The Crypto Tape

Chronicle co-founder Nik Kunkel joins Frank Chaparro to break down the convergence of traditional finance and DeFi into what some are calling "neo finance," fresh off Chronicle's just-announced partnership with BlackRock on BUIDL.They get into what the Resolv USR exploit should have taught the industry about automated pauses and run risk, why most oracles are brittle by design, and how Chronicle reconstructs funds from holdings rather than passively reporting NAVs. Nik also lays out the next RWA wave he's watching, the case for trade finance, and what AI agents consuming structured data via standards like x402 mean for the data business.

Alpaca co-founder and CEO Yoshi Yokokawa joins Frank Chaparro to unpack the tokenized equity market that just crossed $1 billion in custody and tripled in six months, while remaining almost invisible to the average US investor.They discuss who actually buys tokenized US stocks, why national exchanges may lose their reason for existence once securities trade onchain in stablecoins, what tokenization means for dollar hegemony, and how composability rewrites prime brokerage. Yoshi also makes the case that in an agent-driven world, APIs and MCP servers replace the user interface as the real competitive moat.

Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov joins Frank Chaparro for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of DeFi credit, what Aave v4 unlocks, and how AI agents rewire finance from the backend.They cover the flip from a DeFi liquidity deficit to a surplus, why tokenization is the bottleneck for real-world credit, and why cost structure (not cheap capital) is what DeFi actually sells to fintechs. Stani also opens up on founder health, the worsening short-termism of the crypto attention economy, and why he thinks every person ends up running their own AI farm.

Frank Chaparro sits down with Amy Oldenburg, Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Morgan Stanley, just after the firm went live with its bitcoin trust ETP. Amy has spent 26 years at Morgan Stanley, most recently running its global emerging market investing business, and now oversees digital assets across all three of the firm's major business lines.They discuss what it means for crypto to graduate from an innovation experiment to core business operations, why tokenization is just the plumbing for a bigger market structure, and the new category of private wealth client Morgan Stanley can now serve: people who built wealth in crypto but had nowhere to take it.

Matthew Fisher, CEO of Katana, sat down with Frank Chaparro following Katana's token generation event. Katana is a DeFi chain incubated by Polygon and GSR, built around concentrating liquidity at the base layer across lending, swapping, and leveraged trading.In this episode, Matthew breaks down the decision-making behind Katana's TGE timing, the state of the perps market and why Hyperliquid's dominance shapes everything, the borrower shortage that's suppressing on-chain yields across DeFi, and what it means to survive the post-TGE phase when the farming crowd moves on.

Mike Cagney is the Chairman of Figure, a company that has originated more than $25 billion of assets on-chain and built what may be the only liquid non-agency credit market in existence outside of Fannie and Freddie. Before Figure, he co-founded SoFi.In this episode of The Crypto Tape, Frank Chaparro sits down with Mike to work through the actual mechanics of bringing real-world credit onto blockchain, why the street is now moving faster on RWA than the native crypto community, and what's still standing between DeFi and mainstream scale.Mike's case is concrete: DeFi is asset-based lending. The framework and technology is built, but the missing piece is a wallet good enough for every day use.Until that gets solved, the ecosystem stays subscale no matter how many assets get tokenized.

Jamyn Edis has spent over 15 years teaching at NYU's Stern School of Business, led data science and AI practices at companies like Take-Two Interactive and Pearson, and is now finishing a book called The Fifth Horseman: AI and Humanity's Day of Judgment.His argument is that AI is a mirror of us, trained on the entire documented corpus of human knowledge, and reflecting our instincts, desires, and blind spots back at us. Jamyn questions whether humans can hold onto the one thing that still separates us from the AI models: judgment.In this episode of The Crypto Tape, Frank Chaparro sits down with Jamyn to unpack what the aspect of judgment entails for finance, for media, for governance, and for anyone trying to make decisions in a world moving faster than its ethical frameworks.

Kaledora Fontana Kiernan-Linn co-founded Ostium in 2022 with a thesis that crypto-native traders would eventually want to trade traditional assets, on-chain, from their existing wallets. Three years later, the numbers are speaking for themselves. Ostium did nearly $6 billion in gold volume in the second half of 2025, with gold running at roughly ten times the volume of Bitcoin on the platform.In this episode of The Crypto Tape, Frank Chaparro sits down with Kaledora to discuss the macro-driven shift in trader behavior, why prediction markets are creating the next wave of active traders, and what it takes to build a product that earns the trust of traders moving serious size without ever feeling like a toy.They also get into the $10 trillion CFD market Ostium is targeting and the platform’s approach to scaling.

Alvin Hsia, co-founder and CEO of Ventuals, joins Frank Chaparro for a conversation about building perpetual markets for real-world assets and bringing on-chain leverage to a non-crypto audience.Alvin spent six years at Airbnb before going through DeFi summer in 2020 and eventually co-founding Ventuals, a Paradigm-backed perps exchange built on Hyperliquid. In two months, Ventuals has crossed $100M in cumulative volume with markets on SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and public sector ETFs.In this conversation, Alvin breaks down why NYSE's move into tokenized equities is good for on-chain perp platforms, how the weekend oracle problem works and why continuous spot pricing solves it, and why the RWA perp space has a meaningful structural advantage over crypto-native products when it comes to onboarding retail. He also reflects on what DeFi summer produced, which primitives survived, and why he sees perps as the most accessible leverage instrument for the next wave of users.If you're interested in the convergence of traditional finance and on-chain markets, this episode is worth your time.

Nick van Eck, co-founder of Agora, joins Frank Chaparro for a candid conversation about where stablecoins are headedNick spent years backing crypto companies as a venture investor at General Catalyst before co-founding Agora two years ago. Agora issues AUSD and is building infrastructure to help businesses move their operations on-chain, positioning itself as the horizontally neutral alternative to Tether and Circle.In this conversation, Nick breaks down why banks' real fear isn't stablecoins but the threat to their deposit base, why most tokenized assets are still objectively worse than their traditional counterparts, and why he chose not to launch a governance token — and what that decision has taught him about product-market fit. He also reflects on what he got wrong as a VC that he only understood after becoming a founder, and where Agora is placing its bets over the next six months.This episode is worth your time if you’re following the direction of where onchain finance is going.

Mike Dudas, founding partner of Six Man Ventures, joins Frank Chaparro for an unfiltered look at crypto venture in 2026.Mike has been in crypto since 2013. He co-founded The Block, built payment infrastructure at Paxos and Venmo, and has now raised three funds focused exclusively on the application layer. He sat down with Frank fresh off closing Six Man's third fund in a market where raising capital has never been harder.In this conversation, they get into what separates the funds that survive from the ones that don't, why on-chain adoption metrics are moving in the right direction even as native sentiment sours, and where Mike thinks the real value in crypto will be captured over the next cycle. He also makes the case that most new L1s launching today won't exist in five years, while the apps being built on top of mature chains will.They also discuss the growing physical security concerns facing crypto founders and what Six Man is hunting for in 2026: stablecoin finance, on-chain truth infrastructure, DePIN, and products that are actually fun to use.

Michael Blaugrund, VP of Strategic Initiatives at ICE, joins Frank Chaparro to discuss the NYSE's plan to launch a new venue for trading tokenized equities against stablecoins.Recorded inside the NYSE vault, a 1903 building originally equipped with air conditioning to protect paper stock certificates, the conversation explores how blockchain settlement will reshape equity markets.Michael walks through why instant settlement is fundamentally about capital efficiency, how 24/7 trading could smooth volatility after events like the October 10th tariff announcement, and why ICE is preparing for a future where it competes with DeFi protocols as much as traditional exchanges.

Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, joins Frank Chaparro to dissect why 2025 was one of the most value-destructive years in crypto history despite all the regulatory wins. They discuss the "why token?" era, the death of the middle in crypto VC, and how traditional investors are returning to the space with more discipline.This conversation provides a blunt analysis of crypto’s current standing within the overall market. This inflection point is a new challenge for founders and investors alike to navigate.

Sal Gilbertie has spent 17 years navigating the ETF approval process. As CEO of Teucrium, he built his reputation launching agricultural commodity products before filing one of the first Bitcoin ETF applications. When his firm launched XXRP, a double-leveraged XRP fund, it hit $550 million in AUM within 12 weeks.In this episode, Sal walks Frank Chaparro through how leveraged products actually work, why traditional finance is quietly adopting blockchain for settlement infrastructure, and what happens when regulatory clarity finally gives institutions the green light to build on-chain.This conversation bridges two worlds that are finally converging. If you want to understand how ETFs get built, why timing is everything, and what happens when banks start settling trades on blockchain rails, this one's essential.

Lord James Wharton joins Frank Chaparro to discuss how crypto policy actually gets made in the UK. Lord James Wharton served as MP for Stockton South and later as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State before joining the House of Lords. He previously chaired the board of the UK's higher education regulator, giving him direct experience with how regulatory thinking works in practice.This conversation covers:Why regulators are risk-averse by design and how that shapes crypto policyHow independent regulatory bodies operate beyond democratic controlWhat needs to change for the UK to become a genuine crypto hubPolitical volatility and Reform UK's potential impact on crypto policyThis episode offers a rare look inside the machinery of government from someone willing to be honest about its limitations.

VanEck’s Head of Digital Assets Research Matt Sigel  joins Frank Chaparro to discuss Bitcoin's Q4 correction, why miners are structural sellers, where value is actually accruing, and what could keep crypto range-bound through 2026.This episode provides a helpful breakdown to the true fundamentals driving crypto’s current price action.

Anton Katz, co-founder and CEO of Talos, joins Frank Chaparro to discuss the institutional infrastructure that's quietly transforming crypto markets.In this conversation, Anton and Frank cover:Asset managers moving into the industryMulti-asset trading in practice with real portfolios blending crypto, equities, and FXMajor banks positioning to launch lending infrastructureIf you want to understand where crypto markets are actually headed, this conversation is required listening.

Robert Leshner, co- founder of Superstate and creator of Compound, joins Frank Chaparro to discuss why institutional interest in tokenization hasn't translated to token prices, how stablecoins changed everything, and where real-world assets are actually headed.In this conversation, Robert and Frank cover:Why 99% of crypto markets are driven by momentum and flows, not fundamentalsHow stablecoins reaching $100-200 billion created a tipping point for institutionsWhy we're heading toward 200+ multi-billion dollar stablecoins coexistingHow streaming yield by the second changes the game for crypto-native capitalWhy every major Wall Street institution now has teams focused on cryptoThis episode reveals a tension at the heart of crypto right now: institutional momentum is real, the infrastructure is being built, and none of it has translated into price action yet. Robert's explanation for why that is, and where it's headed, reframes how to think about value creation in this market.

Tom Warner from Double Zero joins Frank Chaparro to explain why blockchain protocols are being held back by the public internet and what it takes to build a private network specifically for crypto traffic.Tom and Frank discuss:Why the internet treats financial transactions like casual web browsingThe coordination problem tokens solve for global infrastructureHow validator location creates geographic centralizationWhy predictability matters more than raw speed for institutional adoptionFeatures that exist in private networks but not on the public internetThis conversation dives into understanding the infrastructure layer most people don't think about and why fixing it might matter more than optimizing any single protocol.

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee joins Frank Chaparro to dissect why crypto markets feel darker than fundamentals suggest, even as stablecoins, RWAs, and institutional adoption continue growing.Tom and Frank discuss:Federal Reserve policy uncertainty and its impact on cryptoWhy most DATs will fail and what that means for the asset classEthereum's Layer-2 strategy and value accrualStatic vs. dynamic thinking in crypto tokenomicsWhy experts from the last cycle often miss the next oneThis conversation is about separating noise from signal, understanding what's actually moving markets, and recognizing when fear is overwhelming fundamentals.

Frank Chaparro sits down with Chris Perkins, the President of CoinFund, to learn about his unique perspective on how crypto markets have evolved through crisis. In this episode, Frank and Chris discuss:Why US futures markets are crypto's most critical missing infrastructureThe five-element framework for evaluating Digital Asset TreasuriesThe regulatory mistakes of the previous administration and what's changing nowWhy traditional banks face existential risk by staying on the sidelinesWhat basis trading will unlock for institutional capitalChris doesn't sugarcoat the challenges or oversell the timeline. His message to traditional finance is direct: adapt or face obsolescence. Tune in for the full conversation.

Frank Chaparro sits down with Kevin McCordic, the Director of Growth at Monad Foundation, to dive into building what might become crypto’s most developed ecosystem prior to mainnet launch.In this episode, Frank and Kevin discuss:Monad's ambitions to process 10,000 transactions per second The dark forest of crypto capital marketsWhy the best founders spend years obsessed with ideas no one else believes inThe crypto industry in a regulated futureTune in to hear Kevin’s take on navigating uncharted waters to fuel Monad’s growth. 

In this episode of The Crypto Tape, Frank Chaparro sits down with three leaders shaping crypto’s policy future: Greg Xethalis, General Counsel, Multicoin CapitalKristin Smith, President, Solana Policy InstituteJonathan Jachym, Head of Global Policy, KrakenThey discuss the evolution of crypto legislation, the Genius Act, and how the tone in Washington has shifted from politics to permanence. Inside the episode:Why crypto legislation is now about legacy, not lobbyingHow traditional finance is struggling to adapt to tokenizationThe challenge of regulating decentralization without killing innovationWhy Chair Atkins’ “Project Crypto” speech marked a turning pointIf you want to understand how crypto regulation actually works — and where it’s headed — this is the episode to watch.Listen to The Crypto Tape wherever you get your podcasts.

Frank Chaparro sits down with Dmitry Tokarev — founder of Bron and former CEO of Copper — to explore how he’s bringing institutional-grade crypto security to everyday users.Topics include:Why seed phrases are an outdated modelLessons from institutional custodyWhat North Korea’s Lazarus Group means for crypto safetyThe return to mathematical integrity in crypto🎧 Tune in now to hear Dmitry’s first deep dive into Bron and what’s next for crypto security.

Crypto’s institutional playbook is being rewritten.From Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) inspired by the MicroStrategy model to the explosive rise of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), a new wave of capital is flowing on-chain.Jeff Park, co-founder of Pro Cap, and Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize, join The Crypto Tape to break down how these structures are reshaping markets, bridging TradFi and DeFi, and driving billions of dollars in new investment.DATs are emerging as crypto’s version of the permanent capital vehicle. RWAs are creating yield-bearing products backed by traditional assets. Together, they’re bringing institutional capital back to crypto and setting the tone for the next market cycle.Inside the episode: Why DATs provide more value than ETFs The 3 elements that distinguish successful DATs from the long-tail Why yield-bearing assets are driving institutional interestThe blurring line between retail and institutional investorsHow these new structures will define the next bull cycleAccording to RWA.xyz, over 34.8 billion dollars have already been tokenized on-chain. The next wave of growth won’t be driven by speculation, but by structure.

Crypto just went through a $19 billion liquidation blowout — but despite the chaos, Wall Street is starting to look more like crypto.Meltem Demirors, one of the most influential investors in digital assets and a defining voice of its culture, joins The Crypto Tape to explain why speculation isn’t a flaw — it’s human nature.Now the founding partner of Crucible, a new venture firm built to back the next generation of crypto founders, Meltem reflects on the heat and transformation that define both markets and people.She argues that volatility isn’t the enemy — it’s the mechanism through which innovation emerges. From the re-industrialization of America and energy infrastructure to the cultural convergence between Wall Street and crypto, this conversation explores how belief, risk, and progress are forged in the same fire.Inside the episode: • Why “everything humans do is speculative” • How crypto mirrors (and now drives) Wall Street behavior • The new energy + infrastructure wave powering digital assets • What Crucible represents for the next cycle of buildersListen to one of crypto’s sharpest thinkers unpack the human and structural forces shaping a $4 trillion market.

Tom Farley, former president of the New York Stock Exchange and now CEO of Bullish, joins The Crypto Tape to unpack the capital markets boom sweeping crypto.Publicly traded exchange Bullish (BLSH) recently completed a massively oversubscribed IPO, raising $1.15 billion, mostly in stablecoins, and its stock surged almost 3x from its debut. The deal marked one of the first times a major public company received the bulk of its proceeds in digital dollars, reflecting how investor appetite and infrastructure are shifting on-chain.Farley explains why 24/7 trading, on-chain collateral, and stablecoins are setting new standards for capital efficiency — and why he believes the end state of markets will live entirely on-chain.Listen in to understand how one of Wall Street’s most experienced operators is helping build the future of trading, and what that means for investors, institutions, and the next generation of market infrastructure.