EPISODE DESCRIPTION

I sat down live at Token 2049 in Singapore with Abdul from ZIG Finance to dig into how the industry has quietly shifted from hype to real adoption. We cover why blockchain was never really about speed or cutting out middlemen , it was always about access. Abdul shares how ZIG Finance evolved from a copy trading platform into a full institutional DeFi stack, why their tokenomics overhaul puts revenue back into the token, and what it actually takes to bring emerging market assets on-chain safely. We also get into why origination , not distribution, not technology , is the hardest problem in tokenization right now, and what a 70-year-old man in Karachi buying Tesla stock on his Trust Wallet tells us about where this industry is headed.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

ZIG Finance Website: https://zig.finance/

ZIG Finance Twitter/X: https://x.com/zigchain

ZIG Finance LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zigfinance/home/

Abdul LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/argadit/?isSelfProfile=false

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [0:00] Blockchain was built for access and equality, not just efficiency or removing middlemen

• [1:12] Recording live at Token 2049 in Singapore , the event has shifted toward institutional focus

• [2:26] Adoption looks boring but that's how real, lasting adoption works

• [3:39] The education curve took 10 years; the adoption curve is arriving now

• [5:39] ZIG Finance evolved from Zignali copy trading platform to a full institutional stack: ZIGmarkets, ZIGchain, and ZIGlabs

• [6:29] May 2025 tokenomics overhaul ties token value to real commercial revenue, not just gas fees

• [7:00] Gas fees have dropped 99%, breaking the traditional chain revenue model

• [9:06] Hyperliquid proved the equity-like token model; Aave, Ondo, and Morpho are following

• [11:07] Distribution beats product quality every time , WhatsApp, Facebook, Gmail all won on distribution, not features

• [12:01] Taurus Network partnership connects ZIG Finance to 70 banks including 40 European banks

• [15:18] Real use cases: Morpho, Ondo, Aave, Maple are building genuine utility

• [15:52] A 70-year-old man in Karachi bought Tesla shares via Ondo on Trust Wallet , that's the use case

• [16:33] Tokenization is a four-sided problem: originators, distributors, technology, and licensing

• [17:03] More demand than supply right now , the challenge is finding quality assets, not investors

• [20:47] Beehive partnership (owned by Etisalat/UAE sovereign entity): $150M+ deployed, zero NPLs

• [19:49] GCC SME sector needs $650B in credit annually; banks only serve 11% of that

• [23:16] Next 12 months: Apex, Taurus, World Liberty Finance partnerships, plus Sharia-compliant tokenization via Zamanas

• [24:37] Biggest growth region: Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

I sat down with Pieter from NextBlock Ventures live at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul. We got into the big themes shaping crypto right now , tokenization, stablecoins, and the deep cryptography primitives that most people haven't heard of yet. Pieter shares why he believes Q-day arrives around 2030, why Bitcoin's quantum readiness keeps him up at night, and what drew him to back Soda Labs , a privacy protocol using garbled circuits on public chains like Ethereum. We also dig into fully homomorphic encryption, why FHE plus AI is like magic, and why building privacy into the chains where liquidity lives is the only approach that makes sense. If you want to understand where the smart money is looking five to eight years out, this is the episode for you.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

NextBlock Ventures Website: https://nextblock.vc/

NextBlock Twitter/X: https://x.com/NextBlockvc

NextBlock LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextblock-vc/home/

Pieter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pietervanpoecke/?isSelfProfile=false

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Sam and Pieter open live from Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul, discussing why Korea is a uniquely powerful crypto and deep tech market

• [02:30] Pieter shares how NextBlock launched in 2022 right as Terra Luna and FTX collapsed, and how that reset shaped their long-term thesis

• [05:00] The firm's focus areas: tokenization, stablecoins, and deep cryptography primitives like FHE and post-quantum cryptography

• [07:00] Q-day debate , Pieter makes his case for 2030 as the most likely arrival of quantum computers capable of breaking current encryption

• [09:30] Tokenization beyond US Treasuries: why stocks are next, with DTCC, Nasdaq, and Kraken all moving in that direction

• [13:00] Stablecoins in developed markets , why USD dominance at 98% will persist for a while but local currency stablecoins are coming

• [16:00] The Soda Labs investment thesis: bringing privacy to public chains using garbled circuits rather than spinning up separate private chains

• [20:00] Plain-language breakdown of fully homomorphic encryption and why FHE applied to AI is one of the most powerful combinations on the horizon

• [23:30] Why Bitcoin's lack of a post-quantum roadmap is a $2 trillion risk, and why Ethereum is ahead on this front

• [26:30] What Pieter looks for in founders: commercial instincts plus deep technical authority, and why the deep cryptography community is extremely small and tight-knit

• [28:30] Pieter's goals for this Korea trip and what types of founders and investors he wants to connect with

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

I sat down with Peiyu from CertiK at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul for a deep dive into the evolving world of Web3 security. We talk about how AI is shrinking the attack lifecycle from months to days, why getting audited still doesn't guarantee you're safe, and how attackers are now conducting in-person social engineering campaigns that play out over six months before striking. Peiyu breaks down the biggest hacks of the year, explains the difference between custodial and non-custodial risk, and gives founders practical advice on how to build with security from day one. If you're building in Web3 or investing in protocols, this one is essential listening.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

CertiK Website: https://www.certik.com/

CertiK Twitter/X: https://x.com/CertiK

CertiK LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/certik/home/

Peiyu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/p3iyuwang/?isSelfProfile=false

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] AI is compressing the attack lifecycle , finding zero-day vulnerabilities that once took a month now takes a day or two

• [00:24] The Drup protocol attack involved an attacker meeting the victim in person at a crypto conference and spending six months building trust before deploying malware

• [01:01] Sam interviews Peiyu from CertiK live at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul

• [02:16] Institutional financial companies are increasingly focused on digital assets , stablecoins, tokenization , and security is their top priority

• [03:25] The three biggest hacks of the year: a $300M+ infrastructure exploit, the CollabDAO bridge attack, and the Drup social engineering incident

• [05:12] Social engineering is rising fast , fake Zoom links, Telegram impersonation, and phishing attacks are becoming standard attack vectors

• [07:05] Defense-in-depth is critical: EDR software, strong monitoring, and a SOC team can stop attackers even after initial compromise

• [09:47] Getting audited isn't enough , auditor quality, scope limitations, and ignoring off-chain components leave major gaps

• [12:20] CertiK reviews the full architecture even when only part of the system is in scope and recommends penetration testing for off-chain components

• [13:03] Manual audits, formal verification, static analysis, and AI are complementary , not replacements for each other

• [14:15] CertiK has built an AI Auditor tool that is publicly usable and can catch most issues a human auditor would find

• [16:14] April saw more than 30 hack incidents with only three hack-free days , AI is directly driving this surge

• [17:35] The best defense against AI-powered attacks is using AI on the defense side too , AI-empowered security engineers and agent SOC monitoring

• [18:28] Custodial vs non-custodial risk explained , hardware wallets from reputable providers, and understanding multi-sig, MPC, and HSM-based custody options

• [21:17] Founders should adopt a secure-by-design mindset , hire security engineers early and engage a security firm at the architecture stage before writing code

• [22:47] CertiK's biggest challenge is keeping pace with new technology , every new protocol or EIP needs to be understood and threat-modeled before they can secure it

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

I sat down with the founder of HandlePay, Medhi Farooq at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul to talk about why Pakistan is quietly becoming one of the most important crypto markets in the world. His journey started in 2020 when he got deplatformed by Interactive Brokers simply for being from Pakistan , and that moment of financial exclusion led him to DeFi, to research roles at Messari and Animoca, and eventually to building a neobank that collapses seven or eight apps into one. We dig into why the next decade of neobanking belongs to those who go deep rather than wide, how stablecoins are eating traditional banking rails in emerging markets, and why Pakistan , with 240 million people, an average age of 20, and the third-highest stablecoin adoption in the world , is one of the biggest opportunities nobody is talking about. We also get into AI's impact on freelancers, the diaspora remittance opportunity, and what the roadmap for HandlePay looks like over the next 12 months.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

HandlePay Website: https://handlepay.io/

HandlePay LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/handle-pay/posts/?feedView=alls

HandlePay Twitter/X: https://x.com/HandlePay0

Mehdi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehdifarooq/?isSelfProfile=false

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Mehdi intro , how getting deplatformed by Interactive Brokers during COVID sparked a journey into DeFi and permissionless finance

• [03:53] Impressions from Korea Blockchain Week , more suits, TradFi and Web3 worlds converging

• [05:02] The rise of crypto credit cards and net-new financial products at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance

• [06:49] Neobank 1.0 vs the next decade , why going deep beats going wide

• [09:26] Pakistan as a crypto superpower , 240M population, average age 20, 80% YoY freelancer growth, third-largest stablecoin adoption globally

• [11:30] How HandlePay collapses seven or eight apps into one , Binance, peer-to-peer WhatsApp groups, local banks, and more

• [13:00] Tapping the Pakistani diaspora , virtual US bank accounts, USDT/USDC remittance rails, and off-ramping at interbank rates

• [15:58] HandlePay's current state , live app, stablecoin payments, upcoming virtual accounts, global equities, crypto credit card, and bill payments

• [17:48] AI squeezing freelancer income but growing the freelancer base , and why human relationships compound faster than AI

• [19:35] Funding update , pre-seed raised, strong cap table, announcement coming soon

• [21:52] Key asks , investors, talent, and Pakistani SMEs and freelancers to download the app

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

I sat down with Cris, Chief Strategy Officer at Beldex, live at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul. We got into why privacy isn't just a feature , it's a full-stack infrastructure problem. Crris broke down how Beldex evolved from a privacy coin in 2018 into a complete privacy layer covering messaging, browsing, VPNs, and now AI agent communication. We also got into something I feel very strongly about: context bleed in AI agents and why it's a silent killer for anyone building with multi-agent systems. If you're a founder or developer building anything that touches user data , especially in the AI or trading space , this one is for you.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

Beldex Website: https://beldex.io/

Beldex Twitter/X: https://x.com/BeldexCoin

Beldex LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beldex/

Cris LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crisblanco/?isSelfProfile=false

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Cris teases the core Beldex vision: becoming invisible infrastructure that people use without knowing it

• [01:07] Introductions: Cris is CSO at Beldex, recorded live at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul

• [01:32] What is Beldex? Privacy infrastructure that started as a privacy coin in 2018 and expanded to cover all aspects of digital life

• [02:20] How Beldex differs from Monero and Zcash , they go beyond payments into messaging, browsing, and VPNs

• [03:35] The real use case problem in crypto: too much infra, not enough apps , Beldex is building both

• [04:56] BChat: a privacy-first messaging app like WhatsApp that requires no phone number or email

• [06:52] Beldex raised an $8M round in August and is now focused on enabling builders via SDK, EVM sidechain, and a grants program

• [09:01] Message to founders: privacy should be built in from day one, not bolted on at the end

• [11:17] Technology becomes adopted when it becomes invisible , we need to stop forcing people to learn crypto jargon

• [13:13] Beldex is now testing encrypted messaging infrastructure for AI agent communication

• [14:29] Context bleed in AI agents: why privacy infrastructure is critical for anyone building multi-agent systems

• [16:37] Trading use case: context bleed between agents could be disastrous for funds and quant systems

• [19:29] Cris shares his personal tech conviction: hyper-personalised, custom-built software powered by AI is the future

• [21:29] Biggest ask: developers and founders should think deeply about why privacy matters, then come check out Beldex

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

I sat down with Wish Wu from Pharos at Korea Blockchain Week to catch up on everything they've been building since we last spoke eight months ago. Pharos has quietly become the largest blockchain for RWA insurance and distribution in APAC, with over $116 million in real-world assets on-chain , and half of those users are coming straight from Web2. Now they're going further. Wish walks me through how Pharos is building agent-native infrastructure, solving the gas sponsorship problem for micropayments, and launching a desktop app that lets anyone , developer or not , build and run on-chain workflows with AI. With 200,000 to 300,000 agents already running on the chain, the vision is bold: more agents than humans actively transacting on Pharos within the next 12 months.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

Pharos Website: https://www.pharos.xyz/

Pharos Twitter/X: https://x.com/pharos_network

Pharos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pharosnetwork/

Wish LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wishlonger/?isSelfProfile=false

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [0:00] Introduction at Korea Blockchain Week with Wish Wu from Pharos

• [0:50] Pharos has become the largest blockchain for RWA insurance and distribution in APAC with over $116M in on-chain assets

• [2:07] ~50% of Pharos users are coming from Web2 , many holding crypto for the first time

• [3:14] Pharos upgrades to agent-native support, tackling gas sponsorship friction for new users and agents

• [4:42] Why existing gas sponsorship models break down for agent micropayments and multi-chain interactions

• [6:33] Introducing programmable gas subscriptions , pay once, let your agent run freely on Pharos

• [9:22] Key challenge: closing the UX gap between Web2 apps and Web3 experiences

• [10:28] Agents level the playing field , they give Web3 a chance to compete with Web2 UX

• [11:54] Pharos is launching a desktop app , a Codex-style tool for both developers and everyday users

• [18:06] Partnership priorities: institutions and asset issuers to bring more natively issued on-chain assets

• [21:09] 12-month vision: mainnet rollout of agent-native Layer-1, more RWA distribution, and more agents than humans on-chain

I sat down with Chad from THORChain , the protocol that literally invented cross-chain liquidity , for a raw, no-fluff conversation about what it really takes to secure a decentralized exchange handling over $125 billion in volume. We dig into why security audits give people false confidence, how AI is supercharging hackers right now, and what THORChain's autonomous halt systems actually do when things go sideways. We also get into the Bitget $350M hack, what it means when funds flow through decentralized protocols, and the deeper philosophical question , where do you draw the line between censorship resistance and protecting users? Chad also shares what's next for THORChain, including Monero and Zcash support, faster swaps, and why he believes DEXs will inevitably outcompete centralized exchanges on every metric that matters.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

THORChain Website: https://thorchain.org/

THORChain Twitter/X: https://x.com/thorchain

THORChain LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thorchain/

Web3 with Sam Kamani Podcast: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Sam introduces the episode , THORChain, the Bitget $350M hack, and what's really going on with security in crypto

• [01:38] Chad joins and explains what makes THORChain different , the protocol that invented cross-chain liquidity

• [03:33] Why THORChain was the first true decentralized exchange for native Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Doge , and Monero coming next

• [04:41] Security lessons from $125B in volume , why a cross-chain DEX is orders of magnitude harder to secure than Uniswap

• [05:40] A wave of hacks hits the whole sector: Maya, THORChain's app layer, NIR, Chainflip , all within weeks

• [06:53] Why audits are the lowest standard in security , and why having an on-staff red/blue team matters far more

• [08:07] How THORChain's autonomous halt system works , the protocol can stop itself before humans even notice

• [10:36] Managing the trilemma: decentralization, security, and usability , how validator voting and pause mechanisms balance it all

• [13:32] The Terra collapse as a lesson: why you need fast-response mechanisms, not just slow governance

• [15:23] Chad's take on the Bitget $350M hack and the tension between censorship resistance and stopping stolen funds

• [16:38] Why decentralization is a requirement for liberty , and what Bitcoin gave the world for the first time in history

• [20:00] Historical precedents: the Ethereum DAO hack fork and Bitcoin's 2010 overflow bug , when protocols have rolled back transactions

• [23:13] The biggest underestimated security risk in DeFi right now: AI lowering the bar for black-hat hackers

• [25:17] Macro view: AI pulling capital away from crypto, the Genius Act, TradFi merging with DeFi, and where the cycle stands

• [27:23] What's next for THORChain , Zcash now, Monero next, more chains, faster swaps, better quotes

• [28:17] Why DEXs will inevitably beat CEXs on speed, cost, and accessibility , and why Chad is excited to be part of that future

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

In this episode, I sit down with Denis from Humea , a product and research company that has catalyzed over $1 billion in ARR for their clients. We go deep on what it actually takes to achieve product market fit, and why most founders are looking in completely the wrong direction. Denis brings a rare dual background in physics and psychology, and he uses it to reveal how human behavior , not technology , is the real driver behind whether a product succeeds or dies. We talk about why Web3 is uniquely challenging because money arrives before product market fit, the hidden psychology of why founders resist pivoting, how Doordash generated over $300 million in additional revenue through better user understanding, what blockchain banks must do to win trust, and why simplifying your message for non-technical decision makers might be the most valuable thing you do this year. Whether you are building in DeFi, fintech, AI, or SaaS, the principles Denis shares here are universal and immediately actionable.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

CONNECT

Humea Website: https://humea.com/

Humea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humea

Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/

KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Humea has catalyzed over $1 billion ARR for clients across fintech, banking, and infrastructure

• [02:49] Denis explains his dual background in physics and psychology and how it shapes his approach to product research

• [05:57] The difference between output and outcome , and why measuring the wrong thing gives you false positive data

• [08:54] Why working with an agency should always start with a friendly conversation to find genuine alignment before any contract

• [14:13] In Web3, money comes before product market fit , the complete opposite of the Web2 world

• [17:42] The IKEA effect and sunk cost fallacy explain why founders get emotionally attached and resist pivoting

• [23:08] Why mid-stage startups throw money at ads instead of fixing the underlying product and customer understanding

• [28:24] Doordash case study , course correcting the user journey generated over $300 million in additional annual revenue

• [31:45] Blockchain banking case study , turning a deeply negative NPS into a positive one through empathy-driven research

• [33:20] The four things users want from banking: returns, versatility, problem solving for their segment, and trust

• [34:04] Trust in crypto products is not about gaining confidence , it is about removing doubt

• [38:19] Why human-crafted content creates energy and connection that AI-generated content currently cannot replicate

• [43:58] Even in cutting-edge Web3, all major deals are still done human to human the old-fashioned way

• [45:24] Most B2B decision makers are not technical , your communication strategy needs to reach non-technical buyers

• [47:30] Polygon CDK dashboard case study , a brilliant engineer could not explain the interface to a colleague in another department