A 117-Year-Old Asset Manager Goes “Fully Native,” Seeing Tokenization as OS upgrade | Theo Golden
On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Theo Golden, Head of Digital Assets at Baillie Gifford, to talk about BAGEY — the firm's newly launched tokenized bond fund on Solana and Ethereum that yields around 7% and settles in USDC.
Theo breaks down why he sees tokenization as an operating system upgrade rather than a reinvention of finance, how pension funds and private banks are already showing real interest in its new tokenized fund, and why he thinks AI democratizing insight and tokenization democratizing access are two themes that will collide into something nobody has fully figured out yet.
DISCLAIMER: Although our guest this week works at Baillie Gifford, nothing in this podcast should be considered an offer of its investment advisory services or should otherwise be confused for investment, tax, legal or other financial advice.
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 His Journey to Digital Assets 03:33 From Journalism to Investment Theses 06:05 Learning from Successes and Failures 10:15 The Role of Independence in Baillie Gifford’s Innovation 15:19 Gradual Growth in Tokenization 20:57 Tokenization as an Operating System Upgrade 23:57 Convincing Clients of Tokenization's Value 24:50 Operational Leverage and Risk Management 27:12 The Origin of Baillie Gifford’s BAGEY Tokenized Fund 32:18 Initial Response and Market Interest 34:43 Choosing Solana and Ethereum for the Fund Launch 38:33 Solana and The Future of Internet Capital Markets 43:09 Trust and Adoption Among Institutional Investors 46:07 The Role of Traditional Institutions in Tokenization 47:59 AI and Tokenization: A Future Intersection
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.
A 117-Year-Old Asset Manager Goes “Fully Native,” Seeing Tokenization as OS upgrade | Theo Golden
Subscribe & Listen
Why Plasma Bet Everything on USDT When Nobody Believed in Stablecoin Chains | Zaheer Evtakar, Plasma
Why Franklin Templeton Has Been Eyeing Tokenization for a Decade and What Comes After Money Funds | Roger Bayston
More from Talking Tokens
Why Crypto Has a Brain Drain Problem | Dom & Phil Kwok
On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Dom & Phil Kwok, co-founders of EasyA, a platform that teaches developers and consumers how to actually build and use blockchain technology. The brothers also run some of the biggest hackathons in the space at events like Consensus Miami and Consensus Hong Kong. Dom & Phil explain why so much of crypto's top talent drifted to AI over the past few years, why they think the sentiment around crypto is starting to shift, and how their new Kickstart product is trying to do for funding what AI did for building. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Sibling Entrepreneurs: The Journey Begins 02:31 Identifying Market Gaps in Blockchain Education 05:22 Trends in Consumer and Developer Interest 09:24 The Shift from AI to Crypto: A New Era 12:40 AI's Impact on the Workforce and Startups 15:50 Long-Term Vision: Balancing Roadmaps and Market Cycles 18:09 The Importance of Founder-Led Marketing 23:25 Getting Started on Social Media 24:38 Overcoming Fear of Posting 26:47 The Impact of AI on Content Creation 28:07 The Evolution of Startup Development 31:55 The Role of AI in Lowering Barriers to Entry 33:09 Bridging the Gap Between Wall Street and Crypto 35:45 The Growing Interest in Crypto on Wall Street 39:08 The Future of Tokenization and On-Chain Finance 43:11 Advice for Navigating the Crypto Landscape 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. 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 Tokenized Equities Need Another BlackRock Moment and Who Could Trigger It | Suzy Singh, Securitize
On today's Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn sits down with Suzy Singh, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at Securitize, to pull back the curtain on what institutional tokenization interest looks like day to day. Suzy outlines why everything you're seeing announced publicly has been in the works for six to twenty-four months behind the scenes, then breaks down why Securitize tokenized its own equity on day one of going public. Then Suzy gets into what its recent Cantor Fitzgerald partnership is really trying to unlock for blockchain-based IPOs, and why she thinks the next major wave of adoption in this space isn't going to come from institutions. TIMESTAMPS: 0:01 What tokenization means and why it matters 01:03 Why more institutions are talking about tokenization 03:25 Where demand is coming from across financial firms 05:28 The long timeline from first conversation to launch 09:11 How going public changed Securitize’s credibility 14:20 Why issuer-sponsored tokenized equities matter 19:56 IPOs, retail adoption, and the future of onchain markets You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. This episode is sponsored by Securitize, the proven leader in tokenized funds, equities, and private markets. Discover more at securitize.io. 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.
How Anchorage Is Becoming the Infrastructure Layer for All of TradFi | Nathan McCauley & Kevin Wysocki
On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Anchorage Digital’s CEO and Co-founder Nathan McCauley and Head of Policy Kevin Wysocki to talk about what the post-GENIUS Act world of stablecoins looks like from the inside. They think most of the market isn't paying enough attention to the banks racing to tokenize their deposits and explain why all 5,000+ US banks are eventually going to need stablecoin rails, how DC has done a near complete 180 on crypto, and why agentic banking is tracking almost exactly like the early crypto industry did in 2017. TIMESTAMPS: 02:00 The Current State of Institutional Adoption 03:55 Understanding Stablecoins and Digital Dollars 06:04 Global Perspective on Dollar Dominance 10:04 Future of Cross-Border Commerce and Global Payments 12:07 Building Infrastructure for Stablecoins 13:59 The Role of Policy in Stablecoin Adoption 20:50 Conversations Behind Closed Doors 23:01 Fed Master Accounts and Regulatory Clarity 27:23 The Rise of Tokenized Deposits 39:10 Building Trust in the Crypto Industry 41:49 The Future of Agentic Banking 49:34 Advice for the Future 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. 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.