Show Notes
Money doesn’t become digital overnight. It becomes digital when the rails of finance begin to change. In this episode of MoneyNeverSleeps, Pete Townsend speaks with Emma Landriault of JPMorgan about why stablecoins and bank-issued deposit tokens may end up reinforcing, rather than replacing, each other. Emma Landriault is Executive Director at JPMorgan and global product lead for JPM Coin, a deposit token that enables institutional clients to move money between accounts in real time, 24/7. Drawing on her work building deposit tokens and financial market infrastructure, Emma explains why stablecoins, deposit tokens, and potentially central bank digital currencies represent different layers of the financial system rather than competing forms of money. Across crypto, fintech, and traditional finance, the conversation around stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and onchain settlement is moving from experimentation toward real financial infrastructure. Companies such as Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, and major global banks are increasingly integrating these rails into payments, treasury, and settlement systems. Rather than replacing banks, digital money is emerging as a modular system where different forms of value serve different roles — from programmable treasury operations to onchain settlement and institutional liquidity management. This isn’t a crypto-versus-banks conversation. It’s a discussion about financial architecture, interoperability, and how the rails of global finance are quietly evolving. We cover: • Why stablecoins and bank-issued deposit tokens are designed to coexist • How liability and trust anchors shape different forms of digital money • Why corporate treasurers are beginning to manage liquidity directly from wallets • What programmable treasury operations could mean for financial workflows • How traditional institutions are approaching onchain assets and digital markets • Why the future financial system may look more like interconnected networks than isolated payment systems Emma brings a systems-level perspective shaped by building real financial infrastructure inside one of the world’s largest banks, explaining why operational reality matters as much as technological innovation — and why the next phase of digital finance will likely be defined by interoperability rather than disruption. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor trying to understand how traditional finance and onchain systems are beginning to converge, this episode offers a practical perspective on where things may be heading. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 – Why stablecoins and banks can coexist 01:00 – Layers of digital money 02:30 – Liability, trust, and financial infrastructure 04:10 – Deposit tokens vs stablecoins 06:00 – Yield, liquidity, and treasury operations 07:10 – How corporate treasurers use digital assets 08:40 – Programmable treasury and wallet infrastructure 10:00 – Institutional interest in onchain finance 11:15 – Convergence and network-based financial systems 13:00 – The future architecture of digital money 13:40 – Closing thoughts For full show notes and guest links, see below. MoneyNeverSleeps explores one big idea each week in under 15 minutes with founders, operators, and investors shaping crypto, fintech, AI, and onchain finance. If you're interested in where financial infrastructure is heading — from stablecoins and tokenized assets to AI-driven markets — subscribe and join the conversation. 🌐 https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/ #Stablecoins #DigitalMoney #OnchainFinance
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Alejandro Gutierrez of Superteam Ireland is back to take on Matt Walsh's challenge: are tokenized funds a new kind of asset, or the same fund on new rails? Off the back of BlackRock and Ondo putting model portfolios onchain, we get into the six ways people are tokenizing a share, whether a Terra moment or a regulator forces them to consolidate, and what happens to a fund's operating model when you redraw the org chart as AI agents and ask which processes become code and which stay human anchored. Plus why more than 60% of tokenized stock trading on Solana happens outside US market hours, and Alejandro's read from Solana Suits in London.Connect with Alejandro:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-gutierrez-98979b43/https://x.com/A_gutierroFollow MoneyNeverSleeps on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTndChapters0:00 Cold open0:25 Intro1:03 Two parallel universes1:27 New asset or same fund on new rails?2:46 Making assets machine-readable3:26 BlackRock, Ondo and onchain model portfolios4:14 Tokenized equities' stablecoin moment5:06 Six ways to tokenize a share6:49 What becomes code, what stays human8:02 Collateral and the agentic fund9:43 Composability and distribution10:45 After hours belongs to agents12:05 Solana Suits: institutions are in13:40 Breakpoint 2026 in London14:24 Wrap upSharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up.moneyneversleeps.iehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVhttps://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/[email protected]
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Pete Townsend is joined by Derek O'Doherty, founder of West x West, the two-day tech, venture and culture festival in Castlebar, Mayo that brings Irish founders together with global investors. Derek spent thirty years in capital markets across London, Sydney and New York, and until last week a year inside Enterprise Ireland building international VC relationships for scaling companies. They get into why the Irish economy isn't big enough to carry a founder from pre-seed to Series B on home capital alone, the VC pecking order that sends founders abroad to raise, why Irish founders outside the US are second only to Israel in the share who raise capital, and why Derek left a state agency to build a festival that brings the funders to the founders instead. Plus the Nik Milanović super-connector path, why he's rooting it all in the West rather than Dublin, and what's on at WXW this October. Connect with Derek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-o-doherty-91669530/ More on West x West: https://westxwest.ie/ https://www.instagram.com/westxwest.ie/ Listen and subscribe: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTnd Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:11 Intro and welcome 0:47 Why Irish founders hit a wall on home capital 1:22 The VC pecking order 3:11 The pre-seed funding reality 5:06 Bringing the capital to the market 6:13 Why leave Enterprise Ireland now 7:57 Why a festival, not a fund 9:16 Community and the super connector 10:18 Event details and lineup 11:42 Close Sharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up. Web: https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/ X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/ Email: [email protected]
Steve Whyman spent 20 years trading fixed income at Bear Stearns, ABN AMRO, and BlackRock, then ran digital assets and tokenization inside Fidelity International, before leaving in 2025 to build onchain-native. In this episode he makes the case for tokenization from the one seat almost nobody tells it from: the trading desk.
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