Episode #21 Circle ft. Sanja Kon

In this episode of The New Money Podcast, host Ferdinand Dabitz and guest Luuk Strijers discuss the recent acquisition of Deribit by Coinbase – the largest acquisition in crypto history. They discuss the implications for the cryptocurrency options market and the future of trading platforms. They explore the importance of product quality, liquidity, and capital efficiency in derivatives trading, as well as the regulatory landscape in Dubai and Europe. The conversation also touches on the challenges and opportunities presented by decentralized exchanges and the evolving crypto ecosystem.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Hong Fang, President of OKX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges serving over 60 million users. Hong traces her path from Goldman Sachs into crypto and explains how Bitcoin and open, auditable infrastructure address TradFi’s opacity, credit dependence, and widening inequality. She details OKX’s rebrand and unified CeFi–DeFi strategy, including its expanding self-custody wallet, OKX Pay, and the Brazil-focused OKX Card, alongside licensing progress across key jurisdictions. The conversation explores how OKX builds trust through on-chain proof of reserves, multi-layered controls, and a local–global “team of teams” model, and why hiring for passion and a growth mindset remains central to the company’s culture. Hong concludes by emphasizing that entering crypto requires humility and curiosity in an industry where assumptions must constantly be challenged.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Daniel Seifert, Vice President and Regional Managing Director, EMEA, of Coinbase. Daniel shares his journey from traditional finance at McKinsey and UBS to leading one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges through turbulent times, joining just weeks before the FTX collapse. He reflects on stabilizing the organization, motivating teams amid market downturns, and driving Coinbase’s global expansion outside the U.S. The conversation explores Europe’s regulatory landscape, highlighting MiCAR as a global benchmark for crypto clarity while cautioning against stifling innovation. Daniel discusses stablecoins, the future of Euro-denominated assets, and the coexistence of private stablecoins and a digital euro. Other topics include Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service partnership with Citi, the vision to bring one billion people on-chain, and why talent density and a mission-driven culture remain core to Coinbase’s success.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Hoolie Tejwani, Head of Coinbase Ventures, the venture arm of Coinbase, investing in crypto and blockchain startups. Hoolie traces Coinbase Ventures’ origins from a nights-and-weekends experiment to a 500-plus company portfolio, outlining a financial-ROI-first mandate, flexible check sizes, and the strategic flywheel it creates for Coinbase. He maps the team’s current theses across stablecoins, DeFi, on-chain consumer apps, and the frontier of crypto x AI agents. The conversation provides insights on stablecoin issuance models, cross-border payments, and the complex economics of on-chain FX and liquidity, including when local-currency stables and USD preference matter. This episode offers a view into the crypto landscape through a venture capital lens, revealing how one of the industry’s leading investors allocates capital and identifies emerging opportunities.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Nick van Eck, Co-Founder and CEO of Agora, a stablecoin infrastructure platform and the issuer of AUSD. Nick traces his path from a family of gold investors and a love for classical history to Bitcoin, and explains why non-sovereign money and self-custody matter. He outlines why stablecoins are far more valuable outside the US, what’s broken in today’s stablecoin market, and how Agora aligns economics for builders. The conversation covers white-label stablecoins that share AUSD liquidity, predictions for a dozen large issuers and market‑maker clearing, and why “yield coins” like USDe are not true stablecoins. Nick also shares how Agora will deploy its $50M Series A to build a full-stack, neobank-like experience that brings traditional businesses on-chain. A timely, practical roadmap for how stablecoins can export capital market access globally while fixing incentives for the next wave of crypto payments.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Nicolas, CEO of Coinhouse, a French crypto broker offering regulated digital asset services for individuals and businesses. Nicolas retraces Coinhouse’s roots alongside Ledger and its evolution from a Paris storefront to a regulated brokerage that helped shape France’s PSAN regime, later informing MiCA. He lays out why the real value sits with client-facing brokers, not exchanges, and how Coinhouse is building toward a crypto-native bank serving premium clients. The conversation dives into Europe’s regulatory fragmentation under MiCA, why France’s early lead has faded, and why Nicolas believes the travel rule should be scrapped in favor of robust AML/CFT controls. It’s a candid look at building a compliant crypto business in Europe, the missing piece in institutional exchange infrastructure, and the road to tokenized finance at banking scale.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Armani Ferrante, founder and CEO of Backpack, the regulated crypto exchange and wallet platform unifying access to digital assets across chains and fiat. Armani unpacks Backpack’s brand philosophy, why the company prioritizes custody, security, and global liquidity, and his journey from Apple to Alameda to the early Solana ecosystem. He shares candid lessons from the FTX collapse—after losing 88% of company capital—and how that shaped Backpack’s transparency-first, compliance-led culture. The conversation dives into Backpack’s launch in Europe via the FTX EU acquisition, the emerging regulated perps landscape, and how CeFi front-ends can leverage DeFi back-ends for provable safety, including daily proof-of-reserves and zero-knowledge attestations. A timely look at where the digital asset market is heading and why the next wave of crypto adoption will blend regulation, real liquidity, and verifiable infrastructure.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Henri Stern, co-founder and CEO of Privy, the wallet infrastructure enabling embedded wallets and secure key management for modern crypto apps, recently acquired by Stripe. Henri unpacks the hard-won lessons from his first startup, the co-founder dynamics that powered Privy, and why truth-seeking beats ego when navigating pivots. He traces Privy’s shift from data tokenization to embedded wallets, the evolution of wallet UX, and the rise of stablecoins drawing fintechs into crypto. Henri also explains how Privy remains fast inside Stripe, why serving both crypto-native and fintech customers compounds product quality, and how to think about chain fragmentation and interoperability. A timely conversation for builders deciding custody models, developer experience, and product bets in the stablecoin era.

This episode of The New Money Podcast features Tracy Jin, COO at MEXC, a leading global crypto exchange known for altcoin breadth, deep liquidity, and ultra-low fees. Tracy unpacks MEXC’s M-E-X-C philosophy, why liquidity depth and zero-fee trading matter, and how the business model works at scale. The conversation dives into listing at speed with rigorous diligence and delisting safeguards, the emerging stablecoin war, and MEXC’s partnership with Ethen’s USDE that accelerated volumes. Tracy outlines the $300M ecosystem fund and IgniteX to back top talent and projects, and explains why multiple stablecoin winners make the market healthier. She also previews Dex Plus, which blends CEX and DEX UX, and new AI tools that help traders discover high-potential alts and trusted signals. A timely look at how exchanges will bridge retail and on-chain finance amid rapid product innovation and shifting regulation.