CoinDesk Podcast Network

S&P Global Ratings Managing Director and Digital Assets Analytical Lead Andrew O’Neill joins CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie to unpack the firm’s new Vault Risk Assessment (VRA). He explains how onchain lending vaults work, why transparency isn’t the same as understanding risk, and how the VRA looks at a vault’s portfolio, liquidity, curator, operational security and governance. Plus, how the VRA differs from a credit rating, how vaults could fuel a liquidity flywheel for onchain finance, and what agentic AI could mean for the pace of risk in financial markets.

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Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets.

Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments.

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Timecodes:

00:00 - S&P Global Ratings’ Andrew O’Neill Joins CoinDesk

02:00 - What Is a DeFi Lending Vault?

03:09 - How S&P Global Ratings Evaluates Vault Risk

05:14 - Is the VRA a Credit Rating?

07:07 - Why S&P Global Ratings Is Focusing on Vaults Now

08:25 - The Biggest Gaps in Onchain Finance

09:26 - S&P Global Ratings’ Vision for Tokenized Finance

11:08 - Agentic AI and the New Pace of Risk

On this episode of CoinDesk’s Public Keys from the New York Stock Exchange, host Jennifer Sanasie is joined by Peter Christiansen, Director of Digital Assets Equity Research at Citi, who explains why the bank is turning more bullish on crypto equities ahead of Q3 earnings — breaking down its upgrades of Galaxy and Gemini, its downgrade of Securitize, the MSCI index-exclusion threat facing Strategy, and why Circle is his top pick with a $243 target.

Plus, Bart Smith, CEO of Avalanche Treasury Co. (AVAT), makes the case that Wall Street’s tokenization push will land on Avalanche, and explains why a regulated permanent-capital vehicle offers investors different exposure than spot AVAX or an ETF — and why he sees bitcoin maturing into digital gold.

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Learn more at bullish.com.

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Register for Consensus Hong Kong 2027 (February 1-3) and Consensus Miami 2027 (May 4-6) at https://events.coindesk.com/.

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Learn more about CoinDesk Data & Indices at https://indices.coindesk.com/institutions.

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Chapters/Timecodes:

00:00 Welcome to Public Keys

00:21 Citi Turns Bullish on Crypto Equities

00:45 Citi's Pete Christiansen on the Infrastructure Trade

02:23 Why Citi Downgraded Securitize

03:47 What to Watch: NYSE, Nasdaq and DTCC Tokenized Trading

05:00 Collateral Mobility, Tokenization's Real Use Case

05:57 Strategy and the MSCI Index-Exclusion Threat

07:50 Citi's Bull, Bear and Base Case for MSTR

08:59 Bitcoin and Ether ETF Outflows Meet the Macro Backdrop

10:27 Why Circle Is Citi's Top Pick, $243 Target

13:36 Avalanche Treasury's Bart Smith Joins

13:43 The Bull, Bear and Base Case for Avalanche

15:18 How Avalanche Differentiates: Custom L1s

16:16 Why AVAT Over Spot AVAX or an ETF

19:32 The Tokenization-ETF Parallel

20:54 Tokenization Is Crypto Minus the Baggage

22:16 Why Bitcoin Is Now Digital Gold

JPMorgan takes JPM Coin to Ethereum.

JPMorgan is expanding its JPM Coin beyond Coinbase's Base network to Ethereum, citing the blockchain's deeper liquidity and institutional user base. The largest U.S. bank already moves more than $7 billion a day on its private Kinexys network. CoinDesk's Uyen Truong hosts "CoinDesk Daily."

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This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com.
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Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments.
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This episode was hosted by Uyen Truong. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

Tesla Roadster unveiling lifts tokenized TSLA.

Elon Musk unveiled a flying version of the Tesla Roadster, and with U.S. stock markets closed, traders piled into Hyperliquid's TSLA perpetual, sending hourly volume up roughly 1,580%. It's a sign of how round-the-clock crypto markets are becoming the first place investors react to news about traditional companies. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily."

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This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com.
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Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments.
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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

CoinDesk’s The Policy Protocol hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti open on two hot topics: the CFTC’s interim final rule carving casino-style gambling out of the “swap” definition and the OCC’s “bombshell” report finding that America’s largest banks systematically debanked lawful businesses, based on a review of over 100,000 complaints from 2020–2025.

Then they sit down with Michael Passalacqua, Senior Advisor to CFTC Chair Mike Selig and head of the agency’s Innovation Task Force, who walks through the Reg CM proposal creating a federal opt-in framework for retail crypto exchanges that offer leverage, previews the October 28th Frontier Forum on “super intelligence” and the thorny liability questions around agentic finance. Plus, Passalacqua lays out why he’s most excited about operationalizing the CFTC’s post-CLARITY rulemaking roadmap over the next six to twelve months.

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This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com.

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Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments.

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Learn more about CoinDesk Data & Indices at coindesk.com/institutions.

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Chapters/Timecodes:

00:00 Welcome to The Policy Protocol

01:54 Renato at the Chicago Fed Payments Symposium

02:19 Hot Topic: CFTC Says Sportsbook Bets Aren't Swaps

03:51 Hot Topic: The OCC Debanking 'Bombshell' Report

06:02 Michael Passalacqua of the CFTC Joins

06:44 Reg CM: A Federal Path for Crypto Exchanges

10:24 Inside the CFTC Innovation Task Force

10:56 Super Intelligence and the Frontier Forum

12:04 The Phantom No-Action Letter and Industry-Wide IB Relief

14:47 Agentic Finance and Autonomous Trading

16:20 Defining 'Onchain Finance'

16:45 The Post-CLARITY Rulemaking Roadmap