the un# podcast

Inside the Centralized Database Holding Trillions of Dollars

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.

Why AI Agents Aren't Ready to Manage Your Crypto Portfolio Yet

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

Why Every Asset Manager Is Racing to Tokenize Funds Now

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.

Why Spark Wraps Yield Around Every Stablecoin Instead of Fighting Them

Spark Protocol Co-founder Sam MacPherson breaks down the two-layer stablecoin stack: a money layer led by USDT, USDC, and incoming bank and fintech issuers  and a credit layer where USDS and Spark live. Instead of fighting for payments share, Spark wraps yield around every major stablecoin and handles DeFi deployment for Web2 partners who don't want to manage it themselves. His 2030 projection: tens of billions in USDS at the low end, $100B+ at the high end.

Aave Lost Millions to KelpDAO. Spark Lost Zero. Here's Why

Spark Protocol Co-founder Sam MacPherson explains why his team offboarded rsETH as collateral in January  months before the $292M KelpDAO exploit drained Aave's lending markets. The takeaway: a minimalist collateral set, ruthless risk-return reviews, and a philosophy of shrinking the attack surface kept Spark depositors whole while the rest of DeFi absorbed the blow. A masterclass in why disciplined governance beats yield chasing.