Talking Tokens
Talking Tokens
October 13, 2026·33:21

What Could Take For Ethereum to Hit $10,000

In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Kevin Lepsoe, founder of ETHGas, to discuss how Ethereum could evolve into faster, more efficient financial infrastructure and what that could mean for institutions, DeFi and AI agents.

Kevin Lepsoe breaks down ETHGas's vision for real-time Ethereum, why faster blockspace could bring liquidity back to the network, and the practical barriers institutions face when moving large amounts of capital onchain. They also discuss Ethereum's institutional comeback, why traditional credit relies on so many intermediaries, how smart contracts could reshape banking, and why AI agents may naturally gravitate toward DeFi as they begin transacting at machine speed.

Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:24 Ethereum's Institutional Shift 03:21 What's Still Missing From DeFi 05:43 Building Real-Time Ethereum 06:15 Why Blockspace Matters 07:21 What If Ethereum Were 100x Faster? 09:02 ETH as Strategic Infrastructure 11:51 Is Ethereum Having a Comeback? 13:19 ETHGas as Ethereum's “Supercharger” 14:40 Kevin's $10,000K ETH Thesis 16:43 Ethereum Treasury Companies 18:09 What Ethereum Needs Next 18:41 Bringing Institutional Capital Onchain 20:26 Why Institutions Want to Move Onchain 21:50 Can DeFi Cut Out Banking Middlemen? 23:54 What Institutions Want From Ethereum 25:40 AI Meets Onchain Finance 25:53 Why AI Agents Could Choose DeFi 27:15 Building Through Ethereum's Market Cycles 28:31 Ethereum's Decentralization Advantage 29:46 Where Ethereum Could Be in One Year

🔔 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 Kevin Lepsoe https://x.com/lepsoe

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 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

#Ethereum #ETHGas #DeFi #OnchainFinance #ETH

JM
Jacquelyn Melinek

What Could Take For Ethereum to Hit $10,000

0:000:00

Share this episode

More from Talking Tokens

 How Injective Is Building Financial Markets Onchain
44:38
October 8, 2026

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

Why Banks Risk More by Ignoring Stablecoins
45:03
October 6, 2026

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

Talking Tokens | Inside the Future of Onchain Finance
1:32
October 5, 2026

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