Stablecoins, RWAs & DeFi: What Institutions Actually Want
On today's Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Jillian Friedman, Chief Operating Officer at Symbiotic, to talk about what it actually takes to make tokenization work at scale, ranging from why 94% of tokenized real-world assets are still bought directly from the issuer, to how Symbiotic's LiquidLane gives investors an instant exit from illiquid RWAs, to why she doesn't see CeFi and DeFi as opposing camps. Jillian Friedman breaks down why she thinks institutions are tokenizing the easiest assets first instead of the most useful ones, what actually makes an asset "digitally native," and her honest answer for what it really takes to get a risk committee to say yes.
Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Jill Friedman and her background 02:50 Why Jill transitioned from law to crypto and her early interest in Bitcoin 03:32 The appeal of DeFi and Symbiotic's focus on both C-Fi and DeFi 05:30 The future integration of centralized and decentralized finance 06:56 How digital native assets differ from off-chain assets 08:35 The spectrum of digital nativeness and tokenization challenges 11:25 Market readiness and infrastructure needs for tokenized assets 14:33 Long-term outlook: the inflection point for tokenization and DeFi 17:42 Regulatory and risk considerations for institutional adoption 21:24 LiquidLane: solving liquidity and exit challenges for RWAs 27:34 Future of tokenized assets and market evolution 28:40 Jill's advice for navigating the crypto space
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/id1743669141YouTube: 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.
Stablecoins, RWAs & DeFi: What Institutions Actually Want
Subscribe & Listen
Why Binance Wants to Replace Banks for Everyday Payments | Thomas Gregory, Binance
What Wall Street Really Thinks About Tokenization
More from Talking Tokens
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
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
What Actually Makes a Crypto Token Investable?
In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Shane Molidor, founder and CEO of Forgd, and Ryan Celaj, head of research at DeFiLlama, to discuss how better data and transparency could change the way crypto assets are evaluated. They break down the Universal Token Ratings (UTR), why TVL and volume alone don't tell the full story, and how disclosures, liquidity, market structure and market maker performance can provide more context around a token. They also explore what institutional investors expect from crypto projects, why ratings need to evolve in real time, and whether better transparency could create a new standard for the industry. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:26 Why Crypto Needed a Market Maker Leaderboard 02:04 Bringing Forgd Data to DeFiLlama 03:51 What Makes a Good Market Maker? 05:25 Why Market Makers Overpromise 07:37 How Market Makers Perform Across Market Cycles 11:58 Building More Transparency Into Crypto 13:23 Introducing Universal Token Ratings 14:22 Are TVL and Volume Enough? 17:37 Building a “Moody’s for Crypto” 20:58 Performance vs. Transparency 23:29 Is Crypto Returning to Fundamentals? 25:33 Why Token Ratings Need to Change in Real Time 28:23 What Happens When Projects Don’t Disclose Enough? 31:12 What Makes a Crypto Asset Investable? 33:17 How Investors Can Use UTR 35:28 Could Ratings Change How Token Projects Behave? 37:09 What UTR Means for Institutional Investors 39:12 What Institutions Expect From Crypto Projects 41:40 Expanding Beyond 170 Rated Tokens 43:06 Could UTR Become a New Crypto Standard? 44:55 Can Token Ratings Reveal Alpha? 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 Shane & Ryan https://x.com/MolidorShane?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-celaj This episode is sponsored by Forgd, visit its Market Maker Leaderboard on Token Relations here: www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/leaderboard Check out the Universal Token Rating platform on DeFiLlama: https://defillama.com/universal-token-rating 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 #DeFiLlama #Crypto #TokenRatings #CryptoResearch #TalkingTokens