Web3 with Sam Kamani

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I sat down with Will Reeves, CEO of Fold, and walked away genuinely excited about what they are building. Will breaks down how Fold is putting Bitcoin into the hands of everyday Americans — not by convincing them to buy it, but by letting them earn it as a reward on their normal spending. We talk about why airlines and banks can never truly compete with this model, how Fold customers have earned $70 million in Bitcoin rewards, and the wild insight that led to Bitcoin showing up on shelves at Kroger. Will also shares hard-won lessons on building a team, finding product-market fit, and why naivety combined with passion is actually a superpower for founders. This is a story about solving a real financial problem for real people — and the results are speaking for themselves. Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/
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Fold Website: https://foldapp.com/
Twitter/X: Will Reeves: https://twitter.com/WillReeves
Twitter/X : Fold: https://twitter.com/Fold_app
Web3 with Sam Kamani : Website: https://www.web3pod.xyz/
Twitter/X : Sam Kamani: https://twitter.com/samkamani
--- KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS ---
• [00:01] Sam introduces Will Reeves from Fold and sets the scene from Bitcoin Vegas 2026
• [01:21] Will shares his origin story — growing up in California, graduating into the 2008 financial crisis, and falling in love with startups in the Bay Area
• [03:21] The core problem Will wanted to solve: restoring paths to financial stability using Bitcoin as the vehicle
• [06:10] How Fold's rewards model works — turning everyday spending into Bitcoin savings using the familiar cash-back habit
• [08:01] Why Bitcoin rewards beat cash back and airline miles over the long term due to appreciation versus inflation
• [09:20] Why traditional banks and credit card companies can't copy Fold — the innovator's dilemma explained
• [14:53] Fold has hundreds of thousands of users and has given away $70 million in Bitcoin rewards
• [16:02] Removing barriers to Bitcoin: physical gift cards at Kroger and employee bonuses at Steak and Shake powered by Fold
• [19:06] The pivot moment — from "spend Bitcoin at Starbucks" to "earn Bitcoin on your normal card" and the hockey stick that followed
• [23:29] Why airlines desperately need Bitcoin as a rewards off-ramp — and the COVID liability crisis that exposed the flaw
• [26:46] The hardest part of making Bitcoin mainstream: overcoming short-term thinking and fear of volatility
• [28:54] Best growth channel for Fold: word of mouth, not paid ads, plus strategic distribution deals like Kroger
• [31:04] Founder lessons — staying naive and passionate, hiring for grit over credentials, and not holding the reins too long
• [32:23] The hardest role to hire for: marketing and growth, and why hunger beats credentials every time
• [34:33] Long-term vision: Fold as a great American financial institution that sends value back to the customer
• [36:07] The ask — use Fold, get on the credit card waitlist, and reach out to Will on X at @WillReeves

I sat down with Kamal, President of the Board of the Hashgraph Association, to unpack how Hedera Hashgraph is taking a different approach to Web3 , one built around trusted governance, enterprise readiness and real-world use cases. Kamal shares how his journey started at EY Switzerland in 2015, led to co-founding Swisscom Blockchain, and eventually brought him to leading ecosystem development for one of the most institutionally backed Layer 1s in the space. We talk about AI and Web3 convergence, why polyglot platforms are the future, and the projects already live today , from microfinance in North Africa to customs automation with AirAsia's parent company. If you're a founder, builder or enterprise leader trying to understand where Web3 is heading, this episode is packed with signal. 
Disclaimer:
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. 

Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

I sat down with Aziz from CoinFund at Consensus Miami and walked away more bullish than ever. Aziz went from selling RuneScape gold for Bitcoin to becoming an investor at one of the most respected crypto venture funds in the space. In this episode, he breaks down exactly why he believes we are heading into a stablecoin super cycle, why decentralized AI is about to have its moment, and why quantum computing is a bigger threat to crypto than most people realise. He also shares what he actually looks for in founders, which portfolio companies have him most excited right now, and why the worst thing you can do is sit on the sidelines. If you are building something in Web3 or thinking about it, this conversation is for you. 
Disclaimer:
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. 
Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/
--- CONNECT ---
CoinFund Website: https://coinfund.io 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/magicofazi/ 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/coinfund/ 
--- KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS ---
• [00:00] Aziz shares how selling RuneScape gold led him down the Bitcoin rabbit hole in 2016-17
• [02:30] His journey from a family office to founding a decentralised messaging startup with AI agents
• [05:00] Why he joined CoinFund and what drew him to Jake and the team
• [07:00] CoinFund's investment thesis , chain agnostic, sector agnostic, and stage agnostic
• [08:30] Regional stablecoins and why Brazil's PIX economy is a massive opportunity (Trace Finance)
• [11:00] The case for decentralised AI and why 2027-28 could be the inflection point
• [14:00] Portfolio spotlight: Prime Intellect and Pluralis and what makes them stand out
• [18:00] Why encrypted inference and portable memory systems are the next big frontier
• [22:00] Why distributed compute hasn't gone mainstream yet , and what has changed
• [26:00] The Bitcoin to Ethereum to Solana to Hyperliquid pattern and what it teaches investors
• [29:00] Why 2026 could be the stablecoin super cycle and what drives the next bull market
• [33:00] How AI agents will use crypto for payments and why X.402 matters
• [37:00] What Aziz looks for in founders , technical sharpness, high agency, and unique distribution
• [41:00] Portfolio company VEDA and why vault infrastructure is powering the next wave of neobanks
• [44:00] His call to action for founders who are ready to build

I sat down live at Consensus Miami with William, ex-co-founder of Tether and WAX, to get his unfiltered take on where tokenization is actually heading. We dig into why stablecoins became the killer app, what's been holding back tokenized gold and real estate, and why the regulatory dam is about to break. William shares a fascinating perspective on AI in crypto, why blockchain is "the worst way to do almost anything" but has no equal for a narrow set of use cases, and why 30,000 suits showing up to a Bitcoin conference signals something has fundamentally shifted. If you want a grounded, no-hype view of what the next two years looks like for tokenization and institutional adoption, this episode delivers. 
Disclaimer:
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. 
Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/ 
Key Points with Timestamps
• [00:01:00] Tokenization is no longer a promise — Wall Street is actively moving toward it to eliminate legacy settlement friction and verify asset authenticity instantly
• [00:02:30] Tokenized assets unlock DeFi use cases like lending and collateral, making tokenization a core building block for decentralized finance
• [00:03:30] AI in crypto is less revolutionary than hyped — it's part of a long-term automation trend that has been underway for over a decade
• [00:04:30] Stablecoins remain the gold standard of tokenization; tokenizing fiat currency is still the best blockchain use case by far
• [00:06:00] The main hurdle to tokenizing gold, stocks, and real estate has been hostile US regulatory policy — not technology
• [00:06:30] The CLARITY Act could be the regulatory catalyst that triggers a rapid rollout of tokenized assets across traditional finance
• [00:09:00] Blockchain is the worst way to do almost anything, but for a narrow set of things — stablecoins, cross-border payments, tokenized assets — it has no equal
• [00:10:30] The crypto conference crowd has flipped from artists and experimenters to 30,000 people in suits, signalling deep institutional integration
• [00:12:30] Beyond finance, blockchain has real utility in tamper-proof documentation — national IDs, government records, title insurance, and notarisation could all be disrupted
• [00:16:00] In two years, expect tokenization to expand across stocks, bonds, and any traded asset, driving greater liquidity and near-instant settlement

I sat down with David, co-founder and president of Mangrove.ai, live at Consensus Miami. David's journey is one of the most unexpected paths into Web3 I've come across — starting with Snoop Dogg tickets in India and ending up building one of the most interesting risk-compliant trading infrastructure platforms in the space. We talked about why traditional financial advisors are losing clients to Robinhood, how AI agents will force global crypto adoption whether banks like it or not, and how Mangrove is bridging TradFi and DeFi with a suite of tools built for the messy, brackish world we're all living in right now. If you care about where institutional crypto adoption is really heading, this one is worth your time. 
Disclaimer:
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. 
Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/
Connect:
Website: https://www.mangrove.ai 
Keypoints with timestamps:
• [00:00] David shares his background producing large-scale music festivals globally and how fans asking to buy Snoop Dogg tickets with Bitcoin in India first sparked his interest in crypto
• [05:30] How David's technical co-founder Tim, who built AI systems for NASA and the Department of Defense, started building algorithmic trading tools and the two eventually joined forces
• [09:00] The pivot from launching a hedge fund to building Mangrove.ai after hedge fund mentors told them the trading desk technology itself was the real business opportunity
• [13:00] Why registered investment advisors (RIAs) are losing assets under management to Robinhood and how the largest wealth transfer in human history creates a huge opportunity for digital asset onboarding
• [18:00] The Mangrove product suite explained — API, agentic trading, institutional tools, and retail — and how the platform is non-custodial and built around transparency
• [23:00] Why Mangrove open-sourced their trading signal library (228 signals, 1000+ downloads in under 30 days) and how their Stripe-like API model works
• [27:00] The risk and compliance guardrails built into every strategy — circuit breakers, max drawdown limits, and daily loss caps — and why that matters for institutional clients
• [31:00] How Mangrove is approaching distribution through software companies (TAMPs) that already service hundreds of RIAs rather than going client by client
• [35:00] David's take on the three-year industry outlook — consolidation, institutional adoption as a multi-year macro trend, and why AI agents will force global crypto adoption
• [40:00] Mangrove's near-term plans — flipping to revenue in six weeks, launching a seed round after announcing an institutional partnership, and hiring a VP of Engineering