How RockawayX Is Building the Actively Managed DeFi Vault | Samantha Bohbot
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Samantha Bohbot, partner and chief growth officer at RockawayX, about why DeFi vaults have evolved from simple yield products into the foundation for actively managed, institutional-grade credit strategies. Samantha, who spent nearly four years as VP of growth at DCG before joining RockawayX, explains how the firm allocates over $2 billion across venture, liquid tokens, and onchain credit, and why it launched its own vaults on Morpho and Camino after spending years as one of the largest depositors into these products itself. She walks through what separates a serious vault from a commoditized one, why credit underwriting and risk infrastructure matter more than yield numbers, and how AI agents could reshape how capital flows into DeFi. The conversation also covers the Resolve exploit, why prediction markets are overhyped relative to actual usage, how to spot confirmation bias in crypto venture, and why building real financial infrastructure takes longer than a hackathon.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Intro (01:14) Samantha's background at DCG and path to RockawayX (01:49) What RockawayX is: venture, liquid tokens, credit fund, and infrastructure (03:11) Why vaults are the next stage of the DeFi promise (05:24) How RockawayX differentiates its vault strategy from the crowd (07:22) Why credit underwriting and risk infrastructure are what separate real vaults (08:21) Why RockawayX decided to build vaults itself rather than wait (09:03) How the first RWA mixed pool works (13:37) Generative finance and how AI agents change vault UX and product fit (16:19) Embedding vaults into fintech products to reach non-crypto users (19:45) The Resolv exploit: how the attack worked and what curators got right (22:30) RockawayX's 2026 priorities and where to allocate time and resources (26:02) Why prediction markets are getting too much attention (27:14) Running a market-neutral strategy on Polymarket and its liquidity limits (33:16) Confirmation bias in crypto venture: pitching decks instead of businesses (40:09) OCC charters and the future of crypto banking regulation (42:37) Final advice: trust your gut on people and ideas
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 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_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 RockawayX Is Building the Actively Managed DeFi Vault | Samantha Bohbot
Subscribe & Listen
Why Public Markets Are About to Move Onchain | Michael Tannenbaum
Why AI Agents Will Manage Your DeFi Portfolio Before You Do | Vik Arun
More from Talking Tokens
From the Federal Reserve to Circle: What Most People Are Getting Wrong About Onchain Finance | Gordon Liao
On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Gordon Liao, Chief Economist and Head of Research at Circle, to talk about why traditional financial plumbing is still the biggest bottleneck in money movement globally. We discuss Arc, Circle's new institutional blockchain, which is being built from the ground up to handle everything from agentic nano payments to quantum-resistant encryption. Gordon believes that Arc being quantum-ready from day one isn't just a nice-to-have but a decision that could define whether the network and its users survives the next decade of security threats. Gordon also breaks down the three things he thinks the market is underestimating right now and how 99.5% of x402 payment protocol volume is already running through Circle’s USDC. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction to Gordon and His Background 02:45 The Future of Onchain Finance 05:56 USDC and Its Market Position 08:54 Agentic Commerce and AI Integration 11:57 The Launch of Arc and Its Vision 15:00 Challenges in Blockchain Adoption 17:55 Privacy and Security in Blockchain 20:57 Quantum Computing and Its Implications 24:10 Market Perspectives and Economic Insights 30:02 Final Thoughts and Advice 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.
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.
What the Last Decade of Fintech Got Wrong | A Look Into Crypto Neobanks
On this episode of Strata Research, presented by Talking Tokens & Token Relations, Jacquelyn sits down with Institutional Research Analyst Alex Beaudry to dig into crypto neobanks. Apps are rebuilding what Chime and Revolut did a decade ago, but on stablecoin rails and Alex explains how founders can set themselves up for success. Alex’s insights cover why the float and yield model is both the most lucrative and the hardest to sustain through a bear market, and where the real opportunity sits for anyone watching this space over the next 12 to 24 months. Check out the associated newsletter for more details: https://www.token-relations.com/p/the-neobank-playbook TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction to Crypto Neobanks 02:59 Revenue Models and Market Dynamics 06:02 Challenges and Risks in Crypto Neobanking 08:04 Future Trends and Considerations 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.