Why this Wall Street veteran is betting on Avalanche

In Episode 16 of Layer One, The Block’s Kelvin Sparks is joined by Avalanche Treasury Company CEO Bart Smith. Bart explained the thesis behind treasury companies as a way to get regulated, permanent-capital exposure to AVAX and the Avalanche ecosystem. He also covers his Wall Street/ETF background, why real-world-asset tokenization needs "productive" assets to matter, and why he thinks crypto's investment thesis is stronger than ever. OUTLINE00:00 - Introduction01:22 - What Is AVAT?03:59 - Wall Street Roots & Crypto's Rise06:19 - The Bitcoin ETF Bet08:58 - Hiring a COO11:13 - Why Own AVAT?15:56 - Scaling Avalanche & RWAs22:54 - DeFi, TradFi & AI Fears33:03 - Policy Risks & RWA Forecast40:08 - Closing ThoughtsGuest links:Bart Smith - https://twitter.com/gbartsmithAVAT - https://twitter.com/avat_coHost links:Kelvin Sparks - https://x.com/imyoungsparks⁠⁠⁠John Wu - ⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/John1wuThe Block - https://x.com/TheBlockCoAva Labs - https://x.com/avalabs---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subscribe to The Block's Newsletters!🚨 Breaking News👨‍🔬 Expert Analysis📈 Market InsightsSubscribe now 👉 ⁠⁠⁠https://www.theblock.co/newsletters⁠⁠⁠--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hiring in crypto?🧠 Find top talent fast with Campus, powered by The Block!✅ Challenge candidates with our Crypto Assessment Test⚡ Hire faster, build stronger teamsStart your free trial today 👉 ⁠⁠⁠https://theblock.co/campus