Jim Hiltner, Co-Founder of Superstate, deconstructs the US capital markets stack from the DTCC vault at the core to the broker-dealers, exchanges, and IPO syndicates layered on top, each one extracting fees the issuer never sees.

Jim Hiltner, Co-Founder of Superstate, explains the two real bottlenecks stopping AI agents from running serious capital on-chain - thin asset history and the security arms race and host Sri Misra counters with a sharp reframe on OPSEC. Full episode at: unhashed.co/jim

Most asset managers still can't accept stablecoin payments, yet over $300 billion in regulated capital is already sitting on-chain. Jim Hiltner, Co-Founder of Superstate, explains how the tokenization of capital markets is reshaping the rails now powering Invesco, Bitwise, and Coinbase Asset Management, with the first fully on-chain IPO targeted for H2 2026.

Building tokenization rails for Wall Street is a credibility game, and few operators have stacked credentials as deliberately as Jim Hiltner, who moved from Citibank to Compound Treasury before co-founding Superstate in 2023. Superstate now manages over $1.2 billion across two tokenized funds and powers Opening Bell, the platform letting SEC-registered companies issue native tokenized equity on Ethereum and Solana with the same CUSIP, voting rights, and dividend rights as traditional shares. In conversation with un# host Sri Misra, Jim explains why Superstate handed its $1 billion USTB fund to Invesco in Q2 2026, why Circle's IPO mispricing exposes a structural flaw in capital formation, and why the first on-chain IPO is coming in H2 2026. With the SEC's Innovation Exemption now formalizing rails for tokenized stocks and RWA tokenization crossing $34 billion globally, this conversation captures the inflection moment for on-chain capital markets.

👉Why Superstate handed its $1 billion USTB tokenized treasury fund to Invesco in Q2 2026, and what the hand-off signals about the future of fund management

👉How Opening Bell makes a tokenized stock legally identical to a Nasdaq share, with the same CUSIP, voting rights, and dividend rights

👉What Circle's IPO trajectory, from $30 allocation to $150 first-week close, reveals about structural underpricing in traditional capital formation

👉Why $300 billion in regulated stablecoins is forcing every major asset manager to build on-chain distribution rails

👉How Jim Hiltner went from Citibank to Compound Treasury to co-founding Superstate, and why the 2022 crypto lender collapse was the catalyst

👉What needs to happen before AI agents can manage real money on-chain, and why the ultimate defense is legal, not cryptographic.

Subscribe to the un# podcast for weekly founder conversations and follow Sri Misra on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/srimisra] for daily insights.

00:00 - Inside Tokenization of Capital Markets

0:55 - From Citibank to Tokenizing Wall Street 04:05 - FTX Collapse: The Superstate Origin Story 07:09 - How Superstate's Tokenization Stack Works 11:12 - Invesco Takes Over $1B Tokenized Fund 16:38 - How Opening Bell Tokenizes Real Stocks 23:36 - Why $300B Stablecoins Force Tokenization 30:05 - Disintermediating DTCC With Public Blockchains 42:11 - First On-Chain IPO Coming H2 2026 45:19 - Why Agentic Finance Isn't Ready Yet#JimHiltner #Superstate #SriMisra #Unhashed #Tokenization #RWA #OnChainIPO #OpeningBell #TokenizedStocks #TokenizedTreasuries #Stablecoins #USTB #DeFi #WallStreet #CapitalMarkets #BlockchainFinance #InstitutionalCrypto #CryptoFinance #Web3Finance #RWATokenizationDisclaimer: The information presented is for educational purposes only. Views expressed are those of the speakers, not necessarily the channel. You are responsible for your own research and decisions.Copyright: © 2024 Aarna AI Pte Ltd, Singapore. All rights reserved.