Stateful

Pantera Capital
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Investing

On Stateful, we go deep into blockchain venture capital: investing in DeFi, digital asset treasuries, Solana, and the frontier of Web3 infrastructure. Each episode unpacks Pantera’s new investments, explores the dynamics of asymmetric returns, and provides insights into the projects and protocols shaping the next generation of finance. Whether you’re a founder, investor, or simply blockchain-curious, Stateful brings you behind the curtain with the team that’s been first to nearly every milestone in the space. Pantera Capital was the first U.S. institutional asset manager exclusively focused on blockchain technology, launching the first U.S. crypto fund when bitcoin traded at $65. Since 2013, Pantera has pioneered venture equity, early-stage tokens, and liquid digital asset strategies—backing more than 100 blockchain companies and 110 token projects globally.

  1. Tokenization Is the Next ETF with WisdomTree

    1d ago

    Tokenization Is the Next ETF with WisdomTree

    Franklin Bi (Pantera Capital) sits down with Jeremy Schwartz, Global CIO, and Maredith Hannon, Head of Business Development for Digital Assets at WisdomTree, to explore why tokenization is doing to ETFs what ETFs did to mutual funds, and how WisdomTree is building the infrastructure to make that happen. WisdomTree has been at the frontier of every major wrapper evolution in asset management. From alternatively-weighted indexes to ETFs, and now to tokenized real world assets on eight public chains. With over $700M in AUM growing 6x year over year, their tokenized money market fund WTGXX is already being used for corporate treasury sweeps, cross-border payroll, and stablecoin reserve management. Key Topics: The ETF analogy: tokenization is to ETFs what ETFs were to mutual funds, democratizing access from brokerage accounts to smartphones, and WisdomTree has been building for this moment for yearsWhy public chains over permissioned chains: permissioning belongs at the token level, not the chain level, and the real users are already on public chainsWTGXX in practice: $700M AUM growing 6x year over year, used for corporate treasury sweeps via StableC, cross-border vendor payments, and payroll via Toku and Plume with block-by-block yield accrualThe product roadmap: from money markets and treasuries to equity betas, derivatives, and option income strategies, and why WisdomTree rebalanced 3,000 model portfolios with JP Morgan and Apollo using smart contractsRookie mistake and pleasant surprise: trust matters more in crypto than anyone expects, and Europe led the US on crypto ETPs by five years

    38 min
  2. Why Blockchain VC's are Betting On Korea

    4d ago

    Why Blockchain VC's are Betting On Korea

    Franklin Bi and Jonathan Gieg (Pantera Capital) sit down with Steve Kim and Heechang Kang from Four Pillars Research to discuss why Korea is one of the most important and most misunderstood crypto markets in the world, and why Pantera just led their Series A. Korea has the highest ChatGPT and Claude subscription rate per capita in the world. Kakao Pay just joined the X402 Foundation. Korean pension funds are considering Bitcoin as a portfolio diversification asset. And a new STO legislation passed in January is expected to become a major bridge between crypto and traditional finance. The institutional wave is coming. Key Topics: - Why the West misunderstands Korea: trading volumes overwhelm the narrative, but Korea is actually the world's most aggressive early adopter of new technology, from 5G and open banking to ChatGPT and Claude Code - Agentic commerce in Korea: Kakao and Toss are already building payment rails for the agent era, KakaoPay joined X402, and pay-as-you-go AI payments are on the verge of exploding the same way subscriptions did - The Terra shadow and the builder economy: Terra's collapse devastated Korea's crypto builder culture, but institutional adoption from firms like Mirae  Asset is slowly rebuilding credibility and drawing developers back in - Four Pillars' APAC expansion: from Korea to Japan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia via the Asia Stablecoin Alliance, and why blockchain is the distribution rail that lets Korean fintech companies like Toss finally compete globally 00:00 Pantera Invests in Four Pillars from Seoul 01:00 Why the West Misreads Korea 04:30 AI Adoption and Agentic Commerce in Korea  8:30 Korean Crypto Regulation Before and After 12:10 STO Legislation and the Institutional Wave  16:20 Top Crypto Verticals in the Korean Market  32:00 What Western Companies Should Know Before Coming to Korea  36:40 The Terra Collapse and the Builder Economy  The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

    44 min
  3. How World ID Is Redefining Internet Identity

    May 28

    How World ID Is Redefining Internet Identity

    Mason Nystrom sits down with three leaders from Tools for Humanity and World ID to explore how proof of human is redefining identity on the internet in the age of AI agents. We are moving from a majority of humans with a few bots to a majority of bots with a few humans. That is not necessarily bad. But it makes knowing who the real humans are more important than ever. World ID is the identity layer built to answer that question at scale, privately, and without collecting your data. Key Topics: - Why proof of human is the foundational layer the agentic internet needs: from public discourse manipulation and catfishing to deepfake wire fraud, the cost of not knowing who is human is rising fast - World ID as a credential stack: Orb verification as the gold standard, Selfie Check as the entry point, and school, work, and national IDs layered on top, all privacy-preserving and held on your own device - Agent delegation and human continuity: how World ID lets your agent book flights, make purchases, and act on your behalf while keeping a verified human accountable for every action via Agent Kit - Why blocking all bots is the wrong answer: how World ID enables good agents to access platforms frictionlessly while bad actors are penalized, and why this unlocks the next wave of consumer agentic use cases - World ID vs Face ID: why uniqueness is the missing piece, how one person with 1,000 phones can fool Face ID but not World ID, and why anonymous verification protects users and partners alike 01:00 Tiago Sada on Proof of Human in the Agent Age 05:40 Scaling to 40 Million Verified Humans 07:07 What Tiago Is Most Excited About Next 08:50 Andy Wang on World as the Identity Layer 10:00 Good Bots vs Bad Bots: Why Blocking All Traffic Is Wrong 13:02 Restaurant Reservations, Scalpers, and Proof of Human 17:00 Tawanda Mahere on What Partners Are Looking For 22:08 The Consumer Value of World ID 23:15 Agent Kit and Human-in-the-Loop Commerce 25:21 World ID vs Face ID: Why Uniqueness Changes Everything 29:00 Orb On Demand and How to Get Verified Today The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

    30 min
  4. How Tinder Uses World ID to Fight AI Catfishing & Bots

    May 21

    How Tinder Uses World ID to Fight AI Catfishing & Bots

    Mason Nystrom sits down with Mark Kantor, Chief Product Officer at Tinder, to discuss how Tinder is partnering with World to bring proof of human verification to 190 countries and combat AI catfishing. The problem: the rise of bots and synthetic content is making it harder and harder to tell who is real online.  On a platform built entirely on human to human connection, that is an existential challenge. Tinder's answer is World ID, already live in Japan and now expanding to the US. Key Topics: Tinder's World ID integration: how a pilot in Japan cut age verification from 30 minutes to under 2 minutes, and seconds for already-verified usersNo more catfishing: how World ID moves toward ensuring the person behind a profile matches their photosOrders of magnitude improvement: why the 30-minute to 2-minute reduction was far beyond what the team expectedExpanding to 190 countries: Tinder announcing the US rollout and what global scale looks like for World IDProof of human plus uniqueness: why Tinder needs to know not just that you are human, but that you only have one accountThe line Tinder will not cross: AI doing everything for a user and replacing the human connection entirelyThe long-term vision: World building out capabilities so fewer tools are needed to check more boxesThe views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

    7 min
  5. Okta Is Creating the Trust Layer for the Agent Economy

    May 19

    Okta Is Creating the Trust Layer for the Agent Economy

    Mason Nystrom sits down with Gareth Davies, Chief Product Officer at Okta, to explore how identity is becoming the most critical primitive in the agentic economy and why Okta's partnership with World ID is the foundation that makes trusted agent commerce possible. Without a trust layer that binds agents to verified humans, commerce breaks down, fraud proliferates, and the full potential of the agentic economy cannot be unlocked. Key Topics: The agentic landscape today: real scaled applications and agentic experiences are being built, but identity and security are foundational blockersBinding agents to humans: why trust is lost the moment you cannot verify that an agent is working on behalf of a real, verified individualThe proliferation of agents: there are now more agents than humans, and the World ID as the trust credential: how a verified human identity can be transacted and bound to an agent so downstream service providers can trust who is calling their APIsWhy trust unlocks commerce: when you can trust, new product experiences and B2B commerce models become possible that simply cannot exist without itAuth0 for AI agents: a suite of tools to help developers manage the full agent life cycleThe economic value of verified identity: as agents take over more aspects of labor, knowing a human is behind them becomes increasingly valuableThe views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

    6 min
  6. Vercel Is Building the Infrastructure Layer for Human-Verified Agents

    May 12

    Vercel Is Building the Infrastructure Layer for Human-Verified Agents

    Mason Nystrom sits down with Tom Occhino, Chief Product Officer at Vercel, to explore how Vercel is evolving from the front-end cloud into agentic infrastructure, and why their partnership with World ID is giving humans a way to be first-class citizens of the internet again. The insight: proof of human is not just bot protection. It inverts the entire model. Instead of asking whether something is a bot, developers can now build software that is human-only by default and then decide what access to grant to agents operating on a human's behalf. Key Topics: Vercel as agentic infrastructure: three parts, deploy software with agents, build and run agents, and a self-improving platform that sends pull requests to fix its own errorsFrom framework-defined infrastructure to agentic infrastructure: the evolution of Vercel's core product philosophyWhy proof of human is the perfect poster child for Workflows: a multi-step async process that becomes one line of codeCAPTCHAs are archaic: why the entire model of bot detection is broken and needs to be invertedHuman-only by default: the new model where software starts as human-only and then grants access to agents that have a verified human backing themTrust scores and Uber-style ratings for agents: how proof of human enables differentiated experiences for humans versus botsGetting started: one NPM package, one line of code, and the Workflow SDK makes World ID integration dead simpleConcert tickets, sneaker drops, and high-cost actions: the real-world use cases where human verification is non-negotiable The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

    9 min
  7. Sam Altman: Proof of Human in the Age of AI

    Apr 21

    Sam Altman: Proof of Human in the Age of AI

    Sam Altman (World/OpenAI) joins Cosmo Jiang (Pantera Capital) to discuss why proof of human is the necessary complement to powerful AI.  Then Mason Nystrom turns the mic on Cosmo to break down the investment case for World. The problem: we are rapidly entering a world of infinite AI-generated content and infinite AI identities.  In that world, knowing what is truly human becomes one of the most valuable primitives on the internet. World is building the cryptographically secure, verifiable proof of human layer to make that possible. Key Topics: - Why Sam Altman believes World is especially urgent now: AI is advancing faster than expected and proof of human has never been more necessary - AI as technology of abundance, World as technology of scarcity: why the two are complementary not competitive - Pantera's investment thesis: blockchain as the right infrastructure for cryptographically secure, sybil-resistant proof of human - Agents need to move money: why agentic payments are one of the things Sam is most personally excited about - Proof of human as a substrate for layered credentials: driver's licenses, education, employment, all appended to a verified human identity - Advertising as the first massive use case: a half trillion dollar industry that will pay a significant premium for verified human impressions - Dating apps, government services, and enterprise partnerships: Tinder, DocuSign, Zoom, Okta, and Versa all announcing how they will work with World ID - Human-directed agents: why proof of human accelerates agentic commerce rather than blocking it - A potential $50 billion free cash flow protocol if verified humanness generates even $5 to $10 per person per year 01:27 Sam Altman Keynote at World’s Lift-Off Event 02:12 Why World Was Built 03:48 Blockchain x AI 04:08 World ID Use Cases 04:47 World's Founding Vision 05:10 World ID Trajectory 05:50 Why Pantera Invested in World 06:45 Sam Altman Saw This Coming 07:10 Proof of Human at Scale 10:12 The Value of Digital Identity 11:11 Agents Need a Human in the Loop 11:42 Scaling to Billions of Users 12:53 Enterprise Partnerships The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

    13 min
  8. Agentic Payments - the Builder’s Perspective

    Apr 14

    Agentic Payments - the Builder’s Perspective

    Mason Nystrom sits down with Cuy Sheffield (Visa Crypto) and Jay Yu (Pantera Capital) to explore the future of agentic payments at the intersection of AI, crypto, and cards. Stablecoin supply grew 40% in 2025. Adjusted transaction volume grew 90%. X402 and the Machine Payment Protocol are live. Visa CLI is in beta. Agentic commerce is no longer a concept. It is happening right now. Key Topics: Stablecoin growth in 2025: 40% supply expansion, 90% growth in adjusted transaction volumeStablecoin-linked cards: why wallets need card credentials to reach 150 million merchants on day oneVibe coders as the most exciting customer segment on the planet and why headless merchants serve them bestThe three generations of small business: brick and mortar, e-commerce, and the headless merchant endpoint you can build in an hour from bedOne human companies: why the barrier to starting a business has never been lowerKilling the API key: why wallet-based identity over X402 and MPP is a 10x better developer experienceVisa CLI: how Visa built a card-based agent payment tool for vibe coders, starting by solving their own problemsWhy the value of software is trending to zero and trust plus distribution is the only remaining moat

    44 min
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About

On Stateful, we go deep into blockchain venture capital: investing in DeFi, digital asset treasuries, Solana, and the frontier of Web3 infrastructure. Each episode unpacks Pantera’s new investments, explores the dynamics of asymmetric returns, and provides insights into the projects and protocols shaping the next generation of finance. Whether you’re a founder, investor, or simply blockchain-curious, Stateful brings you behind the curtain with the team that’s been first to nearly every milestone in the space. Pantera Capital was the first U.S. institutional asset manager exclusively focused on blockchain technology, launching the first U.S. crypto fund when bitcoin traded at $65. Since 2013, Pantera has pioneered venture equity, early-stage tokens, and liquid digital asset strategies—backing more than 100 blockchain companies and 110 token projects globally.

Information

  • Creator
    Pantera Capital
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Stateful
  • Show Website
    Stateful

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