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

In this episode, we’re joined by Charles Adkins, CEO of the HBAR Foundation, to explore how Hedera is evolving beyond its reputation as an enterprise blockchain—positioning itself for broader adoption across AI, DePin, RWAs, and more.

Charles shares his unique journey from Morgan Stanley to Polygon, Aptos, and ultimately Hedera, and gives us an inside look at the strategy and technology behind Hedera's growth. From Hedera’s decentralization roadmap to the advantages of fixed gas fees and fair ordering, Charles explains why Hedera is uniquely positioned to serve both builders and institutions at scale.

In this episode:

• 00:26 – Hedera’s evolution beyond enterprise
• 01:58 – Charles' Career journey: Finance → Consumer Brands → Web3
• 07:49 – Hedera’s shift towards retail users & builders
• 11:03 – Decentralization roadmap explained
• 15:39 – How Hedera’s DAG & aBFT consensus stand out
• 21:20 – Fixed gas fees: why predictability matters
• 26:43 – Hedera’s edge in AI, DePin, RWAs
• 34:46 – Long-term vision: Hedera as a public utility
• 37:44 – Charles’ bold predictions for Hedera’s future

As a reminder, none of this discussion should be taken as investment or financial advice. Please refer to our website for more information or contact Hivemind directly for our list of investments

Welcome to Total Value Unlocked a podcast from Hivemind where we explore the technologies and ideas shaping the future of the internet and money, and how we unlock their potential. Hosted by, Matt Zhang, Founder of Hivemind, this season, we're focusing on the backbone of web3: blockchain protocols.

Today we speak with John Wu, President of Ava Labs, who shares his perspective on Avalanche’s modular design, the rise of tokenized assets, and impact of the upcoming Avalanche 9000 upgrade.

==

Time Stamps:

2:10 John's background and the interplay between finance and technology industries

3:19 What was missing from traditional finance that Blockchain can fix?

4:26 What lead John to Ava Labs and what first stood out to him?

7:33 What had Avalanche's Journey looked like so far - what has lead to it's success?

10:17 Monolithic vs Modular

11:45 How does Avalanche's infrastructure influence the type of apps being built on Avalanche

13:47 Work with institutions and the RWA/Stablecoin space

15:48 Avalanche 9000

16:47 Key Challenges Avalanche 9000 sets out to solve

17:42 Avalanche Summit

20:00 Ava Labs Role & Building the Ecosystem for Developers

22:37 Subnets vs Mainchain

24:06 Blockchain and Gaming - Building a Social Fabric

26:47 Avalanche in context of broader ecosystem

28:34 Ironic Tribalism

32:16 Advice for builders and entrepreneurs in the space

27:00 Taking Blockchain Mainstream

39:30 Biggest Milestone for Avalanche looking ahead

40:12 Johns Boldest Prediction

41:22 Matt's Boldest Prediction

44:50 What happens to money in an AI economy

As a reminder, none of this discussion should be taken as investment or financial advice. Please refer to our website for more information or contact Hivemind directly for our list of investments