Andy Baehr, head of product and research at CoinDesk Indices, joins Remy Blaire to discuss new CoinDesk 20 ETF filings, stablecoin yield debates, and crypto market structure developments in Washington.
Crypto Market Structure Talks Advance as SEC and CFTC Move to Align Rules
Kristen Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, joins Remy Blaire to discuss Senate action on crypto market structure and efforts by the SEC and CFTC to align regulatory oversight.
Active ETFs Drive Growth as Investors Rethink Portfolio Strategy in 2026
Marissa Ansell, head of ETF investment strategy at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, joins Remy Blaire to discuss how active ETFs, income strategies, and private asset access are shaping the ETF landscape in 2026.
Comprehensive Youth Development Expands Education, Workforce Support
Michael Roberts, executive director of Comprehensive Youth Development, joins J.D. Durkin to discuss how the nonprofit supports New York City students through education, workforce training, and career planning.
AlphaTON Capital Bets on Telegram Ecosystem and AI Infrastructure Growth
Enzo Villani, CIO and chairman of AlphaTON Capital, joins J.D. Durkin to discuss the firm’s strategy around the Telegram ecosystem, AI infrastructure, and blockchain-driven growth.
Stablecoin impact, Nifty Gateway, Mesh value, Indonesia data centers
In this episode of the Crypto Daily Download, we dive into the latest developments in the cryptocurrency world. Discover how U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins could potentially withdraw around $500 billion from U.S. banks by 2028, with regional banks facing the most exposure. We discuss insights from Geoff Kendrick, the global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered. Learn about Gemini Trust’s decision to shut down its digital art token marketplace, Nifty Gateway, and what it means for users as they transition to a withdraw-only mode. We highlight Mesh Connect’s recent $75 million funding round that has propelled its valuation to $1 billion, and its ambitious plans to expand into new regions, including Latin America, Asia, and Europe and get the scoop on Digital Edge’s $4.5 billion investment to build one of Indonesia’s largest data center campuses, designed to support AI and deliver significant IT capacity. Jane King with the latest from the NYSE.
Dollar Hits Four-Year Low as Markets Await Fed Decision, Big Tech Earnings
Michael Reinking, senior market strategist at the New York Stock Exchange, joins J.D. Durkin to discuss the dollar hitting four-year lows, Fed expectations, and what investors are watching as major tech earnings begin.
New York Tech Leaders See AI Driving Next Wave of Innovation
Ben Lerer, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and John Borthwick, CEO of Betaworks, joined J.D. Durkin to discuss the evolution of New York’s tech ecosystem and the role of AI in shaping its next phase.
J.D.: Join us down here now on the show for not a one on one interview. I guess a one on two interview. Say hello here to Ben Lerer. He’s the managing partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, as well as John Borthwick, the CEO of Betaworks. John, Ben, Great to have both of you guys. Thank you for being here.
Ben: Thanks for having us.
J.D.: Of course, it’s great to have you the first, first and foremost, can I get your experience to ring the closing bell to be down here at the New York Stock Exchange with us today?
Ben: It was a thrill. I had the good fortune of ringing the bell a few times with portfolio companies in the past when they went public, and it’s been a little slow on IPOs the last few years, as you know. So it’s nice to be back and very excited about 30 years in New York tech.
J.D.: That’s awesome. Congratulations. How about for you John?
John: It was awesome. I mean, I think, you know, I’ve been in the tech business both as a builder and as an investor for about 30 years. And it is new York has come a long way, and it was just a total pleasure to be here for New York and for the tech community and for our companies.
J.D.: John, in what way have you seen the tech ecosystem here in New York City evolve over the last three decades? John: I think the it’s just grown so much in size. The quality of people and talent. I mean, I remember when I first started my company in the early 90s, in ’94. People didn’t really know what the web was. And it was it was very hard to get people on board and interested. The depth of engineering talent, the amount of interest in AI. I mean, you talked at the top about AI, and AI is transforming every corner of every industry and every part of our world. And these models, you know, be they foundation models or be they small local models, open source models have been embedded in technology and every piece of our work life, play life and life. And so I think it’s a very exciting time. And New York is really good at building apps. And so I think as the app, as things migrate to the app layer, which they are definitely starting to do, we’re going to see a lot more New York tech companies here blossom.
J.D.: Ben, how about for you? I wonder what ways that the general tech landscape here has evolved in what ways it stayed the same, and how that kind of feeds into your broader work and your priorities here in 2026.
Ben: I mean, look, 30 years ago I was a small child. So it’s it’s changed a bit for me, So, you know, I got into tech in New York 20 years ago out of college. I grew up in New York, moved back here, and when I started in the New York tech scene, everybody in the New York tech scene would fit in this room and maybe fit in this corner of this room, and it’s just been amazing to see the consistent growth and the interest in technology. When I graduated from college, I didn’t know what venture capital was. And today, I think that that is like the dream job for a whole generation of kids who want to come and want to participate in this next leg of innovation.
J.D.: We talked so much about Silicon Valley out in California. When people talk tech, what are people missing about maybe the opportunities for the tech landscape right here in the Big Apple? I’ll start with you,Ben.
Ben: Look, I think that New York has very clearly established itself as the other tech metropolis in the U.S. I mean, when we got started, New York was a pimple. New York is now a place where you can do anything. can build any kind of company.
Obviously, the sort of heart of the large language models and big tech remains out west. But as John mentioned, there is so much incredible innovation happening here. New York is the best place to live in the world, and there’s going to be a bunch of fantastic founders that pick the quality of life here and the diversity and just the interesting culture that exists in New York over the sort of one note life that you get in San Francisco.
J.D.: Absolutely. And I’ll wrap things up. I got about 30s. What most excites you about where the tech landscape is today in 2026, John?
John: Yeah, I think that it’s all about AI, and AI is becoming everything. And so it’s bleeding into sort of every piece of industry and of potential technologies. And I think that I’m excited to see what the builders in New York do in the next 12, 18, five years. You know, it’s like this is an amazing city for tech, and I’m proud to be part of it.
J.D.: All right, John, Ben, welcome to the New York Stock Exchange. Welcome back to the Stock Exchange. I should say great to have both of you guys here come back anytime.
U.S. Crypto Market Structure Regulation Advances as SEC and CFTC Coordinate
Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, joins Remy Blaire to discuss efforts by the SEC and CFTC to align crypto oversight as lawmakers push forward market structure legislation in 2026.
Remy: Let’s get to the big story breakdown. SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC chair Michael Selig will hold a joint event tomorrow in the nation’s capital to discuss harmonizing regulations for crypto and efforts to make the U.S. the global crypto capital. Both chairs say market participants have struggled with unclear and misaligned regulatory rules, and that the session will help ensure innovation grows on American soil while protecting investors and consumers. Now, Senate committees have been working on legislation to clarify the roles of both the SEC and CFTC, but negotiations have faced delays as well as challenges. Joining me this morning here in New York at the New York Stock Exchange is Cody Carbone, who is CEO of The Digital Chamber, a nonprofit trade organization committed to promoting blockchain adoption. Cody, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
Cody: Thanks so much for having me.
Remy: Here in the northeast, we are still digging out from that winter storm we got over the weekend. So hence some of the gatherings taking place in the nation’s capital have been delayed. But what are your expectations for this gathering taking place tomorrow?
Cody: It’s a fundamental change of where we’ve been. These two regulators need to work together. You just mentioned that we are in the middle of trying to get market, comprehensive, market structured legislation, passed a foundational regulatory framework for the digital asset industry. The two most important pieces there are the SEC and the CFTC. The two market regulators. There’s going to be so much rule-making authority delegated under this bill to those two regulators, and they’re going to have to work together. A lot of the rule-making authority under this bill is having them work together in different joint exercises and task forces. So it’s fantastic to see this is not something that we saw over the last administration. The two regulators have to work together in a coordinated effort to make sure this really can be the crypto capital of the world, and this regulatory framework can be implemented effectively.
Remy: Cody, for our viewers out there who might not be as familiar with harmonized rules, what are your expectations for what will unfold and what impact will this actually have when it comes to retail investors, institutions, as well as regulatory bodies?
Cody: I think the impact for retail investors is massive and for institutions, this is going to be the comprehensive roadmap of how you’re going to operate effectively in the United States. If you’re interested in investing in a token as a retail user, you now can look at an effective regulated disclosure regime. You can look there’s more consumer protections that are being implemented here. So it is really massive. What I’m expecting is that this bill will have okay – SEC, CFTC, we want you to work together on implementing a consumer protection regime for any token that’s going to be listed. What does that mean? We want you, over the next 18 months, to get together and write those rules. And it will have a step by step guideline of what they need to present to Congress and what they need to present to the industry and the American people. So it really is a foundational step.
Remy: You are just coming back from the World Economic Forum that took place last week in Davos, Switzerland. So you speak to many stakeholders within this ecosystem. Given these expectations as well as roadblocks when it comes to market structure, where do you think we go from here and what timeline?
Cody: It was fascinating being at Davos. One that we just mentioned – it was warmer there than it is here in New York right now. The conversation still centered around crypto, and it was about how the U.S. can be the crypto leader on the world stage. The only way we can do that is if we get market structure bill done. I’m looking at this first quarter to get it done. If we don’t get it done, then politics starts to drive policy. We’re in an election year and it gets really hard as members of the Senate start to go back to their home states to run for re-election, and all the talking points become more partisan. We have to get this done now because we need to administration proof the regulatory framework for digital assets.
If we don’t get this done now and we go into the next election. Who knows what will happen. We could have a Democratic House or a Democratic Senate. We might not get a market structure bill then And then you’re leaving it up to chance in 2028. We could go back to a Gary Gensler regime. We need to make sure that we codify some of the principles that the Trump administration wants, to make sure that the U.S. can be the crypto capital of the world into law. And that’s why we need this bill.
Remy: So break this down for us given these expectations because we’re in quite a different environment in 2026 compared to last year here. even when we’re talking about retail investors, when we’re looking at crypto volume, it is significantly lower.
And given the event that happened in October 2025 regarding crypto, there’s a lot of focus moving forward on expectations and anticipations. What do you think really needs to happen here and when it comes to stablecoin yield, do you think this is a policy issue?
Cody: It is a policy issue. It is the number one issue that is holding up this bill right now. There is not unified support on both the Republican side, on the Democratic side, for what should be done with stablecoin rewards. We are pro rewards. We would like to see rewards. There is nothing in the GENIUS act that prohibits banks from issuing rewards. And so right now, it really is a negotiation between the banks and the digital asset industry. That is the bill, or that is the piece of this bill, that is holding it up. Why? I think market structure legislation is so critical. mentioned administration proofing, but really it’s about building trust and legitimacy in the US crypto markets.
It’s really difficult right now if you’re going to issue a token or to list a token to feel confident because you don’t know whether you are issuing a digital asset security or a digital asset commodity, or if you’re listing that we need the definitions that this bill provides, we need a disclosure regime that this bill provides, and we just need the peace of mind that says, okay, this is here to stay.
The U.S. wants to keep it here domestically. We don’t want talent. We don’t want projects developers going offshore. We want them to build here and want to do so safely. And we want the innovation to flourish here.
Remy: When we look ahead to the rest of this year, there are a lot of expectations. But you and I were here at the New York Stock Exchange and one of the key things when it comes to digital assets is institutional adoption, in terms of market outlook.
What are some innovations you’re watching? And given the fact that you’re just coming back from one of the biggest global gatherings, Davos, what are people actually saying about expectations for U.S. legislation?
Cody: The innovations I’m watching? I would say tokenization. Tokenization of real world assets. Tokenization of financial instruments, whether that is bonds or deposits or equities. We’re seeing that at rapid, rapid scale in terms of innovation. And then stablecoin adoption is massive for the stablecoin. The Treasury secretary said in Davos that he expects the stablecoin market to reach 3 trillion with a “T” by 2028, so that is huge. That’s why we need to get this bill done. This bill really just creates the basic guardrails of what the crypto market should look like in the U.S., and how they should be regulated. If we don’t get this bill done this year, we are leaving it up for chance and other jurisdictions are going to get ahead of us. We’re already seeing innovation in the UAE, in Singapore and EU. That’s all people talked about in Davos that the U.S. has the opportunity right now. They want the talent to be there. The talent has come back and the projects and the innovation have come back over the last year corresponding with the new administration. we don’t get this right and we leave this to partisan politics and we lose our chance, then all of that talent will go overseas.
Remy: As we look ahead to the rest of this year, I do want to zoom in on Q1 of 2025. So next week, hard to believe it is already the month of February. I understand that the DC Blockchain Summit is taking place in March, in mid-March. So tell us about what we can expect.
Cody: Cherry blossom season in Washington DC. No better time to visit. March 17th and 18th we hold the DC Blockchain Summit. It is the largest gathering of policymakers talking about blockchain technology and digital assets. We will have members of the cabinet of the Trump administration, over 30 members of Congress, and then industry leaders sharing the stage side by side. Talking about what’s next, talking about, “Okay, what do we need to do from a policy standpoint to make sure this technology can flourish here?” Whether it’s on AI and quantum or it’s on crypto or it’s on prediction markets, which have now become the hottest issue in DC, it’s the rarest place that you can see a member of Congress, a member of the administration, whether it’s the OCC, the SEC, the CFTC, sitting side by side with those industry leaders to talk about how we can work on this together.
Remy: Before we let you go, we have about 60 seconds here, and you mentioned prediction markets. So what do you expect to see unfold there when it comes to the regulatory outlook?
Cody: We want to see a federal regulatory regime. We want to see the CFTC really get involved. We don’t want to patchwork of state by state. There’s now the coalition of prediction markets. It’s a brand new advocacy organization in DC that are advocating for prediction markets. They’re getting a much larger voice. Just yesterday, Kalshi announced that they opened up a Washington, D.C., office with a head of government relations. They are going to be the hot topic in Washington for the next six months. It was crypto. It still is crypto. It was AI and especially agenetic AI. And now it is prediction markets. And everyone is talking about how crypto plays a part in prediction markets, how AI plays a part in prediction markets. It’s becoming a very hot issue. I imagine we will see policy action on this very quickly, if not this quarter.
Remy: Cody, always great talking to you. Thank you so much for joining me as we kick off 2026.
Cody: Thanks so much, Remy.
Remy: My pleasure.
Crypto Regulation Talks Resume as Lawmakers Debate Stablecoin Oversight
Nassim Eddequiouaq, CEO of Bastion, joins Remy Blaire to discuss stalled crypto legislation, stablecoin regulation, and what clarity from U.S. regulators could mean for digital asset adoption in 2026.
Remy: A hearing on sweeping crypto legislation pushed back due to the winter storm. The Senate committee now plans to mark up the bill Thursday, while the Senate Banking Committee has yet to reschedule its own session after Coinbase pulled support over unresolved issues. Now, the bill would expand the authority of the CFTC and is the first step toward amending a voting on federal crypto regulation. Lawmakers do continue to negotiate amendments, including concerns linked to Trump and his family’s crypto holdings, also in the nation’s capital. SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig will hold a joint event Thursday afternoon to discuss harmonizing regulations for crypto.
Joining me here live at the New York Stock Exchange is Nassim Eddequiouaq, CEO at Bastion. Nassim. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
Nassim: Thank you so much for having me.
Remy: Here in New York, we’re focused on the nation’s capital, especially what will unfold tomorrow. So first and foremost, give us your take on the stalled Clarity act and what you believe needs to happen here.
Nassim: It’s a it’s a very interesting situation where a lot of companies are trying to push innovation forward and try to make a better form of dollar, essentially broadly adopted in the U.S. Outside of the U.S., we, for example, at Bastion, work with Sony Bank on the issuance of a stablecoin for the ecosystem that would essentially enable more people across the entire ecosystem to adopt stablecoins. In order to do that, you have to provide certain incentives.
And so there are a lot of conversations happening around yield distribution, reward distribution, by stablecoin issuers. And that is a major point of contention where there are obviously very different incentives between the incumbents and all the companies that are seeking to use stablecoins to further the U.S. dollars and their own ecosystems.
Remy: We’re just kicking off 2026, and there was a lot of anticipation when it comes to progress in terms of legislation. But of course, if it comes to digital adoption, in terms of infrastructure as well as stablecoin adoption, what do you think we’ll see in the near future? And what do you think needs to happen within the U.S.?
Nassim: We’re seeing a lot of innovation around new financial products and especially cross-border financial products, where a lot of companies in the U.S. can actually take their products global on day one, as well as non-U.S. companies that can enter the U.S. market much more easily. And so I think that we’re going to be seeing a lot of adoption in much broader scale products, as well as efficiencies from businesses that are leveraging stablecoins even for internal use cases, management of money flows between all of their entities at a global scale. I really do expect a lot of innovation from a product standpoint and then operational, optimization standpoint from especially large global businesses.
Remy: Tomorrow we will be focusing on the nation’s capital. As we get that gathering from the SEC and CFTC, which was delayed due to the winter storm that hit the northeastern U.S. But what are your expectations from that gathering?
Nassim: I think that we’re in a very good place today where the SEC has been issuing no action letters for a certain number of digital asset protocols and companies building in this space, which was not necessarily the case, I would say, last year or the year before. And so very excited for us to see regulators working hand in hand with the industry.
What I expect is a lot of clarity on where is the oversight of the CFTC happening, which assets would fall clearly under the SEC so that every single market participant, understand the rules of the of the industry and can actually obey by those rules, which has been very hard so far.
Remy: And of course, when it comes to market structure, there is a lot of uncertainty. So what do you think will happen there?
Nassim: I believe that we’re going to be seeing a lot of what has happened so far, which is the CFTC in charge of spot markets, and then the SEC taking oversight over a lot of financial assets that correspond to securities in the traditional sense of the term. My expectation is also for the stablecoin rules around rewards to be more and more clearly defined in a way that falls outside of the SEC and within the OCC, and kind of traditional banking regulators oversight.
Remy: Finally, before I let you go, as we look ahead to digital asset adoption in 2026. Which sectors do you think will shift the most this year? And of course, when we’re talking about the U.S., it’s not just on a federal level, but it’s also on a state and local level. So what do you focus on and why?
Nassim: I think that the markets that are going to be benefiting the most from the innovation are actually the companies that have the broadest adoption worldwide. They have access to those users. They want to enable financial services for those users. We’ve seen the explosion of Robinhood and Revolut and a lot of other financial services companies, and I think that a lot of the technology companies that have access to those users are going to be leveraging digital assets and stablecoins to improve drastically the set of products, essentially, that they offer to their users.
Remy: Nassim, thank you so much for joining me as we kick off a new year. Always appreciate your time and thank you so much for all of your insights.
Nassim: Thank you.