Mark Henderson, Engineering Manager at Shielded Labs, shares what it looks like to build privacy infrastructure on a hundred-year time horizon. He also breaks down two of Shielded Labs' most significant technical bets: the Network Sustainability Mechanism, and Crosslink. Mark makes the case that financial privacy and surveillance-based business models are structurally incompatible—true privacy means building systems where the choice not to look is enforced by the protocol, rather than a company promise.

Key Takeaways:

• How Zcash is planning for long-term sustainability beyond its fixed 21 million coin supply

• What Crosslink could bring to Zcash by combining proof-of-work with a proof-of-stake finality mechanism

• Why Zcash's renewed momentum reflects growing demand for privacy-focused technology

• Why financial data is behavioral data, and how it can be used for profiling and influence

• Why truly private systems need privacy built into the protocol rather than relying on companies to protect user data

Guest Bio: Mark Henderson is the Engineering Manager at Shielded Labs, where he obsesses over permanence. He works on the privacy infrastructure meant to keep Zcash secure for a zillion years: the Network Sustainability Mechanism, the dynamic fee market, and the Crosslink consensus upgrade. All are designed to protect invariants on the Zcash blockchain (such as the hard 21-million supply cap). Mark is also a polymath who runs a 4,000-piece art catalog powered by AI visual search, and he treats privacy, art, and AI as the same puzzle in different clothes.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

Howard Wu, CEO of Provable and Shield Wallet, makes the case that full, on-chain transparency was never a design principle—it was a limitation that mainstream finance cannot build on. He draws a direct line from the internet's switch from HTTP to HTTPS to where crypto needs to go next, and argues that the biggest obstacle to private stablecoins isn't the technology. Instead, it's the assumption that compliance and privacy are fundamentally at odds.

Key Takeaways:

• Why on-chain transparency creates broken user journeys for everyday payments, payroll, and institutional trading

• How zero-knowledge proofs enable compliance without risk of traditional KYC data collection

• What distinguishes the Shield Wallet's approach to privacy from that of a standard crypto wallet

• What Howard predicts will be mainstream by 2030 that almost no one in the industry is building for today

Guest Bio:

Howard Wu is the CEO of Provable and Shield Wallet. He's also a founder of the Layer-1 blockchain, Aleo. His contributions to zero-knowledge proofs and elliptic-curve cryptography have been adopted across the industry, including by protocols such as Ethereum and Zcash. Howard graduated from UC Berkeley with a research background in cryptography, computer security, and verifiable computing.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

Juan Leon, Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise Asset Management, returns to the show to share how much the convergence of traditional finance and on-chain infrastructure has accelerated since our last conversation—and what the data behind that shift actually shows. He breaks down why vaults represent the next evolution in fund wrappers beyond ETFs; what distinguishes sustainable on-chain yield from the opacity that drove past cycle failures; and where AI agents fit into the future of institutional asset management on blockchain rails.

Key Takeaways

• Why vaults are emerging as the next evolution in fund structures and how they compare to ETFs

• What separates sustainable on-chain yield from the products that failed in previous cycles

• How AI agents and blockchains are symbiotic, and what guardrails need to exist before institutions delegate real financial decisions to these agent/blockchain pairings

• Why the distribution opportunity in tokenization is being underestimated
  
  

Guest Bio:
Juan Leon is the Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise Asset Management, where he helps lead research, product and strategy development, and fund and index management, and also supports sales and client relationships. Prior to Bitwise, he was a Portfolio Manager at U.S. Global Investors, managing equity and fixed-income funds, and designing quantitative investment strategies. Before that, Juan was a Financial Analyst at Rackspace Technology where he contributed to financial planning and analysis. He is a graduate of Trinity University, double majoring in Political Science and Economics. Juan also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

Danit Nativ Navon, Senior Software Engineering Manager at Meta, unpacks how the company became the first major tech firm to build AI-enabled coding interviews. She breaks down the process of rethinking what engineering interviews actually measure (now that AI can write the code itself), and explains why the leadership qualities that matter most now look nothing like the skills these interviews were originally built to test.

Key Takeaways:

• How to tell the difference between a candidate who's simply good at prompting from a genuine AI-native engineer

• What a viral interview-cheating tool revealed about a much deeper flaw in traditional coding tests

• Why leadership qualities are becoming more valuable to engineers in the AI era

• How company culture ends up being the real safeguard for privacy and safety

Guest Bio:

Danit Nativ Navon is a Senior Engineering Manager in Meta's Applied AI division, with two decades of experience and an academic background in Computer Science and Neuroscience.

At Meta, she pioneered AI-enabled coding interviews, making it the first major tech company to adopt AI-native evaluation for engineering talent. She also coaches leaders through AI-driven change and helps new hires to integrate AI skills into Meta's engineering environment.

A self-described late adopter who chose to evolve rather than fall behind, Danit now helps others step confidently into the AI era. Her global journey across Israel, Singapore, Mexico, and London informs her practical, people-first approach to engineering leadership.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

Andrew Pelekis (CEO of HEEBOO) and Nicholas Cabana (Co-Founder of Claynosaurz and Chief Creative Officer at HEEBOO), break down how a Solana-based digital collectibles brand and a small team of Hollywood animators grew into an entertainment franchise now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. They unpack the decision to give 15% of company equity back to collectors; how selling products funds content production; and why treating fans as co-owners (not just customers) became their unlikely path to overcoming Web3's biggest adoption hurdle.

Key Takeaways:

• Why short-form content became the deliberate first move for Claynosaurz, long before the existence of any long-form series

• How giving equity away to early collectors solved a problem most brands don't realize they have

• What it takes to get kids excited about digital collectibles without ever mentioning crypto

• Why obsessing over token price charts can undermine a community's long-term value

• How pairing streaming with digital collectibles could turn passive viewing into something interactive

Guest Bio:

Andrew Pelekis is the CEO of HEEBOO, the studio behind the Claynosaurz entertainment IP. He leads the company's efforts to turn Claynosaurz from an internet-native community and digital collectible project into a broader entertainment franchise, including its recent expansion onto Amazon Prime Video.

Nic Cabana is the Co-Founder of Claynosaurz and Chief Creative Officer at HEEBOO, where he leads the creative vision behind the Claynosaurz universe. He's focused on building an entertainment IP that brings together storytelling, community, and emerging technology in new ways.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

David Kinitsky, Chief Corporate Development Officer at Everstake, shares what distinguishes this cycle of enterprise crypto adoption from every previous one, and why the shift matters. He explains why staking is a foundational infrastructure play, not just a yield product; what institutional due diligence on staking looks like in practice; and why the prevailing narrative around tokenization misidentifies the real unlock. He also lays out a longer-term thesis: that AI agents will eventually manage personalized financial portfolios for everyday people at the level currently reserved for the most sophisticated wealth management clients.

Key Takeaways:

• What's different about this cycle of enterprise crypto adoption

• Why staking matters beyond yield, and the role validators play

• What institutions require before allocating significant capital to staking

• Why tokenization's most important unlock is programmability and composability

• How AI agents could extend institutional-grade portfolio management to everyday users

Guest Bio:

David Kinitsky is a seasoned executive with 15+ years of experience in the financial and technology sectors, including 12+ years in crypto. He is currently the Chief Corporate Development Officer at Everstake, after previously helping to launch a streak of industry innovations and business successes at Kraken, Circle, Fidelity, Grayscale, and SecondMarket.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

Navin Vethanayagam, Chief Brain of IQ and Co-founder of KRWQ, unpacks his "Stablewoods" theory: why non-dollar stablecoins like KRWQ, the first Korean won stablecoin, may end up reinforcing dollar dominance rather than challenging it. He also breaks down how IQ.wiki's AI editor SOPHIA—and their agent AIDEN—turned a static blockchain encyclopedia into living infrastructure.

Key Takeaways:

• What the "Stablewoods" theory says about non-dollar stablecoins

• Why Korea's restricted currency has created a hidden opportunity most stablecoin builders have overlooked

• How Bretton Woods history predicts where stablecoins are headed next

• What the global financial map could look like in a decade if regional stablecoins end up reinforcing (rather than challenging) U.S. monetary power

Guest Bio:

Navin Vethanayagam is Chief Brain of IQ and the Co-founder of KRWQ. IQ is building a more intelligent financial system, from leading stablecoin infrastructure and autonomous AI agents to the world's largest blockchain encyclopedia. IQ recently launched KRWQ, the first Korean won stablecoin, and previously launched IQ.wiki, the world's largest blockchain encyclopedia. IQ.wiki is managed by AI editor SOPHIA, and its data is used to train AIDEN, an AI agent for crypto communities.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte

Steve Gregory, CEO of Binance.US, shares what it actually takes to bring a compliant crypto exchange product to market in the US. He explains how his background as a compliance lawyer shapes the way he leads product decisions; why the US crypto user has been underserved on leverage and derivatives for too long; and how Binance US is quietly positioning itself as a bridge between DeFi and the world of centralized exchanges.

Key Takeaways

• Why compliance-first product development actually speeds delivery

• What the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act have unlocked for US crypto exchanges

• How Binance US is approaching the tension between privacy and KYC requirements

• Why the next wave of crypto adoption won't come from DeFi power users

• What the US crypto market keeps getting wrong about what customers actually want

Guest Bio:

Steve Gregory is the CEO of Binance.US, a leading U.S. digital asset exchange. Prior to joining Binance.US in the spring of 2026, Steve was the CEO at Currency.com and has held compliance roles at CEX.IO and Gemini. Binance.US is America's home to buy, trade, and earn digital assets. As a compliance-first, U.S.-regulated exchange, Binance.US offers secure and reliable access to the world's most popular cryptocurrencies. The platform is an industry leader with low fees, an advanced trading engine, strong platform stability and security, and a robust compliance framework.

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About this Show:

The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all!

Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together.

The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API.

Music by: Ari Dvorin

Produced by: Sam Laliberte