Somewhere between timelines, blockchains & AI
Joined March 2025
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Is the traditional crypto exchange model reaching its limit?
For years, centralized exchanges (CEXs) have operated like one giant system, handling custody, trading, liquidity, security, and more under a single roof.
But is putting everything under one entity creating bigger security risks?
In this conversation, Bitget CEO explains how the old exchange model works, why it became so popular, and why the industry may need a different approach.
His explanation starts with one simple idea:
One exchange. Too many responsibilities.
A closer look at the structure behind crypto exchanges and what the future could look like.
@KevinWSHPod x @bitget
DROPS E46: @Bitget CEO - Bank Custody Meets Crypto Trading: Who Needs the Old Exchange Model?
@GracyBitget is the CEO of Bitget. Today, we talk about why she thinks the exchange model has hit its limit, and what should replace it. It’s her first public conversation on the Bitget Open Custody Network.
We talk about:
- Exchanges as one giant monster
- Bitget’s Open Custody Network
- Why risk compounds when one platform does everything
- Assets in bank, trading on Bitget
- The recent security events
- Why retail may not be the audience yet
- Why pushing AUM away is the right call
- Crypto growing up from kid to adult
- What success looks like in three years
And much more...
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:19 The Recent Security Events
05:38 How Ready Were You For The Recent Security Events?
09:27 Why she woke up before anyone called
11:15 The Old Security Model Is Dead
15:50 Why Third Parties Now Mean More Security
18:28 Same UX With Much Better Security?
23:51 How To Pick The Right Custodian
25:39 Custody Explained For Beginners
27:31 Why Call It A Bank?
28:15 Bitget’s “open custody network” explained
31:10 Why Is It Called “Open” Custody?
32:51 Inspire Other Exchanges Or Sell To Them?
34:49 The Future Of Crypto Security?
36:11 Be Your Own Bank vs. What Crypto Became
41:29 What Success Looks Like In 3 Years
42:36 The Impact On The Whole Industry
45:09 What To Remember From Today
45:51 Thank You, Gracy
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I wanted to take more responsibility for my crypto.
Keeping everything on an exchange felt convenient, but I wanted a way to manage my own wallet and have more control over my keys. That’s what made me try @Tangem .
I can create my wallet in the app, manage different blockchains in one place, and buy, swap, or stake without switching between wallets. I also know self-custody comes with responsibility: keeping my backup safe and never sharing it.
For me, it’s not about making crypto complicated. It’s about having more control over how I manage it.
Tangem. Your money. Your rules.
#WhyTangem
Tangem's $10,000 Giveaway is back 🚀
Moving your crypto? Tell the world why you chose to keep your keys:
1. Post with #WhyTangem & tag @Tangem. Show your Tangem Wallet or App, and share why you chose self-custody and Tangem
2. Fill out the form & QRT this post
3. Get rewarded in BTC:
📹Video: $30
🧵Thread with photos: $20
📸Photo post: $10
72 hours only🔥
Did one tweet really kill FTX?
In November 2022, @cz_binance announced that Binance would liquidate its remaining FTT holdings. Days later, FTX collapsed!!
SBF later said CZ’s tweet helped bring the company down.
CZ’s response was direct:
“If one of your competitors can make a tweet to kill your company, then you don’t have a company.”
But the FTX collapse was far bigger than a single tweet.
In this conversation, CZ breaks down what happened, Binance’s role in the collapse, the controversies that followed, the 10/10 crash, his time in prison, and where he thinks crypto is heading next."
One of crypto’s most consequential stories, from CZ’s perspective.
@KevinWSHPod x @cz_binance
E:187: @cz_binance: The Truth about 10/10 and why Binance won't be CZ's biggest life achievement
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:01 Life On The Road
3:33 Who Is CZ?
5:14 Growing Up Poor In Canada
6:45 His Sister's Career & Burnout
7:35 Avoiding The "Third Generation Degenerate" Trap
8:07 The "Living Room" Where Binance Started
10:05 Sponsors: @variational_io & @Bitwise
10:58 What Made Binance's Early Team Different
12:32 What "Hardworking" Really Means
13:35 The Biggest Binance Myths
14:24 Why Binance Listings Disappoint Investors
16:54 Can Retail Ever Actually Win?
18:58 Where The "4" Meme Came From
20:55 Tweeting "4" While Privately Agreeing?
21:29 The Full FTX Tweet Story
25:13 The Hardest Period Of CZ's Life
26:05 Going To Prison With No Clear Exit in Sight
27:48 Who Disappeared When Things Got Hard?
28:31 Sponsor: @KASTxyz
29:18 The Trump Presidential Pardon Process
32:20 Was The Pardon Political?
34:32 CZ's Advice For @elonmusk On X Money & Bitcoin
35:44 Bybit Hack: Why Did CZ Advise Ben Zhou To Halt Withdrawals
36:42 The Binance 2019 $40M Hack
41:18 Is Hyperliquid A Threat To Binance?
45:07 Why HYPE Still Isn't On Binance Spot
46:31 What Happened Exactly on 10/10
51:31 Sponsors: @JupiterExchange & @ethena
52:14 CZ's Crypto Legacy
53:56 @GiggleAcademy , AI & Education
1:00:56 Can CZ Move the Bitcoin Price?
1:03:30 Outro
There’s a point in crypto where the best products might be the ones where you barely notice the crypto.
When @KevinWSHPod asked @gdog97_ what the holy grail for a stablecoin-native bank looks like, the answer came back to one simple idea:
Make crypto invisible.
Not making users think about crypto.
Not making them understand the infrastructure.
Just making the product feel better.
→ A normal fintech experience
→ Better numbers, like higher savings rates
→ Crypto quietly working in the background
The form factor stays familiar.
The experience stays simple.
But the underlying product gets enhanced by crypto.
Maybe the future of crypto isn’t making people use crypto.
Maybe it’s making crypto so useful that they never need to know it’s there.
@KevinWSHPod × @gdog97_
@EthenaPay
E184: @ethena CEO - Why @EthenaPay Feels Like Revolut, Not MetaMask
@gdog97_ is the founder and CEO of Ethena. He stumbled into DeFi in 2019 when a friend showed him MakerDAO - taking out a $5,000 loan against $10,000 of ETH with no one standing in the middle of the transaction.
Six years later he's running Ethena, which scaled to $15 billion in stablecoin supply faster than anything else in crypto history, and his thesis is that a dollar with a yield in an app that doesn't feel like crypto is what finally brings 100 million new users in.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:37 Which Of Guy's Plans Fell Apart
5:37 Where Actually Are The Users Everyone Wants
7:10 What Got Guy Hooked On Crypto
9:20 PayPal vs Revolut vs Neo Banks
12:43 Partnerships: @variational_io @Bitwise
13:36 Revolut vs Stablecoin Neo Banks
15:58 Is Switching To Neo Banks Really A 10x
18:00 EthenaPay, Explained Simply
21:21 Why Build Another Crypto Neo Bank
23:53 Will Crypto Banks Fight Over The Pie
25:55 How Ethena Wins Users By Helping Everyone
32:47 What Actually Makes Ethena Different
36:51 Ethena's Cashback System Revealed
38:32 How Ethena Cuts Fees
39:39 How Ethena Finds The Best Yield
45:16 Guy On Dealing With FUD
48:35 Why Guy Stays Quiet
49:29 Partnership: @KASTxyz
50:17 Ethena's KPI Targets
51:55 The Holy Grail For A Stablecoin Neo Bank
52:31 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange Ethena
53:14 If Everyone Does The Same Thing, Who Wins
55:23 What's Next For Ethena After EthenaPay
56:36 Is EthenaPay Basically USDe
58:04 Closing Thoughts
I'm a freelance video editor and wanted to give Mochi a shot using a real problem I could actually face.
Suppose I receive a brief and reference video from a client and deliver the final cut. The client says the pacing is too slow, the colours don't match the reference, and the overall atmosphere isn't what they wanted.
I say I followed the brief.
The problem? The brief might simply say: “make it feel like a movie.” There's no clear rule or standard for how cinematic a video should be.
So I asked Mochi: How could a GenLayer Intelligent Contract decide on a dispute like this?
What clicked for me was the shift from simply establishing rules to evaluating evidence and meaning. The brief, reference video and final cut could all become part of the evidence, while validators independently review the case.
Then I pushed it further.
What if the client still disagrees with the validators?
The decision can be challenged and re-evaluated by a larger group of validators, rather than relying on a single AI or a middleman.
But what interested me most was the why behind the decision.
Mochi explained that a contract could be designed to record the rationale behind a validator's vote alongside the vote itself. Instead of simply seeing “approved” or “rejected,” I could potentially see why it was approved or where the edit failed to meet the agreed criteria.
As an editor, there's one thing I'd want Mochi to have: a visual comparison before the verdict. Reference vs final cut, with pacing and colour differences clearly highlighted.
That could turn “this doesn't feel cinematic” into something both sides can actually look at and discuss.
I started this conversation with a video editing dispute I could realistically face. I ended up wondering: how many creative disagreements are really disagreements over evidence and meaning?
@GenLayer
t.me/GenMochiBot
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Self-custody sounds pretty straightforward: you hold your own assets, so you don’t have to trust anyone.
But @tokarev_d points out a layer people often overlook when talking about self-custody: the software behind the wallet.
➜ You still have to trust the software.
➜ You still have to trust the firmware.
➜ Or run it yourself through a terminal
The hardware might be in your hands, but there’s still a software layer you’re relying on.
And that’s where things get interesting. The idea of self-custody is often presented as “you don’t have to trust anyone,” but there are still layers of technology you have to rely on.
That doesn’t make self-custody meaningless. It just makes the idea of being completely “trustless” a little more complicated than it sounds.
A really interesting perspective from @tokarev_d on @KevinWSHPod , talking about @bronwallet and the broader problem of crypto security.
DROPS 43: @bronwallet CEO and co-founder: The Seedless MPC Wallet Built for a Gun to Your Head
@tokarev_d built a billion-dollar institutional crypto custodian, then walked away to fix a gap he says has existed for years: institutions solved self-custody five years ago, and retail is still writing 24 words on paper and hoping for the best. His argument is blunt - "trustless" self custody was always a myth, and the seed phrase is crypto's floppy disk.
0:00 Intro
2:01 What Dmitry Tells His Uber Driver He Does
3:15 Who Is Dmitry Tokarev
4:15 Dmitry's Last $1 Billion Business
5:29 Why People Still Trust Centralized Exchanges
9:55 Crypto's Institution vs Retail Gap
11:54 The Biggest Lie About Self-Custody
13:01 Nothing In Crypto Is Actually Trustless
14:55 Why Dmitry Is Obsessed With Security
20:01 Partnership: @FortisX_fi
20:27 What Made Dmitry Bet His Life On Crypto
23:42 What Security Experts Know That You Don't
25:30 Seed Phrases Explained Simply
28:27 How Many People Lose Crypto Seed Phrases
32:59 When Seed Phrases Go The Way Of Floppy Discs
35:29 What Is Bron Wallet
37:00 Who Bron Wallet Is Actually For
40:15 Why Bron Wallet Built A Seed Phrase Museum
41:38 What Happens To Your Bitcoin When You Die
44:59 How Bron Wallet Protects Your Crypto
47:20 Can The Government Kill Self-Custody
50:12 What Will Shock Us 10 Years From Now
51:16 Dmitry's Plan To Market Bron Wallet
54:11 The One Takeaway To Leave With
55:32 The Security Problems Coming If Nothing Changes
57:47 Closing Thoughts
Search "When Shift Happens" on your favourite podcast platform
Owning a small amount of Bitcoin doesn’t mean the risk is small.
When @KevinWSHPod asked @Trezor why the average person should care about self-custody in 2026, the conversation came down to one simple question:
Who actually owns your Bitcoin?
If your Bitcoin sits on an exchange or custodial platform, you're trusting someone else to hold it. On their system, you're ultimately just an entry in a database showing how much Bitcoin is assigned to you.
The industry has matured significantly since Mt. Gox. Companies are bigger, security is better, and the infrastructure has come a long way.
But security isn’t the only thing evolving. Attackers are getting better too.
The technology has changed. The question of who controls your Bitcoin hasn’t.
@KevinWSHPod × @Trezor
E184: @Trezor CTO: Why Smart People Still Get Scammed and How To Spot An AI Deepfake Before It Drains Your Wallet
@tsusanka is the CTO of Trezor. He studied cryptography before building the hardware wallets that pioneered self-custody. We get into why people are so bad at judging risk, how scammers now use AI to sound completely legit, and whether quantum computers are actually coming for Bitcoin.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
4:15 What Tomas Actually Builds
6:28 Why Bitcoin Still Matters
8:25 Who Is Tomas Susanka?
10:10 Why Humans Suck At Security
12:58 Why We Downplay Risk
14:27 How To Actually Think About Risk
15:25 Does Being Smart Lower Your Risk?
16:54 Why Smart People Fall For Scams
23:39 How To Actually Fix The Scam Problem
25:12 Partnerships: @Variational @Bitwise
28:57 How Tomas Protects His Own Assets
29:49 The Craziest Hack Tomas Has Seen
31:24 The Security Habit That Looks Insane
32:27 Why Self-Custody Actually Matters
36:05 When You Actually Need A Hardware Wallet
41:42 Hardware Wallet Myths Debunked
44:16 Solving Crypto's Inheritance Problem
46:29 Should You Keep Assets On An Exchange?
47:32 Partnership: @KASTxyz
48:20 The Security Setup For Kevin's Grandma
50:08 How To Stop Hacks And Scams
1:01:57 Should You Upgrade Your Trezor?
1:04:02 The Weirdest Seed Phrase Hiding Spot
1:05:28 How Self-Custody Stops Being Archaic
1:08:07 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange @ethena
1:08:50 The Biggest Problem With Self-Custody
1:09:52 Is Quantum Computing A Real Threat?
1:14:48 Who's Actually Taking Quantum Seriously?
1:20:41 Who's Protecting Bitcoin From Quantum?
1:23:58 The Crypto Belief Tomas Rejects
1:25:03 Is Self-Custody Oversold?
1:26:12 Is There A Future For Digital Identity?
1:27:56 Is Self-Custody Getting Too Complicated?
1:28:42 The Worst Advice Tomas Has Heard
1:29:43 Does AI Make You Safer Or More Vulnerable?
1:31:25 Closing Thoughts
@crediblefin keeps shipping, and the more updates I see, the more interesting this project gets.
July alone saw $162M in processed volume, a business card spend pilot, an analytics dashboard, and the solana:CREDBHvVqREBCAxMihzr8D1nepHMr2gmQoZWpmgGmeta raise completed on MetaDAO.
Then in August, they kept expanding the payment rails: USD–CNY collections and payouts, IDR support via bank transfer, GoPay and OVO, plus cash access through @MoneyGram terminals with MGUSD support.
What stands out to me most though is the treasury model. Profits are now flowing back to a Futarchy-governed treasury, with the flows tracked on 01Resolved.
Real usage, real revenue, and a treasury that benefits as the protocol grows.
Still early, but definitely one I'm watching closely. 👀 solana:CREDBHvVqREBCAxMihzr8D1nepHMr2gmQoZWpmgGmeta
Great updates from @crediblefin. New financial statements, with profits being returned to the Futarchy governed treasury with flows tracked on @01Resolved
In July, the team reported $162M in processed volume, launched a business card spend pilot, shipped an analytics dashboard, and completed the solana:CREDBHvVqREBCAxMihzr8D1nepHMr2gmQoZWpmgGmeta raise on @MetaDAOProject
In August, USD–CNY collections and payouts went live, IDR payouts launched across bank transfer, GoPay and OVO, and cash access was announced through MoneyGram terminals, including MGUSD support
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There’s a point in crypto where having the right idea matters less than being able to stick to it.
When @KevinWSHPod asked @kashdhanda how people can get rich in crypto without relying on luck, the answer kept coming back to discipline.
Not just in finding opportunities ; but in what happens after you find one.
⇒ Know what you're buying.
⇒ Know why you're buying it.
And know what would make you sell before emotions and price action get a chance to change your mind.
The story about his father-in-law writing a sell price on the back of an envelope captured that perfectly.
A limit order is just the modern version.
Make the important decisions while your head is clear ; not later, when the market gives you every reason to second-guess them.
@KevinWSHPod × @kashdhanda
E183: @jupiterexchange COO - Why Solana Is The Everything Chain and Why Get Rich Slow Is The Real Alpha
@kashdhanda is the COO of Jupiter, the biggest trading and DeFi platform on @Solana. He got his start on the founding team at Superteam, then spent the last year and a half building Jupiter into what he calls the on-chain finance super app. We get into why he keeps half his own portfolio in yield-bearing stablecoins, why meme coins are just video games with no staying power, and why he thinks the fat protocol thesis got it backwards.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:10 Crypto's Middleman Problem
3:20 What TradFi Actually Knows About Crypto
4:46 Crypto's Place Inside TradFi
6:19 Early Tech, Late Investment?
7:59 Who Is Kash Dhanda?
9:26 Kash's Role At Superteam
11:42 Why Kevin Went All-In On $SOL in 2023 & $ZEC in 2025
13:02 Infinite Capitalism, Explained
16:07 Sponsors: @variational_io & @Bitwise
17:00 Which Assets Win When Liquidity Is Scarce
19:15 Kash On Memecoins
21:27 Why Keep 10% For Gambling
22:58 The Hidden Cost Of Infinite Capitalism
24:15 Getting Rich In Crypto Without Luck
26:18 Timing Beats Holding
27:25 The Only Way To Compound Wealth
31:14 The Case For All-In Stablecoins
32:59 Protocols Kash Actually Trusts
34:12 Kash's Stablecoin Allocation
37:07 How To Know You're Wrong
40:10 Sponsors @KASTxyz
40:58 Yield's TAM Is About To Explode
43:21 Is Solana Back From The Dead?
45:32 Where SOL's $1B Liquidity Really Goes
47:09 Solana's Biggest Weakness
48:44 Building Products Without Breaking Solana
51:01 Solana's 2026 Thesis
52:23 Is SOL Future-Proof?
54:07 What Jupiter Actually Is
54:34 How Jupiter Stops You From Getting Rekt
56:13 Why @ethena Powers JUPUSD
57:19 Why Jupiter Needs Its Own Stablecoin
1:00:05 How $JUP Generates Yield
1:01:08 The Super App Race: Who Wins?
1:03:20 Jupiter Spend, Explained
1:04:58 Sponsors @JupiterExchange & @ethena
1:05:42 Why Jupiter Spend Wins
1:07:39 GUM Explained Simply
1:10:20 What Else GUM Unlocks
1:12:30 Does Solana's Success Lift Jupiter?
1:14:45 Why $JUP Flopped Last Cycle
1:17:21 Jupiter's Comeback Plan
1:19:23 Is $JUP A Buy?
1:20:38 Hyperliquid vs Jupiter & GUM
1:21:38 Why Everyone's Talking About Hyperliquid
1:23:28 The Biggest Takeaway
1:24:15 Closing Thoughts
Is Bitcoin really “too expensive” at $80K?
That’s the question Jordi Visser was asked.
But his answer goes beyond Bitcoin’s price.
He points to a bigger shift happening across markets, from tokenization and stablecoins to equity markets, Bitcoin miners, and AI compute.
As these worlds start connecting, the way the market views Bitcoin could change too.
So the real question is:
Are we judging Bitcoin by today’s price, or by what it could become part of tomorrow?
@KevinWShPod × @jvisserlabs
#Bitcoin #BTC #Crypto #AI
E182: @jvisserlabs - Why Aging is a disease, Why Bitcoin is a hedge against abundance and why you shouldn't buy a house!
Jordi Visser spent three decades on Wall Street, from a Morgan Stanley trading desk to CIO at Weiss Multi-Strategy. These days he studies AI, macro, and longevity full time. We cover why he thinks aging is optional, why Bitcoin is the only asset he'd bet on for the next decade, and why money never actually made him happy.
00:00 Intro
02:10 Jordi's Weekend Recap
03:49 The Blueprint For Living To 100
04:31 Why Longevity Became An Obsession
05:44 What Kills A Healthy Habit
07:20 Supplements & Meds: Worth It?
09:51 Partnerships: @variational_io @Bitwise
10:44 The First Step Into Longevity
12:17 Wealth's Hidden Effect On Longevity
14:03 Peptides & Hormones: Jordi's Take
17:47 What Is Heart-Rate Variability?
21:21 How To Track Your HRV
23:17 Average vs. Great HRV
25:12 Lessons From The Finance World
29:10 Learning What Money Really Means
31:58 Partnership: @KASTxyz
32:47 Why Make More Money At All
35:20 "AI Will Make Everything Abundant"
38:20 Does Abundance Mean Cheaper?
38:54 Why We'll Still Need Wealth
41:22 How Jordi Fell Into Bitcoin
47:44 Jordi's Bitcoin Thesis, Simplified
50:10 How Much Bitcoin Is In His Portfolio
50:48 Would Jordi Ever Sell?
51:52 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange @ethena
52:38 How Big Can Bitcoin Get
54:00 On "Bitcoin Is Too Expensive"
55:28 Why A Crypto Channel, Not Just Bitcoin
56:25 Does Jordi Own Other Crypto
57:24 Other Scarce Assets He's Bought
58:41 Should 20-Somethings Buy A House
01:02:00 Routine vs. Unique
01:03:57 Why Allergies Aren't Real
01:07:02 Closing Thoughts
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A token can look like a business long before it actually becomes one.
That’s what stood out to me from @nickforster’s conversation on @KevinWSHPod.
The interesting part isn’t creating the token.
It’s what comes after:
➩ Make it look legitimate.
➩ Get it listed.
➩ Let the market decide what it’s worth.
Because when there’s no real product, no revenue, and no clear path to either, perception can start doing the work that fundamentals should.
So the real question is:
Are people buying the product, or the story built around it?
@KevinWSHPod × @DeriveXYZ
DROPS 41: @DeriveXYZ - Why Options Will Beat Perps This Decade
@nickforster is co-founder and CEO of Derive, the largest on-chain options exchange. Today we get into what almost killed the company, why they rebranded overnight, and why he thinks options - not perps - are the real endgame for on-chain finance.
We talk about:
- The token playbook that killed 98% of crypto projects
- The wedding in Portugal where the whole team almost walked away
- Rebranding from Lyra to Derive in nine days
- Why options will outgrow perps this decade
- What blockchains are actually bad at
- Why AI makes options the natural vehicle for agent finance
And much more…
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
2:04 - The Mission Behind Derive
3:00 - What Does Derive Actually Do?
5:18 - Who Actually Uses Options?
7:03 - Nick's Journey Into Crypto
8:09 - The problem with crypto's last five years
11:17 - The token listing playbook
17:44 - Partnership: @FortisX_fi
18:10 - The $15M Market Cap Crisis
24:12 - Why Nick Stayed
26:01 - What finally changed
29:38 - Why Options Could Become Huge
32:52 - Options vs Perpetuals
34:37 - Making options accessible to retail
38:36 - Why Derive Rebranded
40:12 - From V1 to V3
46:03 - The Real Power of Programmable Finance
48:19 - What Blockchains are actually Bad at
49:59 - What's Derive bad at?
50:53 - The endgame for Derive
51:47 - What's Holding Derive Back?
52:50 - Why Crypto Builders Need to Stick Together
54:49 - Why Stay in Crypto in 2026?
56:57 - Conclusion
$1B in payment volume is more than a milestone.
It’s a strong signal that stablecoin-powered infrastructure is starting to handle real-world global payments at meaningful scale.
@crediblefin is connecting local payment rails with onchain liquidity across 21+ currencies and 33+ payment methods, making global pay-ins and payouts faster and more flexible.
The bigger story isn’t just the $1B.
It’s what that number represents: real payment infrastructure being used at scale.
Global payments are changing, and @crediblefin is building right in the middle of it.
One insight from @raagulanpathy, Founder & CEO of @KASTxyz, and @KevinWSHPod really changed the way I think about customer growth.
Most people assume every customer generates value.
In reality, many financial companies lose money on the majority of their customers.
At first, that sounds like a flawed business model.
But the real question is:
Why keep investing in customers who aren't profitable?
Because customer value isn't static.
The person who costs you money today could become your most valuable customer tomorrow.
The best businesses don't just optimize for short-term profit.
They build long-term relationships and grow alongside their customers.
A simple idea. A powerful lesson. Worth 33 seconds. 👇
E180: KAST Founder: Most crypto neobanks will be gone in 12 months
@raagulanpathy is the founder and CEO of @KASTxyz , a global stablecoin neobank, and a former Circle exec. He raised $80 million at a $600 million valuation on the thesis that the real prize isn't the stablecoin - it's the bank you build on top of it. We get into the money, the grind, and the token decision that pissed a chunk of his community off.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:58 How Raagulan Decides What Gets Done At KAST
04:35 The Chaos KAST Employees Deal With Daily
05:38 Raagulan's Hiring Philosophy At KAST
07:02 Why Firing Is Harder Than Hiring
08:35 The One Error That Could Kill KAST
09:52 How Raagulan Convinces Stablecoin Skeptics
10:46 What Outsiders Miss About The Payment Industry
12:06 Why KAST Needs So Many Different Departments
18:32 Partnerships: @variational_io & @Bitwise
19:24 Raagulan's Real Take On Fees
21:55 KAST's Best Type Of Customer
23:53 The Thing Raagulan Can't Say Publicly
26:54 Founders Can't Chase All These Three Things At Once
29:04 Raagulan's Experience With GLP-1s
31:39 How KAST Kept Growing When Bitcoin Crashed 50%
34:05 KAST Is On Track For $100 Million In Revenue
36:55 Why KAST Hasn't Blown Up From Overspending
41:04 Why Everyone's Racing To Build Neobanks
42:52 What Makes Neobanks So Hard To Build
44:54 Why Neobanks Keep Shutting Down
45:57 What KAST Offers That Exchanges Can't
49:14 KAST Isn't A Card Business
50:43 How KAST Is Building Momentum
54:57 Raagulan On His Competitors
56:29 Partnerships: KAST & @Trezor
57:33 Kevin's Honest Take On KAST
58:59 What KAST Is Doing With the $80 Million they raised
01:01:55 Would Raagulan Ever Sell Equity?
01:06:57 Who Buys In At A $3B Valuation Next?
01:08:39 Is Your Money Actually Yours Inside KAST
01:10:49 What Happens To Your Money If KAST Collapses
01:17:38 Custodial Vs Self-Custodial: Pros And Cons
01:19:52 Why KAST Obsesses Over Design And Brand
01:22:42 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange & @ethena
01:23:26 KAST Points & Token: Should The KAST Community Feel Cheated?
01:34:13 What's Actually Behind This Tokenized Stock?
01:35:25 The Hill Raagulan Will Die On
01:36:41 One Prediction That Comes True In 5 Years
01:37:59 Is The Worst Behind Us In Crypto?
01:42:57 The One Thing To Remember From This Conversation
01:45:16 Closing Thoughts
Crypto is one of the most talked-about industries in the world.
Yet the entire market is worth only around $3 trillion.
The world holds over $600 trillion in assets.
That comparison raises a much bigger question:
What's preventing blockchain from reaching that scale?
One insight from @KevinWSHPod and @nattyvirk really stood out to me.
Maybe the next chapter of crypto won't be defined by another bull run or another narrative.
Maybe it begins when blockchain moves beyond speculation and becomes infrastructure for real-world ownership.
Technical finality was the first step.
Legal finality could be the next.
A genuinely thought-provoking conversation that shifts the focus from short-term price action to long-term adoption.
What's your take?
DROPS E40: @blockmazerwa - Crypto is $3 trillion. The world has $600 trillion of assets.
@nattyvirk thinks crypto has been solving the wrong problem for a decade. Every token issued today adds up to $3 trillion. The world holds $600 trillion in assets. He thinks that gap only closes once tokens carry real legal weight, not just technical finality.
That's the entire premise behind Blockmaze: a chain where nothing gets tokenized unless it's backed by something tangible, licensed, and enforceable by law.
We talk about:
- Why real world assets, not speculation, are crypto's actual path to $600 trillion
- How Blockmaze tokenized 25,000+ stocks and 12,000 ETFs, a Guinness World Record
- Why 70% of the global stock market is now technically tokenizable
- What happens when stock settlement drops from two days to six seconds
- Why proof of reserve checks happen every 15 days on Blockmaze
- How AI agents transacting on tokens could reshape over half of global commerce
- Why Tajinder aka "Natty" believes the world is quietly moving back toward a barter economy
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Welcome to DROPS
1:57 Who is Tajinder aka "Natty"?
2:54 Health & Wealth
3:48 Why Health and Wealth Matter Most?
4:49 Building Food-Based Medicine
7:30 Pharma Sector Feud
9:35 The Story Behind Blockmaze
10:15 Value of Money
12:55 Applying Simplicity to Finance
17:40 Building a Global Financial Infrastructure
18:35 Partnership: @FortisX_fi
19:00 Blockchain 'Aha' Moment
23:23 What Is a Real World Asset (RWA)?
24:48 What is Blockmaze?
25:41 What Can You Tokenize?
26:59 Blockmaze's Biggest Success Story
28:39 Endgame of Blockmaze
30:57 Key Message From Co-Founder
33:42 Blockmaze isn't Launching Another Token
34:59 Conclusion
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আপনি যদি এখনও অংশগ্রহণ না করে থাকেন, তাহলে ক্যাম্পেইন শেষ হওয়ার আগেই সুযোগটি কাজে লাগাতে পারেন।
আশা করি ভিডিওটি নতুন অংশগ্রহণকারীদের জন্য পুরো প্রক্রিয়াটি বুঝতে সহায়ক হবে।
সবাইকে শুভকামনা! 💙
@BitgetWalletBGD
#ReserveOnBitgetWallet #BitgetWallet
One framework stood out from my conversation with @mert on @KevinWSHPod because it's applicable far beyond a single trade.
Instead of asking what everyone is talking about, Mert starts with a different set of questions:
⇨ Does it have the physics?
⇨ Does it have the incentives?
⇨ Is it a distressed asset?
⇨ Is the market overlooking it?
⇨ Is there asymmetric upside?
It's a simple framework, but it forces you to think beyond headlines, narratives, and short-term price action.
Whether you agree with his view on Zcash or not, the real takeaway is how he evaluates opportunities before the broader market pays attention.
This clip is just one moment from a much deeper conversation covering investing frameworks, Solana, Zcash, market structure, and first-principles thinking.
If you're serious about building conviction instead of chasing narratives, the full episode is worth watching.
Watch the full conversation on @KevinWSHPod below 👇
E179: Mert Mumtaz - $SOL at $8. zcash:native at $18. The framework that caught both, and the next potential gem
I sat down for the 3rd time with @mert the CoFounder of @solana and the CEO of @Zcash for a banger episode where we cut through the noise, understand the thesis for Solana and $SOL in 2026, why zcash:native is the last 100x in the large caps and why $NEAR might be the next $SOL at $8 and zcash:native at $18
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
4:05 Dating On Zero Sleep: Mert's Relationship Secret
7:30 The X Growth Hack That 6x'd His Following
8:51 Partnerships: @Variational @BitwiseInvest
9:44 $SOL Crashed To $8... Then Everything Changed
15:48 Solana's Secret Leadership Shakeup
18:22 The Two Laws That Future-Proof Solana
25:47 Why Solana Wins By Default
28:05 Why Traders Are Blind To Solana
30:38 Partnerships: @KASTxyz @Trezor
31:43 One of Mert's Big Bets: Solana In 2026
36:42 How Solana Becomes The New Wall Street
42:45 The Countdown To Solana's Big Upgrade
44:23 Is Solana Actually Back?
47:31 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange @Ethena
48:14 The Zcash "Scandal" That Wasn't
55:39 AI Is Coming For DeFi's Bugs
59:24 zcash:native 's 20X Case or more, Explained
1:04:40 @NEARProtocol : The Dark Horse Mert Is Watching 1:09:32 Closing Thoughts
Hello, good people!
@KaluaFX regularly brings great campaigns for our community, and today I won 1st prize ($25) in one of them! 🎉
The reward might seem small, but 10–15 winners are selected, so it gives more people a chance to earn. This isn't my first win either. Every campaign I've participated in through him has been rewarding.
A huge thank you, Kalua Bhai, for creating these opportunities.
There are 2 campaigns live right now, so if you're interested, feel free to join. Link in the comments!
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