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
Subscribe & Listen
Inside Securitize's $1.25B Nasdaq SPAC and Pacific Stock Transfer Acquisition | Billy Miller
Why Onchain Vaults Are Following Stablecoins Everywhere | Hunter Horsley
More from Talking Tokens
Why Public Markets Are About to Move Onchain | Michael Tannenbaum
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure, about how the company processes over $1 billion in mortgages monthly and why it went public in 2025. Michael, who was first employee at Brex and chief revenue officer at SoFi before joining Figure in 2024, explains why the company tokenized its own stock first to prove the model works before approaching other issuers. He walks through Figure's 100% year-over-year growth with 50% margins by using blockchain tech to cut mortgage origination costs, why tokenization is now part of the buying criteria for capital markets, and the difference between creating liquidity versus just tokenizing assets. The conversation covers the Provenance blockchain, OPEN launch and demand, its DeFi marketplace, and why private credit needs institutional owners for long-term assets rather than retail investors. TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Intro (01:17) Career path: SoFi chief revenue officer, first employee at Brex, now Figure CEO (03:21) Why Michael bet on Brex (05:09) Reconnecting with Mike Cagney on Figure (08:41) His framework for building through crypto and fintech cycles (10:34) Figure's IPO timing and being publicly traded while building onchain markets (15:56) Why Figure tokenized its own stock first before approaching other companies (18:35) Liquidity in tokenization: just because you tokenize doesn't mean it's liquid (22:00) Launching with Figure’s own inventory to avoid guinea pig problem (23:26) What it means to have “hair on fire” problems (25:37) When to emphasize blockchain benefits versus meeting skeptics where they are (27:26) Breaking the rule of 40: 100% growth with 50% margins using blockchain technology (28:27) Revenue growth: 100% year-over-year across mortgages, stablecoins, and DeFi marketplace (33:11) Capital markets highway thesis: blockchain infrastructure not SaaS as next fintech model (46:26) Watching private credit nervousness around retail investor redemptions 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.
Framework Ventures Is Deploying $2.5 Billion Into Institutional-Grade Yield | Parker Edwards
In this episode of Talking Tokenization, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Parker Edwards, partner at Framework Ventures, about deploying a $2.5 billion mandate to bring institutional-grade yield onchain through Obex, a Sky-focused incubator. Parker announces the first cohort where it’s deploying $1 billion across eight companies including Maple, Centrifuge, Securitize, River, and Better Home & Finance, spanning areas like structured credit, mortgages, energy, and AI infrastructure. He explains why real-world assets are finally reaching institutional scale, with players like Apollo and BlackRock actively participating. The conversation covers why established companies with deep domain expertise are better positioned to scale with Obex than early-stage startups, how Sky grew to $11.5 billion in USDS stablecoin supply, and the plan to hit $20 billion by 2026.This episode is sponsored by Securitize, the proven leader in tokenized funds, equities, and private markets. Discover more at securitize.io. TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Intro with Parker Edwards, partner at Framework Ventures (00:25) What is Obex and its $2.5 billion mandate to deploy capital into Sky ecosystem (01:09) Sky's growth to $11.5 billion in stablecoin supply as third largest stablecoin (02:06) Why Framework Ventures is administering the Obex incubator (02:52) First cohort: Maple, USD.ai, Centrifuge, Securitize, River, Better, and others deploying $1 billion (04:12) Why it chose more established players over early-stage startups for day-one scale (06:06) State of RWAs: institutional-grade founders with deep domain expertise entering the space (08:03) Asset manager mandates: structured credit, private credit, energy, and AI infrastructure (10:05) Why Better Home & Finance chose to build on Sky for mortgage tokenization (13:33) Real cash-flowing assets onchain without artificial yield incentives (15:15) How DeFi is competing with banks and credit funds on quality assets (17:13) Apollo and BlackRock participating onchain (20:16) Sky's recent $435 million revenue and $20 billion stablecoin target by end of 2026 (22:20) Why USDS won't replace USDC or USDT but serves different institutional roles (27:26) Final advice 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.
Why Getting Money Into Blockchains Is Still Broken | Dan Mottice
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Dan Mottice, head of stablecoins at Modern Treasury and founder of Beam, a stablecoin payment platform it acquired in October 2025. Dan, who previously led Visa's crypto products before building Beam, explains how payment infrastructure is evolving to treat stablecoins as a default rail alongside traditional fiat systems. He walks through why moving money remains hard, how 24/7 liquidity will transform cross-border and domestic payments, and why the layer between fiat and crypto is the real bottleneck. The conversation covers stablecoin clearinghouses as an emerging opportunity, why stablecoin neobanks need to match incumbent features and where value will accrue in the payment stack. Dan also shares lessons from building consumer versus B2B products and his advice for staying focused on the builders who stick around during bear markets.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) Intro (01:40) Dan's background at Visa and building Beam (03:36) Modern Treasury acquiring Beam in October 2025 and the vision for stablecoins as a rail (04:16) How Visa and stablecoin platforms will become symbiotic, not competitors (06:13) Current payment systems: pretty well solved domestically, room for improvement cross-border (08:12) Why 24/7 liquidity will dramatically improve both domestic and cross-border payments (09:54) Where value accrues: infrastructure layer vs customer relationship ownership (13:04) If starting over today: building a global liquidity protocol or stablecoin clearinghouse (17:24) Biggest misconceptions about payments and how hard it is to get money in and out of blockchains (20:01) Why stablecoin neobanks need FDIC insurance and customer support to beat incumbents (31:26) What Dan wants to see builders create with new onchain money movement primitives (32:14) Final advice: focus on the people who stick around during bear markets 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.