MoneyNeverSleeps

Hosted by Pete Townsend | GP at Norio Ventures

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328

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Oct 2026

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About the show

MoneyNeverSleeps is a weekly show where smart people bring one big idea, and Pete Townsend breaks it down in under 15 minutes. Featuring founders, operators, and investors shaping crypto, fintech, AI, and onchain finance. After 300+ long-form episodes, the show has evolved into a sharper, faster format built for a world where insights need to travel quickly.

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October 30, 2026Episode 32914 min

DeFi vs Onchain Finance: Where Will TradFi Land? | Benedetto Biondi | Folks Finance [EP. 329]

This week nearly half the companies on the OKX-ICE tokenized stock list opted out, and in the same week DTCC went live on Canton with JPMorgan signed up. That had me questioning my long-held view that TradFi would eventually fold into DeFi, so I asked Benedetto Biondi, co-founder and CEO of crosschain lending protocol Folks Finance and one of our Techstars Web3 mentors. He thinks DeFi’s early cyberpunk vision was naive, and that TradFi is adapting to onchain finance rather than to pure DeFi. It wants DeFi’s liquidity and reach but will only interact with it as a layer. We also get into why Folks won’t list securities directly, RWAs as collateral, Wield, their new regulated app, and why a $10 portfolio and a $10 million one should look the same to a protocol. Connect with Ben: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedettobio/ X: https://x.com/benedettobio Folks Finance: https://folks.finance Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTnd Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:31 Intro 1:06 Does the DeFi crowd care about TradFi coming onchain 3:14 DeFi vs onchain finance 5:36 OKX-ICE opt-outs and DTCC on Canton 8:09 Three lanes: where does Folks sit? 10:49 Wield and the regulated app 12:17 Practical openness and the $10 portfolio 13:34 Where to find Ben Sharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up. moneyneversleeps.ie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com

October 19, 2026Episode 32814 min

What Becomes Code? AI Agents and the Tokenized Fund | Alejandro Gutierrez | Superteam Ireland [EP. 328]

Alejandro Gutierrez of Superteam Ireland is back to take on Matt Walsh's challenge: are tokenized funds a new kind of asset, or the same fund on new rails? Off the back of BlackRock and Ondo putting model portfolios onchain, we get into the six ways people are tokenizing a share, whether a Terra moment or a regulator forces them to consolidate, and what happens to a fund's operating model when you redraw the org chart as AI agents and ask which processes become code and which stay human anchored. Plus why more than 60% of tokenized stock trading on Solana happens outside US market hours, and Alejandro's read from Solana Suits in London.Connect with Alejandro:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-gutierrez-98979b43/https://x.com/A_gutierroFollow MoneyNeverSleeps on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTndChapters0:00 Cold open0:25 Intro1:03 Two parallel universes1:27 New asset or same fund on new rails?2:46 Making assets machine-readable3:26 BlackRock, Ondo and onchain model portfolios4:14 Tokenized equities' stablecoin moment5:06 Six ways to tokenize a share6:49 What becomes code, what stays human8:02 Collateral and the agentic fund9:43 Composability and distribution10:45 After hours belongs to agents12:05 Solana Suits: institutions are in13:40 Breakpoint 2026 in London14:24 Wrap upSharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up.moneyneversleeps.iehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVhttps://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/info@norioventures.com

October 2, 2026Episode 32715 min

Where the Next Founders Come From: An Irish Story | Eoghan Powell | WorkIQ [EP. 327]

Pete Townsend is joined by Eoghan Powell, who runs WorkIQ, a new innovation centre for founders and early-stage companies in Tallaght, on the edge of Dublin. This is Part 2 of a pair on the Irish startup scene, after Derek O'Doherty of West x West on the capital side . Where Derek covered how founders find the money, Eoghan goes underneath that, to where founders come from in the first place. They start with Ireland's reliance on a handful of multinationals for its tax base, and the thin middle in the economy between company formation and homegrown giants like Ryanair and Kerry Group. Pete pushes back on how exposed the country really is, given how embedded Apple, Google and Meta have become, and they land on the point that whether or not the multinationals pull back, the founder pipeline needs building either way. Then the heart of it: Eoghan's case that this isn't a money problem, it's an ambition one. A kid in Dublin 4 grows up seeing founders at the dinner table; a kid in Tallaght or Kerry or Mayo often doesn't, and ends up believing people like them don't get that. His fix is honest role models, a visible front door, and the warm intro done at scale. Connect with Eoghan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanpowell1983/ Website: https://workiq.ie/ Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:36 Intro and welcome 1:14 Ireland's reliance on the multinationals 2:47 The gap in the middle, and where founders come from 3:17 Why the next Google needs a homegrown base 5:02 The hard question: are the MNCs too embedded to leave? 6:09 Why wait for them? The case for building our own 7:47 Ambition, role models, and seeing the struggle 8:33 The Collison brothers myth 9:55 Does the kid in Tallaght believe they have access? 11:15 Building the base: the front door 12:20 The two-email warm intro, and how it scales 14:04 Where to find Eoghan and WorkIQ Sharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up. Website: https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com

September 25, 2026Episode 32613 min

Bring the Funders to the Founders | Derek O'Doherty | West x West [EP. 326]

Pete Townsend is joined by Derek O'Doherty, founder of West x West, the two-day tech, venture and culture festival in Castlebar, Mayo that brings Irish founders together with global investors. Derek spent thirty years in capital markets across London, Sydney and New York, and until last week a year inside Enterprise Ireland building international VC relationships for scaling companies. They get into why the Irish economy isn't big enough to carry a founder from pre-seed to Series B on home capital alone, the VC pecking order that sends founders abroad to raise, why Irish founders outside the US are second only to Israel in the share who raise capital, and why Derek left a state agency to build a festival that brings the funders to the founders instead. Plus the Nik Milanović super-connector path, why he's rooting it all in the West rather than Dublin, and what's on at WXW this October. Connect with Derek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-o-doherty-91669530/ More on West x West: https://westxwest.ie/ https://www.instagram.com/westxwest.ie/ Listen and subscribe: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTnd Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:11 Intro and welcome 0:47 Why Irish founders hit a wall on home capital 1:22 The VC pecking order 3:11 The pre-seed funding reality 5:06 Bringing the capital to the market 6:13 Why leave Enterprise Ireland now 7:57 Why a festival, not a fund 9:16 Community and the super connector 10:18 Event details and lineup 11:42 Close Sharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up. Web: https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com

September 18, 2026Episode 32515 min

The Love-Hate of Tokenization: A Trader's Reckoning | Steve Whyman | [EP. 325]

Steve Whyman spent 20 years trading fixed income at Bear Stearns, ABN AMRO, and BlackRock, then ran digital assets and tokenization inside Fidelity International, before leaving in 2025 to build onchain-native. In this episode he makes the case for tokenization from the one seat almost nobody tells it from: the trading desk. What pulled him out was seeing blockchain put every instrument on the same settlement rail. The frustration is what came next, five issuers wrapping the same stock five different ways, none of them netting against each other, and issuers walking away when the wrapper carries no legal recourse. Also in this one: why a desk never actually buys technology, whether AI agents can settle 24/7 when a smart contract can't own a security, and Steve's "wings of finance" case that the real prize is financing and collateral, not the shiny tokenized equity everyone's chasing. Connect with Steve: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-whyman-210a6273/ Referenced in this episode: Semi Liquid: https://pcp.co/ Solana Breakpoint, London, November 2026: https://solana.com/breakpoint Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:24 Intro: Steve Whyman, from fixed income to onchain 1:10 What made a 20-year trader jump: the rails are the same 3:42 What a desk actually needs before it touches a tokenized instrument 5:42 The F1 pit crew: why adoption is operational, not technical 6:52 The fragmentation problem: five wrappers, one stock, no netting 9:53 Same but better, or just adding layers? 10:35 The wings of finance: financing and collateral, not the shiny equity 11:28 Can AI agents legally settle 24/7 when a smart contract can't own a security? 12:09 The love-hate: going native, and what stuck 14:08 Where to find Steve, and Solana Breakpoint MoneyNeverSleeps: sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people, in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures. moneyneversleeps.ie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com

September 4, 2026Episode 32414 min

Containerized: How Tokenization Restacks Finance | Justin Swart | BITKRAFT Ventures [EP. 324]

Justin Swart, Partner at BITKRAFT Ventures, joins Pete Townsend to make the case that tokenization is doing to finance what the shipping container did to global trade (standardizing the box, not the cargo - h/t Aleks Larsen, Blockchain Capital), whether that's real containerization or just the same fragmentation problem moved onchain, how BITKRAFT's early bet on Roundhill's record-breaking Memory ETF fits a broader thesis on personalized finance, and why trading itself is becoming the new competitor to gaming for consumer attention. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:24 Intro: Justin Swart and BITKRAFT 1:00 The container analogy, retold 3:58 Robinhood's own chain, and stablecoins at Visa scale 6:09 BUIDL, BENJI, and Robinhood Chain by the numbers 7:15 Is this containerization, or fragmentation onchain? 8:18 The consumer thesis: trading as entertainment 10:37 Gamification, streamers, and trading as esports 12:33 How founders should think about BITKRAFT 14:02 Where to find BITKRAFT Connect with Justin: LinkedIn: https://za.linkedin.com/in/justinswart1 Email: Justin@bitkraft.vc More on BITKRAFT: Website: https://www.bitkraft.vc/ References: Episode 240, What's Next with Web3: https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/alex-tapscott/ Aleks Larsen's tweet on tokenization and containers: https://x.com/alekslarsen/status/2092302780379574675 The Box by Marc Levinson: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691170817/the-box Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM): https://www.roundhillinvestments.com/etf/dram/ Matthew Ball, State of Video Gaming 2026: https://www.matthewball.co/all/presentation-the-state-of-video-gaming-in-2026 MoneyNeverSleeps: sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people, in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures. moneyneversleeps.ie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com Hashtags: #Tokenization #Crypto #VentureCapital #fintech #gaming

August 21, 2026Episode 32315 min

Grit Don't Quit: How Beezie Got to Yes | Andrea Miele [EP. 323]

Andrea Miele is co-founder and CEO of Beezie , a gamified commerce platform Pete Townsend backed through Techstars in 2024, joins Pete to talk about why the "TCG" label never captured what Beezie actually is, what it took to raise a second round after some of the best-known funds in the space passed on her more than once, and what's next now that Beezie has expanded to Base and Solana. Connect with Andrea:X: https://x.com/AndreaMYellie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agriffin717/ Learn more about Beezie:Website: https://beezie.com/ X: https://x.com/Beezie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beeziedotcom/ Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:32 Intro: Andrea Miele and Beezie 1:22 What Beezie is, in plain English 2:07 The Claw and the cold-start problem 3:21 Why the TCG bucket undersells the vision 5:26 The pack rip smell, and trading it for liquidity 7:15 Building trust before asking for money 8:17 Fundraising through thirty no's 10:13 The lead investor who changed everything 12:26 Base, Solana, and what's next 13:41 Where to find Beezie MoneyNeverSleeps: sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people, in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures. moneyneversleeps.ie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com #Tokenization #Collectibles #Crypto #Startups

August 7, 2026Episode 32214 min

Agentic AI's Least Obvious Takeover Yet | James McCann | Everhaze [EP. 322]

James McCann, CEO and founder of Everhaze , joins Pete Townsend to talk about the 80/20 problem breaking PR agency economics, how an agentic layer turns hundreds of daily regulatory mentions into a 10-minute digest for a fintech client, where the human side of PR (the trust, the intros, the relationships) still does the heavy lifting, and why VC skepticism about AI-wrapped software didn't stop him from closing his round. Connect with James: X: https://x.com/JimmyMcCann01 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmccann862/ Learn more about Everhaze: https://everhaze.com/ X: https://x.com/everhaze LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/everhaze/ Email: info@everhaze.com MoneyNeverSleeps: sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people, in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures. moneyneversleeps.ie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: info@norioventures.com #AgenticAI #AI #PRTech #Startups

July 14, 2026Episode 32115 min

Making Monzo Irish: The Playbook for a More Human Digital Bank | Monzo Bank Europe | Elaine Deehan [EP. 321]

Elaine Deehan is back on MoneyNeverSleeps for her third appearance, and this one has been a long time coming. As Ireland Country Manager of Monzo Bank Europe, Elaine is doing what she's always done: building something that makes banking feel genuinely human, and genuinely Irish. Download the Monzo app and open your account at : https://monzo.com/ie Monzo went fully live in Ireland on April 14th with 100,000 people on the waitlist. But getting there wasn't a lift-and-shift from the UK. It meant walking the streets, talking to customers, and solving for the things that frustrate Irish people most about their banks. Elaine also talks about what the Irish playbook means for every market Monzo enters next. Connect with Elaine: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainedeehan/ Monzo Ireland: https://monzo.com/ie Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moneyneversleeps1814 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/moneyneversleeps/id1455819294 Connect with Pete: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ MoneyNeverSleeps: https://moneyneversleeps.ie Email: info@norioventures.com

July 14, 2026Episode 31414 min

You Can't Code Your Way Out of Risk | Amor Sexton | Blockdaemon [EP. 314]

You Can't Code Your Way Out | Amor Sexton, Blockdaemon In the last few weeks, Drift and Kelp lost $577 million between them. Neither one was a code exploit. Both were operational and governance failures. Amor Sexton, Chief Operating Officer at Blockdaemon, was last on MoneyNeverSleeps in October 2022 (EP 193) talking about how institutional client expectations of resilient processes would drive blockchain adoption. Three and a half years later, the industry just got an extremely expensive lesson in exactly that thesis. In this episode, Pete and Amor get into: - Why "this isn't a hack, it's a governance failure" is the conversation the industry isn't having - How compliance is a subset of risk — and why DeFi keeps confusing the two - The Web2/human layer compromise that exploits a legitimate Web3 feature - Pluto on Castle Island: "Everything that TradFi has built in terms of circuit breakers, we're just speed running relearning those things in crypto" - The Kelp configuration was a known vulnerability — and 47% of operators chose it anyway - The two or three governance questions every DeFi protocol and LP should be asking right now - Why it always comes back to people, not code Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 00:24 Welcome back to MoneyNeverSleeps 00:55 $577M, 18 days, no code exploit 02:00 Compliance is a subset of risk 03:15 Guardrails and governance 04:30 The Web2 layer compromise 05:45 Speedrunning what TradFi already built 07:30 Why 47% chose the risky configuration 09:00 Three governance questions every protocol should answer 12:30 It always comes back to people 13:30 Sign off Connect with Amor: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amor-sexton/ Blockdaemon: https://www.blockdaemon.com/ About MoneyNeverSleeps: MoneyNeverSleeps is hosted by Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures. Sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people in crypto, fintech, AI, and onchain finance. Connect with Pete: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: @petetownsendnv Norio Ventures: https://www.norioventures.com Subscribe to MoneyNeverSleeps wherever you get your podcasts: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moneyneversleeps1814 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTnd Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/moneyneversleeps/id1455819294 #MoneyNeverSleeps #Blockdaemon #DeFi #Crypto #AmorSexton #Governance #RiskManagement