CoinDesk Podcast Network

IOTA CMO, Karen O’Brien reveals the high-stakes roadmap to transform the $35 trillion global trade industry from archaic paper systems into a frictionless, blockchain-powered infrastructure.

Karen O’Brien, CMO of IOTA, breaks down why the industry is finally hitting a much-needed trust reset, trading short-term hype for the work of fixing global trade. O’Brien touches on how she’s helping solve the $35 trillion "paper and email" bottleneck to create an invisible backbone for global supply chains—a true blockchain for machines.

- Links mentioned from the podcast: 


Karen's Twitter 


IOTA Website

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Sam Ewen, CoinDesk

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

U.S. government's crypto stolen?

The U.S. Marshals Service is investigating allegations that the son of a government contractor stole over $40 million in seized crypto. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified the alleged thief as John “Lick” Daghita, son of CMDSS president Dean Daghita. 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.

ERCOT is overhauling how it processes and approves large load interconnections. Here are the changes that are under consideration.

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Welcome back to The Blockspace Podcast! Today, Tom Kleckner, a veteran energy correspondent at RTO Insider, joins us to talk about how ERCOT is overhauling the Texas grid to handle the unprecedented AI boom. We dive into the massive 233GW interconnection queue, the impact of Senate Bill 6 on transmission costs, and new reliability measures like DRRS. Tom breaks down the "batch process" for large loads and whether Bitcoin miners or AI data centers are better at balancing the grid. We also touch on the future of Texas energy, from gas plants to small modular nuclear reactors.

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Notes:

* 70% demand jump to 145GW by 2031.

* Interconnection queue reached 233GW.

* SB6 shifts transmission costs to large loads.

* Large loads defined as 75MW or greater.

* Texas Energy Fund has $10 billion available.

* 73% of queue requests from data centers.

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

01:51 Interconnection queue changes

06:46 Kill switch

08:50 Batch system

11:22 What's DRRS?

13:39 Is DRRS an ancillary service?

16:13 Storage (battery)

18:22 4CP

22:00 Rate of change

24:18 Current state of changes

26:24 Timeline

27:33 Baseload & ghost loads

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👉 Luxor, Leaders In Bitcoin Mining and Compute Power!

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Published thrice weekly, "The Blockspace Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday, our news show on Friday, and our Writer's Room talk show on Saturday!

Patrick Witt, Executive Director of President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, joins CoinDesk's Sam Ewen to discuss the presence of crypto at Davos 2026 and President Trump’s renewed pledge to make America the global center of innovation. Witt breaks down the tension between traditional banks and the crypto industry, and its impact on the market structure battle.

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Timecodes

01:05 Crypto's "Turning Point" at Davos

02:10 The Future of Stablecoins and Crypto Regulation

03:26 U.S. Leadership in Crypto Innovation

06:45 The Path Forward for Crypto Legislation

09:56 The White House's Stand on Stablecoin Yield

12:14 Does Venezuela Have a Secret Crypto Stash?

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This episode was hosted by Sam Ewen.

SharpLink CEO, Joseph Chalom joins CoinDesk to explain why Ethereum is poised for 10x TVL growth in 2026, driven by RWA tokenization, sovereign wealth migration, and SharpLink’s role as the world’s second-largest public ETH holder.

SharpLink CEO and former BlackRock head of digital assets strategy, Joseph Chalom, joins CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie on Markets Outlook. He  explains why he believes Ethereum’s Total Value Locked (TVL) is poised for 10X growth in 2026. Chalom breaks down how stablecoins, RWA tokenization, and sovereign wealth funds are migrating to decentralized rails, effectively turning Ethereum into the "toll road" of global finance. They also dive into the rise of AI agents in DeFi and how SharpLink is pioneering a new institutional treasury model as the world’s second-largest public ETH holder.

-Timecodes0:55 - Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Analysis2:41 - Gold, Silver, and Meme Commodities5:30 - Ethereum vs. Solana: The Battle for Wall Street7:24 - The Future of Tokenized Fund Complexes9:05 - Why the Lack of Crypto Legislation Won't Stop Institutional Builders10:29 - Quantum Computing and AI in Crypto17:11 - Sharp Link’s 2026 Strategy19:57 - How SharpLink Plans to Outlast Traditional Crypto Funds22:13 - Chalom's View for ETH in 2026

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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie.