Speaker 1: The idea behind ever North is like, really to make
Speaker 1: it easier for folks to buy, hold and get exposure
Speaker 1: to XRP. It's like, let's make it as easy as
Speaker 1: buying Tesla stock in your brokerage account. I wanted to
Speaker 1: see the XRP ecosystem grow, and so I started thinking
Speaker 1: about what would make it easier for institutions to develop products,
Speaker 1: for developers to build more products on the XRP ledger
Speaker 1: and other blockchains as well.
Speaker 2: So, in regards to you everyone, how are you going
Speaker 2: to be buying the XRP and how are you going
Speaker 2: to be custoding it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll be using all mechanisms available to buy
Speaker 1: XRP on the market.
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Speaker 2: visit the link in the description. Hey folks, welcome into
Speaker 2: the Thinking Crypto podcast. I'm your host Tony Edward and
Speaker 2: joining me today's Ashish Berla, who is the CEO of
Speaker 2: ever North, which is an XRP focused digital APPA said
Speaker 2: treasury company. She's great to have you.
Speaker 1: Tony, thank you again for having me on your pod,
Speaker 1: And well, I want to thank you Tony. You've been
Speaker 1: such a big supporter of the entire XRP ecosystem through
Speaker 1: the thick through the thin. Thank you for all your support.
Speaker 1: You're one of the good guys out there. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: And the last time we saw each other or even
Speaker 2: spoke to each other was last year Ripple Swell in Miami.
Speaker 2: I think we were both a little drunk, but it
Speaker 2: was good times.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, it's always always a good time to
Speaker 1: see you, Tony. You know, Miami's a is a great city.
Speaker 1: You know. I'll be in New York for Ripples Swell conference.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to m see that event, and then I'll
Speaker 1: be speaking on a panel as well, moderated by Michael
Speaker 1: Arrington about ever North.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's exciting. She So, you know, after you left Ripple,
Speaker 2: was this the project you were working on or were
Speaker 2: you doing other things?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So I stayed connected to the crypto ecosystem, you know,
Speaker 1: over the time on a personal behalf. I've made over
Speaker 1: you know twenty digital asset and infrastructure as investments in
Speaker 1: the crypto space, mainly because I believe in the space, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, for the long term, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: see the XRP ecosystem grow, but I think it needed
Speaker 1: more infrastructure around it. It was still too hard to
Speaker 1: build products in crypto in general, and so I started
Speaker 1: thinking about, well, what would make it easier for institutions
Speaker 1: to develop products, what would make it easier for developers
Speaker 1: to build more products on the XRP ledger and other
Speaker 1: blockchains as well.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and actually, I mean we went through a very
Speaker 2: hard time, you know, four years of Gary Genser, and
Speaker 2: but it seems like that the tide has changed. The
Speaker 2: industry is being embraced by the United States. And how
Speaker 2: are you feeling about this new environment? And you know,
Speaker 2: tradifying all these companies now coming in and building.
Speaker 1: You know, you're seeing stable coins. You know, just get
Speaker 1: the Genius Act passed and within a few months it's
Speaker 1: already up, you know, twenty percent in terms of market
Speaker 1: cap post you know, Genius Act becoming you know law,
Speaker 1: and you're going to see that same ecosystem development as
Speaker 1: new laws are passed in government. But again, Tony, you
Speaker 1: hit it on the head that the administration is behind
Speaker 1: innovative technologies like blockchain. And by the way, this this
Speaker 1: should sound familiar because in the nineties the government got
Speaker 1: behind the Internet, and now you see post nineties the
Speaker 1: growth in the Internet. But again, good regulation, good legislation
Speaker 1: helps spur innovation and growth and going to see that
Speaker 1: with with blockchain as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And many people are waiting for the Clarity Act
Speaker 2: specifically to pass. You mentioned the Genius Act specifically for
Speaker 2: stable coins, but the market structure has the meat and potatoes,
Speaker 2: and I can't wait to see post Clarity Act passing
Speaker 2: what innovators and entrepreneurs do. I'm excited to see the
Speaker 2: innovation agreed.
Speaker 1: You know, I think there is there's a waiting demand
Speaker 1: for folks to join, institutions to join. I think the
Speaker 1: rest of the world also looks at the United States
Speaker 1: and what they're doing on the regulatory and legislative front,
Speaker 1: and and so, you know, while we think it's a
Speaker 1: big deal in the United States, I'm also excited to
Speaker 1: see how the other nations around the world, some that
Speaker 1: have already been leaders in this space, you know, past
Speaker 1: local legislation to support this industry. Because blockchain isn't a
Speaker 1: domestic technology. The beauty of this technology and the XRP
Speaker 1: ledger is that it's global in nature, and that's open
Speaker 1: in nature, and that really enables the world's financial institutions
Speaker 1: to build upon each other.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sheez, what do you think about this? Because this
Speaker 2: is something I've been noodling on and talking a lot
Speaker 2: about on the pod. You mentioned the openness and the
Speaker 2: reach that this technology has, a blockchain technology, the xt
Speaker 2: racy ledger and so forth.
Speaker 1: But it seems like for.
Speaker 2: The first time we will have truly global markets. You know,
Speaker 2: there's some people who are going to say, well, what
Speaker 2: about gold. A lot of people around the world, different
Speaker 2: central banks hold gold, but you can't view it real time.
Speaker 2: You can't verify this the amount in a storage or
Speaker 2: in a bank, or if it's real. You can't have
Speaker 2: instance settlement. It's not portable. But I feel like this
Speaker 2: technology brings all those attributes that make it real time.
Speaker 2: I can look at it on my phone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the beauty of it. It's real time, it's
Speaker 1: counterparty free, and you know, you can see a world
Speaker 1: where you know, folks over time move from gold in
Speaker 1: other assets into digital assets and other cryptocurrens these like
Speaker 1: even uh, you know, for central banks, even for reserves,
Speaker 1: uh and treasuries, and I know we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about that today. Maybe that's the first step. So corporate
Speaker 1: treasuries being the innovators, start holding digital assets through public equities. Uh,
Speaker 1: Like what we're going to be building at ever North.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh that is how things get started. But
Speaker 1: maybe in the future you'll see central banks uh and
Speaker 1: others also want to hold digital assets on in their reserves,
Speaker 1: and I think that's going to be a very interesting
Speaker 1: future that will onfold. But again you started the conversation
Speaker 1: with the regulation. Regulations got to pass. Is got to
Speaker 1: pass globally for sure.
Speaker 2: So let's talk ever North to give an overview of
Speaker 2: this company. Uh, what's the mission and why XRP was
Speaker 2: chosen as the digital asset.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, the mission is is really to make
Speaker 1: it easier for folks uh to buy hold and get
Speaker 1: exposure to XRP. Uh. It's it's for for us, Tony.
Speaker 1: We've been in this space a long time. We know
Speaker 1: how to manage wallets, we know how to you know,
Speaker 1: manage cryptocurrencies. But for the large part of the world
Speaker 1: that it's too difficult for big institutions that want exposure
Speaker 1: to this asset class and XRP that's too complicated. So
Speaker 1: the idea behind ever North is like, let's make it
Speaker 1: as easy as buying Tesla stock in your brokerage account,
Speaker 1: your e trade account, your fidelity account, your Robinhood account.
Speaker 1: Just like you buy that stock, you can buy XRP
Speaker 1: and the ticker for ever North and you get exposure
Speaker 1: to XRP as an asset class. And we don't stop there.
Speaker 1: You also get to participate in the strategies that will
Speaker 1: develop at ever North, like yield strategies, and with those
Speaker 1: yield strategies, the yield, a portion of that yield that
Speaker 1: we generate will go back into the treasury. Let's we'll
Speaker 1: use that yield to buy more XRP and add to
Speaker 1: the treasury. And the goal here for ever North shareholders
Speaker 1: is to maximize XRP per share. And why did I
Speaker 1: choose XRP. I'll answer that question. Well, One, I really
Speaker 1: believe in this future that the world is going to
Speaker 1: be the financial world is going to be reformed, and
Speaker 1: there's going to be a revolution, and that revolution is
Speaker 1: going to start on a blockchain and it's spurred by
Speaker 1: that innovation around the blockchain. And early on the XRP
Speaker 1: and creators decided that they wanted to build a blockchain
Speaker 1: that was optimized for financial use cases. This is back
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve. Maybe that's mainstream now, but this is
Speaker 1: back in twenty twelve to create an ecosystem, to create
Speaker 1: a technology that's optimized for payments, as optimized for tokenized assets.
Speaker 1: Today we call those real world assets or r w as.
Speaker 1: But the ability to have these equities, real estate and
Speaker 1: so forth, tokenized and available for the world on a blockchain, that's, uh,
Speaker 1: that's what the XRP, leisure and supporting technologies are good for.
Speaker 1: So you know, I I I, uh, you know, decided
Speaker 1: XRP obviously, uh, you know, with my you know history,
Speaker 1: that made a lot of sense. But I also noticed
Speaker 1: Tony that there's no digital asset treasury of significance around
Speaker 1: uh XRP and uh, and that made it a no brainer.
Speaker 1: Let's go and let's go do it for sure.
Speaker 2: So would be safe to say you're looking to become
Speaker 2: the micro strategy of XRP, you know, micro strategy specifically
Speaker 2: focused on bitcoin, you know.
Speaker 1: Like I'm excited about building on the XRP ecosystem. I
Speaker 1: think the world should know about what's going on in
Speaker 1: terms of financialization on a blockchain, and I think the
Speaker 1: world's going to look very different in ten years than
Speaker 1: it is from now in the financial world because of
Speaker 1: technologies like XCRP. But also all the accompanied technologies that
Speaker 1: support the infrastructure around XRP, like the stable coin which
Speaker 1: is growing rapidly that serves Tony as on and off raps.
Speaker 1: That was a big piece that was missing. How do
Speaker 1: you get onto a blockchain? Well, stable coins solves a
Speaker 1: part of that, and ever North helps institutions and retail
Speaker 1: investors get on and off and participate in the ecosystem,
Speaker 1: the DeFi ecosystem around the XRP ledger as well.
Speaker 2: So with regards to you ever North, and this is
Speaker 2: a rookie question because I'm still trying to grasp the
Speaker 2: idea fully of digital aster treasure companies. Is that a
Speaker 2: company that existed before with surch of services and products
Speaker 2: or is it a brand new company specifically focused on
Speaker 2: the x RP treasury or does it have, like I said,
Speaker 2: other means of revenue and services and things like that.
Speaker 1: Now we are one hundred percent focused on XRP. We
Speaker 1: are we're building, uh you know, a digital asset treasury,
Speaker 1: but it's an active uh you know treasury, and that
Speaker 1: we will be putting the XRP to use. Well, well,
Speaker 1: we have a trade fies, a traditional strategy, and we
Speaker 1: have a DeFi strategy, and we want to use the
Speaker 1: XRP ecosystem to generate yield on the defile strategy side
Speaker 1: of things. That'll help that ecosystem flourish. That will also
Speaker 1: be good for the ever North Digital Asset treasury as well.
Speaker 2: Let's double click a bit on the DeFi component because
Speaker 2: that's going to be something many people are interested in.
Speaker 2: How you're generating the yield. Are you planning to use
Speaker 2: like protocol like Flare or other protocols.
Speaker 1: So we're we're in discussions with a lot of the
Speaker 1: protocols out there. You know, we we have to close
Speaker 1: the transaction first before you know, participating in those yield
Speaker 1: generation products. But you know, part of the reason that
Speaker 1: every North exists is to you know, cultivate those yield strategies,
Speaker 1: build those yield strategies directly on the XRP ledger, and
Speaker 1: use XRP in the ecosystem to develop those yield strategies.
Speaker 1: And so I'm excited about that. You know, I'm a
Speaker 1: longtime product builder. Nothing gets me more excited than see
Speaker 1: that ecosystem flourish. And again, I think one thing Tony
Speaker 1: that was missing was like how do you get institutional
Speaker 1: capital to participate in that ecosystem. I mean DeFi in
Speaker 1: general has been you know, humming alan it has been
Speaker 1: growing at an okay clip for the last four or
Speaker 1: five years, has a lot of pumps and bruises. But
Speaker 1: this might be the missing sort of adapter connection. Now
Speaker 1: you have real capital coming in and this is just
Speaker 1: the start to help you get those defive protocols to
Speaker 1: mature and grow and really compete with the traditional finance world.
Speaker 1: And again you saw that with stable coins. You saw
Speaker 1: that with stable coins as well. Is that it was
Speaker 1: humming and hawing along for almost a decade and then
Speaker 1: things got real when that regulation passed, and now institutions
Speaker 1: turning to stable coins for adoption for payments and other
Speaker 1: use cases. But you're going to see that same thing
Speaker 1: happen here in the decentralized finance world as well, with
Speaker 1: lending protocols and everything else that we haven't even imagined yet.
Speaker 2: Absolutely something that came to mind, and I've seen other
Speaker 2: dats do this, and it may be true early for
Speaker 2: you to answer this question, But what the yield is
Speaker 2: it going to be? Some of it paid out in
Speaker 2: a dividend or reinvested into the respective treasury you.
Speaker 1: Know, our plans right now are to uh you know,
Speaker 1: reinvest that into the treasury. Again, the the metric that
Speaker 1: we are maximizing for uh is XRP per share and
Speaker 1: uh you know that the plan is is to get
Speaker 1: that yield uh and then go back into the treasury.
Speaker 1: So if that yield is giving us US dollars, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll use a portion of that to eventually go back
Speaker 1: in and buy more XRP for the treasury. Got it?
Speaker 1: That makes sense.
Speaker 2: A big question a lot of folks want to know
Speaker 2: is how are you going to be buying the x
Speaker 2: RP and how are you going to be custoding it?
Speaker 2: Are you buying OTC on the open market? Things along
Speaker 2: those lines.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know we'll we'll be using all mechanisms
Speaker 1: available to uh, you know buy x RP on the market.
Speaker 1: It's it's still growing tony the market. UH. So you know,
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that we're balanced and measured
Speaker 1: in how we uh you know buy XRP uh for
Speaker 1: the treasury. So the good thing is we have a
Speaker 1: lot of experience uh, you know managing treasuries. UH will
Speaker 1: do the most efficient thing out there. But again, it's
Speaker 1: getting easier and easier.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, back in the early days, there were just
Speaker 1: a couple of exchanges available. Now there's hundreds around the
Speaker 1: world that trade cryptocurrencies, and now you you know, you're
Speaker 1: seeing even you know, bigger players jump into the the
Speaker 1: the ecosystem as well. So exciting to see this market develop, uh.
Speaker 1: And it's also exciting to see XRP uh being the
Speaker 1: third largest uh you know digital asset you know, volume
Speaker 1: wise depending on the uh you know, the venue. But
Speaker 1: that makes it also very interesting, uh in terms of uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a digital asset treasury, and that also makes
Speaker 1: it really interesting in the times of yield strategies that
Speaker 1: we could potentially deploy, uh once this transaction closes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, you mentioned the demand for XRP. We've
Speaker 2: seen a lot of ETF SPOTTYTF filings still on the
Speaker 2: table waiting for the SEC to take action. In addition,
Speaker 2: you had XRP futures go live on the CMEME and
Speaker 2: so forth, and there's been a lot of institutional demand.
Speaker 2: So I think it's like perfect timing that you guys
Speaker 2: are launching this digital asset treasury company focus on XRP,
Speaker 2: because how things have changed. She i mean, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously the sec Ripple lawsuit has concluded after you know,
Speaker 2: years of going back and forth. But you know, the
Speaker 2: sun is shining down now on us and the dark
Speaker 2: clouds have gone away, and there's a lot of demand
Speaker 2: for this asset.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely feels like a new day Tony Like,
Speaker 1: it definitely feels like, you know, we started off as
Speaker 1: infants in this industry and now we're you know, becoming adults.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm I'm happy to be part of
Speaker 1: the adult movement in digital assets. And part of that
Speaker 1: adult movement is getting institutions to adopt I don't think
Speaker 1: this ecosystem. I don't think cryptocurrencies will flourish until there
Speaker 1: is broad based adoption by institutions out there. And again,
Speaker 1: ever north is one tool to help get institutional adoption,
Speaker 1: making it easier to participate in in the crypto economy, uh,
Speaker 1: making it easier to participate in this financial future that
Speaker 1: will be built on blockchains. But there's going to be
Speaker 1: other tools that we need. We talked about regulation and
Speaker 1: the and the right kind of legislation, but we need more,
Speaker 1: you know, tools around their ets being a great one,
Speaker 1: see me futures trading. XRP another great tool. And again
Speaker 1: this is all part of the adult growing up process
Speaker 1: that the whole industry is h is now participation the end, thankfully, thankfully.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Now I read you guys are raising
Speaker 2: one billion dollars to buy x RP. Of course, is
Speaker 2: that a cap or in the future you may raise
Speaker 2: additional capital? And who have who are the folks who
Speaker 2: have participated so far in the capital?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's a good question. So you know,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll stay active out there. Uh. You know, we
Speaker 1: don't have any plans uh to stop uh, And so
Speaker 1: we'll you know, you know, as soon as the transaction
Speaker 1: is closed, we'll again look at additional opportunities. But the
Speaker 1: idea is not to stop at a billion in uh,
Speaker 1: you know, treachery uh And and I'm happy Tony to
Speaker 1: be supported by world class investors. And one thing that
Speaker 1: we do want to do is expand internationally. Uh. You
Speaker 1: may know that XRP is as widely popular in Korea
Speaker 1: and in Japan, and having s b I uh, you know,
Speaker 1: participate in ever North's you know financing is going to
Speaker 1: potentially help unlock those Asian markets for US as well.
Speaker 1: So that post closed transaction, looking to those kinds of
Speaker 1: expansion opportunities is going to be a high priority for
Speaker 1: the North team. And again, we're lucky to have world
Speaker 1: class investors from SBI, Ripple, Errington, XFP Capital, and several
Speaker 1: others join us in this journey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I remember SBI, and I forgot the CEO.
Speaker 1: Yoshitaka Katao Son. Yeah, excellent, excellent leader.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember following him over the years and the
Speaker 2: different things he would say, and reading the SBI reports,
Speaker 2: quarterly reports and things like that. So it's awesome to
Speaker 2: see that they continue to participate in the ecosystem and
Speaker 2: much more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have been excellent leaders and excellent partners over
Speaker 1: the year, and I'm very very gracious that they are
Speaker 1: part of this journey as well at ever North.
Speaker 2: So she's you got this trend right, Digital ACCID treasury
Speaker 2: companies is growing. It's happening around the globe. Folks are
Speaker 2: using different crypto assets. How are you guys preparing for,
Speaker 2: let's say, a downturn in a bear market? Is one
Speaker 2: of the things that things that concern me is potentially
Speaker 2: some of these companies may not be managed well and
Speaker 2: there could be some blow ups in the bear market,
Speaker 2: or it might have to be some consolidation. But how
Speaker 2: are you guys preparing for possible bear market and market downturns.
Speaker 1: That's a great question, Tony, and Hey, like I am
Speaker 1: also concerned as I look at other treasuries in the
Speaker 1: market that don't seem like they have formidable leadership teams
Speaker 1: or even full time leadership teams. Well, what you get
Speaker 1: at ever North is as a team that is purpose
Speaker 1: built for you know, something like XRP Digital Asset Treasury
Speaker 1: in Evernorth. You know, you get me that is the
Speaker 1: weather as they come in crypto. You know, having been
Speaker 1: been in the industry since twenty thirteen and seeing the winters,
Speaker 1: the summers, the falls, all four seasons, Tony just doesn't
Speaker 1: you know, a downturn doesn't phaze me. You know, there
Speaker 1: are you know, some of the best opportunities are available
Speaker 1: in downturns. What you have to do is plan for
Speaker 1: the long term. And that's what this team is about.
Speaker 1: We stick with things, we build for the long term.
Speaker 1: We don't get too high in the highs, we don't
Speaker 1: get too low in the lows. We sort of stay
Speaker 1: even keeled and build it, build it out, so you know,
Speaker 1: in the downturns, we'll be ready and here there are
Speaker 1: opportunities for those that are patient. For sure.
Speaker 2: Now I saw and correct me if I'm wrong. A
Speaker 2: listing on the NASTAC that that got approved this week.
Speaker 2: What can you tell us there? And can both retail
Speaker 2: and institutional investors access it?
Speaker 1: So what you say, saw I was? I was the
Speaker 1: ticker symbol x RPN go live in That ticker symbol
Speaker 1: is now tradable on the on the nasdack. We expect
Speaker 1: that to happen sometime in quarter one of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: Got I got it? Okay, So I was.
Speaker 2: My next question was going to be if the government
Speaker 2: shut down is slowing things down for you guys as
Speaker 2: it is with everything else.
Speaker 1: But hey, like listen, it might be slowing things down
Speaker 1: for the government, but we're we're busy here at ever North.
Speaker 1: We're busy thinking about how to leverage the XRP ecosystem.
Speaker 1: We're thinking about, uh, you know, how to build the
Speaker 1: right kind of risk tools out there so that we
Speaker 1: can scale uh you know, in in the in the
Speaker 1: right way. We're gonna you know, measure twice and cut once. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's our plan. So that kind of tooling is really
Speaker 1: important for these digital assets treasuries to scale, especially if
Speaker 1: you want to participate in the decentralized finance ecosystem DeFi.
Speaker 1: You need to have the right kind of risk tools,
Speaker 1: You need to have the right kind of experience and
Speaker 1: have that built ahead of time. So those are things
Speaker 1: that we can, you know, continue to build and plan
Speaker 1: for and the SEC and the government there's not much
Speaker 1: I can do other than call a couple of folking,
Speaker 1: you know, let's speed it up. But the rest of
Speaker 1: the world is doing the same thing. So you know
Speaker 1: we're back here busy building for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah that you know, we can't control that, right the government.
Speaker 2: It is what it is. We're all in the same
Speaker 2: boat there. But we got a bunch of XRP ETFs,
Speaker 2: I know, I mentioned it earlier, a lot of spotty
Speaker 2: tfs that are seems to be they're going to be
Speaker 2: approved by the SEC. I'm curious of what your take
Speaker 2: is on the dynamic between a digital aster treasury company
Speaker 2: versus an ETF and I know this the dats give
Speaker 2: a new pathway for people to invest. What is your
Speaker 2: take on the two products and they seemed to be
Speaker 2: competing in a way, and how do you think that
Speaker 2: all plays out?
Speaker 1: Well, hey, listen, like they're the one. The great thing
Speaker 1: is we're even having this discussion around uh, you know
Speaker 1: x r P e t fs and digital asset treasuries.
Speaker 1: Like who would have thought a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: that we would even have these discussions. So, hey, look,
Speaker 1: the industry is maturing. If the industry continues to grow together,
Speaker 1: you know, all these different players are going to do well. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know the the x RP ETFs and the
Speaker 1: other ETFs out there. Hey, there's uh, there's there's potential
Speaker 1: collaborations there as well. But I'd say one big difference
Speaker 1: between an ETF Towny and a digital asset treasury like
Speaker 1: ever North is that with ever North, it's an it's
Speaker 1: an active treasury. We are going to be looking at
Speaker 1: yield strategies, uh to maximize x RP per share. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think if you want that kind of exposure,
Speaker 1: ever North is the right kind of product for you.
Speaker 1: But ETF, uh it's a it's a very limited kind
Speaker 1: of product, which is great for and you know, a
Speaker 1: different kind of investor. But I almost see them as
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, two different kinds of products
Speaker 1: out there. You know, some people want the minivan, some
Speaker 1: people want, you know, the the car. There's a market
Speaker 1: for passenger car. There's markets for both, right, and like
Speaker 1: this kind of specialization is good overall for the the
Speaker 1: crypto economy and the ecosystem. It's great for x RP
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, you know, we have the buffet of options,
Speaker 2: right it, pick your pick, your your option that you
Speaker 2: want and whatever you're comfortable with. You know, you mentioned
Speaker 2: like you and I are kind of like o G.
Speaker 2: So we're okay being uh you know, go buying on
Speaker 2: the exchange, throwing in a hardware wallet. But not everybody
Speaker 2: is going to be open to doing that or or
Speaker 2: want to do that, so that's aren't a great option
Speaker 2: the ETF. So it just depends on your preference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's absolutely right. It's like, you know, this is
Speaker 1: something that I can just you know, you could go
Speaker 1: tell your mom, Tony is like just go to you know,
Speaker 1: Robinhood or each rade and and you can participate now
Speaker 1: in the crypto uh, you know economy. Uh. And again
Speaker 1: to your point five years ago, six years ago, imagine
Speaker 1: telling someone that you've got to go get a wallet. Wait,
Speaker 1: you got to be very secure about the wallet and
Speaker 1: oh wait, if you want to earn yield on that uh,
Speaker 1: now you've got to you know, move it to this chain.
Speaker 1: And it's just too complicated. Let's think it easier for everyone, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, around the world to participate, uh in this
Speaker 1: new financial revolution. That's what you know, products like ever North.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great point. You know you mentioned everyone everyone around
Speaker 2: the world. This is going to be a dumb question
Speaker 2: on my part and it applies to dats. But I
Speaker 2: know that only certain markets can access like the New
Speaker 2: York Stock is Change or the NASDAK So would the
Speaker 2: same rules apply here that whichever markets around the world
Speaker 2: can access the NASDAQ will get access to this stock.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at launch, at close, once the transaction is approved,
Speaker 1: then you'd be able to access ever North through FRP
Speaker 1: and the ticker symbol on the Nasdaq available you know,
Speaker 1: in your brokerage accounts. And then you know, the next
Speaker 1: plan after that would be looking at how we tackle
Speaker 1: international markets. And there are no more different strategies there.
Speaker 1: But again, Japan and Korea are interesting markets for ever
Speaker 1: North and we'll you know, start charting out plans to
Speaker 1: attack those markets as well.
Speaker 2: This may be too early to answer this question, but
Speaker 2: we see ashes these for tokenizing stocks happening right with
Speaker 2: big institutions. So would that be an option that you're
Speaker 2: going to explore. And again, maybe too early, but that
Speaker 2: could be on the table.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Our goal here is to make this accessible and
Speaker 1: in as stock. Buying XRPN as a stock is one
Speaker 1: step towards making it more accessible. Uh, and we're not gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, stop at exploring new opportunities. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: even outside of evern't know. I'm super excited about tokenized equities.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to give you know, folks around
Speaker 1: the world a chance to participate in the global financial
Speaker 1: economy in ways that they couldn't do before, especially in
Speaker 1: emerging markets. And just like folks can hold you as
Speaker 1: dollars via stable coins around the world, folks are going
Speaker 1: to be able to do that with all sorts of
Speaker 1: other kinds of real world assets, equities, real estate, you know, debt.
Speaker 1: They're going to be able to do that via this
Speaker 1: tokenization frontier. And again I'm excited that that technology, uh,
Speaker 1: tokenization and payments is what the XRP ledger has did
Speaker 1: for and again that ecosystem can thrive on the XRP
Speaker 1: ledger because of all the supporting technologies, like I mentioned
Speaker 1: the stable coins as well, that are you know, growing rapidly,
Speaker 1: that will help serve as a catalyst for that kind
Speaker 1: of growth. In terms of this new world economy around tokenization.
Speaker 2: She I'm still like trying to grasp what the future
Speaker 2: looks like with markets because you know, on the topic
Speaker 2: of tokenization, where you have a lot of assets on
Speaker 2: the blockchain, whether it be real estate, precious metal, stocks
Speaker 2: of course, and different types of equities, and then you
Speaker 2: have like twenty four to seven trading and like, are
Speaker 2: we going to drive ourselves nuts or are we going
Speaker 2: to have AI agents, you know, monitoring our portfolios and
Speaker 2: maybe doing some trading while we're sleeping, right, And but
Speaker 2: more liquidity, more options because you're dealing with people across
Speaker 2: the globe who couldn't have participated with in the past
Speaker 2: because you have to go through you know, those stakeholders,
Speaker 2: the big bangs and so forth, and the big trading firms.
Speaker 2: But now somebody in Hong Kong I can deal directly
Speaker 2: with them via DeFi and we don't even need to
Speaker 2: know each other.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, so listen that there's a lot that
Speaker 1: needs to happen for twenty four by seven you know, trading,
Speaker 1: and you hit on one big portion of it. It was liquidity.
Speaker 1: You know, you need now you need liquidity support and monitoring,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty four to seven. And hey, certainly AI
Speaker 1: is an interesting technology that could potentially help there. But
Speaker 1: remember you know when you first got access to the Internet.
Speaker 1: I remember that first time of reading the newspaper, in
Speaker 1: my case, the Detroit News sports section, and it was
Speaker 1: only updated one time per day. And then eventually because
Speaker 1: the Internet is real time, they had to compete and
Speaker 1: they had to like update content all day long. And
Speaker 1: the same thing is going to happen in my opinion,
Speaker 1: with liquidity and trading online. Like you can buy bitcoin
Speaker 1: and XRP twenty four by seven for sure, but again
Speaker 1: that's not available to equities today in most markets. So
Speaker 1: I have a feeling and it's my prediction, in my
Speaker 1: belief that DeFi is going to push the rest of
Speaker 1: these markets to twenty four by seven trading. You know,
Speaker 1: there will be a scramble, but twenty four x seven
Speaker 1: liquidity around all these different products that doesn't exist today
Speaker 1: and it's going to need to be automated in some
Speaker 1: you know fashion to scale. It's just can't survive doing
Speaker 1: it the old way with you know, rigid market closes.
Speaker 1: That's not the way crypto works. It's not the way
Speaker 1: the world works, which is sort of like the beauty
Speaker 1: of this whole you know technology.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, it's a brave new world. And we
Speaker 2: see now even the stock markets are trying to copy
Speaker 2: the I wouldn't say necessarily copy, but they have to
Speaker 2: keep up, and they're trying to expand their opening and
Speaker 2: closing times to you know, be twenty four to seven
Speaker 2: where possible. So it's just interesting how things are changing.
Speaker 2: There's something I think you may have touched on, but
Speaker 2: I want to make sure I confirm are you going
Speaker 2: to be using our l U s D stable coin
Speaker 2: in any way and the treasury you know maybe in
Speaker 2: paying out certain things or running through the ecosystem and
Speaker 2: things like that.
Speaker 1: Like we we definitely want to you know, partner with
Speaker 1: you know, leading stable coins around the world. Just happens
Speaker 1: that the r l U s D, the Ripple stable
Speaker 1: coin is growing really quickly. Hey, every every blockchain, including
Speaker 1: the x RP ledger needs on and off er ms,
Speaker 1: and we're you know, we're excited about the growth there
Speaker 1: because you know, you need to get onto the DeFi
Speaker 1: ecosystem to get off the def ecosystem. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, we're an XRP treasury, and so we want
Speaker 1: to make sure that we are you optimizing for XRP,
Speaker 1: but getting onto those decentralized protocols. I have a feeling
Speaker 1: that Ripple r l U s D, the stable coin
Speaker 1: is going to play a big part of that.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. She I think one thing I want to
Speaker 2: get your thoughts on, because when you were working at Ripple,
Speaker 2: of course you guys were speaking to a lot of institutions,
Speaker 2: a lot of banks and so forth. And I mean,
Speaker 2: just for example, this week it was announced at City
Speaker 2: Bank is partnering with coinbase to offer crypto services JP
Speaker 2: Morgan PNC Bank. What is it like seeing all of
Speaker 2: these firms who at one point somewhere against crypto, but
Speaker 2: now they're embracing it and everybody's coming into the same eCos.
Speaker 1: That's uh, you know, I love seeing it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of folks are you know, you
Speaker 1: know anti bank, you know, from from very early on.
Speaker 1: When I joined Crypto, I really did feel this was
Speaker 1: about bringing the entire ecosystem and uh, listen to the
Speaker 1: capital in the in the in the world is still
Speaker 1: managed by large banks, and you need them to be
Speaker 1: part of this ecosystem, just like the Internet. Like the
Speaker 1: Internet to today is not just about individual bloggers. You
Speaker 1: have big firms like Disney pushing content over the internet. Uh,
Speaker 1: and so combined like, yes, you had a lot of
Speaker 1: new players, but yes you have the traditional players as
Speaker 1: well that really made the Internet what it is today.
Speaker 1: Now you can get TV, sports, everything over the Internet
Speaker 1: and that's why it scaled, and you need that same
Speaker 1: thing to happen with crypto as well. Can just be
Speaker 1: about speculators and and uh and and and and the
Speaker 1: retail audience. You need the retail audience, and you need
Speaker 1: institutions and again listen, like I think a big reason
Speaker 1: why they didn't participate early on was because they had
Speaker 1: a good They didn't have to innovate to be twenty
Speaker 1: four by seven. Why nothing pushed them And what pushing
Speaker 1: it was pushing them now is this technology. Certainly regulation
Speaker 1: improving also was a catalyst, but again the consumer sort
Speaker 1: of dictates a lot of these banking you know, industry
Speaker 1: players and their behavior, and the consumer has spoken up
Speaker 1: that they want this technology. They want faster payments enabled
Speaker 1: by stable coins, and they will in a few years,
Speaker 1: in my belief, want more access to the DeFi ecosystem
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, it's amazing. The world of opportunities is
Speaker 2: that this technology is opening up, and it's just so exciting.
Speaker 2: And like I said earlier, I can't wait for the
Speaker 2: Clarity Act to pass and to see the innovation boom
Speaker 2: that follows. You know, you mentioned like the Internet and
Speaker 2: the government got a right in the nineties and what
Speaker 2: followed was amazing, Google, Amazon and much more in the world.
Speaker 2: How we're communicating right now, right, it's incredible. She's great stuff.
Speaker 2: Looking forward to the launch on the Nastaca as far
Speaker 2: as publicly traded and so forth, and looking forward to
Speaker 2: celebrating with you guys. But thank you so much for
Speaker 2: joining me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Tony, and again you're so wonderful to speak with,
Speaker 1: and you know, I love everything that you're doing, but
Speaker 1: I also just love all your support over the years.
Speaker 1: You're definitely one of the good guys.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, man.
Speaker 1: Thank you