What Wall Street Actually Wants from Crypto | Bart Smith & Laine Litman

On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Bart Smith and Laine Litman, CEO and COO of AVAT, the Avalanche Treasury Company, two traditional finance veterans who both spent years watching institutions talk about crypto before finally deciding to go all in themselves. Bart and Laine get into what makes AVAT different from the pile of treasury companies trying to copy the MicroStrategy model, and why their bet is on giving investors exposure to the whole Avalanche ecosystem rather than just stacking the token. Institutional conversations almost always start as investment discussions and quickly turn into implementation discussions, but the Clarity Act might be the unlock most people aren't paying close enough attention to. TIMESTAMPS 02:49 From ETFs to Crypto05:48 Laine's Path from Voice Trading to Blockchain09:00 Why AVAT Is Not Another MicroStrategy13:40 The Private Market Problem14:57 What Institutional Conversations Look Like Right Now28:43 The Role of Debt Structure in a Bear Market35:39 AI, Agentic Payments, and What to Watch in 2026You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek   Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens   Follow us on Instagram   / _talkingtokens  Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.