Marinade Labs: Solana Hackathon to Billion-Dollar Staking Platform | Michael Repetny, Co-Founder
What if staking could be seamless, secure and DeFi-friendly? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya talks with Michael Repetny, Co-founder and CEO of Marinade Finance, the largest staking protocol on Solana with over $1.5 billion in crypto assets under management. Michael shares the remarkable journey behind Marinade—from a scrappy Solana hackathon project to a cornerstone of Solana’s infrastructure. Built by a team that turned down VC funding and acquisition offers, Marinade’s commun...
1 Aug 29min
Superform Building the Future of On-Chain Wealth Management | Vikram Arun, Co-founder
What’s stopping DeFi from going mainstream—and how can better UX, infrastructure, and automation unlock its full potential? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya talks with Vikram Arun, Co-founder of Superform, about building the future of on-chain wealth management. After managing a $100B DeFi book at BlockTower, Vikram saw a clear problem: if even institutional investors struggled with yield strategies, how could everyday users stand a chance? That insight led to Superform, a cross...
18 Jul 28min
DePINs, Crypto Rewards & AI Tooling | Jesse Adams, Co-founder of Uprock
How do you build a DePIN network with 2.7M+ devices, zero CAC, and data streams optimized for AI—without draining batteries or compromising user trust? In this episode of The Index, Alex Kehaya sits down with Jesse Adams, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Uprock, to unpack how they’re building the world’s first mobile-first DePIN for AI. Jesse’s journey spans building an adult app store, launching an encrypted browser (Tenta, acquired), and now scaling Uprock—a decentralized physical infr...
7 Jul 28min
Web3 Domains | Tokenizing Digital Assets with D3’s Co-founder, Michael Ho
Ever wondered what happens to those domain names gathering digital dust in your GoDaddy account? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Michael Ho, Co-founder of D3, to explore how blockchain technology is transforming the overlooked world of domain trading and ownership. The domain industry hasn’t changed much since the ’90s. Selling a valuable name still involves clunky escrow services, manual transfers, and broker fees that can eat up 25% or more of your sale. D3 is ...
27 Jun 28min
Future of Crypto Wireless | Solana & Helium Mobile with Frank Mong, COO of Nova Labs
What if you could rebuild telecom from the ground up—open, decentralized, and powered by crypto? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya chats with Frank Mong, COO of Nova Labs, the team behind Helium Mobile—the decentralized wireless network now partnering with AT&T and Telefónica. Helium started with a bold idea: replace legacy cell towers with a community-powered network. The key unlock? Blockchain incentives. After years of experimentation, they figured out how to bootstrap rea...
20 Jun 37min
SOON Stack | Build on Solana, Deploy Everywhere with CEO Joanna Zeng
What if you could bring Solana’s speed to every major blockchain—and onboard millions of new users with zero friction? In this new episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya welcomes back Joanna Zeng, Co-founder & CEO of SOON, for an exciting update on how her team is breaking down the walls between blockchain ecosystems and building the infrastructure for a more unified Web3. Soon is pioneering a decoupled SVM architecture—separating Solana’s execution layer from its consensus layer—to deliv...
15 Jun 28min
Inside Coinbase’s Developer Tools: X402, AI Agents, and Crypto Payments with Nemil Dalal
The future of AI needs a new internet. Coinbase is laying the foundation. In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya talks with Nemil Dalal, Head of Coinbase’s Developer Platform, about how Coinbase is building crypto-native infrastructure to power the next generation of applications, starting with autonomous AI agents. Nemil shares his background in crypto, from meeting Brian Armstrong at Y Combinator to helping scale USDC from $10 million to $1 billion in market cap. Today, he's f...
6 Jun 35min
Universal Staking and Network Security with Symbiotic Co-founder Misha Putiatin
What if launching a decentralized network didn’t require reinventing tokenomics or compromising on trust and security? This week on The Index, host Alex Kehaya sits down with Misha Putiatin, Co-founder of Symbiotic, to explore how their novel approach to universal staking is changing the game for protocol builders. Instead of issuing a new token to bootstrap security, Symbiotic enables networks to leverage existing assets like ETH, providing deep, native trust from day one. What makes Symbiot...
30 Mai 30min