Watch the video of this panel discussion on Gamma Prime’s YouTube channel:
Interview with Will Nuelle (General Parnter, Ventures at Galaxy Digital), Juan C. Lopez (Investor at VanEck Ventures), Paul Pöltner (CEO & Co-Founder at GEMx), Marc Boiron (CEO at Polygon Labs), Alex Odagiu (Partner at YZi Labs), and Alice Li (Partner at Foresight Ventures)
Top investors and founders share where the next wave of tokenized finance is heading — from stablecoin rails and yield-bearing assets to unexpected plays like crypto cards and even colored gems. The discussion dives into how tokenization is reshaping traditional markets, with Marc Boiron of Polygon revealing how stablecoins could capture up to $250B in cross-border transaction value. Panelists also explore the rise of DeFi payment networks, novel yield opportunities, and how real-world assets are becoming one of the most transformative trends in global finance.
Chaman Malhi (Gamma Prime):
Ladies and gentlemen, as promised, I asked if you’re ready for who’s next — and here they are. Let’s give them a round of applause.
Will Nuelle (Galaxy Digital):
Good morning, everybody. I’m glad to be here with a great group of panelists — investors, and Mark from Polygon as well — so this should be a really insightful discussion about tokenization, stablecoins, and the next generation of opportunities in this space. I’ll let the panelists introduce themselves briefly. Mark, can you start?
Marc Boiron (Polygon Labs):
Sure. I’m Marc Boiron, CEO at Polygon Labs. For those unfamiliar, Polygon has been developing its blockchain for years. We currently host 51 stablecoins, more than 18 funds, over $3 billion in stablecoins, and over $1 billion in tokenized assets — and those numbers continue to grow rapidly.
Alex Odagiu (YZi Labs):
Hi, everyone. My name is Alex. I’m an investor with EZ Labs, primarily focused on DeFi, though we’re sector- and ecosystem-agnostic. We usually invest early — pre-seed and seed — but occasionally participate in later rounds as well.
Juan C. Lopez (VanEck Ventures):
Hi, I’m Juan. I lead venture strategy at VanEck, an asset manager with about $140 billion under management. We’re deeply interested in crypto, with both liquid and venture funds. Excited to be here.
Alice Li (Foresight Ventures):
Hello, everyone. I’m Alice, a partner at Foresight. We’re a crypto fund bridging East and West, with offices in Singapore and New York. Our current investment focus is stablecoins and AI. We’ve invested in Athena, Agora, Codex, Noble, and will soon announce our new stablecoin infrastructure fund during Token 2049. On the AI side, we’ve backed Zero-G and Alnets. Looking forward to chatting today.
Paul Pöltner (GEMx):
Hi, I’m Paul, CEO of ChemX. We’re institutionalizing the investment of colored gems — starting with emeralds, and more to come.
Will:
And I’m Will, leading venture investing at Galaxy Digital. Let’s dive in.
We can’t talk about tokenization without mentioning stablecoins. Can anyone realistically compete with Tether and Circle at this point? Are there projects with a legitimate shot at changing the market structure? And should we expect stablecoins to scale from $250 billion to $1 trillion in the next five years — still dominated by Tether and Circle?
Juan, let’s start with you.
Juan:
That’s a tough question, but I think we’re still very early. Two categories stand out where disruption could happen: stablecoin clearing and distribution.
Even as USDC and Tether scale, there’s huge opportunity to reduce counterparty risk for distributors and expand independent distribution endpoints globally. Companies like Dollar App, Lemon Cash in Argentina, and Robinhood in the U.S. are pursuing this. We’re betting on distribution and clearing as the key areas of innovation.
Will:
Marc, Polygon’s not an investor per se, but you’re enabling much of this activity. How do you view stablecoins moving forward?
Marc:
We’re agnostic — we just want users to choose what works best for them. The question isn’t about replacing Tether or Circle. As every fintech — and likely every enterprise — launches its own stablecoin, the overall market will grow.
You’ll see more stablecoins, more aggregation, and eventually some consolidation. Tether’s dominance will decline, not because its market cap falls, but because the total pie expands. Over time, fintechs with massive distribution will drive revenue-sharing models, and Tether will eventually need to adapt.
Will:
Alex, do you think we’ll end up with thousands of stablecoins — one for every business — and face liquidity fragmentation?
Alex:
Yes, and that’s already happening. Every week brings a new stablecoin launch. That’s not a bad thing — it’s how crypto iterates.
The first wave was fiat-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC. The second was yield-bearing products, passing issuer returns to holders.
Now we’re in the third phase: utility and payments. We’ll see many stablecoins emerge, followed by eventual consolidation.
Marc:
And it’s worth noting — many stablecoins doesn’t necessarily mean fragmentation. With white-label solutions like Agora, backend swaps can happen seamlessly, so fragmentation isn’t as real as it seems.
Will:
Good point. Alice or Paul, any thoughts before we move on?
Alice:
Yes. Two key factors here are distribution and use case.
If your target customers are on-chain users, that’s mostly Tether and Circle’s domain — exchanges dominate that space.
But if you look at off-chain communities — like rural regions in Africa or Latin America — there’s a major untapped opportunity. Platforms like Dollar App and Lemon Cash are reaching users excluded from traditional banking. Startups targeting these groups could unlock huge markets.
Paul:
From a European perspective, things are evolving rapidly. Each European country may issue its own bank-backed stablecoin — tokenized commercial money — while the European Central Bank pushes forward with a digital euro to counter U.S. dollar dominance.
The key question now is usability. Startups have an opportunity to build value-added services — apps that enable seamless payments, like parking or daily purchases. Over the next few years, that’s where much of the innovation — and competition — will happen in Europe.
Will:
The reason I bring up stablecoins in a tokenization panel is because we see them as tokenized cash — the first example of an asset class being tokenized. So, what comes next? What’s the next big category to be tokenized? We already have tokenized money market funds at some scale, and some people are talking about tokenized stocks.
On the other hand, some argue we should focus on the hardest-to-reach asset classes — collectibles and private funds — since those are the least liquid. What would you say is the next big opportunity in tokenization? Alice, maybe we’ll start with you.
Alice:
I think tokenized stocks are very interesting. They open investment opportunities for people who can’t normally access U.S. equities — for example, investors from mainland China, who need overseas bank accounts or accreditation to invest. Tokenized stocks could unlock a huge market for global investors.
Will:
Do you think the value proposition for tokenized stocks is strong enough to compete with what people already have in their brokerage accounts?
Juan:
Yes, I think so. We’re transitioning from an account-based form of accessing financial services to a wallet-based one — where retail users or businesses can access virtually any asset issued by anyone. There are still compliance hurdles, but in five to ten years, any wallet could access assets from any issuer.
There’s clear demand for securities that many people around the world can’t currently access — U.S. equities, for example. If you already have a wallet like Lemon or Dollar App that provides dollar services, it’s easy to expand that same infrastructure to deliver new products.
Conversely, there’s room for new types of tokenized assets and commodities we haven’t even imagined yet — blockchains can serve as global exchanges for them.
Marc:
You have to go back to first principles here. There are small markets like tokenized collectibles — Pokémon cards, for instance — that make sense conceptually but are too small to have global impact. When we talk about large-scale tokenization, like equities, it’s important to stay realistic.
No blockchain is going to handle tokenized equity trading in microseconds — centralized exchanges will always dominate there. What might happen instead is tokenized equities being traded on centralized exchanges but settled on-chain.
The real opportunity lies in assets that people could use daily on-chain. Blue-chip equities make a lot of sense if they’re tokenized and can be used as collateral. I’d gladly use tokenized equities as collateral to borrow or reinvest — they offer flexibility and scale without the redemption limits funds have.
Will:
So the value is in DeFi composability — tokenized stocks integrated with DeFi functions to unlock new utility?
Marc:
Exactly. It’s about what blockchains are good for. Transparency alone isn’t enough; tokenization needs to create new functionality and value.
Paul:
Right now, everyone’s focused on tokenizing money market instruments. But behind the scenes, every asset class will eventually have one or two dominant players — just like Tether and Circle with stablecoins. Once they gain scale, growth will accelerate. The real breakthrough will come when mid-sized companies start tokenizing assets or building ecosystems for their customers and partners.
Will:
Alex, play devil’s advocate — if tokenized stocks aren’t the next big thing, what is?
Alex:
Tokenization follows the path of least resistance. It started with cash, then cash equivalents like T-bills and short-term bonds, and now private credit. From there, it’ll expand into more complex assets like equities — but the endgame isn’t wrapping traditional stocks into tokens.
The real future is native issuance — companies directly issuing equity as blockchain tokens. Imagine Apple issuing part of its share capital natively on-chain. That would truly modernize the financial system.
We’ll see that once regulators buy in. In the long term, we’ll also see tokenized private equity, pre-IPO stocks, and illiquid assets — but meaningful impact there is still a long way off.
Marc:
The big challenge with less liquid assets like real estate is due diligence. Back in 2018, everyone talked about tokenizing real estate — even the Aspen Resort was tokenized — but the key question remains: would investors actually buy it?
You still need to know if the property’s insured, if it’s been damaged, if it’s managed well. That’s a massive opportunity for anyone who can simplify or automate due diligence. Bringing payments and expenses on-chain could make this more transparent over time, but for now, diligence remains a huge barrier for illiquid asset tokenization.
Will:
Some people say we’ll get more liquidity on long-tail assets, but liquidity isn’t a blockchain problem — it’s an information problem. It’s about giving buyers access to the data they need to underwrite and price opportunities.
Let’s do a quick pass through everyone. What’s one hidden gem opportunity you see in the market — either from a business development perspective or an investment perspective? Paul, let’s start with you.
Paul:
I’m a bit biased, but I see colored gems as a new investment class comparable to gold. It’s one of the big opportunities right now.
Alice:
I’ve seen a lot of crypto cards emerging lately — definitely a hidden gem.
Will:
Can you explain what you’re seeing there?
Alice:
It ties back to market segmentation. If you issue cards for crypto-native users, they’ll be picky. But if you issue cards to people without bank access who need them for daily life, you can reach scale and profitability. I see at least three companies launching a million cards each and generating revenues of $50–100 million. It’s happening right now.
Will:
Quick follow-up — all these card companies use Visa and MasterCard under the hood. Can anyone actually displace them and recreate that merchant network?
Alice:
There’s a chance, but it’s still early. Visa and MasterCard are offering great deals to card issuers and can already receive USDT and USDC, as Visa does with RAINN. In the future, they’ll likely cut the transaction fees and card issuing costs. I know you’ve invested in one of these payment networks, so we’re very bullish to see how it develops.
Juan:
We’re investors, so a bit biased, but I’m fascinated by Inversion’s approach — using a private equity playbook to accelerate crypto adoption. If it’s not coming organically, we can make it happen by acquiring businesses that already have distribution or models that benefit from crypto, and then rolling them up.
Alex:
I find yield-bearing stablecoins really interesting. We’re seeing more complex structured products that offer higher returns. With interest rates trending down, the search for yield will intensify, making this a promising area.
Will:
Totally agree — the Athenas of the world and similar products fit right into that trend. Mark, let’s wrap with you. What’s Polygon’s big hidden market opportunity?
Marc:
It’s not really a secret if you follow Polygon. For the last 12 months, we’ve been focused on payments — before stablecoins became as popular as they are now. The real opportunity lies in understanding Visa and MasterCard. About 25% of Visa’s revenue comes from cross-border payments, and it’s clear that stablecoin rails will replace that — that’s $200–250 billion in value.
Beyond that, Visa’s profits come from transaction-based volumes, not just the number of transactions. People often say payments won’t make money on blockchains because margins are small, but Visa charges 5–10 cents per transaction and makes $17 billion a year. That’s an easy volume to capture.
As merchants and PSPs adopt stablecoins, it becomes natural for platforms like Venmo to switch their underlying rails to stablecoins. It may not improve user experience immediately, but it’s much simpler and more efficient. Over time, we’ll see trillions in value move from existing networks to crypto networks.
Will:
Awesome. Thanks everyone for your time, and thanks to our panelists.
