Around The Coin

Hosted by Stephen Sargeant and Mike Townsend

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626

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Around The Coin is a podcast exploring finance, fintech, and the future of money. Hosted by industry experts, it features deep dives into payments, crypto, banking, and disruptive innovations shaping the global economy.

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August 19, 2026Episode 62512 min

Rethinking Public Relations in the Age of AI - Nikita Sachdev | ATC #625

Live from Futurist, host Stephen Sargeant interviews Nikita Sachdev , owner of Luna PR , about how AI is reshaping public relations in crypto, Web3, and AI. Nikita explains that while AI makes content creation easy, distribution and winning attention are harder, making PR and credible placements more valuable, especially as search shifts from SEO to “GEO” (generative engine optimization) driven by AI recommendations. They discuss balancing digital PR with in-real-life relationship building through conferences, private dinners, and Luna PR events like Crypto Polo Cup and DAT Summit. Nikita shares takeaways from interviewing CZ, outlines common client pitfalls like weak product-market fit and unrealistic fundraising expectations, notes the industry’s institutional shift, and describes staff reductions and efficiency gains from AI. She also previews an AI media-intelligence tool to improve pitch relevance and journalist matching. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

August 13, 2026Episode 62452 min

The Next Era of Blockchain Finance - Patrick O'Kain | ATC #624

Host Stephen Sargeant welcomes Patrick O’Kain , partner at Borderless Capital , to discuss cybersecurity, crypto investigations, blockchain analytics, and how AI-driven agentic commerce and stablecoins will reshape payments and finance. O’Kane explains Borderless Capital’s infrastructure-focused investing, his background in counter-terrorism finance and DOJ crypto investigations, and why blockchain security is increasingly treated as a national security priority as institutions move markets onto blockchain rails. They cover dual-use investing and navigating government procurement, the shift from retail “mass adoption” to institutional and autonomous transaction flows, and why trust, data, and real operational maturity create moats as AI lowers barriers to building products. O’Kane highlights Cloudburst Technologies’ threat intelligence approach combining off-chain and on-chain data, discusses stablecoin growth and tokenization composability, and flags post-quantum security and “harvest now, decrypt later” risks. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

August 5, 2026Episode 6231 hr 5 min

Investing in AI and Blockchain Startups - Samiz Bayan | ATC #623

Host Stephen Sargeant interviews Samiz Bayan , partner at Draper Dragon , on the state of venture capital and the convergence of AI, blockchain, and tokenization. Bayan outlines Draper Dragon’s early-stage focus on infrastructure, its bridge between Silicon Valley and Asia via the Draper Network, and how that cross-border network supports founders with exchanges, liquidity, and distribution. He shares his path from traditional finance into crypto (via Cardano), lessons from building NFT authentication and peer-to-peer commerce, and what he looks for in founders—receptiveness, execution, recruiting, and distribution moats. The conversation covers a bifurcated VC market dominated by AI (about 65% of venture deals), longer fund timelines, valuation discipline, regulation’s growing importance, and why tokenization must be legally usable and composable to matter. They discuss accelerators, institutional DeFi, agentic payments with stablecoins, AI as an interface, diligence improvements from AI, and emerging interests in health tech like GLP-1s. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

July 29, 2026Episode 6221 hr 2 min

Programmable Compliance for Onchain Finance - Nikhil Raghuveera | ATC #622

Host Stephen Sargeant interviews Nikhil Raghuveera , CEO and co-founder of Predicate , about building real-time, smart-contract-level policy enforcement for onchain finance. Nikhil explains his background in payments and policy, why data from blockchain analytics providers isn’t enough, and how Predicate provides sub-second, non-bypassable “notary”-style approvals for transactions and automated freeze capabilities for assets like stablecoins. They discuss compliance bottlenecks in payments and emerging markets, CBDCs versus stablecoins, secondary-market monitoring debates, safe-harbor needs for issuer discretion, and how Predicate integrates off-chain risk data to enforce AML/CFT, sanctions, and exploit protections. Use cases include M0-powered stablecoins (including MoneyGram), Aleo bridge controls, and KYC/KYB for token sales via Uniswap Labs. They also cover privacy, intents/agentic commerce, regulator engagement with Treasury/FinCEN/OFAC, and how crypto firms are evolving into fintech-like product companies. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

July 22, 2026Episode 62159 min

From Banking to Stablecoin Payments - Wesley Rios | ATC #621

On Around The Coin, host Stephen Sargeant interviews Wesley Rios , US & LATAM Partnerships Lead at Morph Network, about the current state of stablecoin infrastructure and merchant payment rails. Rios shares his career path from Citi, JPMorgan, and 13 years at Mastercard into crypto, arguing stablecoins are shifting the conversation from technology to concrete cost and reach benefits. He cites stablecoin market metrics, the impact of regulatory frameworks, and operational adoption by firms like MoneyGram, while highlighting US-to-emerging-market corridors and SMB pain points such as USD access, reconciliation, and on/off-ramps. Rios explains Morph’s differentiator as owning both settlement and orchestration layers, with partners for compliance, KYC, custody, and local stablecoin issuers. They discuss fragmentation, trust, and why stablecoin rails may fit agentic and physical AI commerce, plus Morph’s merchant dashboard launch (Aug 4) and a design-partner beta. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

July 15, 2026Episode 62058 min

How Blockchain Fixes Ticketing Infrastructure - David Barrick | ATC #620

Host Stephen Sargeant welcomes David Barrick , CTO and co-founder of TIX & KYD Labs , to discuss why ticketing is fundamentally a banking business and how blockchain can fix fees, fraud, and resale chaos. Barrick explains primary vs. secondary ticketing, how venues rely on ticketing companies for underwriting and advances, and why service fees function like “interest” paid by fans. They cover open distribution, speculative ticket listings, and why NFT ticketing failed by ignoring venue financing realities. Barrick introduces TIX , a Solana-based protocol plus a developer platform that lets secondary marketplaces verify ticket ownership, enforce resale rules, and automate royalty settlement without venues managing private keys. KYD Labs currently serves mid-cap New York venues and aims to scale toward larger markets, with a long-term goal of major issuers adopting TIX. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

July 8, 2026Episode 61949 min

The Hidden Problem With Prediction Markets - Seni Thomas | ATC #619

Join our host, Stephen Sargeant , as he welcomes Seni Thomas , CEO and founder of EDGE Markets , to discuss prediction markets and EDGE’s role in compliant, high-velocity fund movement across regulated venues. Thomas covers EDGE’s $29.2M Series A led by CoinFund, the partnership with Kalshi, and why fragmentation into multiple liquidity pools could drive far higher volumes than current projections. He explains EDGE’s origins in gaming money movement, the pivot from leverage to solving banking constraints, and the launch of a limited-use checking account with a $1M debit limit that blocks non-allowlisted transactions to reduce AML risk. The episode also explores EDGE Boost, EDGE Connect, and EDGE Pro, real-time payments via RTP/FedNow, crypto-to-fiat rails via Zero Hash, plans for an FCM license to reduce dead capital, views on evolving state/federal regulation, and responsible gaming tools like universal limits, Copilot social accountability, and a planned disposable-income-based limit feature. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

July 1, 2026Episode 61859 min

How Crypto Onboarding Finally Gets Easier - Aditi Sriram | ATC #618

On Around The Coin, host Stephen Sargeant welcomes Aditi Shriram , COO of Para , to discuss her path into crypto from seeing Vitalik speak and starting at ConsenSys, plus her experience as a venture scout for Bain Capital Crypto. Aditi explains Para’s focus on wallet infrastructure for companies building on-chain financial products, highlighting stablecoin-driven use cases like remittances, embedded finance, payouts, treasury, and early agentic commerce. She details Para’s differentiation through a security-first distributed MPC model, stack neutrality, and modular integrations, and shares Para 3.0 updates driven by global customer needs. The conversation covers reusable KYC and permissioned identity sharing, the challenges of autonomous transaction authorization, views on super wallets, X402’s strengths and gaps, and what it’s like operating launches and roadmap priorities as a product-minded COO. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

June 24, 2026Episode 61757 min

How AI Agents Use Stablecoins - Xen Baynham-Herd | ATC #617

Join our host Stephen Sargeant with Xen Baynham-Herd , Head of Growth and Marketing at Base , on the Around The Coin podcast to discuss Base’s newest launches. Base Ledgers for enterprise-grade private transactions (shielded from the public but visible to regulators/auditors) and Base MCP, which connects chat interfaces like ChatGPT/Claude to a wallet and Base apps so agents can execute DeFi actions with user approval. Xen shares his path from TradFi and five years at Blockchain.com to working with Balaji Srinivasan on The Network State, and explains how Base is growing across trading, lending, payments (including major USDC transfer volume and local-currency stablecoins), and agents. They cover institutional adoption, X402 as an internet payments protocol enabling agentic commerce, Agentic market, and Xen’s approach to global expansion and building founder-driven communities. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud

June 17, 2026Episode 6161 hr 7 min

ATC - Itai Turbahn, Co-Founder & CEO of Dynamic and Tal Zackon, Co-Founder & CEO of TRES Finance

Join our host Stephen Sargeant with Itai Turbahn from Dynamic and Tal Zackon from TRES Finance , both now under Fireblocks , for a deep dive into agentic AI and what it means for payments, compliance, cybersecurity, and stablecoins. They explain why today’s human-in-the-loop rails like cards and ACH don’t scale for agent-to-agent microtransactions, and why crypto rails and stablecoins can enable instant, low-cost, high-volume programmable payments that should remain invisible to end users. Tal shares how TRES is using AI tools like Vara and MCP to automate repetitive back-office reconciliation and help compliance teams operate with an “army of agents” while maintaining audit trails. They also discuss agent identity, emerging standards like x402 and MPP, fraud and chargebacks, enterprise treasury efficiencies with stablecoins, and how to stay relevant by learning and building hands-on. We are also available via: Around The Coin — Official Website Buzzsprout Apple Podcast Spotify Player FM Quora Medium X Facebook LinkedIn Tiktok Soundcloud