CoinDesk Podcast Network

The impact of giving synthetic beings a wallet, an identity, and eventually a body.

Jansen Teng, Co-Founder of Virtuals Protocol, joins Sam to lay out one of the most ambitious visions in crypto right now, a parallel society of AI agents that can trade, hire, earn, and eventually inhabit physical bodies. Jansen digs into what it actually takes to build an agentic economy from the ground up, from escrow mechanisms that prevent agents from stealing each other's funds, to real-world robotics deployments at hotels and malls in Southeast Asia.

Links mentioned from the podcast:
Jansen’s Twitter: https://x.com/ethermage
Virtuals Website: https://www.virtuals.io/

Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
1:52 Virtuals Protocol Origin Story
3:58 The Pivot to Economy OS
4:24 The Experiment That Changed Everything
5:11 Defining the Agentic Economy
6:43 Agents Beyond Crypto: Real World Use Cases
7:33 Accountability & Agent Failures
14:05 Agent Identities, KYC & Economy OS Toolkit
17:05 Self-Sustaining Autonomous Agents
19:22 The Pareto Rule: Which Agents Will Succeed?
21:59 Embodied AI & Robotics
29:04 Do Agents Deserve Rights?

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"Gen C" features host Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.

The Ethereum Foundation announced a 40% budget cut after layoff news.

The Ethereum Foundation will slash its budget by roughly 40% this year as part of a shift toward a leaner, endowment-style operating model. This comes on the same day the EF confirmed a 20% reduction in headcount. CoinDesk's Uyen Truong hosts "CoinDesk Daily."

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This episode was hosted by Uyen Truong. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

The White House issues two executive orders on quantum computing.

President Trump signed two executive orders directing the U.S. to build a large-scale quantum computer and to defend federal systems against one. The same technology could eventually break the encryption securing Bitcoin and Ethereum, a threat researchers say may arrive sooner than expected. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily."

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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance, sits down with CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie for one of his most candid conversations. CZ talks about growing up in an immigrant family, why he's never taken on real debt, the four months he spent in U.S. prison, the $2 million he's quietly donated to prison reform, and why he believes "there's no delete button" for crypto. 

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Check out CoinDesk's latest episode of Public Keys from the NYSE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LrBmSScvY&list=PLZWrc_gWChqnim-9ZbIKZTOrPA7IgFKVR&index=1

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Register now for CoinDesk’s Policy and Regulation event on September 22, 2026: https://policy-regulation.coindesk.com/.

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Timecodes:

00:00 Welcome to CoinDesk Spotlight

00:20 When CZ First Realized Money Mattered

03:08 A Frugal Mindset and Why He Never Took On Debt

04:35 His Father's Journey to Canada

06:30 Freedom of Money vs. Financial Freedom

08:28 Why CZ Wants to Spend More Time in the U.S.

11:52 Binance, U.S. Rivals, and Regulatory Pressure

14:39 Losing Trust - and Why the U.S. Constitution Is a "Great White Paper"

17:17 The Next Administration and the CLARITY Act

19:11 Reflecting on 2022: Was Crypto Too "Drunk" on Hype?

21:36 How AI and Crypto Are Merging

25:17 Crypto's 2026 Challenges

28:03 Inside CZ's Four Months in Prison

31:18 Why CZ Donated $2M to Prison Reform

32:57 What Inmates and Guards Asked Him About Crypto

36:26 Writing His Book: "A Conversation With Myself"

39:15 The Weaknesses and Strengths Prison Revealed

41:17 CZ's Advice to Founders

44:22 Why Most of His Wealth Is Still in BNB

45:31 Binance's Largest Shareholder, But No Longer Running It

48:56 On Legacy: "Be Happy With Myself"

On this episode of CoinDesk’s Public Keys at the New York Stock Exchange, host Jennifer Sanasie sits down with Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals founder Ric Edelman to discuss the disconnect between declining crypto sentiment and Wall Street’s rapid investment in digital asset infrastructure. Their conversation covers the CLARITY Act, the fight over crypto in 401(k) plans, tokenization, and Edelman’s long-term outlook for Bitcoin.

In this week’s 10X Trade, Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes shares his highest-conviction trade.

Strive Chief Risk Officer Jeff Walton examines the future of digital credit following the sharp declines of STRC and SATA, arguing that digital credit could represent the next $300 trillion opportunity for Bitcoin.

Also on the show, BlackRock Global Head of Digital Assets Robbie Mitchnick discusses BITA, the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, while 21Shares Co-Founder Ophelia Snyder explains why today’s financial infrastructure may be fundamentally incompatible with the tokenized future Wall Street is working to build.

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This episode of Public Keys is brought to you by Kraken Pro. For more: https://pro.kraken.com/

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Learn more at https://www.bullish.com/.

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To get marketing moving news delivered daily, download CoinDesk’s mobile app: https://linktr.ee/coindeskapp.

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Timecodes:

00:00 Welcome to Public Keys

00:37 Strategy's STRC Crashes to a Record Low

01:04 Schwab and Cboe Enter Prediction Markets

01:45 Franklin Templeton Files For Bitcoin Dividend ETFs

02:30 Ric Edelman on Crypto's Great Disconnect

05:05 Will the CLARITY Act Pass?

06:08 Crypto Lobby vs. Banking Lobby Into the Midterms

08:48 Edelman's Bitcoin and Ethereum Outlook

12:34 10X: Arthur Hayes' Highest-Conviction Trade

14:07 Strive's Jeff Walton on Digital Credit's Worst Day

15:46 Inside the STRC and SATA Leverage Liquidation

20:43 The $300 Trillion Credit Market Opportunity

23:46 Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF Flows

24:48 BlackRock's Robbie Mitchnick on the BITA Launch

28:37 Ophelia Snyder on Tokenization's Reality Check

30:15 The Scale Problem in Tokenizing Capital Markets