In this episode, Alex is joined by Eric Piscini, the CEO of Hashgraph. Eric brings decades of enterprise innovation experience, from launching Deloitte’s blockchain practice to leading AI strategy at IBM Watson Health. Today, he’s spearheading real enterprise adoption of blockchain at Hashgraph by making tokenization and decentralization usable and scalable.

Eric breaks down how Hashgraph is navigating regulation, integrating AI agents with blockchain, and helping enterprises unlock the next wave of digital transformation with technologies like Hashstia and decentralized AI.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Blockchain has matured from a crypto experiment to an enterprise-grade trust layer.
• Enterprise blockchain adoption is accelerating, driven by real ROI, not hype.
• Hashgraph offers fair ordering, predictable costs in USD, and low energy usage.
• Tokenization is no longer a tech problem. The real blockers are regulatory and structural.
• AI and blockchain intersect across three layers: decentralization, transparency, and payments.
• Private blockchain environments are still critical for enterprise clients, which is why Hashgraph launched Hashstia.
• Blockchain will become as invisible and integrated as cloud computing.
• Most un-tokenized assets will soon feel outdated.
• AI is advancing through consumer adoption, but its enterprise impact is just beginning.
• Abstraction layers are key to onboarding enterprises into blockchain ecosystems.

BEST MOMENTS

01:50 “I was very fortunate to have the right sponsors within Deloitte telling me, you should push for this a few years and see what happens.”
04:52 “We used to be called Fourth Labs. It meant ‘share the wealth.’ But aligning our brand to Hedera and Hashgraph helps the market understand what we do.”
10:59 “Back then, we were talking to innovation teams. Today, we are engaging CFOs and CEOs trying to revamp supply chains and capital markets.”
14:42 “The surprise to me was that the change with AI happened as a consumer-led shift first. We expected enterprise adoption to lead.”
22:44 “We will hire AI agents to work for us. And they’ll need to transact value. Blockchain is the best way to enable that.”
25:02 “Many blockchains will be good enough in 5 to 10 years. The differentiator will be usability and value to enterprises.”
27:01 “Enterprises aren’t adopting because they think blockchain is too hard. We need to build abstraction layers, like the cloud did.”
32:13 “Tokenization is not a technology problem. It’s about regulation and access. The technology is ready today.”
36:42 “You can tokenize agents and let others use them. Every time they get used, you earn tokens. You’re investing in AI utility.”
39:16 “Hashstia is for clients who need privacy, data residency, or compliance. Over time, they may shift to the public ledger.”
44:31 “Forget about crypto. Blockchain is a trust layer for all human and corporate activity.”
45:41 “In five years, any asset that isn’t tokenized will feel like a fax machine.”

🎧 New episodes every Tuesday. Tune in weekly for sharp, no-hype conversations on blockchain, AI, and enterprise innovation.
📢 Follow Validation Cloud for more insights:
• Website: validationcloud.io
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/validationcloud
• X (Twitter): x.com/HighStakesWeb3
• YouTube: youtube.com/@ValidationCloud

👤 Hosted by Alex Nwaka, CSO at Validation Cloud.

Cut through the noise. Stay ahead of the market.

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In this episode of High Stakes, Alex sits down with Brian Mahoney, VP of Business Development at Thesis and Founding Team Member at Mezo, to explore the next evolution of Bitcoin. From Bitcoin mortgages to stablecoins like MUSD, Brian shares why the future of on-chain finance is Bitcoin-native.

You will learn:
• Why Bitcoin-backed stablecoins are gaining momentum
• How Mezo is building a circular Bitcoin economy
• What makes Bitcoin staking possible (without Proof of Work)
• How global demand for Bitcoin financing is growing
• Why macro trends and regulation are creating massive tailwinds
• How institutions and retail investors are unlocking new Bitcoin use cases

If you care about the future of digital assets, real world use cases for crypto, and Bitcoin’s next decade, this episode is for you.

🎧 New episodes every Tuesday. Tune in weekly for sharp, no-hype conversations on blockchain, AI, and enterprise innovation.
📢 Follow Validation Cloud for more insights:
• Website: validationcloud.io
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/validationcloud
• X (Twitter): x.com/HighStakesWeb3
• YouTube: youtube.com/@ValidationCloud

👤 Hosted by Alex Nwaka, CSO at Validation Cloud.

Cut through the noise. Stay ahead of the market.

This podcast has been brought to you by APodcastGeek. https://www.apodcastgeek.com

Alex Nwaka sits down with Morgan McKenney, former CEO of Provenance Blockchain Foundation, longtime Citi executive, and tech-led global operator, to discuss the convergence of blockchain and AI and what it means for the future of finance, blockchain infrastructure, and innovation. Morgan also announces her new role as advisor to Validation Cloud, bringing decades of leadership in finance, blockchain, and AI to help power the future of Web3 infrastructure.

In this episode, Morgan discusses:

• The return of blockchain IPOs- The rise of stablecoin regulation
• Why blockchain creates the perfect dataset for AI
• Why 2025 could be the year of the AI agent

Learn more about Validation Cloud: https://validationcloud.io

Watch more High Stakes episodes: https://validationcloud.io/highstakes

🎧 New episodes every Tuesday. Tune in weekly for sharp, no-hype conversations on blockchain, AI, and enterprise innovation.
📢 Follow Validation Cloud for more insights:
• Website: validationcloud.io
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/validationcloud
• X (Twitter): x.com/HighStakesWeb3
• YouTube: youtube.com/@ValidationCloud

👤 Hosted by Alex Nwaka, CSO at Validation Cloud.

Cut through the noise. Stay ahead of the market.

This podcast has been brought to you by APodcastGeek. https://www.apodcastgeek.com