Talking Tokens: Crypto, Onchain Finance, Investing

Jacquelyn Melinek, StrataMedia

Talking Tokens is StrataMedia’s flagship podcast and newsletter, delivering two episodes a week to a growing global audience of crypto-native and traditional finance professionals. The award-nominated show features conversations with the founders, investors, market makers, and leaders shaping the onchain economy. Hosted by Jacquelyn Melinek, founder & CEO of StrataMedia and former senior crypto reporter at TechCrunch. Subscribe: https://talkingtokens.beehiiv.com/ Follow on X: @_TalkingTokens

  1. 1d ago

    How Injective Is Building Financial Markets Onchain

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Injective Labs, the team behind the Injectivea blockchain built for financial applications, to discuss what comes next for tokenization, onchain finance and institutional adoption. Eric explains why simply tokenizing assets isn't enough, where he sees the biggest opportunities for bringing financial markets onchain, and how Injective is building infrastructure for advanced financial products. They also discuss RWA perpetual markets, tokenized stocks, capital formation, institutional adoption, AI agents and the future of blockchain & powered financial infrastructure. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:58 How Eric Chen Started Injective 03:07 Should Founders Still Drop Out of College? 05:27 Why AI Reminds Eric of Early Crypto 07:24 The Security Problem AI Can't Solve 09:27 Injective's Vision for Onchain Finance 11:21 Why Tokenization Is Accelerating 12:31 What Injective's Transfer Agent Registration Enables 14:32 $215M in RWA Perpetual Volume 16:33 Are Perpetual Markets the Future of RWAs? 17:52 Why Tokenizing Assets Isn't Enough 20:16 What's Moving Onchain Faster Than Expected 21:45 What Institutions Are Building on Injective 24:25 What Makes an Asset Useful Onchain? 27:21 Will Onchain Finance Compete With Banks? 27:52 Why Institutional Tokenization Is Accelerating 29:08 What Should Actually Move Onchain? 31:14 What Enterprises Want From Blockchain 33:48 Will Blockchain Become Invisible Infrastructure? 35:37 What Onchain Finance Could Look Like in 5–10 Years 37:26 What Injective Got Wrong 38:29 What Eric Is Watching Next 39:00 AI Agents Move From Analysis to Execution (timestamp needs verification) 41:27 What Eric Won't Trust AI With 41:40 Eric's Advice for Builders Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com  This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard  New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow Jacquelyn  Jacquelyn on X: /jacqmelinek  Talking Tokens on X: /_talkingtokens  Talking Tokens on Instagram: /_talkingtokens  Follow Eric Chen https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-chen-b12255421 https://x.com/ericinjective?lang=en

    How Injective Is Building Financial Markets Onchain

  2. 2d ago

    Why Banks Risk More by Ignoring Stablecoins

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Sergio Mello, Global Head of Digital Asset Infrastructure, and Kevin Wysocki, Head of Policy at Anchorage Digital, to discuss why stablecoins are moving deeper into the institutional financial system and what banks need to build for the next phase of adoption. They explore why institutions are shifting from asking if they should participate to how and when, whether stablecoins could become a global settlement layer, why every bank could eventually become a digital asset bank, and how tokenization, stablecoins, and AI banking could converge into a fundamentally different financial system. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:34 What Changed for Institutional Crypto? 02:34 Why Banks Need to Start Building Now 05:16 The Second Era of Stablecoins 07:42 The Risk of Ignoring Stablecoins 08:56 TradFi and Crypto Are Converging 10:02 Stablecoins vs. Tokenization 13:02 The Trillion-Dollar Tokenized Money Opportunity 13:38 What GENIUS Could Unlock for Banks 16:10 Stablecoins and Dollar Dominance 18:28 Could Other Currencies Move Onchain? 20:06 When Stablecoins Become Normal Financial Infrastructure 21:37 Are Stablecoins Inevitable? 23:13 Anchorage Digital's Role in Stablecoin Infrastructure 26:57 Will Every Bank Become a Digital Asset Bank? 30:29 Why “Tomorrow Is Late” 30:59 What's Slowing Institutional Adoption? 34:07 When Stablecoins Become Invisible 35:45 Stablecoins Meet AI Banking 36:45 What Happens When Everything Connects? 38:17 What Comes Next for Crypto Regulation? 39:59 The Invisible Future of Onchain Finance Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com This episode is sponsored by Binance, the world’s number-one crypto exchange, trusted by over 300 million people. Discover more at: https://binance.onelink.me/y874/talkingtokens . NOTE: Binance is not available in certain countries, including the U.S.; check its Terms for more information: https://www.binance.com/en/terms   New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141  Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek  Follow Sergio & Kevin  https://x.com/sergiofly?lang=en https://x.com/KevWysocki #Stablecoins #AnchorageDigital #Tokenization #DigitalAssets #TalkingTokens

    Why Banks Risk More by Ignoring Stablecoins

  3. 3d ago

    Talking Tokens | Inside the Future of Onchain Finance

    Talking Tokens goes beyond the headlines to explore the people, ideas, and infrastructure shaping the onchain economy. Hosted by Jacquelyn Melinek, founder and CEO of StrataMedia and former senior crypto reporter at TechCrunch, Talking Tokens brings you twice-weekly conversations with founders, investors, market makers, institutional leaders, and experts across digital assets and traditional finance. From crypto and DeFi to stablecoins, tokenization, institutional adoption, and the convergence of TradFi and onchain finance, we break down where money is moving, what’s gaining real traction, what’s mostly hype, and what could reshape the future of finance.  New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek #TalkingTokens #OnchainFinance #Crypto #DigitalAssets #DeFi

  4. Oct 1

    What Actually Makes a Crypto Token Investable?

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Shane Molidor, founder and CEO of Forgd, and Ryan Celaj, head of research at DeFiLlama, to discuss how better data and transparency could change the way crypto assets are evaluated. They break down the Universal Token Ratings (UTR), why TVL and volume alone don't tell the full story, and how disclosures, liquidity, market structure and market maker performance can provide more context around a token. They also explore what institutional investors expect from crypto projects, why ratings need to evolve in real time, and whether better transparency could create a new standard for the industry. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:26 Why Crypto Needed a Market Maker Leaderboard 02:04 Bringing Forgd Data to DeFiLlama 03:51 What Makes a Good Market Maker? 05:25 Why Market Makers Overpromise 07:37 How Market Makers Perform Across Market Cycles 11:58 Building More Transparency Into Crypto 13:23 Introducing Universal Token Ratings 14:22 Are TVL and Volume Enough? 17:37 Building a “Moody’s for Crypto” 20:58 Performance vs. Transparency 23:29 Is Crypto Returning to Fundamentals? 25:33 Why Token Ratings Need to Change in Real Time 28:23 What Happens When Projects Don’t Disclose Enough? 31:12 What Makes a Crypto Asset Investable? 33:17 How Investors Can Use UTR 35:28 Could Ratings Change How Token Projects Behave? 37:09 What UTR Means for Institutional Investors 39:12 What Institutions Expect From Crypto Projects 41:40 Expanding Beyond 170 Rated Tokens 43:06 Could UTR Become a New Crypto Standard? 44:55 Can Token Ratings Reveal Alpha?  New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141  Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek  Follow Shane & Ryan https://x.com/MolidorShane?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-celaj This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard  Check out the Universal Token Rating platform on DeFiLlama: https://defillama.com/universal-token-rating  Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com This episode is sponsored by Binance, the world’s number-one crypto exchange, trusted by over 300 million people. Discover more at: https://binance.onelink.me/y874/talkingtokens . NOTE: Binance is not available in certain countries, including the U.S.; check its Terms for more information: https://www.binance.com/en/terms  #DeFiLlama #Crypto #TokenRatings #CryptoResearch #TalkingTokens

    What Actually Makes a Crypto Token Investable?

  5. Sep 29

    Why Grove Is Betting Billions on Onchain Credit | Kevin Chan

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Kevin Chan, co-founder and CTO of Grove Labs, the team behind Grove Protocol, to discuss how Grove is building infrastructure for institutional credit and modern capital markets. Kevin breaks down how Grove has scaled its credit platform, how the protocol connects stablecoin liquidity with traditional and emerging forms of credit, and what it will take to bring significantly more institutional capital onchain. They also discuss Grove's work across the Sky ecosystem, relationships with institutions such as BlackRock, the role of Morpho and Coinbase in expanding access to borrowing, and why new credit markets like AI compute financing could become a major opportunity. Timestamps  00:00 Intro 01:32 Why Grove Was Built 03:30 What Financial Institutions Actually Want 05:29 How Grove Grew From $50M to $2.5B 06:55 The Sky Ecosystem Flywheel 08:10 The Opportunity in Onchain Credit 10:08 How Credit Markets Could Change 11:57 Why Credit Adoption Takes Time 12:21 Building Trust Through Transparency 14:16 What It Takes to Bring Trillions in Credit Onchain 17:01 Where Blockchain Can Expand Access to Credit 20:25 Bringing Onchain Credit to Retail 22:26 Making Credit More Accessible 24:38 Why AI Compute Financing Could Be Next 27:07 What Will Bring Institutions Onchain 28:39 Will Onchain Credit Compete With Banks? 30:36 What Will Separate the Winning Credit Protocols 33:05 Kevin's Advice for Builders This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard  Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com   New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141  Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/talking-tokens-crypto-onchain-finance-investing/id1743669141 https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Follow Kevin Chan https://x.com/kevinlichan https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinchan1207

    Why Grove Is Betting Billions on Onchain Credit | Kevin Chan

  6. Sep 24

    What Happens When the World’s Assets Move Onchain?

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Gregg Bell, Chief Investment Officer at Hashgraph, to discuss what institutional blockchain adoption of Hedera actually looks like and why some of the most important enterprise use cases may be happening outside the crypto headlines. Gregg breaks down how Hedera is being used across industries, why tokenization extends far beyond stocks and securities, and how moving assets onchain can unlock greater mobility, programmability and new forms of collateral. They explore real-world assets, enterprise adoption, supply chains, tokenized real estate, digital identity, interoperability and the infrastructure required to support global financial markets.  Also explains why institutional adoption takes longer than retail adoption, how regulatory clarity is changing the risk calculus for enterprises, the role of HBAR within the Hedera ecosystem, and why actual network usage not hype is ultimately the measure of success. Timestamps: 00:10 Gregg Bell's journey into crypto 01:06 From Bitcoin lending to onchain assets 01:53 How blockchain's user base is changing 03:06 How enterprises and governments use blockchain 04:58 Tokenizing assets beyond securities 06:28 When will more assets move onchain? 08:01 What institutional adoption actually looks like 10:19 Enterprise blockchain happening behind the scenes 12:57 Why the first wave of enterprise adoption struggled 16:09 Public, private and hybrid blockchain infrastructure 17:49 Are institutions finally comfortable with blockchain? 18:56 The role of HBAR in Hedera's ecosystem 21:11 What financial-grade blockchain infrastructure requires 23:05 Who captures the value from tokenization? 23:47 Are we entering a new era of financial access? 24:28 What success looks like for Hedera This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard  Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com   New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141  Follow us  Jacquelyn on X: /jacqmelinek  Talking Tokens on X: /_talkingtokens  Talking Tokens on Instagram: /_talkingtokens  Follow Gregg Bell https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregg-bell-38b5389

    What Happens When the World’s Assets Move Onchain?

  7. Sep 22

    Why Stellar Thinks Its $4B Tokenization Milestone Is Just the Beginning

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Raja Chakravorti, Chief Business Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation, to discuss why the next phase of tokenization is about more than simply bringing assets onchain and how Stellar is building infrastructure for a more connected global financial system. Raja breaks down Stellar's growth from roughly $1 billion to $4 billion in tokenized real-world assets since January, why capital efficiency is one of blockchain's biggest potential unlocks, and what needs to happen after an asset is tokenized for it to become genuinely useful. They discuss Stellar's work with DTCC, Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree and MoneyGram, the arrival of Tether's USD₮0 on Stellar, and why stablecoins have found product-market fit for global money movement. Raja also explains why distribution and circulation could define the next wave of tokenization, how financial institutions are moving assets onchain, and why better access to financial services remains central to Stellar's mission. Timestamps 00:00 Raja Chakravorti's journey from banking to blockchain 05:17 Why access to financial services matters 08:04 What working at PayPal and Plaid taught Raja about financial infrastructure 10:31 The promise of moving financial assets onchain 11:23 What blockchain can solve for financial markets 13:19 Stellar crossing $4B in tokenized real-world assets 16:43 How big can tokenization get? 18:04 Should everything be tokenized? 18:49 Why DTCC is bringing assets to Stellar 21:54 Why financial institutions are choosing Stellar 24:32 Tether and USD₮0 come to Stellar 25:57 Why stablecoins matter for Stellar 27:49 The next frontier for tokenization 30:14 Building global financial access 32:30 What success looks like for Stellar  New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us  Jacquelyn on X: /jacqmelinek  Talking Tokens on X: /_talkingtokens  Talking Tokens on Instagram: /_talkingtokens  Follow Raja Chakravorti https://x.com/rajachak75 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajachakravorti Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com

    Why Stellar Thinks Its $4B Tokenization Milestone Is Just the Beginning

  8. Sep 17

    What Hyperliquid Could Change About Traditional Markets | Jake Chervinsky

    In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Jake Chervinsky, founder and CEO of Hyperliquid Policy Center, to discuss how perpetual futures could move beyond crypto and what it would take to bring regulated onchain markets to the U.S Jake breaks down why 24/7 price discovery matters, how perpetual futures could complement traditional derivatives markets, and why oil could be a natural next market for onchain trading. They discuss Hyperliquid's role as infrastructure for exchanges, the potential for regulated perpetual futures in the U.S., how onchain markets could improve liquidity and price discovery, and why not every traditional market necessarily needs to trade 24/7.  Timestamps 00:00 Jake Chervinsky and the Hyperliquid Policy Center   02:37 Why Jake believes in Hyperliquid   05:03 What makes Hyperliquid different   06:21 Taking perpetual futures beyond crypto   09:39 Perpetual futures explained   11:25 What 24/7 markets reveal about price discovery   13:01 Why pricing doesn't stop when markets close   14:08 Should every market trade 24/7?   16:01 Why oil could be the next market for perpetual futures   18:44 Who would use oil perpetuals?   19:18 What Hyperliquid could change about financial markets   21:00 Bringing regulated perpetual futures to the U.S.  New episodes every week  https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141  Follow us  Jacquelyn on X: /jacqmelinek  Talking Tokens on X: /_talkingtokens  Talking Tokens on Instagram: /_talkingtokens  Follow Jake Chervinsky https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakechervinsky https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakechervinsky This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard  Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com  This episode is brought to you by GSR, crypto’s capital markets partner, learn more at https://www.gsr.io/

    What Hyperliquid Could Change About Traditional Markets | Jake Chervinsky
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About

Talking Tokens is StrataMedia’s flagship podcast and newsletter, delivering two episodes a week to a growing global audience of crypto-native and traditional finance professionals. The award-nominated show features conversations with the founders, investors, market makers, and leaders shaping the onchain economy. Hosted by Jacquelyn Melinek, founder & CEO of StrataMedia and former senior crypto reporter at TechCrunch. Subscribe: https://talkingtokens.beehiiv.com/ Follow on X: @_TalkingTokens

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