Sept. 16, 2025

299: Pete's Next Chapter: Norio Ventures | Scaling Solana in Ireland | Stablecoin Growth | Tokenized Securities | Alejandro Gutierrez

299: Pete's Next Chapter: Norio Ventures | Scaling Solana in Ireland | Stablecoin Growth | Tokenized Securities | Alejandro Gutierrez
299: Pete's Next Chapter: Norio Ventures | Scaling Solana in Ireland | Stablecoin Growth | Tokenized Securities | Alejandro Gutierrez
MoneyNeverSleeps
299: Pete's Next Chapter: Norio Ventures | Scaling Solana in Ireland | Stablecoin Growth | Tokenized Securities | Alejandro Gutierrez

Alejandro Gutierrez joins me to talk Solana in Ireland, stablecoins, and tokenized securities - plus I share the launch of Norio Ventures Fund I and what’s ahead for Episode 300.

This week I’m joined once again by Alejandro Gutierrez, the driving force behind Solana Superteam Ireland. Alejandro and I dive into what he’s been building across the island this summer, from expanding the Solana community to connecting founders with traditional investors. We also zoom out to the big themes shaping onchain finance right now - stablecoins moving mainstream with regulation, and tokenized securities breaking through with Nasdaq and others stepping in.

I also share some of my own big news: the official launch of Norio Ventures Fund I, backing unstoppable founders building onchain finance. And with Episode 300 just around the corner, we look ahead to a live recording in Dublin, plus upcoming events in both Dublin and Belfast.

Episode Themes:

  • Alejandro’s summer of scaling Solana Superteam Ireland — from investor dinners to Belfast expansion

  • Stablecoins moving mainstream: regulation, adoption, and global capital mobility

  • Tokenized securities and why Nasdaq’s latest moves matter for the next wave of capital markets

  • My announcement of Norio Ventures Fund I and why I’m backing unstoppable founders building onchain finance

  • Upcoming events: Payments Innovation Roundtable (Sept 17, Dublin) + CryptoMondays Ireland “Building Our Onchain Future” (Sept 22, Belfast)

  • Plans for Episode 300 — a live recording in Dublin with surprise guests

References:

LINKS:

Solana Superteam Ireland: Website | X/(Twitter) | LinkedIn

Alejandro Gutierrez: X/(Twitter) | LinkedIn

Leave a review & subscribe on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoneyNeverSleeps (website)

Email us: info@norioventures.com

Pete Townsend: X/Twitter | LinkedIn

MoneyNeverSleeps: X/Twitter | LinkedIn | Newsletter

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Hey there.
I'm Pete Townsend, and This is

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Money Never Sleeps.
We look inside the minds of

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entrepreneurs and at the
crossover of startups,

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enterprise, finance, technology
and life as we know it.

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This week, Alejandro Gutierrez
jump back in with me on the

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return from our summer hiatus.
And as you all know, he's the

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driving force behind Solana
Super Team Ireland.

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We get into how Alejandro was
scaling the community across the

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island, but also zoom out to
talk about the big theme shaping

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on chain finance right now.
Stablecoins moving mainstream

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with new regulation and
tokenized securities continuing

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to breakthrough with NASDAQ and
others stepping in along the

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way.
I share some details on my own

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big announcement kicking off
Norio Ventures Fund One, an

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early stage venture fund backing
unstoppable founders.

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Building on chain finance.
We also look ahead to what's

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coming up.
The Payments Innovation

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Roundtable in Dublin on
September 17th focused on stable

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coins, Crypto Mondays, Ireland
and Belfast on September 22nd

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with our Building our on Chain
Future event and still

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developing plans for episode 300
of Money Never Sleeps, a live

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recording with plenty of room
for friends at a podcast studio

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in Dublin.
If you're into the builders, the

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breakthroughs in the road ahead
for finance on chain, listen up.

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So let's get into it with
Alejandro Gutierrez.

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All right here on Money Never
Sleeps Money.

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Never sleeps.
Pal Alejandro, how you doing,

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pal?
Pete, good to be here again.

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How are you doing?
Good, good to be back.

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The summer hiatus is over in
nearly mid-september now.

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That's it's crazy isn't it, how
fast this year has has gone.

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I know, I know, it's been nuts
and it's I missed the creative

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part of making this podcast over
the summer and it's kind of all

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the momentum to get back.
I was very excited this morning

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bouncing around.
I am on my second double

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espresso.
So that explains a bit as to why

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I'm bouncing around a bit.
All excited to be back here

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recording with you to kick
things off for our fall season.

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Let's just call it that, right?
Yeah, I know it's it's pretty

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exciting as well.
I think getting back into full

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swing of things and getting
their routine back, kids back in

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school, I think it helps.
It helps and also, well, almost

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episode 300 beats so.
Yeah, this is 290-9300 is coming

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up.
We're going to do something

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special for that.
I'm just back and forth in the

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last couple of days from the
guys at Head Stuff who have a

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podcast studio that is big
enough for a small audience.

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So we're going to do episode 300
with a live recording.

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Don't have the date set yet, but
it will be coming up in the next

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couple of weeks and we'll be
inviting a few folks along to

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that.
And we'll have a little

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celebration for episode 300.
Hopefully some surprise guests,

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some old friends, some new
friends.

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Obviously, Alejandro, it'd be
great to have you there with us

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right up recording given how
many of these episodes you've

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done with me now.
So very much looking forward to

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getting that, getting that one
done.

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There is more to come on that.
I will leave that for now what

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we're going to do after episode
300.

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But there's more to come.
Excited to be back doing this

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with you.
I do have a couple of updates

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now.
This is public information now

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that has been shared over the
summer, but perhaps some of the

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listeners may not pick up on
this by the fact that, you know,

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we were on the summer hiatus.
But at the end of June, after we

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had finished the last Techstars
Web 3 Demo Day in New York City,

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which went incredibly well.
And we did the recording of

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that, that I shared his episode
298 back at the end of July.

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In the closing comments that I
made that day, I said there is

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an Irish poet and stage
performer that goes by the name

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of Bono and he was on stage in
1989 at the Point Depot in

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Dublin at the end of the Love
Town tour.

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And he said sometimes you just
have to go away and dream it all

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up again, right?
And I said that to the crowd.

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I said every summer Hugh and I
get together, Hugh Mcgurr,

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investment principal and trusted
investment partner that I've

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been working with the last four
years and friend, I said, we get

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together and figure out if we're
going to do this all again.

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And what we decided was that we
were going to take everything

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that we had built with the
Techstars Web 3 ecosystem over

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the last four years.
We're going to make it available

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to all of the Techstars
programs.

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And what that means is that Hugh
and I will no longer be running

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an accelerator for Techstars.
The Techstars Web 3 accelerator

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is finished.
We've done that for years.

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We invested in 38 companies,
invested about 4 million in

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capital and we built a great
network and we built a great

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portfolio.
And you know I will continue to

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manage that.
I'm staying close to Techstars.

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I am now a Techstars Managing
Director alumnus and so I'm

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helping with a couple of
partnerships.

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I am doing some mentoring of
founders that are coming into

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Techstars just now this week for
the kick off of the fall term.

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And I will be obviously
continuing to help the founders

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that I've invested in over the
last four years and doing my

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best to do that.
That is the end of the chapter,

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but there's obviously new one
coming up as well.

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That's pretty exciting, Pete.
And look, if you ask me, I

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believe that's probably the
right approach and continuation.

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Like we're seeing more and more
now every single industry

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starting using the technology,
which means that having probably

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chapter just dedicated to F3,
yeah, it's still impactful, but

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it's probably better just to
spread this in every single

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different industry and every
single potential application out

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there.
So I I believe these can have a

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bigger impact as well in the
Techstars ecosystem.

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Definitely.
And Techstars having a vertical

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focused accelerator program is
an anomaly for Techstars.

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Techstars is very much focused
on startup communities and in

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person communities.
And there was a Techstars cloud

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program back in 2012 I believe,
and they ran that once or twice.

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But then you don't need a
specific Techstars cloud

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technology program because
everyone's just building on

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cloud, right?
So we took that same type of

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call with Techstars Web 3 and
the mentor group, which you were

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famously part of and as an All
Star mentor, Alejandro, and

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thank you for that and thank you
to all of our mentors over the

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last few years and that we still
have a great community there and

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I'm staying in touch with
everybody.

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We also have a community of
founders and investors that

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we're continuing to manage that
community and keep people

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updated on what's going on.
So still lots going on.

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And that whole network is such a
fantastic network for the next

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thing that I'm going to be
doing.

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But before we get into that,
Alejandro, you've done quite a

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bit over the summer with Solana
Super Team Ireland.

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What tell tell me how that
unfolded?

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You know, it's hilarious because
I was chatting to some more

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leads from the Super teams
around the world and say, OK,

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this is the time to recharge
batteries.

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And I think for us was not the
case whatsoever.

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We we kept pounding and pounding
and there was so much that

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happened just to cement that
foundation for, for super team

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Ireland.
We were extremely busy.

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Like numbers were keep growing
and growing.

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We had our investors dinner.
So this is the first time ever

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it happens in the Irish
ecosystem.

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Just getting together web tree
projects with traditional

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investors and it was fantastic
just to see how interested

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people are in the space right
now.

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Have we tried to do this speed
together a few times?

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I tried to do it probably 2
times.

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He never actually will never
succeed on it.

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And seeing it now, it was
extremely exciting, but also

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what was in in August actually.
Yep, that was amazing, pulling

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people together in the middle of
August.

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And you know, I, I think it's
the approach that you're taking

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Alejandro in that trying to
build bridges and connect the

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dots here and being able to show
people that listen, building on

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Solana is something that doesn't
just need to be focused on

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crypto natives and that if you
are a tech founder, these things

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aren't that complicated to
understand and that there is a

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benefit and advantage to
building on chain.

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And you may not actually have
thought about that before, but

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have a look.
The feeling that I get is that

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with Solana Super team here in
Ireland that you've got the

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resources and the people to help
to bring people on board.

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That's a big difference, to be
honest, Pete, because we knew

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there's talent here.
Like we know that we have tech

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talent, we have fintech talent.
So you're doing that transition.

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It shouldn't be that difficult,
but the fact is like we never

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have real support on the ground
that that didn't really exist

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before.
And that's the reason why we're

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seeing the, the growth in the
in, in super Team Ireland,

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because you have people that are
dedicated just to nurture the

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consistent North Shore talent
scout talent scout companies.

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And more and more we're seeing
Web 2 projects that they have a

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technological gap, they have an
issue and they're finding the

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solution in web tree and not
just on the obvious industries

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like fintech and payments,
because dozens are the easy

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ones, right?
We're seeing these right now in

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some ordered industries like
healthcare, right?

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We're seeing it as well into in
pharma like a startups in pharma

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just reaching out, gaming,
loyalty, all sorts of different

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applications that few years ago
wouldn't be considered or you

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wouldn't see people in the web
too looking for for these

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solutions in the in, in their
own chain or doing a transition

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on chain.
Yeah, and it's almost.

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Exciting.
Like I meant, you know, what the

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the cloud program back in 2012
and that a lot of what happened

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back then was those that were
starting to build the hyper

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scalers like, you know, AWS and
Google cloud and Azure.

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Just trying to turn people on to
this and show them the benefit

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of actually building on cloud.
And that there was a lot of, you

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know, a lot of folks that they
had to help turn the corner on

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that.
And you know, we're, I think

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we're at the stage now with
blockchain where that's just the

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same thing that if you show
founders and tech builders the

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benefits that they can actually
in the same way that building on

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cloud back in 2012 allowed them
to get off the ground for 50K

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instead of 500 K because you
didn't eat all these on Prem

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servers, That building on chain
now allows you to supercharge

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the tech stack of your business,
right?

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And there's a lot of different
applications.

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Sometimes it's not right,
sometimes it is.

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And it's the it's the right
thing to do to help deliver your

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value proposition in a better,
faster and cheaper way, you

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know?
I fully agree.

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I think that experimentation
needs to keep happening and we

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are learning every single day
more and more about how to

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implement this technology into
traditional Web 2 interfaces,

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right?
That is one of the key issues

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like we have been discussing
this a lot, right?

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And for some reason I got
blockchain should be a

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technology that is at the back
like a blockchain hasn't been

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designed to be just up there.
In like cloud.

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Everybody, it's like cloud.
Exactly.

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It's going to be a huge impact.
A lot of the users, they

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probably, they don't even know.
They don't need to know to be

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honest.
And I know you've been doing

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00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:52,400
Solana Talent Hub Friday at Doug
Patch Labs all throughout the

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00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,200
summer as well.
And I was able to stop by for

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00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:57,520
one of them and I I need to get
back for more.

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00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,240
That has been successful.
And you took the show on the

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00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:03,160
road last week up to Belfast,
didn't?

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00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:04,480
You.
That's it.

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00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,200
That's it.
Like, I have a extremely busy

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summer, like the way before
Belfast, we have more than 45

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00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:15,080
people coming, which is a number
that if you asked me two years

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00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,080
ago would have been unheard of.
Like, and there's more and more

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people, younger people,
students, web two people that

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are like interested.
And the decision of taking it to

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00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,640
Belfast.
Well, super Team Ireland is is

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00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:33,680
an island wide initiative.
This is not just for the

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Republic.
That is something that we have

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00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:39,200
been telling everybody we accept
with with open arms.

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And it was fantastic actually to
share with with that ecosystem.

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We we have already people
building in the Solana

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ecosystem.
We have OG members like like Key

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00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:54,360
and Brenner that is leading
right now Sky in Solana.

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00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,520
And we have the chance actually
to sit down with Vishal.

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He heads all the blockchain
group in Queens University and

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00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:10,080
just was a really fantastic
discussion about how we can just

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00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,720
bring all the talent, all these
new talent from from Northern

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00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,040
Ireland to look into Solana.
Yeah, for sure.

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00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:18,920
But look into web tree in
general, right?

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I think the important piece is
bringing people into the web

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tree space, bringing people into
blockchain.

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And then look, the way I see it,
there will be people from every

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single one of those change.
Like I will do our best to just

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attract them into Solana.
But most important is, is just

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creating that, that ecosystem
first, right?

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And, and I think Queens
University is going to be a

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fantastic ally to, to make that
happen.

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And I keep it growing.
So there's going to be more of

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these events, probably doing a
satellite of talent Hall in

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Belfast.
We have the numbers.

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I will keep expanding across the
island.

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Does does the the main idea we
need to decentralize a little

250
00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,960
bit from from Dublin.
I have this thing that is a

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00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,880
double edged sword, right?
Because it's a small enough,

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00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,800
right that everybody can travel
to Dublin from everywhere.

253
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But at the same time that
creates that centralization

254
00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,360
piece, right?
We have people coming from

255
00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,320
Donegal week on week, which is
fantastic, right?

256
00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:18,640
But Yep, well, it shouldn't be
creating something maybe in

257
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,880
Donegal and have the numbers.
So that's probably next stage.

258
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,200
Absolutely, absolutely no.
I love it.

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00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,360
Just reaching out across the
entire island, as you said, and

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00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:32,160
that we are, you know, was that
Ian Brown in Belfast?

261
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,720
Yeah, Ian was there team.
And Ian Mitchell, obviously

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00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:37,840
shout out to Ian Mitchell.
He's been working on Mitchell

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00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:39,920
with us.
Yeah, I should have mentioned

264
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:41,720
Ian.
As soon as we mentioned to him,

265
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,800
look, we're going to be doing
this in in Belfast, he just

266
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,760
jumped on it.
Contact the guys at our more

267
00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:51,280
labs and all you go.
Yeah, it was fantastic.

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Yeah.
So absolutely.

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And we're going to go back up to
Belfast on the 22nd of

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00:14:57,640 --> 00:14:59,200
September.
We've got a few folks from

271
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,320
Dublin heading up for Crypto
Mondays.

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00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,000
So we Belfast tech week is going
on.

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I think it's kicking off that
weekend before Monday the 22nd

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00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:13,720
and we are doing an event called
Building Our Unchained Future.

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That's with Super Team Ireland
and also with me with Noria

276
00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:18,800
Ventures.
I'll be sharing more a bit about

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00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,920
that in a second.
Like I said, bringing the show

278
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,520
on the road up to Belfast.
So that's Crypto Mondays

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00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:25,680
Ireland.
As we've said from the

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00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,520
beginning, we did our first
three events in Dublin and then

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00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:31,680
it was time to bring it up
north.

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00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:36,200
So looking forward to that.
We also have our Payments

283
00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,640
Innovation Roundtable coming up
and this is a closed event.

284
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,920
I'm excited to be doing this as
we're trying to get payment

285
00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,640
firms and banks and anyone
building in fintech and

286
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,880
payments, just bring them up the
curve a bit with regards to

287
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,520
stable coins and just get this
round table discussion going.

288
00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,360
Have this setting where people
are comfortable learning in

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00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:00,800
public.
You're not really learning in

290
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:04,080
public because it is a closed
session, but Co learning with

291
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,720
your industry colleagues.
And so just to try to open

292
00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,320
people's eyes a bit with what's
going on with stablecoin.

293
00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,120
So looking forward to doing that
as well.

294
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:12,360
That would be pretty
interesting.

295
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,560
I'm really excited.
But look, in general we have

296
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,880
been talking about creating
these or, or or hosting these

297
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,720
for for long feet and, and
seeing it happening now, it's

298
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,600
exciting.
I think it's the right time is

299
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,120
the right moment.
Stable coins are at a peak.

300
00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:29,520
Everybody wants to create a
stable coin.

301
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,560
Now, do they need them?
Probably not.

302
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,680
But I think important is that
people want, I think it's

303
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,760
important to for people that are
in the industry to understand

304
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,480
what the impact of this
technology is going to be for

305
00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:43,880
them.
Because probably some of them

306
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,120
know, probably some of them are
just digesting what is to come

307
00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,880
and let them know that if that's
the route that they want to

308
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,160
follow, there are options, there
are alternatives, and that there

309
00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:58,640
are people in the ground that
can help.

310
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:03,400
Definitely, and it's not
shilling that's the big thing in

311
00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,560
that this is about opening
people's eyes to innovations and

312
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:13,440
innovations in their industry
and that this is something that

313
00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,240
you can choose to do.
Now if you take stable coins,

314
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,839
for example, stable coins are a
lot more about the importer in

315
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:25,640
Dubai paying for coffee beans
that are being shipped in mass

316
00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,960
from a farm in Kenya and being
able to do so and it with

317
00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:33,600
instant liquidity, instant
settlement and without all the

318
00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:38,000
cross-border hassles of getting
from one local domestic currency

319
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,680
into another, right.
In thinly traded FX markets

320
00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,080
where you have the Fiat
currencies that are on legacy

321
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,840
rails.
And it's a lot more about that

322
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,040
type of transaction on the B to
B level than it is someone

323
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,680
walking into a cafe in Nairobi
in Kenya and buying a cup of

324
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,000
coffee.
With all of these discussions,

325
00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,520
so much of this in the past in
crypto, people take that word

326
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,640
cryptocurrency and they think
that we're talking about

327
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:09,040
changing the world's currencies
into other means.

328
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,400
And that's not what it's about.
I wish that word cryptocurrency

329
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:14,880
was never created.
I wish it was just crypto asset

330
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:19,280
because that's what these things
are and that you're looking at

331
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,280
alternative forms of payment,
being able to do so in a way

332
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,720
that is better, faster, cheaper.
And so always love to have

333
00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:29,160
conversations with folks about
this.

334
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,640
So looking forward to leaving
that round table with you.

335
00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:38,400
So Speaking of doing new things,
I do have some news to announce.

336
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,320
So I am finally, after all these
years, kicking off Nario

337
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:48,120
Ventures Fund One and.
Should I do the the the the

338
00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:51,280
drums?
The drums, the gone baby, right?

339
00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,920
But what I'm doing is that I'm
backing unstoppable founders,

340
00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:00,840
the precede and Seed stage, who
are building on chain finance,

341
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,320
particularly in the areas of
decentralized infrastructure,

342
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:09,760
global capital, mobility, and
universal UX, all accelerated by

343
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,880
AI.
Got to be doing a ton of work

344
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,200
around the narrative and a ton
of work around exactly what I'm

345
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,840
doing and why.
I started talking to my network

346
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:20,520
about it, started telling them
what I was doing, getting ideas,

347
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,200
getting feedback.
Obviously, I've worked with a

348
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,080
ton of founders on raising their
rounds, but when you're raising

349
00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,800
from limited partners that are
investing in funds, it's a

350
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:30,560
different kettle of fish
completely.

351
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,680
I'm talking with a lot of folks
about their experience in doing

352
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,200
that.
This is a niche fund in a niche

353
00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:41,440
segment with a niche strategy.
And this is something where I'm

354
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,800
talking to others who have taken
that same approach, raising

355
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,800
their first time as a solo GP.
And as I've done this in the

356
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,960
past, working with others who
are doing the fundraising and I

357
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,480
was the OPS and structuring guy.
And now I'm at that point where

358
00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,680
I'm like, listen, it's about
damn time.

359
00:19:58,040 --> 00:19:59,800
I've been working in this space
for 10 years.

360
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:01,440
This is what I've been driving
towards.

361
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:03,720
Just do it, right?
Just get out there and do it.

362
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,600
And if I fall on my face flat,
who cares?

363
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,680
At least I gave it a shot.
No, Peter, I'm I'm so glad to

364
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,400
hear this because you say I was
going to ask you.

365
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,240
I took you so long actually.
The first five years of me in

366
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:18,080
this space, those were the
hustle years.

367
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,400
And that was me trying to figure
this space out and get to know

368
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,400
founders and work closely with
founders and get myself onto

369
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:28,160
advisory boards and boards of
directors and all of that.

370
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,840
And then Techstars came along
and Techstars was about me doing

371
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,160
two things.
One, getting my reps with 38

372
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,760
investments, reviewing 2 1/2
thousand applications, doing

373
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:42,320
over 1000 founder calls, right?
And the second thing was about

374
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,080
building the network and
building those relationships

375
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,640
with mentors, with investors,
but most importantly with the

376
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,680
founders and being able to truly
understand what an unstoppable

377
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:57,400
founder looks like.
And this culminated in our 2025

378
00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,920
cohort where we said we're not
doing 12 investments this year.

379
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,800
We're doing 6, we're doing 6
high conviction bets only.

380
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:10,800
And that's what's been built
into my own patterns and my own

381
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,680
processes.
And it feels right.

382
00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,920
It's high conviction.
And it's not me spraying and

383
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,360
praying.
It's saying these are founders

384
00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:20,920
that I believe in that will
build the next wave of moving

385
00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,560
finance on Chain I.
Think that's probably a good

386
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,720
approach because the last you
don't you don't want to be known

387
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,280
in the industry, right?
As an investor, as someone that

388
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,120
is placing money, disappearing,
then coming back, extracting

389
00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:37,440
value and off you go.
Oh yeah, and the knowledge that

390
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,560
you have paid will be on value
for a lot of these companies

391
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,560
opening doors.
Why you call it smart money,

392
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:44,040
right?
That's exactly what you want.

393
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,200
Yep.
And and that's the bad look, I

394
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,280
I'm extremely excited.
I'm really happy.

395
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,760
I'm really glad for you and
believe that Irish ecosystem.

396
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,080
I'm going to welcome this with
open arms and look for for the

397
00:21:58,080 --> 00:21:59,600
grassroots.
This is going to be so

398
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:00,840
important.
This could be one of the

399
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:05,840
cornerstones that will allow us
just to build a proper startup

400
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:07,920
ecosystem in the web tree space
in Ireland.

401
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:09,880
Definitely.
And you know, I've been

402
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,560
referring to what you've done,
Alejandro, when I speak with

403
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:18,440
people about creating investment
opportunities where they may not

404
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,600
otherwise be in that where you
find a founder building an AI

405
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,640
who may not have thought about
building on chain.

406
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:29,120
And that where they look at that
when you kind of prompt them and

407
00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:31,760
they say, wait a second, yeah,
if we actually built this into

408
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,560
our stack, this would allow us
to do XY and ZA whole lot better

409
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,720
and things like micro payments
in AI and agentic payments in

410
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,160
general, right?
All that type of stuff.

411
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,080
So being able to do a lot of the
stuff that you and I have been

412
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,160
working on together has allowed
me to create this little extra

413
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,080
thing that is interesting.
And on that note, people said,

414
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:54,600
Pete, where you going to call
your new fund?

415
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,600
I said, you know what?
I created Norio Ventures back in

416
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:01,840
2016 with purpose.
Norio is Japanese for man of

417
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,720
principle.
OK, Norio is also an anagram of

418
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,280
the word Orion.
Orion is the hunter.

419
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,160
I've always been a hunter for
unstoppable founders, for new

420
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,880
deals, new ideas, new things
that are worth pursuing.

421
00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:17,000
Hunter is also a family name
going back to the 13th century

422
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,480
in Scotland.
It means a lot to me.

423
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:20,920
I could have come up with
another name.

424
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,200
Someone said Pete, just call it
on chain ventures.

425
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,120
I said no.
Somebody suggested Pete stars.

426
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,280
Yeah, yeah, Pete stars.
Yeah, absolutely could have done

427
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,280
that as well.
But you know, it's I'm, I'm

428
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,280
sticking with it and I'm
excited, as you can tell.

429
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,640
I think like with your
experience and what you have

430
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,320
done actually with tech stars
before that and there would be a

431
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,120
lot of people interested.
I I have no doubt about it.

432
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,200
I'm really excited.
I'm I'm extremely excited about

433
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,880
the like the launch of Mario
adventures and how and out

434
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:54,240
there.
Like I believe it's going to be

435
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,920
terrific for the ecosystem for
you personally.

436
00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:01,960
So well done, Sir.
Thank you, thank you, me and AI.

437
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,240
You know, GPT has been my best
friend in this so far.

438
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,680
So we have to thank GPT as well
for for getting things to this

439
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,600
stage.
So given the summer hiatus and

440
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,640
given that so much has happened
over the past few months, I just

441
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,760
wanted to do a quick rewind on a
few of these things.

442
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,640
These are important topics for
what you're building through

443
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,920
Super Team, but also with what
I'm going to be investing in

444
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:29,080
through Norio Ventures Fund 1.
So, and it's no surprise that

445
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,000
these are the topics that you
and I speak about regularly

446
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,920
anyway, because this is the
lifeblood of why I'm doing this

447
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,840
to begin with in that we had the
huge event over the summer with

448
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:43,120
the passing of the Genius Act
and that is fueling stablecoin

449
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,920
mainstreaming as a regulatory
framework for stablecoins.

450
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,400
So think about things like full
reserve backing, mandatory

451
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,840
audits, state federal
permitting.

452
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,320
It's basically mainstreaming
digital dollars with a great

453
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,480
foundation of regulation behind
it.

454
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,440
McKinsey have predicted that 2
trillion will be driven into

455
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,640
stable coins.
So that's $2 trillion in stable

456
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:11,080
coin value predicted by 2028.
And that also Europe is going a

457
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,560
bit of its own cautious route.
Mika has a stablecoin framework.

458
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,880
It's a bit unwieldy, right?
I don't think we're going to be

459
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,400
seeing any depth of liquidity in
euro stable coins anytime soon,

460
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:24,600
OK.
And that will be a topic of

461
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,920
conversation for our Payments
Innovation Roundtable.

462
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,880
We're talking mostly to those
who are operating in euro and

463
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:34,160
how do we actually enable firms
to take advantage of the stable

464
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,480
coin infrastructure when this is
operating primarily in USD?

465
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:39,640
There's this stable coin
sandwich.

466
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,760
I won't get into that for now,
but you know, you know what I'm

467
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,840
talking about there.
It would be really interesting

468
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,320
to see how it develops in
Europe, right, Because now

469
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,280
you're seeing every single big
economy in the world push in

470
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,120
that direction.
I don't, I don't see the

471
00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:57,440
appetite in here.
There's a lot of discussion

472
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:03,080
still about CBDC's and Euro like
a detailed euro by like a like

473
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:06,920
minted directly by, by the
European Union etcetera,

474
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,120
etcetera, which is personally I
don't think is the right

475
00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:15,240
approach for this and we know
that is not.

476
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,320
But not at.
The same time, at the same time,

477
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:24,600
I believe that the European
Union has or is a bit afraid on

478
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,920
losing some sort of dominance
from the currency perspective,

479
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,080
because if the dominance goes
straight into the USD, what's

480
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,320
going to happen with the euro?
Yep.

481
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,840
Yeah, I've had some
conversations about this with

482
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,240
people who I cannot get into,
Right.

483
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:47,760
So I'm right there with you.
The, you know, a digital euro is

484
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,240
not the answer.
It was at least encouraging to

485
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,280
hear that.
There was talk of that being on

486
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,280
a public blockchain, but their
original plans for the digital

487
00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,520
euro had nothing to do with
blockchain.

488
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:03,440
It was a closed system, OK.
And when you have a closed

489
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,240
system that's issuing digital
instruments, digital dollars,

490
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,080
digital securities that can't be
reused elsewhere, and that is

491
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,760
part of the global capital
mobility.

492
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:17,480
Part of my investment thesis is
that we need these assets to be

493
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,480
able to move around the world
into institutions, hands into

494
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,800
individual hands in ways that
bring them surprise, delight and

495
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,920
joy from the user experience.
And with a closed loop system,

496
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:33,440
you're not going to get that.
And it was Tony McLaughlin who

497
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:39,640
is the founder and CEO of Ubix
and he is a stable coin

498
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,360
maximalist and he spoke about
this on LinkedIn and talking

499
00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:46,040
about the difference between
stable coins and tokenized

500
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,720
deposits in CBDC's.
Now I worked on something a few

501
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:55,200
years ago with a early player in
the common, early player in the

502
00:27:55,200 --> 00:28:02,240
stable coin space, and they were
responding to a tender from the

503
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:08,080
Treasury in the UK, in England,
and it was on CBD CS.

504
00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:10,320
And they said how do we do this?
And they said there's two

505
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,160
models.
There's one, the central bank

506
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,360
itself can issue a digital
currency, but what that brings

507
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:20,520
with it is the need to have a
consumer service attached to

508
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,680
that.
You have people worried about

509
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,880
that a transaction didn't
complete correctly.

510
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,680
Can a, can a central bank really
support that?

511
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,560
No.
So the alternative was is that

512
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:36,080
you create the digital currency
as a framework, but then you let

513
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,880
the commercial banks deliver
that and you let the commercial

514
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:43,960
banks issue their digital
currencies in that local Fiat

515
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,240
currency.
So you have HSBC, you have

516
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,400
NatWest, you have Barclays,
whatever in the UK that are all

517
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,440
issuing digital pounds.
And they're all fungible against

518
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,440
each other.
In the same way that if you pick

519
00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:01,400
up a euro coin and you flip it
over and you see that that coin

520
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:04,840
was actually minted in Greece,
and then I've got in my pocket

521
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,360
another one that was minted in
Ireland.

522
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,320
It doesn't make a difference.
They're totally fungible.

523
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,560
And so you can.
And that was the model that was

524
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,320
being proposed.
This was five years ago and then

525
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,280
when I saw the whole tokenized
deposits model coming out of JP

526
00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:21,000
Morgan, it looks the same.
And that the tokenized deposits

527
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,680
model is that you have a bank
that takes a part of its balance

528
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:29,160
sheet and says we're going to
issue a stablecoin basically

529
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:31,800
backed by the bank's balance
sheet.

530
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:34,920
And that's all this is.
Now JP Morgan are doing this

531
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,520
initially with JPMD, but it is a
it's a bit of a closed loop

532
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,960
system only available to their
customers, but at least it's

533
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:43,960
baby steps in the right
direction with this stuff.

534
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:46,280
I think we're heading, we're
heading there, we're heading

535
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:51,120
there and Genius Act was kind of
the trigger for people to put

536
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,000
forward the plans that they have
because all of these guys have

537
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,760
plans like it's not possible
that Genius Act is is passed and

538
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:04,400
a week after everybody is
unveiling stable coins, layer

539
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:06,600
ones for payments etcetera,
etcetera.

540
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,360
Like I have been working on this
for a long time, right?

541
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,360
Yeah.
What what I don't, I don't like

542
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,680
it, but I, I think it's part of
of the marketing component is

543
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:17,040
the hype that is coming out of
it.

544
00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:19,080
Everybody now is launching a
layer one.

545
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,680
Everybody's launching again a
stable coin.

546
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,680
For what purpose I have no idea,
but they're all in there.

547
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,000
What can happen is that we're
getting distracted from from

548
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,880
what is important, right, and is
the application and the

549
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,800
efficiencies that the technology
will bring to a lot of the

550
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,440
players and consumers, right?
Because it's not just the

551
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:40,920
players, it's the consumers as
well.

552
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,240
Absolutely, but you know, and,
and I, I think we're living in a

553
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,320
world right now, at least for
those in the, you know, crypto

554
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,760
native and crypto fluent, if not
crypto curious where, you know,

555
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,360
Tether and USDC, the two biggest
stable coins can live, can

556
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:04,360
cohabitate, can cohabitate in my
wallet together and I can use

557
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,440
them for different things.
And I kind of when you know, you

558
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,680
have a look at your app, it adds
it all up together for you

559
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,200
anyway and saying this is your
cash, right?

560
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:19,040
So, but when we're looking at
10:20, 30-40, that's where

561
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,320
things start to get a bit
unwieldy.

562
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,560
So yeah, and I, I, you kind of
see this in that like Stripes

563
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:29,080
Tempo blockchain that they just
announced last week and, you

564
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,640
know, some very notable names
that are working on this.

565
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,120
It's that they, they're talking
about it being credibly neutral,

566
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:40,200
OK, And that they want
developers to build on that.

567
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:41,920
Now, what does Stripe get from
that?

568
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,600
That gets a benefit of the
transaction fees that are coming

569
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:49,160
through the chain, right, Rather
than having that accrue to

570
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:53,600
Circle or to Tether or to
Athena, you know, or to somebody

571
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:57,120
else, right?
And it's good to see that the

572
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,600
business model for several coins
is changing, right?

573
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,600
Because we always knew that the
business model of leveraging

574
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,000
like rates, that's not
sustainable, that's sustainable

575
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,880
now because like our interest
rates are, are high.

576
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:15,640
But realistically what happens
when interests go low, we knew

577
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,560
that was not sustainable to see.
So now.

578
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,320
I saw that today.
There was something, it was in

579
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:22,680
CNBC.
It was in CNBC.

580
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,440
Wherever it was, it was, hey,
there's a 7 trillion cash pile

581
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,480
that's in money market funds
right now.

582
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:34,160
That is, if the the Fed drops
rates to, you know, four and a

583
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,280
quarter or even 4% or whatever
it is, that 7 trillion will all

584
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,040
be ushered into Bitcoin.
Like that's that's not going to

585
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,800
happen.
You'll see, you may see some of

586
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,920
it, right?
But it was like, OK, people want

587
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,880
to risk on, but I don't think
your average institution or

588
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:55,840
individual that is holding
shares of a money market fund

589
00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:00,320
will jump and push that into
Bitcoin as a risk on asset,

590
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,600
right?
I doubt it.

591
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:07,680
No, not going to happen.
But listen, the stable coins in

592
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,920
general moving towards 300
billion as an asset class,

593
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,920
right, with tethering USDC
dominating that.

594
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,960
But there are more and more
creeping up like I think Athena

595
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:18,760
is now the third ranked
stablecoin.

596
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,400
So obviously what goes hand in
hand Alejandro with tokenized

597
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,880
cash or tokenized dollars is
tokenized securities.

598
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,600
And we saw a ton of action in
that over the summer.

599
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:32,600
And it was particularly around
Project Crypto, which was SEC

600
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:36,800
Chariton's was speaking about
where where he saw things going

601
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,480
with the tokenization of
financial markets.

602
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,280
And basically the whole speech
that he did in the transcript of

603
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,200
that was like a hit list, a
laundry list of everything that

604
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:46,840
we've been looking for and
everything that we wanted to

605
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,400
open up when it comes to super
apps and be able to integrate

606
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,600
with crypto, Being able to
integrate with tokenized

607
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,560
securities and stable coins and
making sure that you have the

608
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:56,400
right regulatory framework
around this because you're

609
00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,520
bringing together what are these
regulatory permissions across

610
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:04,800
payments, across derivatives,
across securities and money

611
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,520
transmission and things like
that that have all these

612
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,080
different regulatory frameworks
right now.

613
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,600
Don't want firms that are
building the space to have to go

614
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:16,080
get 10/20/30 fifty different
regulatory licenses here.

615
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,159
So there there's some good
progress happening there on the

616
00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:22,080
regulatory front.
What we also saw was the market,

617
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,800
and this is on RWA dot XYZ and
I'll put that up in the show

618
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:30,960
notes as well that the tokenized
security market, a real world

619
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,880
assets on chain is approaching
30 billion right now.

620
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,280
Again, still small number when
you combine it with stable

621
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,520
coins, it's above 300 billion,
but let's keep it 2 separate.

622
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,560
But the tokenized security
market is is expected as well to

623
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,320
move up into the 1 to 5 trillion
range by the year 2030.

624
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,440
OK.
And little hints of what's going

625
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,760
on with NASDAQ.
Just yesterday announced that

626
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:59,400
they've proposed the SEC that
they want to enable tokenized

627
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,800
securities to be traded on
NASDAQ.

628
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:07,040
Now this won't be fully native
digital issuance of securities

629
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,600
on chain that are then issued by
a CSD and then trading on

630
00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:12,840
NASDAQ.
This will be it's basically a

631
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:14,640
settlement option.
You know you're trading on

632
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,200
NASDAQ, but then you have the
option to hold the tokenized

633
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,800
form in your wallet rather than
or in an institutional wallet

634
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,000
rather than holding it in in
street name through a through a

635
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:25,400
brokerage account or something
like that.

636
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:26,160
So.
Yeah.

637
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,200
So like they're announcing this
for 2026, which is pretty

638
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,600
interesting.
It's quite soon, like I think

639
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:35,560
it's early 2026, right?
Yeah, it is.

640
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,760
Going alongside that, we had
Galaxy Digital, they're already

641
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,360
tokenizing their own common
stock via Super State on Solana.

642
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,400
So giving that 24/7 trading in
real share rights to

643
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,800
shareholders rather than what
we're seeing happening, which

644
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:53,440
are these wrappers where you
have a SPV and Liechtenstein,

645
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:57,120
for example, that is created to
hold shares of NVIDIA that then

646
00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,400
trade on a tokenized exchange.
Again, baby steps going the

647
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,240
right direction.
Are these SPV related tokenized

648
00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:06,280
securities?
But what we're looking for is

649
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,160
truly native digital issuance
and that's what Galaxy Digital

650
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:11,680
have done.
They're publicly traded company.

651
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:13,480
They're saying we're going to
take a tranche of our shares,

652
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:16,240
we're going to issue them
digitally so that they can trade

653
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:18,920
on super State.
So that was another interesting.

654
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,000
Development there, that was a
fantastic one actually because

655
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:23,880
it's saying like I look it is
possible.

656
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:28,080
It's not just about the rappers
that you say now we can have

657
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:33,400
these assets that like on chain
have been the utility creative

658
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:38,760
for, for this purpose only 24/7
at a completely more efficient

659
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:40,560
manner, right for capital
markets.

660
00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:43,840
Definitely, and this is
obviously one of the, you know,

661
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:45,920
these are great steps forward,
but there's a ton of

662
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,360
infrastructure still to build.
We built so much great

663
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:53,800
infrastructure in crypto, but in
order for institutional traders,

664
00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:59,120
for financial services firms,
for day traders, for everybody

665
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:01,680
that's trading the traditional
financial markets for them to be

666
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:06,640
able to have all the same tools
and utilities and expectations

667
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,720
when they have the on chain
experience time to build.

668
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,040
And that's why I'm investing in
the space.

669
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:16,000
So good place to wrap.
Thank you, Alejandro.

670
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,760
It was great to step through all
of this with you and I'll be

671
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,840
seeing you next week.
Thank you very much Pete.

672
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,640
Pleasure as always.
Really looking forward to

673
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:31,120
episode 300 live from somewhere
around Dublin I assume.

674
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,400
Yep.
And well, great news about North

675
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,680
Venture, so looking forward to
catching up next week.

676
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:39,240
Wonderful.
Thanks, Alejandro.

677
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:40,440
Thank you.
Bye.

678
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:45,440
Bye.
That does it for this week,

679
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:46,640
folks.
You can learn more about the

680
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:48,440
topics we cover in the show
notes on our website.

681
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,400
Money never sleeps that IE.
Thanks to Alejandro Gutierrez

682
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,640
for the awesome insights he
shared in Co hosting this

683
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,520
episode with me.
If you like what you heard,

684
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:59,040
please leave us a rating and or
review on Spotify, Apple or on

685
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,200
Money Never sleeps dot IE slash
rate.

686
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:03,840
Thanks to Conan Brophy from
Create Sound for mixing and

687
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,800
editing this episode.
Conan is an excellent media man

688
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,120
to work with on your own
podcast.

689
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,720
As for me, I'm general partner
of Norio Ventures, an early

690
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:14,440
stage venture capital fund
backing unstoppable founders

691
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,080
building on chain finance.
There are plenty of links in the

692
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:19,600
show notes on Money never sleeps
that IE and how to get in touch,

693
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,120
so don't hesitate to reach out.
Finally, till next time, thanks

694
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:24,320
for listening.
See ya, Money never sleeps.

695
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:25,520
Pal.
Alejandro Gutierrez Profile Photo

Leader of Solana Superteam Ireland