ABOUT THIS EPISODE
John D'Agostino is Head of Strategy for Coinbase Institutional, where he works with the big institutions coming into crypto. Before that, as Head of Strategy at NYMEX, he led the launch of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, a story so wild it became Ben Mezrich's bestseller Rigged.
What does Coinbase see coming that the rest of the market doesn't? We discuss the hidden signals that tell him crypto is healthier than it looks, why the Middle East is quietly becoming crypto's new capital, how sovereign wealth funds are really buying Bitcoin, why your stocks are about to trade 24/7 on-chain, what it was like inside Coinbase when Gensler's SEC cut them off, why public opinion matters more than any bill in Washington, how a boring Bitcoin could change the world, what meme coins and Hyperliquid proved about the future of markets, and why he thinks one exchange will soon trade everything.
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Thank you for tuning in. If you can spare 5 seconds to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify. It helps grow the show so I can continue to host great guests.
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This episode is brought to you by Kraken by Payward. Get Kraken and use code CONVERGENCE1000 to unlock a $1,000 funded account once you pass the challenge at https://www.kraken.com/features/funded
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(00:00) Intro (00:35) What Coinbase Sees That You Don't (03:32) Why Crypto Is Moving to Abu Dhabi (05:27) Building the Middle East's First Exchange (06:35) The Middle East's Money Shift (09:26) How Nations Are Buying Bitcoin (10:52) The Gold Souq Moment (12:15) The Story Behind Rigged (13:18) Your Stocks Are Going On-Chain (18:09) Who Really Owns Tokenized Stocks? (19:23) When Stocks Escape to DeFi (21:52) Sponsored by Kraken (23:04) Why Wall Street Moves So Slow (25:25) Lessons From Polychain (29:36) Brian Armstrong's Biggest Bet (31:29) When the SEC Cut Off Coinbase (35:06) Answering Crypto's Biggest Critics (37:10) Why Public Opinion Beats Washington (39:34) Will Prices Go Up? (40:50) How a Boring Bitcoin Changes the World (43:56) The Exchange of the Future (45:09) What Meme Coins Proved (47:48) Hyperliquid vs. Coinbase (49:36) One Exchange for Everything
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ This episode is brought to you by Kraken by Payward. Disclaimer: Terms apply. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers through Payward Interactive, Inc. View legal disclosures at kraken.com/legal/disclosures. Securities and brokerage services offered by Kraken Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Digital asset services offered by Payward Interactive Inc., (NMLS ID:1843762) a FINCEN registered money services business, not a member of FINRA/SIPC and not FDIC insured. Kraken Funded is an unregulated service. Funded traders onboard with Payward Oceanic Ltd. Evaluation fees apply and are non-refundable for each attempt once trading begins, regardless of outcome. Availability varies by jurisdiction. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Convergence is produced by DELPHI MEDIA, LLC, a member of the DELPHI DIGITAL family of companies. This content is solely for educational and informational purposes and is not, and should not be construed as, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Delphi is not a financial, tax, or legal advisor. You are expressly advised to consult with a professional advisor before making any investment decisions. Also, the views expressed by Podcast guests do not necessarily reflect those of Delphi.
