Confidential DeFi? Why institutions need privacy to go all in on crypto

Episode 11 of The Starting Block was broadcasted live with Zama Co-Founder & CEO Rand Hindi, Bitwise Europe Senior Research Associate Luke Deans & The Block's Head of Multimedia Gareth Jenkinson.

Zama Co-Founder & CEO Rand Hindi joins Gareth Jenkinson on The Starting Block to discuss how confidential DeFi works, the launch of a confidential USDC vault with Morpho and Stakehouse, and why privacy is essential for institutions to go all in on crypto. Bitwise Europe Senior Research Associate Luke Deans also joined Gareth for the day's Market Pulse, where he discussed Bitcoin's on-chain cost basis levels, the Fed's expected rate hold amid geopolitical inflation risks, and why the institutional bid remains absent until risk-on conditions return.

Outline

00:02 - Show Introduction
01:20 - Stripe-PayPal Mega Deal
02:00 - Crypto Market Structure Bill
02:53 - DTCC Tokenized Securities
03:35 - BlackRock's On-Chain Vision
04:13 - Base Leadership Shakeup
05:49 - Ostium Hack & Stablecoin Wars
09:23 - Market Pulse: Bitcoin Outlook
16:57 - Fed Rates & Macro Risks
16:58 - ETF Flows & Institutional Bid
23:55 - Zama & Confidential DeFi
47:21 - Europe's Privacy & Regulation Risks

Guest links:
Rand Hindi - https://x.com/randhindi
Zama - https://x.com/zama
Luke Deans

Host links:
Gareth Jenkinson - https://x.com/gazza_jenks
The Block - https://x.com/TheBlockCo
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subscribe to The Block's Newsletters!

🚨 Breaking News
👨‍🔬 Expert Analysis
📈 Market Insights

Subscribe now 👉 https://www.theblock.co/newsletters

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hiring in crypto?

🧠 Find top talent fast with Campus, powered by The Block!
✅ Challenge candidates with our Crypto Assessment Test
⚡ Hire faster, build stronger teams

Start your free trial today 👉 https://theblock.co/campus