabull Finance Meanwhile SSV Network Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Matthew Graham is the Managing Partner at Ryze Labs, a fund investing in blockchain innovators worldwide who are building Web3 applications to drive adoption and expand access to the next generation of the internet.  Why you should listen In this conversation, Matthew Graham, managing partner at Ryze Labs, discusses the intersection of AI and crypto, the investment thesis of Ryze Labs, and the potential of Web3.  He emphasizes the importance of stablecoins in the financial infrastructure, describing stablecoins as the “best product-market fit in crypto,” especially for emerging markets where hyperinflation undermines local currencies. The discussion also touches on the future of AI technologies and the challenges faced in the crypto space. Graham believes the future of crypto involves autonomous AI agents operating above Layer 1 protocols. These agents will transact on-chain, manage wallets, trade assets, and execute user commands—essentially acting as a user’s “digital twin.” Ryze Labs invests in the builders of blockchain technology around the globe that are designing Web3 applications that will accelerate adoption and democratize access to the next generation of the internet. Ryze Labs has always supported projects founded by hard-working visionaries that work with cutting-edge technologies, located in the next Silicon Valley. Ryze Labs leverages emerging markets expertise as strategic investors for best-in-class web3 projects looking to expand their international presence into emerging markets with high-growth potential. Ryze has invested in some of the most successful web3 projects to date, including Solana, LayerZero, Polygon, and Wintermute. Supporting links Stabull Finance Ryze Labs SSV Network Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Peter Goodwin is the CEO and founder of Idea-L®, the platform that combines generative AI and real-time validation to help anyone go from idea to funded startup, without gatekeepers. Think: “AI x AngelList meets Product Hunt — but fully decentralized.” Why you should listen idea‑L® is an AI-powered, Web3-native platform designed to accelerate the journey from concept to launch. At its heart is a step-by-step process—Imagine, Design, Execute, Accelerate, and Live—providing founders with a structured framework to turn bold ideas into viable ventures without the usual guesswork. This fusion of AI-driven validation, decentralized funding via the GovToken, and human mentorship redefines early-stage entrepreneurship by making it accessible, intuitive, and speed-focused. Beyond automation, idea‑L® embeds Web3-powered transparency and community governance into its DNA. Its tech stack includes predictive analytics, smart contracts, and a DAO-based decision-making structure—all delivered through an agile, intuitive interface. Token holders gain real voting power, staking benefits, and fee-based perks, while the platform steers clear of insider privilege—no presales, and no secret taps to exclusivity. Currently in private beta ahead of a 2025 GovToken public launch, idea‑L® is based in Dubai but operates globally, targeting founders of any background or mission type—commercial, social, or public good. It’s positioning itself as a democratic co‑founder: always on, structured, and deeply rooted in fairness and momentum. If you're tired of the startup snail's pace and gatekept funding, idea‑L® is staking its claim as the launchpad that tells it like it is. Supporting links Stabull Finance Idea-L®  Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.  

John Cho is Vice President of Partnerships at Kaia DLT Foundation, a non-profit organization established to accelerate the Kaia blockchain’s global adoption and ecosystem maturity.  Why you should listen Kaia is a mobile-first superapp that’s rapidly becoming one of the most intriguing Web3 platforms to watch. Originally known as Klaytn, Kaia rebranded and repositioned itself in 2024 with a bold vision: make crypto invisible. By integrating blockchain seamlessly into daily mobile life, Kaia’s goal is to onboard the next billion users without them even realizing they’ve crossed into Web3. And it seems to be working—Kaia has seen a staggering rise in on-chain activity, ranking second globally in daily active users. This momentum is largely fueled by its unique strategy: hosting Mini Dapps inside the app itself—think of them like mobile games or utilities that live inside a crypto-native superapp. But what makes Kaia different is it is open to third-party developers and fully committed to open-source gaming. That’s a huge shift. Instead of locking users into a walled garden, Kaia is betting on community-driven innovation through Mini Dapps—lightweight, mobile-friendly, and composable little apps that make up the building blocks of the platform. These Mini Dapps allow users to explore DeFi, NFTs, and gaming with just a few taps, no wallet stress or MetaMask hurdles.  On the financial infrastructure side, Kaia is moving quickly. It recently partnered with Tether to integrate USDT, and it's also driving the development of stablecoins pegged to the Korean won (KRW) and Japanese yen (JYP). This isn’t just about payments—it’s about enabling a stable, familiar financial layer inside a blockchain ecosystem. For users in Asia especially, being able to transact with stable, fiat-pegged assets makes the jump into Web3 feel a lot less risky and a lot more practical. Kaia isn’t just building an app—it’s building an economy, one mobile tap at a time. Supporting links Stabull Finance Kaia Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Callan, also known as “Sap” is the Co-Founder of Threshold Labs, the managing team behind Threshold Network’s tBTC, a trust-minimized bridge enabling native Bitcoin in DeFi. Why you should listen Threshold Network is a decentralized infrastructure protocol that leverages threshold cryptography to provide privacy and access control services on public blockchains. It was formed through the merger of two projects, Keep and NuCypher, with the aim of enabling secure and decentralized custody and data privacy. One of its core offerings is tBTC, a decentralized bridge that allows users to bring their Bitcoin onto Ethereum and other EVM-compatible networks in the form of an ERC-20 token that is fully backed 1:1 by BTC. tBTC is designed to address the limitations of custodial wrapped Bitcoin products, such as WBTC, which rely on centralized entities to hold users' BTC. Instead, tBTC uses a network of randomly selected node operators that collectively manage custody through threshold signature schemes. This structure ensures that no single party can access or move the underlying BTC, enhancing security and decentralization. The latest version, tBTC v2, introduces a scalable and permissionless model, progressively shifting control from human intermediaries to protocol-based guarantees. Bitcoin DeFi—or BTCFi—is an emerging segment of decentralized finance that aims to bring Bitcoin’s liquidity into smart contract ecosystems. Historically, Bitcoin has been underutilized in DeFi due to its limited scripting capabilities and incompatibility with platforms like Ethereum. Bridges like tBTC are key to unlocking Bitcoin’s potential in DeFi, enabling BTC holders to participate in lending, yield farming, liquidity provision, and collateralized borrowing—all while retaining exposure to Bitcoin. By offering a decentralized, trust-minimized bridge, Threshold Network positions itself as a foundational layer in this growing ecosystem. Supporting links Stabull Finance Threshold Network Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.  

Staci Warden is the Algorand Foundation CEO, and Dr. Matthew Brigida is Chief Economist at Algorand Foundation. In June, the Algorand Foundation’s tokenomics team released a new study questioning the assumption that TVL is a meaningful investment signal. Despite being widely cited as a proxy for legitimacy, the research found that TVL doesn’t correlate with token performance, even when adjusted for known distortions like double-counting. Why you should listen The team analyzed 300+ cryptocurrencies from 2023–2024, simulating weekly long/short strategies based on TVL rankings. The result? No outperformance, no alpha. And no meaningful insight once broader market movements are accounted for. As Pew reported last year, most Americans still don’t trust crypto. If TVL continues to be used as a shorthand for credibility, that only adds noise. This paper adds to the growing push for better metrics in DeFi. Algorand’s mission is to power a world where information has integrity and innovative ideas can scale. The Algorand Foundation supports Algorand’s rapidly growing ecosystem by providing a best-in-class developer environment, supporting key infrastructure and setting technical standards, offering comprehensive support to builders and entrepreneurs, and providing the framework for decentralized governance.  Supporting links Stabull Finance The TVL Study White Paper The TVL Study Blog Post Algorand Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin   If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.