Stateful Tue, 12 May 2026 15:36:54 -0400 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2543343 en © 2026 Stateful yes c8d82711-4449-5abb-b619-8fbb616b0564 jason.christofferson@leadlensvideo.com Pantera Capital episodic false Stateful, we go deep into blockchain venture capital: investing in DeFi, digital asset treasuries, Solana, and the frontier of Web3 infrastructure. Each episode unpacks Pantera’s new investments, explores the dynamics of asymmetric returns, and provides insights into the projects and protocols shaping the next generation of finance.

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or simply blockchain-curious, Stateful brings you behind the curtain with the team that’s been first to nearly every milestone in the space.


Pantera Capital was the first U.S. institutional asset manager exclusively focused on blockchain technology, launching the first U.S. crypto fund when bitcoin traded at $65. Since 2013, Pantera has pioneered venture equity, early-stage tokens, and liquid digital asset strategies—backing more than 100 blockchain companies and 110 token projects globally.

]]> Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) The Big Long, Blockchain, Crypto, Web3, Venture Capital, Digital Assets, DeFi, Solana, Token Investing, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Startup Investing, Pantera Capital Pantera Capital jason.christofferson@leadlensvideo.com https://storage.buzzsprout.com/y8gf5jpt7gv9eira1eockrpxxwo9?.jpg Stateful https://www.buzzsprout.com/2543343 Vercel Is Building the Infrastructure Layer for Human-Verified Agents Vercel Is Building the Infrastructure Layer for Human-Verified Agents Mason Nystrom sits down with Tom Occhino, Chief Product Officer at Vercel, to explore how Vercel is evolving from the front-end cloud into agentic infrastructure, and why their partnership with World ID is giving humans a way to be first-class citizens of the internet again.

The insight: proof of human is not just bot protection. It inverts the entire model. Instead of asking whether something is a bot, developers can now build software that is human-only by default and then decide what access to grant to agents operating on a human's behalf.

Key Topics:

  • Vercel as agentic infrastructure: three parts, deploy software with agents, build and run agents, and a self-improving platform that sends pull requests to fix its own errors
  • From framework-defined infrastructure to agentic infrastructure: the evolution of Vercel's core product philosophy
  • Why proof of human is the perfect poster child for Workflows: a multi-step async process that becomes one line of code
  • CAPTCHAs are archaic: why the entire model of bot detection is broken and needs to be inverted
  • Human-only by default: the new model where software starts as human-only and then grants access to agents that have a verified human backing them
  • Trust scores and Uber-style ratings for agents: how proof of human enables differentiated experiences for humans versus bots
  • Getting started: one NPM package, one line of code, and the Workflow SDK makes World ID integration dead simpleConcert tickets, sneaker drops, and high-cost actions: the real-world use cases where human verification is non-negotiable


The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Tom Occhino, Chief Product Officer at Vercel, to explore how Vercel is evolving from the front-end cloud into agentic infrastructure, and why their partnership with World ID is giving humans a way to be first-class citizens of the internet again.

The insight: proof of human is not just bot protection. It inverts the entire model. Instead of asking whether something is a bot, developers can now build software that is human-only by default and then decide what access to grant to agents operating on a human's behalf.

Key Topics:

  • Vercel as agentic infrastructure: three parts, deploy software with agents, build and run agents, and a self-improving platform that sends pull requests to fix its own errors
  • From framework-defined infrastructure to agentic infrastructure: the evolution of Vercel's core product philosophy
  • Why proof of human is the perfect poster child for Workflows: a multi-step async process that becomes one line of code
  • CAPTCHAs are archaic: why the entire model of bot detection is broken and needs to be inverted
  • Human-only by default: the new model where software starts as human-only and then grants access to agents that have a verified human backing them
  • Trust scores and Uber-style ratings for agents: how proof of human enables differentiated experiences for humans versus bots
  • Getting started: one NPM package, one line of code, and the Workflow SDK makes World ID integration dead simpleConcert tickets, sneaker drops, and high-cost actions: the real-world use cases where human verification is non-negotiable


The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-19166665 Tue, 12 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 541 crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, Vercel, Tom Occhino, Mason Nystrom, World ID, proof of human, agentic infrastructure, AI agents, human verification, front-end cloud, v0, Workflows, Workflow SDK, AI SDK, AI gateway, Sandbox, Chat SDK, React, Next.js, 1 11 full false Sam Altman: Proof of Human in the Age of AI Sam Altman: Proof of Human in the Age of AI Sam Altman (World/OpenAI) joins Cosmo Jiang (Pantera Capital) to discuss why proof of human is the necessary complement to powerful AI. 

Then Mason Nystrom turns the mic on Cosmo to break down the investment case for World.

The problem: we are rapidly entering a world of infinite AI-generated content and infinite AI identities. 

In that world, knowing what is truly human becomes one of the most valuable primitives on the internet. World is building the cryptographically secure, verifiable proof of human layer to make that possible.

Key Topics:

- Why Sam Altman believes World is especially urgent now: AI is advancing faster than expected and proof of human has never been more necessary

- AI as technology of abundance, World as technology of scarcity: why the two are complementary not competitive

- Pantera's investment thesis: blockchain as the right infrastructure for cryptographically secure, sybil-resistant proof of human

- Agents need to move money: why agentic payments are one of the things Sam is most personally excited about

- Proof of human as a substrate for layered credentials: driver's licenses, education, employment, all appended to a verified human identity

- Advertising as the first massive use case: a half trillion dollar industry that will pay a significant premium for verified human impressions

- Dating apps, government services, and enterprise partnerships: Tinder, DocuSign, Zoom, Okta, and Versa all announcing how they will work with World ID

- Human-directed agents: why proof of human accelerates agentic commerce rather than blocking it

- A potential $50 billion free cash flow protocol if verified humanness generates even $5 to $10 per person per year

01:27 Sam Altman Keynote at World’s Lift-Off Event
02:12 Why World Was Built
03:48 Blockchain x AI
04:08 World ID Use Cases
04:47 World's Founding Vision
05:10 World ID Trajectory
05:50 Why Pantera Invested in World
06:45 Sam Altman Saw This Coming
07:10 Proof of Human at Scale
10:12 The Value of Digital Identity
11:11 Agents Need a Human in the Loop
11:42 Scaling to Billions of Users
12:53 Enterprise Partnerships

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Sam Altman (World/OpenAI) joins Cosmo Jiang (Pantera Capital) to discuss why proof of human is the necessary complement to powerful AI. 

Then Mason Nystrom turns the mic on Cosmo to break down the investment case for World.

The problem: we are rapidly entering a world of infinite AI-generated content and infinite AI identities. 

In that world, knowing what is truly human becomes one of the most valuable primitives on the internet. World is building the cryptographically secure, verifiable proof of human layer to make that possible.

Key Topics:

- Why Sam Altman believes World is especially urgent now: AI is advancing faster than expected and proof of human has never been more necessary

- AI as technology of abundance, World as technology of scarcity: why the two are complementary not competitive

- Pantera's investment thesis: blockchain as the right infrastructure for cryptographically secure, sybil-resistant proof of human

- Agents need to move money: why agentic payments are one of the things Sam is most personally excited about

- Proof of human as a substrate for layered credentials: driver's licenses, education, employment, all appended to a verified human identity

- Advertising as the first massive use case: a half trillion dollar industry that will pay a significant premium for verified human impressions

- Dating apps, government services, and enterprise partnerships: Tinder, DocuSign, Zoom, Okta, and Versa all announcing how they will work with World ID

- Human-directed agents: why proof of human accelerates agentic commerce rather than blocking it

- A potential $50 billion free cash flow protocol if verified humanness generates even $5 to $10 per person per year

01:27 Sam Altman Keynote at World’s Lift-Off Event
02:12 Why World Was Built
03:48 Blockchain x AI
04:08 World ID Use Cases
04:47 World's Founding Vision
05:10 World ID Trajectory
05:50 Why Pantera Invested in World
06:45 Sam Altman Saw This Coming
07:10 Proof of Human at Scale
10:12 The Value of Digital Identity
11:11 Agents Need a Human in the Loop
11:42 Scaling to Billions of Users
12:53 Enterprise Partnerships

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-19056201 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0400 783 Sam Altman, OpenAI, ai warning, human vs ai, crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, World, World ID, Worldcoin, proof of human, proof of personhood, digital identity, AI identity, Cosmo Jiang, Mason Nystrom, human verification, sybil resistance, biometric i 1 10 full false Agentic Payments - the Builder’s Perspective Agentic Payments - the Builder’s Perspective Mason Nystrom sits down with Cuy Sheffield (Visa Crypto) and Jay Yu (Pantera Capital) to explore the future of agentic payments at the intersection of AI, crypto, and cards.

Stablecoin supply grew 40% in 2025. Adjusted transaction volume grew 90%. X402 and the Machine Payment Protocol are live. Visa CLI is in beta. Agentic commerce is no longer a concept. It is happening right now.

Key Topics:

  • Stablecoin growth in 2025: 40% supply expansion, 90% growth in adjusted transaction volume
  • Stablecoin-linked cards: why wallets need card credentials to reach 150 million merchants on day one
  • Vibe coders as the most exciting customer segment on the planet and why headless merchants serve them best
  • The three generations of small business: brick and mortar, e-commerce, and the headless merchant endpoint you can build in an hour from bed
  • One human companies: why the barrier to starting a business has never been lower
  • Killing the API key: why wallet-based identity over X402 and MPP is a 10x better developer experience
  • Visa CLI: how Visa built a card-based agent payment tool for vibe coders, starting by solving their own problems
  • Why the value of software is trending to zero and trust plus distribution is the only remaining moat


]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Cuy Sheffield (Visa Crypto) and Jay Yu (Pantera Capital) to explore the future of agentic payments at the intersection of AI, crypto, and cards.

Stablecoin supply grew 40% in 2025. Adjusted transaction volume grew 90%. X402 and the Machine Payment Protocol are live. Visa CLI is in beta. Agentic commerce is no longer a concept. It is happening right now.

Key Topics:

  • Stablecoin growth in 2025: 40% supply expansion, 90% growth in adjusted transaction volume
  • Stablecoin-linked cards: why wallets need card credentials to reach 150 million merchants on day one
  • Vibe coders as the most exciting customer segment on the planet and why headless merchants serve them best
  • The three generations of small business: brick and mortar, e-commerce, and the headless merchant endpoint you can build in an hour from bed
  • One human companies: why the barrier to starting a business has never been lower
  • Killing the API key: why wallet-based identity over X402 and MPP is a 10x better developer experience
  • Visa CLI: how Visa built a card-based agent payment tool for vibe coders, starting by solving their own problems
  • Why the value of software is trending to zero and trust plus distribution is the only remaining moat


]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-19014771 Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 2645 crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, Visa crypto, Cuy Sheffield, Jay Yu, Mason Nystrom, agentic payments, AI payments, stablecoins, X402, machine payment protocol, MPP, Visa CLI, vibe coding, headless merchants, agent commerce, cards, stablecoin wallets, 1 9 full false The $200 Trillion Market: Agentic Payments and Cross Border FX The $200 Trillion Market: Agentic Payments and Cross Border FX Mason Nystrom sits down with Prabhakar Reddy, founder and CEO of OpenFX, one of Pantera's most recent portfolio companies, to explore why cross-border FX is still broken and how OpenFX is rebuilding money movement from the ground up.
The problem: $4 trillion is trapped in transit at any given moment due to pre-funding, SWIFT delays, and opaque FX spreads. OpenFX bypasses this entirely using stablecoins and real-time market-making, moving money across borders in single-digit minutes, 24/7.

Key Topics:
- Why cross-border FX is broken: opaque spreads, pre-funding requirements, and a stack built to keep money, not move it

- How OpenFX works: stablecoins replace SWIFT, real-time market-making on both sides, settlement in under 60 minutes

- $4 trillion trapped in transit at any given moment and how eliminating pre-funding unlocks it

- From zero to $40B+ annualized TPV in 18 months: the three factors behind OpenFX's growth

- 99.99% automation: three trade ops staff processing nearly $50B in volume

- Compressing FX spreads by 90-95% in every market OpenFX enters, including UAE from 50bps to single digits

- The postbox to SMS analogy: why spot FX could grow from $2 trillion to $200 trillion a day

- Agentic payments: why the timeline just collapsed from 7-10 years to 24-36 months

- Moats in the AI era: why licensing, compliance, distribution, and brand only matter together

- Lessons from co-founding FalconX: compliance first, culture by design, and why fiat still rules cross-border

- Culture at OpenFX: respect, velocity, and full ownership as non-negotiables

- Founder advice from a five-time founder: how you get there matters as much as where you are going


The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Prabhakar Reddy, founder and CEO of OpenFX, one of Pantera's most recent portfolio companies, to explore why cross-border FX is still broken and how OpenFX is rebuilding money movement from the ground up.
The problem: $4 trillion is trapped in transit at any given moment due to pre-funding, SWIFT delays, and opaque FX spreads. OpenFX bypasses this entirely using stablecoins and real-time market-making, moving money across borders in single-digit minutes, 24/7.

Key Topics:
- Why cross-border FX is broken: opaque spreads, pre-funding requirements, and a stack built to keep money, not move it

- How OpenFX works: stablecoins replace SWIFT, real-time market-making on both sides, settlement in under 60 minutes

- $4 trillion trapped in transit at any given moment and how eliminating pre-funding unlocks it

- From zero to $40B+ annualized TPV in 18 months: the three factors behind OpenFX's growth

- 99.99% automation: three trade ops staff processing nearly $50B in volume

- Compressing FX spreads by 90-95% in every market OpenFX enters, including UAE from 50bps to single digits

- The postbox to SMS analogy: why spot FX could grow from $2 trillion to $200 trillion a day

- Agentic payments: why the timeline just collapsed from 7-10 years to 24-36 months

- Moats in the AI era: why licensing, compliance, distribution, and brand only matter together

- Lessons from co-founding FalconX: compliance first, culture by design, and why fiat still rules cross-border

- Culture at OpenFX: respect, velocity, and full ownership as non-negotiables

- Founder advice from a five-time founder: how you get there matters as much as where you are going


The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18983281 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 1641 crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, OpenFX, Prabhakar Reddy, Mason Nystrom, cross-border payments, FX, foreign exchange, money movement, stablecoins, SWIFT, remittance, fintech, payments infrastructure, real-time settlement, agentic payments, AI payments 1 8 full false Capital Markets Are Moving Onchain with Franklin Templeton & Ondo Finance Capital Markets Are Moving Onchain with Franklin Templeton & Ondo Finance Franklin Bi (Pantera Capital) sits down with Sandy Kaul (Franklin Templeton) and Ian De Bode (Ondo Finance) to explore why tokenization is no longer a back-office experiment and how it is quietly rewiring global capital markets.
The partnership: Franklin Templeton and Ondo Finance have joined forces to tokenize Franklin ETFs and bring US capital markets to hundreds of millions of people globally who have never had access via the crypto wallets and exchanges they already use.

Key Topics:

- Franklin Templeton's 5-year journey: launching a tokenized money market fund in 2021 and proving blockchain rails to the SEC

- Ondo's model: tokenizing treasuries, stocks, and ETFs as permissionless wrappers like stablecoins, but for equities

- Global access: hundreds of millions of offshore investors can now hold tokenized US assets in the same wallets they use for crypto

-24/7 markets: why real-time settlement, intraday collateral, and always-on rails change everything

-AI agents and tokenization: why machine-to-machine transactions at scale require blockchain rails and why this is the bridge for institutional crypto allocation

-Smart wrappers vs. dumb wrappers: programming stops, rewards, and collateral directly into the asset itself

-Back office to front office: 100% of Franklin Templeton's digital asset AUM comes from net new crypto-native customers

-The $700M Ondo Global Markets platform: 70% market share, 5% week-over-week growth, and a whale who bought $50M of Google stock

-What's next: perpetual swaps on equities, on-chain portfolio construction, Franklin Crypto multi-manager platform

-Rookie mistakes: smart contract edge cases, lost private keys, and the horror of checking lifetime gas fees when ETH is at all-time highs

]]> Franklin Bi (Pantera Capital) sits down with Sandy Kaul (Franklin Templeton) and Ian De Bode (Ondo Finance) to explore why tokenization is no longer a back-office experiment and how it is quietly rewiring global capital markets.
The partnership: Franklin Templeton and Ondo Finance have joined forces to tokenize Franklin ETFs and bring US capital markets to hundreds of millions of people globally who have never had access via the crypto wallets and exchanges they already use.

Key Topics:

- Franklin Templeton's 5-year journey: launching a tokenized money market fund in 2021 and proving blockchain rails to the SEC

- Ondo's model: tokenizing treasuries, stocks, and ETFs as permissionless wrappers like stablecoins, but for equities

- Global access: hundreds of millions of offshore investors can now hold tokenized US assets in the same wallets they use for crypto

-24/7 markets: why real-time settlement, intraday collateral, and always-on rails change everything

-AI agents and tokenization: why machine-to-machine transactions at scale require blockchain rails and why this is the bridge for institutional crypto allocation

-Smart wrappers vs. dumb wrappers: programming stops, rewards, and collateral directly into the asset itself

-Back office to front office: 100% of Franklin Templeton's digital asset AUM comes from net new crypto-native customers

-The $700M Ondo Global Markets platform: 70% market share, 5% week-over-week growth, and a whale who bought $50M of Google stock

-What's next: perpetual swaps on equities, on-chain portfolio construction, Franklin Crypto multi-manager platform

-Rookie mistakes: smart contract edge cases, lost private keys, and the horror of checking lifetime gas fees when ETH is at all-time highs

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18972328 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:00:00 -0400 2891 1 7 full false Prediction Markets and the Disruption of Sports Betting Prediction Markets and the Disruption of Sports Betting Mason Nystrom sits down with Jacob Fortinsky (Novig) to explore why sports betting is broken, how prediction markets are replacing the casino model, and why the $2T global sports market is ripe for disruption.

Website: https://novig.com/
Careers: https://novig.com/careers
Novig X: https://x.com/Novig

The problem: sports books take ~10% of every bet, ban profitable users, and offer no price competition. Novig introduces peer-to-peer sports markets. A free-market exchange where users get 5% better odds on average and even the chance to be the house.

Key Topics:
- Why sports books are broken: 10% vig, banning winners, zero price competition
- Prediction markets vs. sportsbooks: introducing a peer-to-peer bid/ask model to sports
- The CFTC regulatory shift: sports event contracts as financial products, nationwide liquidity
- Commission-free for retail: Novig charges only institutional/algorithmic market makers
- Being your own house: market makers, order books, and collecting the spread on sports
- Consumer behavior shift: sports bettors now think like traders (crypto, options, meme coins)
- The BetFair lesson: why European exchanges failed and why the US is different
- North Star: building the most liquid, efficient global sports exchange
- Founder advice: stay alive, don't chase what's hot, invest in slope over intercept
- Hiring: cultural fit, team mentality, and why Novig requires NYC in-person

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Jacob Fortinsky (Novig) to explore why sports betting is broken, how prediction markets are replacing the casino model, and why the $2T global sports market is ripe for disruption.

Website: https://novig.com/
Careers: https://novig.com/careers
Novig X: https://x.com/Novig

The problem: sports books take ~10% of every bet, ban profitable users, and offer no price competition. Novig introduces peer-to-peer sports markets. A free-market exchange where users get 5% better odds on average and even the chance to be the house.

Key Topics:
- Why sports books are broken: 10% vig, banning winners, zero price competition
- Prediction markets vs. sportsbooks: introducing a peer-to-peer bid/ask model to sports
- The CFTC regulatory shift: sports event contracts as financial products, nationwide liquidity
- Commission-free for retail: Novig charges only institutional/algorithmic market makers
- Being your own house: market makers, order books, and collecting the spread on sports
- Consumer behavior shift: sports bettors now think like traders (crypto, options, meme coins)
- The BetFair lesson: why European exchanges failed and why the US is different
- North Star: building the most liquid, efficient global sports exchange
- Founder advice: stay alive, don't chase what's hot, invest in slope over intercept
- Hiring: cultural fit, team mentality, and why Novig requires NYC in-person

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18875107 Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0400 1770 crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, novig, jacob fortinsky, mason nystrom, sports betting, prediction markets, sportsbook, peer-to-peer betting, CFTC, sports event contracts, price discovery, liquidity, bid ask spread, market maker, BetFair, DraftKings, 1 6 full false The Future of Onchain Capital Markets The Future of Onchain Capital Markets Mason Nystrom sits down with Austin Adams (Doppler Protocol) to explore why token launches are broken, how traditional IPOs died, and what onchain capital markets can fix.

The problem: 20% of all token launches in 2025 traded below their issue price. Traditional IPOs now happen at terminal valuations—OpenAI and SpaceX go public where they used to peak. Amazon IPO'd under $1B and went up 1000x in public markets. Apple went public in their second year. That doesn't happen anymore.

Key Topics:

• Why token launches fail: extractive pricing, poor liquidity, delayed price discovery

• The death of the IPO: companies now go public at $1T+ instead of early-stage

• How Circle's IPO popped 40%+ due to 3-month-old pricing (Genius Act repriced everything)

• One size fits none: why custom capital markets beat cookie-cutter token launchers

• Bundling price discovery with liquidity: the only way to prevent chart disasters

• Why coding stops being the moat (AI can write Solidity/Rust, but can't generate novel ideas)

• Ethereum vs Solana: go where the users are, the chain doesn't matter

• The future: solo unicorns and micro-companies with tokenized equity

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Austin Adams (Doppler Protocol) to explore why token launches are broken, how traditional IPOs died, and what onchain capital markets can fix.

The problem: 20% of all token launches in 2025 traded below their issue price. Traditional IPOs now happen at terminal valuations—OpenAI and SpaceX go public where they used to peak. Amazon IPO'd under $1B and went up 1000x in public markets. Apple went public in their second year. That doesn't happen anymore.

Key Topics:

• Why token launches fail: extractive pricing, poor liquidity, delayed price discovery

• The death of the IPO: companies now go public at $1T+ instead of early-stage

• How Circle's IPO popped 40%+ due to 3-month-old pricing (Genius Act repriced everything)

• One size fits none: why custom capital markets beat cookie-cutter token launchers

• Bundling price discovery with liquidity: the only way to prevent chart disasters

• Why coding stops being the moat (AI can write Solidity/Rust, but can't generate novel ideas)

• Ethereum vs Solana: go where the users are, the chain doesn't matter

• The future: solo unicorns and micro-companies with tokenized equity

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18841855 Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0400 2055 crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, doppler protocol, webstone research, austin adams, mason nystrom, token launches, TGE, IPO, capital markets, onchain finance, tokenization, price discovery, liquidity pools, ICO, token issuance, crypto fundraising, ven 1 5 full false The Convergence of AI and Crypto The Convergence of AI and Crypto Mason Nystrom sits down with Sam Lehman (Pantera Capital) and Rishin Sharma (Solana Foundation) to explore the convergence of AI and crypto—where $211B in AI funding meets blockchain innovation.

AI attracted $211 billion in VC funding in 2025 while crypto AI got just 1-3%. But the intersection is heating up. 

Key Topics:

• Text-to-trade: AI replacing traditional crypto UX ("talk to your phone instead of navigating menus")

• AI-powered wallets as the first $5B+ crypto AI consumer app

• Smart contract auditing and formal verification with AI

• Private AI: FHE, TEEs, and ZK proofs for enterprise

• Agentic payments and X.402 enabling micropayments at scale

• Why we're in an LLM bubble, not an AI bubble

• Agent-to-agent commerce and the new internet economy

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Sam Lehman (Pantera Capital) and Rishin Sharma (Solana Foundation) to explore the convergence of AI and crypto—where $211B in AI funding meets blockchain innovation.

AI attracted $211 billion in VC funding in 2025 while crypto AI got just 1-3%. But the intersection is heating up. 

Key Topics:

• Text-to-trade: AI replacing traditional crypto UX ("talk to your phone instead of navigating menus")

• AI-powered wallets as the first $5B+ crypto AI consumer app

• Smart contract auditing and formal verification with AI

• Private AI: FHE, TEEs, and ZK proofs for enterprise

• Agentic payments and X.402 enabling micropayments at scale

• Why we're in an LLM bubble, not an AI bubble

• Agent-to-agent commerce and the new internet economy

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates ("Pantera"). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18594093 Thu, 29 Jan 2026 22:00:00 -0500 2663 crypto, artificial intelligence, AI crypto, blockchain, pantera capital, solana foundation, sam lehman, rishin sharma, mason nystrom, LLM bubble, OpenAI, Anthropic, crypto AI investing, private AI, AI wallets, text to trade, crypto UX, smart contracts, AI 1 4 full false Bitcoin vs Gold: What 2026 Holds for Investors Bitcoin vs Gold: What 2026 Holds for Investors Mason Nystrom sits down with Mike Kremer (Tulip King, CounterpartyTV) and Brian Breslow (No Limit Holdings) to break down Bitcoin's 2025 underperformance vs gold and what's next for crypto.2025 Reality Check:

Bitcoin went negative while gold rallied 60%. De-dollarization happened—but nations chose gold over Bitcoin. Why? Bitcoin's $2T market cap wasn't ready to absorb central bank-scale flows. Gold's $20T was.Key Topics:

  • Bitcoin's bottoms-up adoption: Nations will be last, not first
  • Crypto's "Amazon bottom" moment and finding winners
  • Tether flipping Ethereum at $500B valuation (and why it's bullish)
  • DEXs vs CEXs: Hyperliquid's path to taking down Binance
  • Equity perps: 20-30% of perp volume by year-end

Bold Take: Losing L1 monetary premium destroys $500B of "fake" market cap but creates $50B in real businesses.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.



]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Mike Kremer (Tulip King, CounterpartyTV) and Brian Breslow (No Limit Holdings) to break down Bitcoin's 2025 underperformance vs gold and what's next for crypto.2025 Reality Check:

Bitcoin went negative while gold rallied 60%. De-dollarization happened—but nations chose gold over Bitcoin. Why? Bitcoin's $2T market cap wasn't ready to absorb central bank-scale flows. Gold's $20T was.Key Topics:

  • Bitcoin's bottoms-up adoption: Nations will be last, not first
  • Crypto's "Amazon bottom" moment and finding winners
  • Tether flipping Ethereum at $500B valuation (and why it's bullish)
  • DEXs vs CEXs: Hyperliquid's path to taking down Binance
  • Equity perps: 20-30% of perp volume by year-end

Bold Take: Losing L1 monetary premium destroys $500B of "fake" market cap but creates $50B in real businesses.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.



]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18503773 Tue, 13 Jan 2026 20:00:00 -0500 3402 crypto, venture capital, crypto vc, blockchain investing, pantera capital, counterparty tv, no limit holdings, tulipking, mike kremer, brian breslow, mason nystrom, bitcoin vs gold, store of value, 2025 bitcoin performance, de-dollarization, brics, tether 1 3 full false Crypto Is Getting Tough Again: Who Wins & Loses Crypto Is Getting Tough Again: Who Wins & Loses Mason Nystrom sits down with Hootie Rashidifard (Hash3) and Alana Levin (Variant) to break down 2025's winners and losers—plus bold predictions for 2026.

2025 Winners: Stablecoins ($30M→$1T volume), prediction markets, Robinhood, Stripe, Base

2025 Losers: Gaming (down 96%), MetaMask, Biden-era SEC, restaking, DePIN

2026 Predictions: 

• Crypto gets hard again (capital constrained, mission-driven founders emerge) 

• More crypto IPOs and M&A

• Gemini likely gets acquired 

• Bitcoin dominance increases

Topics: Coinbase expansion, distribution moats, will incumbents win everything, prediction market volume doubling.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Mason Nystrom sits down with Hootie Rashidifard (Hash3) and Alana Levin (Variant) to break down 2025's winners and losers—plus bold predictions for 2026.

2025 Winners: Stablecoins ($30M→$1T volume), prediction markets, Robinhood, Stripe, Base

2025 Losers: Gaming (down 96%), MetaMask, Biden-era SEC, restaking, DePIN

2026 Predictions: 

• Crypto gets hard again (capital constrained, mission-driven founders emerge) 

• More crypto IPOs and M&A

• Gemini likely gets acquired 

• Bitcoin dominance increases

Topics: Coinbase expansion, distribution moats, will incumbents win everything, prediction market volume doubling.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here.

]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18406951 Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0500 3392 crypto, venture capital, crypto vc, blockchain investing, pantera capital, hash3, variant fund, hootie rashidifard, alana levin, mason nystrom, 2025 winners losers, 2026 predictions, coinbase, robinhood, stripe, base, polymarket, prediction markets, stabl 1 2 full false State of Crypto VC : $34B Raised, 50% Fewer Deals State of Crypto VC : $34B Raised, 50% Fewer Deals Welcome to Stateful, the Pantera Podcast.

In our inaugural episode, host Mason Nystrom sits down with two of crypto's most experienced investors: Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital with 11 years investing in the space, and Franklin Bi, General Partner who founded JP Morgan's blockchain team before joining Pantera seven years ago.

What We Cover:

The venture landscape has transformed dramatically since the metaverse mania of 2021-22. While total fundraising hit an all-time high of $34 billion this year, deal count has dropped nearly 50%. We break down what this flight to quality means for the industry and why later-stage rounds are dominating the market.

Paul and Franklin discuss the catalysts reshaping crypto venture – from Circle's IPO finally completing the exit story for VCs, to Bitcoin ETFs opening institutional floodgates, to the explosive rise (and recent cooling) of Digital Asset Treasuries. We explore why DATs represent a fundamental shift in how markets capture value from digital assets, and where this new vehicle class goes from here.

Investment Themes for the Next Cycle:

  • Tokenization: Why this multi-decade play is still in its first inning, and how it compares to newspapers going online in the early internet era
  • ZK-TLS and Web Proofs: The non-custodial data revolution that aims to solve blockchain's "trash in, trash out" problem
  • Stablecoins and Payments: How regulatory clarity may unlock the original "money over IP" vision
  • Prediction Markets: From Polymarket's $2B raise to the democratization of information markets

Bullish or Bearish:

The team weighs in on:

  • Robinhood vs. Coinbase stock (3-year time horizon)
  • Stablecoin payment chains and the distribution advantage
  • Privacy as venture category vs. privacy as feature
  • The future of the L1 trade and application-specific chains

Plus: Real talk on token vesting schedules, the timeline discourse, and why 98% of crypto ventures are worth nothing (and why that's actually normal).

This is crypto venture investing without the hype – data-driven insights from investors who've been through three -85% drawdowns and four market cycles.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here:


]]> Welcome to Stateful, the Pantera Podcast.

In our inaugural episode, host Mason Nystrom sits down with two of crypto's most experienced investors: Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital with 11 years investing in the space, and Franklin Bi, General Partner who founded JP Morgan's blockchain team before joining Pantera seven years ago.

What We Cover:

The venture landscape has transformed dramatically since the metaverse mania of 2021-22. While total fundraising hit an all-time high of $34 billion this year, deal count has dropped nearly 50%. We break down what this flight to quality means for the industry and why later-stage rounds are dominating the market.

Paul and Franklin discuss the catalysts reshaping crypto venture – from Circle's IPO finally completing the exit story for VCs, to Bitcoin ETFs opening institutional floodgates, to the explosive rise (and recent cooling) of Digital Asset Treasuries. We explore why DATs represent a fundamental shift in how markets capture value from digital assets, and where this new vehicle class goes from here.

Investment Themes for the Next Cycle:

  • Tokenization: Why this multi-decade play is still in its first inning, and how it compares to newspapers going online in the early internet era
  • ZK-TLS and Web Proofs: The non-custodial data revolution that aims to solve blockchain's "trash in, trash out" problem
  • Stablecoins and Payments: How regulatory clarity may unlock the original "money over IP" vision
  • Prediction Markets: From Polymarket's $2B raise to the democratization of information markets

Bullish or Bearish:

The team weighs in on:

  • Robinhood vs. Coinbase stock (3-year time horizon)
  • Stablecoin payment chains and the distribution advantage
  • Privacy as venture category vs. privacy as feature
  • The future of the L1 trade and application-specific chains

Plus: Real talk on token vesting schedules, the timeline discourse, and why 98% of crypto ventures are worth nothing (and why that's actually normal).

This is crypto venture investing without the hype – data-driven insights from investors who've been through three -85% drawdowns and four market cycles.

The views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of Pantera Capital Partners LP or its affiliates (“Pantera”). The podcast is provided for informational purposes only to provide market commentary and for general educational purposes, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. The podcast is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest. Please see additional important disclosures related to the content discussed in the podcast here:


]]> Pantera Capital Buzzsprout-18365865 Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:00:00 -0500 2965 crypto, venture capital, crypto vc, blockchain investing, pantera capital, paul veradittakit, franklin bi, mason nystrom, bitcoin, ethereum, solana, crypto investing, digital assets, web3, tokenization, stablecoins, crypto etf, circle ipo, digital asset t 1 1 full false