Talking Tokens
Talking Tokens
June 16, 2026·44:25

Taking Crypto Mainstream with Nostalgia & Creative Marketing | Dakota Campbell, Collector Crypt

On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Dakota Campbell, Head of Marketing at Collector Crypt, the platform that generated $165 million in volume in April alone by putting trading cards and physical collectibles onchain with Solana.  Dakota explains the resurgence of physical collecting is what's actually pulling people toward digital ownership, and why Solana's low fees were the thing that finally made tokenizing a five-dollar card make sense after years of the idea being cost-prohibitive on Ethereum. He also dives into how he thinks about marketing to everyday collectors vs crypto audiences, what it took to scale the business over the past few years and expansion beyond trading card games. This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign that Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast are doing, diving into founders' journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying newsletter on www.token-relations.com  TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The Evolution of Collectibles 02:55 Digital Collectibles and Nostalgia 06:12 Collector Crypt's Success and Market Dynamics 09:02 The Role of Solana in Collector Crypt 12:02 User Experience: Crypto Native vs. Mainstream Collectors 15:14 Marketplace Dynamics and Price Discoverability 17:45 Attracting Non-Crypto Collectors 21:01 Marketing Strategies for Diverse Audiences 25:21 Understanding Audience Engagement 28:41 Navigating Marketing in the Crypto Space 33:34 Expanding Beyond Trading Card Games 37:18 Rapid Fire Insights on Collectibles You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps.  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens  Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek    Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens    Follow us on Instagram   / _talkingtokens   Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.

JM
Jacquelyn Melinek

Taking Crypto Mainstream with Nostalgia & Creative Marketing | Dakota Campbell, Collector Crypt

0:000:00

Share this episode

More from Talking Tokens

Tapping a Credit Card to Buy Coffee With Bitcoin Is…Kinda Wrong | Strata Research
15:51
July 3, 2026

Tapping a Credit Card to Buy Coffee With Bitcoin Is…Kinda Wrong | Strata Research

On this edition of Strata Research, Jacquelyn sits down with institutional research analyst Alex Beaudry to dig into crypto cards, which many assumed were built for consumers but are actually seeing most traction from institutions.  Alex breaks down why the developed market consumer card is basically a feature in search of a need, what Visa is building that could change the equation, and why onchain credit could be the piece of this stack that makes or breaks the whole argument.  TIMESTAMPS: 01:21 - What a crypto card actually is and how it works under the hood  03:04 - Why the developed market consumer card hasn't taken off — and may never 07:22 - Where the real value actually is: B2B and institutional usage  08:39 - The acquisition wave and why infrastructure is the real prize 11:46 - Onchain credit: what works and what's still broken  14:01 - What to watch over the next 6–24 months You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps.  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens  Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek    Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens    Follow us on Instagram   / _talkingtokens   Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.

Evernorth Has 473 Million XRP And An Argument to Why Idle Capital Should Not Exist | Asheesh Birla
45:55
July 2, 2026

Evernorth Has 473 Million XRP And An Argument to Why Idle Capital Should Not Exist | Asheesh Birla

On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Asheesh Birla, CEO of Evernorth, the Ripple-backed digital asset treasury firm holding roughly 473 million XRP tokens, to talk about why he thinks we've finally hit the inflection point that blockchain has been building toward for over a decade.  Asheesh breaks down why most digital assets sit idle the same way cash sits in a bank account, how Evernorth is building a real-time agentic risk engine to change that, and why he believes the winners in this space will be the ones who develop the three pillars of tech, commercialization and liquidity. TIMESTAMPS: 02:00 - The best use case for blockchains 04:16 - The pace of blockchain adoption vs expectations 08:15 - How Evernorth is creating liquidity for XRP and digital assets 10:00 - Industry misconceptions: tech vs adoption focus 11:33 - The Evernorth report findings for RLUSD and XRP  14:11 - The significance of stablecoins for institutional markets 21:01 - The importance of asset optimization and real-time capital management 25:28 - How stablecoins strengthen crypto ecosystems rather than compete 30:33 - Idle capital as an overlooked signal and how to put assets to work 33:00 - Building trust and institutional confidence in blockchain 37:46 - The maturation of DeFi vaults and institutional-grade protocols 40:11 - Preparing Evernorth for listing and success metrics 46:42 - Long-term vision and advice for blockchain enthusiasts You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps.  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens  Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek    Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens    Follow us on Instagram   / _talkingtokens   Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.

Why Aave V4 Is Built Like a Central Bank for DeFi | Stani Kulechov
26:35
June 30, 2026

Why Aave V4 Is Built Like a Central Bank for DeFi | Stani Kulechov

On today's Talking Tokens, we're sharing Jacquelyn’s Proof of Talk chat with Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, to break down why Aave V4 moved away from a single monolithic protocol toward a hub and spoke model that works more like a central bank. Stani gets into why a lot of centralized lenders didn't hold up through both the FTX collapse and last October's market unwind. Then Stani explains why he thinks the next real growth phase for DeFi comes from financing things like AI infrastructure, tokenized equity, and credit for businesses that have never had access to capital this efficient before. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction to Aave and Stani Kulechov 03:09 Evolution from Aave V3 to Aave V4 06:03 Risk Management in DeFi 08:45 Building Network Resilience 11:58 Aave V4 and Corporate Treasury Management 14:48 Tokenized Assets and Aave Horizon 18:11 Institutional Interest in Tokenization 20:52 Mainstream Adoption of DeFi 24:02 Future Vision for Aave You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps.  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkingTokens  Follow us on X Jacquelyn:   / jacqmelinek    Talking Tokens:   / _talkingtokens    Follow us on Instagram   / _talkingtokens   Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.