Welcome to another episode of Total Value Unlocked Podcast!

Emmanuel Vallod, Partner and Head of Ventures at Hivemind, steps in for Matt Zhang to host a discussion with Arnab Sen, Co-founder and CEO of GFO-X.

As the UK's first regulated centrally cleared trading venue for digital asset derivatives, GFO-X is at the cutting edge of financial market infrastructure. Arnab shares his insights on the relevance of derivatives, institutional needs, and the evolution of digital assets in traditional finance. Tune in to understand what's required for banks and large institutions to participate fully in this emerging asset class, backed by cutting-edge derivative structures and stringent regulatory compliance.

Timestamps:

02:12 – What makes a market “mature” and why crypto isn’t yet

05:38 – Arnab’s journey from Goldman to founding GFO-X

09:00 – How GFO-X is designing infrastructure for banks

11:22 – Spot, futures, and the missing leg: options

14:40 – Why central clearing is the unlock no one talks about

18:15 – “Institutional-grade” isn’t marketing, it’s hard engineering

21:08 – What banks actually need to take on crypto risk

24:42 – The biggest gaps in today’s crypto market structure

28:36 – Why options drive institutional liquidity

32:45 – Collateral is broken, here’s how to fix it

37:20 – Tokenization is useless without credit and portability

42:30 – How to get from bilateral risk to scalable markets

50:18 – What success looks like

In this episode of Total Value Unlocked, Matt Zhang sits down with Josh Frank, Co-Founder and CEO of The Tie, to unpack what data actually matters when trading, building, or allocating in the digital asset space

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They cover:

– The evolution of The Tie from sentiment tracker to data powerhouse

– Why metrics like active addresses and TVL can be misleading

– The role of news and event-driven strategies in generating alpha

– How institutions are (really) engaging with crypto

– And how data + AI are reshaping decision-making across the industry

Links:

https://x.com/Joshua_Frank_

https://x.com/TheTieIO

https://x.com/zhang_matt

https://x.com/HivemindCap

Timestamps:

00:20 – Intro to the episode

01:12 – How The Tie was founded

04:12 – Why data infrastructure is foundational in crypto

05:17 – The problem with metrics like “active addresses”

07:17 – Data transparency & how institutions consume data

11:17 – Why crypto is still a narrative-driven market

15:03 – Signals vs. noise in crypto narratives

17:23 – Most overlooked metrics investors should watch

18:32 – Event-driven strategies & post-incentive usage

20:35 – How to build a strong data strategy

22:37 – What institutions are actually doing in crypto

25:47 – The real story behind ETF impact & liquidity

27:42 – What allocators are looking for now

29:49 – A surprising reminder: crypto is still small

33:10 – The Tie’s event strategy

38:03 – Using AI to surface signal in a sea of data

42:12 – What’s still missing in crypto market infrastructure

43:41 – Where to find Josh and The Tie

Welcome to Season 2 of Total Value Unlocked. This season we'll be zooming in on Market Infrastructure: the foundational tools, systems, and platforms that power institutional digital asset markets from behind the scenes.

To kick off, our host, Matt Zhang, Founder of Hivemind Capital, sits down with Raghu Yarlagadda, Co-Founder and CEO of FalconX, one of the largest digital asset brokers:

We cover:

- Why tokenized dollars (stablecoins) may become the dominant settlement rail

- How FalconX scaled trillions in volume with only 25 ops staff

- Insights from attending the first-ever White House Digital Asset Summit.

- What “risk isolation” means and why it’s the missing piece

- The bold bets Raghu made in 2018 (2 out of 3 have already come true)

- The intersection of open-source AI and crypto incentives

Timestamps:

2:30 – The three pillars of FalconX and why derivatives are taking over

6:00 – Institutional conviction in Bitcoin and why it's growing

8:00 – What makes this market cycle structurally different

13:15 – Why consolidation is accelerating in crypto and how FalconX is navigating it

17:45 – The original 3 statements Raghu made in 2018—and how they’re playing out

20:45 – Inside the first-ever White House Digital Asset Summit

26:00 – The case for a fairer regulatory playing field in the U.S.

28:45 – Tokenization = a 10x efficiency boost for ops

33:30 – Why stablecoins will find PMF first in developing markets

36:00 – AI meets crypto: solving the open-source incentive problem

43:00 – The mindset that built FalconX into a market leader

44:30 – The missing piece in infrastructure: risk isolation