

DeFi Decoded
with Alex Tapscott & Andrew Young
Alex Tapscott, Andrew Young and guests break down the fundamentals of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and how this cutting edge technology enables individuals and institutions to transact, and create value, without the need for traditional financial intermediaries.
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If you want to get a more in-depth view of what's going on in Web3 and the digital asset space, and access to the most recent information and insights available, please sign up for FREE to our weekly newsletter, Digital Asset Digest - https://1.ninepoint.com/subscribe-digital-asset-digest.html
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 28, 2025 • 47min
DeFi Decoded - How Avalanche Became the Trusted Platform for Business with Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo of Ava Labs
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo, Chief Strategy Officer of Ava Labs. Listen in as they discuss Avalanche’s evolution since its inception, enterprise blockchain preferences between L1s versus L2s, the rapid growth of Avalanche’s tokenized real-world asset ecosystem, how stablecoins are acting as a Trojan horse for tokenization, some of the most exciting yet overlooked onchain use cases to watch, the future of stablecoins at scale as institutions and fintechs launch and integrate them into their businesses, a crypto market outlook reviewing recent trends and looking ahead to the year to come, and more.

Aug 22, 2025 • 37min
DeFi Decoded - Staking Bitcoin (finally!) with David Tse of Babylon
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest David Tse, Co-Founder of Babylon. Listen in as they discuss the ongoing evolution of Bitcoin from a store of value and medium of exchange into a productive asset, how Babylon is leading the way with trustless Bitcoin staking and positioning it as a collateral superpower, the mechanics of Bitcoin staking, the launch of Babylon’s Genesis and the incoming wave of chains set to be powered by Bitcoin security, the risks of wrapped tokens and why Babylon’s trustless model matters, the potential symbiotic relationship between Bitcoin and Ethereum, the yields available to Bitcoin stakers, the accelerating institutional interest in Bitcoin staking, DeFi’s missing piece that could unlocks trillions in value across the ecosystem, and more.

Aug 15, 2025 • 46min
DeFi Decoded - ETH is Mooning! Next Stop $10,000?
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3. Listen in as they discuss the resurgence of Ethereum, Tom Lee’s efforts in educating Wall Street, how crypto’s reflexivity and flywheel effects are fueling today’s market rally, what could happen if DATs begin trading below mNAV, key lessons from the rapid rise of DATs and how long the trend might continue, Circle and Stripe launching their own EVM-compatible L1 networks and the implications for Ethereum, whether $10K ETH or $200K BTC comes first, and more.

Aug 7, 2025 • 51min
DeFi Decoded - Building the Web3 Equivalent to AWS with Nick White of Celestia
Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of Web3 with special guest Nick White, Vice President of Celestia Labs. Listen in as they discuss Nick’s background and journey into crypto, how to think about modularity and data availability in blockchain architecture, the future of decentralized applications and the use cases unlocked by Celestia’s scalable infrastructure, why Celestia is focused on growth over revenue right now, the economics of decentralized compute, whether modularity is the final evolution of blockchain design, the role Celestia fulfills within the Web3 ecosystem, the evolution of tokenomics and lessons from past models, and more.

Jul 30, 2025 • 57min
DeFi Decoded - Investing in Crypto Investors with Ben Jacobs of Scenius Capital
Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of Web3 with special guest Ben Jacobs, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Scenius Capital. Listen in as they discuss Ben’s background and crypto journey, the current state of the liquid crypto hedge fund universe, the rise of digital asset treasury companies and how they compare to traditional fund strategies, what’s going on in the crypto venture environment, how leading crypto fund managers are thinking about this phase of the market cycle, key crypto use cases on the horizon, how the industry will evolve over the next five years, and more.

9 snips
Jul 23, 2025 • 31min
DeFi Decoded - Wall Street’s Crypto Awakening with Matt Hougan of Bitwise
Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management, shares his insights on the maturation of the crypto market and its growing appeal to mainstream investors. He discusses how traditional finance is evolving with blockchain and tokenization, and forecasts a bullish outlook for Ethereum, highlighting its recent surge. They explore the rise of digital asset treasury firms and how Bitcoin ETFs are influencing capital flows between crypto and equity markets. Hougan also identifies overlooked opportunities in altcoins and hints at future ambitions for Bitwise, including a potential IPO.

Jul 21, 2025 • 39min
DeFi Decoded - Crypto Crime Stoppers! With James Smith of Elliptic
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest James Smith, Co-Founder of Elliptic. Listen in as they discuss the genesis of Elliptic in 2013 and how it’s evolved since, its scaling strategy to support the explosion of new blockchain networks, the current state of onchain crime and whether the claim that only criminals use crypto holds any weight, the rise of geopolitical crypto cyberwarfare following the $90M Nobitex hack, how chain tracing has matured from a simple compliance tool to a form of defense tech, the company’s experience educating traditional financial institutions during the onboarding process, how the intersection of crypto and AI is reshaping threat vectors, predictions for the year ahead, and more.

Jun 26, 2025 • 24min
DeFi Decoded - Are Stocks the New Altcoins?
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3. Listen in as they discuss the growing bifurcation between cryptoassets and crypto equities following the GENIUS Act’s Senate approval, what’s happening in the altcoin market, whether a crypto IPO season is on the horizon, how equities and tokens compare, the accelerating convergence between TradFi and crypto, and more.

Jun 19, 2025 • 51min
DeFi Decoded - Talking Scalability with Jeff Feng, Co-Founder of Sei, One of The World's Fastest L1s
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest Jeff Feng, Co-Founder of Sei Labs. Listen in as they discuss the rise of next-generation layer 1 networks built for scale, Sei’s origin story, its evolution since inception, the exciting breakout potential of the onchain gaming and AI agent subsectors, why the Sei Foundation considered acquiring 23andMe, how blockchain can redefine data ownership, what’s ahead for Sei over the next year, and more.

Jun 12, 2025 • 40min
DeFi Decoded - IPO or ICO? Why Not Both?
Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3. Listen in as they discuss takeaways from Circle’s red-hot IPO, the powerful economics behind stablecoin issuers, Plasma’s $500 million raise in under ten minutes, the sharp contrast between Circle’s TradFi and Plasma’s onchain capital-raising approaches, the current dynamics in the crypto public equity landscape, how regulatory headwinds have flipped to tailwinds, what makes this market cycle unlike any before, Pump.Fun’s $1 billion raise at a $4 billion valuation, where we are in the cycle, and more.