What Crypto VCs Want Now | Aryan Sheikhalian - The Defiant - DeFi Podcast

Crypto’s next chapter isn’t a shinier coin—it’s invisible rails. In this episode, we sit down with Aryan Sheikhalian, Research Lead at CMT Digital, to unpack the shift from “crypto as an asset” to crypto as infrastructure: 24/7 markets, instant clearing and settlement, and new structured products that couldn’t exist before.

We talk about tokenized equities (wrappers vs. native tokenization and why dividends/governance matter), how identity layers and ZK proofs unlock mainstream distribution through banks and fintechs, and where regulation is pushing builders toward partnerships and licensed rails.

Chapters

00:00 Hook: crypto as infrastructure, not asset

01:15 Guest intro and research focus

02:06 Incentives, psychology, and mechanism design

04:03 ICO lessons, maturity, and red flags

07:09 CMT Digital’s thesis and “strictly better”

10:27 Tokenized equities drivers and demand

13:40 Wrappers vs native: dividends, governance

16:06 Fintech rails, velocity, cost efficiency

18:26 Banks, distribution, and competitive incentives

20:29 New assets: GPUs, data, energy tokens

23:23 Identity layers and ZK proofs for scale

25:55 State of crypto VC and fund trends

27:51 Overlooked sectors: DePIN and decentralized data

31:26 Prediction markets and resolution design

34:18 Regulation, licenses, and partnerships

39:45 Market outlook: TVL, stables, volatility

42:45 Founder advice: conviction and user focus