
How ReserveOne Plans to Shake Up the Crowded DAT Market | Jaime Leverton
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Jaime Leverton, CEO of ReserveOne, about building a publicly-traded diversified digital asset reserve inspired by the U.S. Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile. Jaime explains why she left traditional tech and her role as CEO of Hut 8 to build ReserveOne from the ground up, how the company's 80% Bitcoin and 20% alternative assets strategy differs from single-asset treasury models, and why bridging crypto jargon to traditional finance language is critical for institutional adoption. She walks through why Bitcoin's historical four-year cycle may have ended, what 2025's surprising sideways price action tells us about 2026, and why ReserveOne raised $1 billion through a SPAC merger. The conversation covers regulatory tailwinds, institutional maturation, breaking crypto's echo chamber, Figure's real-world use cases, truth and provenance in the AI era, and why the next generation expects financial systems as fast as Roblox.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Intro (01:07) How Jaime got into crypto through Bitcoin miners flooding data centers in 2017 (03:07) Taking over Hut 8 as CEO during the Covid liquidity crash (03:51) What drew Jaime to ReserveOne and building something from the ground up (06:06) It’s big list of board members: Wilbur Ross, Sebastian Bea, Gabriel Abed, John D'Agostino, Reeve Collins (07:23) Bridging crypto jargon to make digital assets accessible to traditional investors (09:03) When ReserveOne plans to launch and current SEC filing status (10:02) How ReserveOne differs from single-asset passive treasury companies (11:04) 80% Bitcoin 20% alternative assets inspired by the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile (13:20) How digital asset treasuries evolved (17:04) What sophisticated investors understand now vs a few years ago (18:36) Misconceptions around Bitcoin (19:04) How the 2025 market surprised everyone and broke the four-year cycle (21:13) Why IBIT was the top performing ETF, yet had negative returns (23:31) Bitcoin's unique finite supply: only 1 million Bitcoin left until 2140 (25:05) What really matters in public markets: trust and transparency (28:30) Why diversification is increasingly important given global volatility (29:01) The crypto IPO boom and clearing the 2021-2024 backlog (31:11) Crypto entering a more mature institutional era vs the ICO Wild West (33:04) Figure solving real-world problems onchain as the most exciting use case (34:26) What the industry looks like in 5-10 years: eradicating analog financial systems (35:29) Why the next generation expects speed and efficiency like Roblox (37:10) Following Clarity Act progress and sovereign nation Bitcoin strategies (38:13) Truth and provenance: solving for what's real in the AI era (40:23) Final advice: stay humble curious and surround yourself with different views
ESSENTIALS 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 ReserveOne Plans to Shake Up the Crowded DAT Market | Jaime Leverton
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Crypto Is Built on a Broken Internet | Tom Warner
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Tom Warner, head of BD at DoubleZero, about why crypto is fundamentally limited by the public internet and how a new high-performance network layer could change everything. Tom explains how blockchains like Solana are hitting a performance ceiling not because of the chains themselves, but because of the infrastructure they run on. He breaks down how traditional finance firms rely on private, ultra-fast networks, why crypto has never had access to that level of connectivity, and how DoubleZero is building a decentralized alternative using subsea cables and high-performance routing. The conversation covers the launch of DoubleZero Edge, a real-time market data distribution platform designed to level the playing field for traders, why predictable latency matters more than raw speed, and how crypto still lags behind Wall Street in execution reliability. Tom also explains Solana “shreds” through a simple analogy, how multicast technology changes data distribution, and why inconsistent transaction timing is one of the biggest barriers to institutional capital. They also explore the future of 24/7 markets, the convergence of DeFi and traditional finance, the growing tension between banks and stablecoins, and what still needs to happen before crypto becomes the dominant financial system. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 What is Double Zero? 01:18 The Internet Is Slowing Crypto Down 02:47 The Hidden Network War You Never See 04:56 Solana’s Bottleneck Isn’t What You Think 06:35 What DoubleZero Edge Changes 10:22 This Analogy Explains Everything 19:16 Crypto Still Can’t Compete With Wall Street 23:32 What Happens When Markets Never Close 26:14 What’s Still Holding Crypto Back 31:52 Banks vs Stablecoins Is Just Getting Started 33:31 Where the Real Opportunities Are 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.

Why Bitcoin Really Exists | Matt Luongo and Arthur Hayes
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Matt Luongo, co-founder of Mezo, and Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom and co-founder of BitMEX, about why they see bitcoin as the best collateral ever created and what it means to build a financial system on top of it. Matt explains how Mezo is rebuilding banking on bitcoin by letting holders borrow against their BTC rather than spend it, and why the lending market that blew up last cycle is now being rebuilt onchain with better infrastructure. Arthur shares why he treats bitcoin purely as a liquidity barometer, why governments will always choose to print rather than accept consequences, and why that makes bitcoin the only rational long-term savings asset. The two walk through what sustainable bitcoin yield actually looks like versus the token-printing schemes that failed in the last cycle and how institutions holding bitcoin on their balance sheet are deploying it. The conversation also covers Arthur's personal philosophy on leverage, Matt's experience financing his house with bitcoin, and why both guests believe people shouldn’t sell your BTC, just borrow against it. Arthur Hayes: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cryptohayes/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-hayes-b493b42/ Substack - https://cryptohayes.substack.com/ Web: https://www.cryptohayes.com X - https://x.com/cryptohayes Maelstrom Fund: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/maelstromfund Web - https://www.maelstrom.fund X - https://x.com/maelstromfund TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Intro (01:37) Why Matt built Mezo and what drew Arthur in with his big picture thesis (02:23) Arthur on Maelstrom, his family office, and why bitcoin needs to be useful (03:16) The state of bitcoin in 2026 (05:57) Bitcoin as a liquidity alarm: why it rises and falls with global money printing (08:47) Governments choosing bailouts over consequences, and how bitcoin can win (15:04) How to think about risk before going max long bitcoin (20:39) What macro patterns Arthur and Matt actually track (23:41) What sustainable bitcoin yield looks like versus token-printing schemes (25:24) Why a lot of bitcoin holders have never had access to standard DeFi (32:36) How institutions with BTC on their balance sheet are thinking about yield today (34:26) Why every DeFi exploit sets institutional adoption back and what changes that (37:03) Bitcoin as collateral: what it actually unlocks for holders (38:25) How Matt and Arthur each got into crypto (44:41) Is it too late to buy bitcoin? The conversations people are actually having now (45:55) Market outlook and price predictions ESSENTIALS 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 Sky Is Building the Future of Stablecoin Yield With USDS | Rune Christensen
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Rune Christensen, founder of Sky (formerly MakerDAO), about how the protocol is connecting hundreds of billions in idle stablecoins to institutional-grade yield through its Sky Agent Network. Rune explains why Sky evolved from MakerDAO, how USDS offers a native 3.75% savings rate with no lock-ups or fees, and why the protocol generated $338 million in annualized revenue with $158 million in net profit during recent market volatility. He walks through the Sky Agent Network enabling decentralized capital allocation across players like Spark, BlackRock, and Janus Henderson, why Sky deployed $1 billion into the first tokenized CLO, and how the protocol's seven-year track record makes it the only project institutions trust at scale. The conversation covers Sky's 74% USDS supply growth, why DeFi and TradFi will merge into one system, and how AI agents will drive the next phase of financial automation through blockchain-native stablecoins. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Intro 02:08 – Why Sky evolved from MakerDAO: rethinking DeFi for real-world scale 04:00 – Sky as infrastructure for global capital markets and capital formation 05:34 – How Sky Savings Rate works with 3.75% yield 07:06 – Sky Agent Network: decentralized businesses competing for best risk-adjusted returns 08:16 – Why Sky is different from Ethena and other yield-bearing stablecoins 11:49 – Spark protocol reaching $3 billion TVL as it grows in the lending market 14:03 – How real cash-flowing assets are coming onchain for the first time 18:32 – Why institutions like BlackRock and Janus Henderson work with Sky 27:18 – Sky’s Grove deploying $1 billion into first tokenized CLO by Janus Henderson and Centrifuge 30:10 – When DeFi and TradFi merge: stablecoins can act as super capital 34:13 – AI agents driving blockchain-native financial automation 37:35 – Sky's revenue: $338M annualized with $158M net profit during market volatility 39:05 – Growing stablecoin supply as the main opportunity ahead 50:18 – Rune's endgame: fully automating Sky through AI to finally step away ESSENTIALS 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.