Episode summary
Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko on Crypto's Next Era: Quantum, AI, and the Future of Money
All-In Podcast
· · Hosts: David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Friedberg · Guests: Anatoly Yakovenko
Summary
Anatoly Yakovenko argues that crypto is entering a new phase where stablecoins, tokenized assets, and faster execution networks could become core infrastructure for global finance. He says the Genius Act and a friendlier U.S. regulatory climate could unlock 1 to 10 trillion dollars of stablecoins on public permissionless chains, and he expects the internet to become one of the largest holders of U.S. Treasuries within five years. In his view, Solana’s role is not to replace settlement systems like Ethereum, but to serve as the world’s execution layer for a single, globally synchronized market computer.
He also says regulated exchanges and banks are not necessarily doomed by crypto; they may benefit by integrating with public blockchains if regulators allow cryptographic keys to move assets across systems. Yakovenko thinks real-world assets matter because finance needs uncorrelated collateral, and he sees room for real estate, bonds, insurance, and other instruments on chain.
Beyond finance, he is bullish on creator-driven products, NFT-style IP, and social apps, but says those markets are still early. He gives a cautious but serious view on quantum computing and AI, saying Bitcoin should migrate to quantum-resistant signatures and that AI is accelerating breakthroughs across the stack.
Key takeaways
- Yakovenko says the Genius Act could help unlock 1 to 10 trillion dollars of stablecoins on public permissionless chains.
- He expects the internet to become one of the largest holders of U.S. Treasuries within five years.
- He frames Solana as the “world’s execution layer” and Ethereum as a settlement layer.
- He argues real-world assets like real estate, bonds, and insurance are needed on chain because uncorrelated collateral improves risk management.
- He thinks quantum-resistant signatures for Bitcoin should be a priority and says there is a 50/50 chance of a quantum breakthrough within five years.
Notable quotes
“I think within 5 years the internet is going to be the largest holder of US treasuries”
“Ethereum being world's settlement layer, Salana is the world's execution layer”
“I think we actually have the best financial system in the world”
“the only free lunch in in finance is uncorrelated assets if you have true hedging”
“we should migrate Bitcoin to a quantum resistance signature scheme”
How the episode opens
Anatoli is the CEO of a little crypto project known as Solana, one of the fastest growing blockchains in the world. As CEO of Salana Labs, he's driving web 3 innovation. Black Rockck, the world's largest asset manager, expanded its $1.7 billion tokenized money market fund to Salana.
Why don't we all switch to Salana? I mean, Salana sounds like it's actually commercial and the other guys sound like that they're antique. Everybody in the world should be your customer.
Crypto will eventually win. It's inevitable. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Salana co-founder Anatoli Yakaveno.
There he is. Oh man, thanks for having me. You doing?
Thank you. Welcome. Thank you.
How much of a difference has David Sachs made in the first six months as cryptozar for your industry? Oh, it's been incredible. Um, I mean, I think it it's night and day.
I don't know if the industry would have survived another four years of the Gendler regime. Um, the Genius Act, I think, is going to unlock, you know, people estimate 1 to10 trillion dollars worth of stable coins uh that are going to be on public permissionless chains. So if you kind of look at those charts who owns treasuries and people it's China, Japan etc.
countries right now I think tether is somewhere around number five I think within 5 years the internet is going to be the largest holder of US treasuries. Yeah and and at such a scale that I think you know I'm an engineer I cannot honestly comprehend how that's going to change finance but I think it'll be transformative. upside downside.
I mean, are there concerns there as well with that huge impact in democratization or are you kind of a, you know, libertarian, let the chips fall where they may, so to speak?
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- crypto policy under trump vs biden
- stablecoins and us treasuries
- blockchain vs crypto-native exchanges
- quantum computing and ai in crypto
- bitcoin and ethereum outlook
Companies and tickers mentioned
- V
- MA
- Solana
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Visa
- Mastercard
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from All-In Podcast
-
Jensen OUT as Nvidia CEO: "Spy" Scandal, Export Restrictions, Market Impact -
Freedom vs. Safety: Axon CEO Rick Smith on the Future of Policing -
Midterm Blood Bath, $4T AI Sell Off, Data Center Freeze, What’s Next for Trump -
All-In Podcast REACTS to Democrat Sweep! -
Anthropic S-1 Shocker, Greatest Business Ever? Google’s $500B Wipeout, Midterm Predictions -
WHOOP CEO, Will Ahmed: 50B Hours of Health Data, a 4 Million Member Data Moat, & the FDA Fight
All-In Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to All-In Podcast, LLC. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
