What does the future of the creator economy actually look like? The economics of content creation are changing, what happens to copyright in a world of abundant generated content, and why human taste, curation, and connection may matter even more going forward.

In this episode, host Robert Hackett talks with Justin (CEO, Bond) and Michael Blau(Head of Product, Bond) about the changing relationship between creators, audiences, platforms, and technology.

They unpack how today’s platforms shape creator behavior, why audience relationships are often trapped inside algorithms, and what a more direct creator-fan connection could look like. They also explore broader questions around crypto infrastructure, stablecoins, and whether blockchain can enable new kinds of internet-native products without needing to be the focus of the user experience.

Along the way, Justin reflects on his path from music into crypto, Michael talks about how magic shaped the way he thinks about originality and performance, and both share thoughts on NFTs, digital ownership, productivity tools, books, and creative inspiration.

Highlights

• 0:00 Intro 0:47 The biggest misconceptions about creator monetization
• 1:04 Why creators still don’t know their audience
• 1:34 Trading, speculation, and the limits of past creator crypto models
• 2:31 Why creator-fan relationships could move onchain
• 4:41 Stablecoins and global internet products
• 6:55 Justin Michael’s journey from DJ to crypto builder
• 8:12 What artists still don’t get from platforms
• 10:09 Subscription models, fan support, and alternative mechanics
• 17:57 AI, content abundance, and the future of creativity
• 18:57 Why human curation still matters
• 19:36 Copyright, IP, and a world shaped by AI
• 25:00 The difference between AI and crypto products
• 25:38 What magic teaches about creativity and originality
• 28:23 Inspirations: John Mayer, Zedd, Brian Chesky, David Blaine
• 35:06 Why NFTs still matter
  

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Four years ago, artist Emily Yang aka pplpleasr began a creative journey that would help break new ground at the intersection of art, technology, and community.

In this episode, we sit down with Emily — founder of Shibuya — to talk about her evolution from illustrator to Emmy-winning storyteller.

Emily shares how Shibuya is pioneering “permissionless creativity,” using crypto rails to fund, build, and co-create original IP with global communities. Her breakout project, White Rabbit, became the first crypto-native project to win an Emmy (Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media), proving that grassroots storytelling can reach mainstream acclaim. We dive into:

• How White Rabbit crowdfunded alternate story endings
• What it means to turn audiences from passive viewers into active participants
• Why efficient capital formation is a game-changer for creatives
• Building outside traditional studio systems
• The creative tension between community input and artistic vision

Plus, Emily's biggest inspirations (Ghost in the Shell, Miyazaki, David Lynch, and more).

• 00:00 Behind the Fortune Magazine Cover
• 01:46 Founding Shibuya, and “Permissionless Creativity”
• 02:13 Winning an Emmy for White Rabbit., the First Crypto Project to Win an Emmy
• 03:14 What Is White Rabbit? (Interactive + NFT Model Explained)
• 05:53 From Passive Viewing to Interactive Storytelling
• 07:19 Opportunities for Creatives
• 08:27 Creative Inspirations (Miyazaki, Black Mirror)
• 09:25 Going With Your Gut, And the Advice Should Founders Ignore

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*** As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

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A hot paper — "Some Simple Economics of AGI" — has been making the rounds, so we sat down with the author, covering:

• Automation vs. verification: the key economic split
• Why AI agents now feel like coworkers - What's happening to junior roles and the “codifier’s curse”
• The “AI sandwich” structure for firms
• The value of "meaning-makers," consensus, and status economies
• Why crypto may become essential infrastructure for identity, provenance, and trust
• Two possible futures: a hollow vs. augmented economy

Featuring Christian Catalini (founder of MIT Crypto Economics Lab) and Eddy Lazzarin (CTO of a16z crypto) in conversation with Robert Hackett, our discussion dives deep into how automation is reshaping labor markets, as well as the nature of intelligence.

What do these changes mean for startups, the future of work, and your career?

Highlights

00:00 Introduction

01:47 AGI economics optimism and playbook

05:39 Agents as coworkers

07:39 Software work becomes verification

10:47 Automation versus verification

12:03 "Unknown unknowns" and taste

16:27 Human augmentation and intent

17:55 The "AI Sandwich" and "Codifier's Curse"

21:54 "Meaning-makers" and the human touch

23:48 Crypto for identity and trust?

27:10 Measurability: How to think about it

33:23 Machine coordination and art after automation

35:46 Trojan horse risks

37:47 Liability and insurance

41:08 Crypto and verification

44:31 A hollow vs. augmented economy

49:45 Career advice in the AI era

51:26 The one-person billion-dollar startup

57:15 Open-source as antibodies

58:42 Blockchains for coordination

01:01:49 Closing thoughts

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What does it actually mean to bring assets onchain — and why should investors care?

In this episode, Cynthia Lo Bessette, Head of Digital Asset Management at Fidelity Investments, breaks down Fidelity’s roadmap for digital market adoption — from Bitcoin ETPs to tokenized money market funds — and explains why tokenization is about far more than just putting assets on a blockchain.

We cover:

• The three phases of digital asset adoption: Hold, Use, Build
• Why tokenizing an asset must start with utility
• How tokenized money market funds bridge payments and yield
• The rapid rise of real-world assets (RWAs) onchain
• The impact of the regional bank crisis and stablecoin depegging
• Staking yield inside traditional wrappers
• Institutional adoption of DeFi infrastructure
• Build vs. partner decisions inside a major asset manager

Cynthia also shares insight into Fidelity’s early Bitcoin mining experiments, how they evaluate crypto founders, and why authenticity is the smallest hill she’ll always die on.

If you're interested in tokenization, real-world assets, crypto ETFs, DeFi infrastructure, or the future of asset management — this conversation is for you.

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What happens when AI becomes the primary economic actor?

In this conversation, Sean Neville (cofounder of Circle, architect of USDC, and now cofounder of Catena Labs) shares his vision for the next phase of the internet: an agent-native economy powered by programmable dollars and AI banks.

As stablecoins put dollars on internet rails, a new question emerges: what happens when AI agents start earning, spending, lending, investing — and even managing our assets — on our behalf?

From KYA (“Know Your Agent”) to programmable spending policies to secure agent communication standards, this conversation explores the foundational layers that must be built before AI can safely participate in the global economy.

Sean breaks down:

• Why he believes AI agents could become the dominant economic participants
• What an “AI-native bank” actually is (and why we’ll need one)
• The missing infrastructure required for safe agent-to-agent payments
• How cryptography can encode trust directly into software
• Why current financial risk systems are designed to block bots — and what needs to change
• The fragmented race to define standards for agent identity, payments, and communication-
• Lessons from building Circle and launching USDC
• Why he doesn’t love the term “stablecoin”

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Restaurants generated more than a trillion dollars in sales last year — but they don’t control the payment rails those dollars flow through.

In this episode, Ben Leventhal (founder of Eater, Resy, and now Blackbird) joins Robert Hackett to explain why that’s a problem, how loyalty and payments have failed independent restaurants, and where crypto fits into fixing it.

Ben breaks down:

• Why most restaurant tech misses the point
• How Blackbird uses crypto without making restaurants think about crypto
• What “restaurant-first” really means in payments and loyalty
• Why decentralization only makes sense at scale
• Lessons from building multiple companies in hospitality
• Why we’re living in the golden age of restaurants
• Plus: favorite NYC spots, founder productivity hacks, and the smallest hill he’ll die on.

This is a grounded conversation about technology, ownership, and the future of restaurants — from someone who’s been building in the space for over a decade.

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with @zcabrams @rhackett

What happens when money moves 10x — or 100x — faster than it does today?

In this episode, Zach Abrams, cofounder and CEO of Bridge (now part of Stripe), lays out a bold vision for the future of money: a world where stablecoins become the dominant payment rail, most transactions happen between non-human agents, and entirely new financial infrastructure is required to keep up.

Zach explains why stablecoins are the next evolution of fintech, much like credit cards were decades ago — and why we’re still in the very early innings. We dig into agentic payments, AI-to-AI commerce, micro-transactions on the open internet, and what Stripe is building by assembling stablecoin infrastructure across the stack.

Along the way, we cover:

• Why cards succeeded — and what stablecoins must learn from them
• How AI agents could drive the majority of future payments
• What breaks when the velocity of money increases 10x
• Stripe’s long-term strategy behind Bridge, Privy, and Tempo
• The case for open, decentralized payment infrastructure
• Zach’s unconventional views on management, productivity, and product-market fit

If you’re curious about the future of payments, fintech, crypto, AI agents, or the economic foundations of the next internet, this conversation offers a look several steps ahead.

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction
00:36 Stablecoins: The next platform for money
01:38 Credit cards had a moral panic too
03:29 What stablecoin infrastructure still needs to be built
05:22 The use cases no one predicted
11:11 Why Stripe is building with crypto
13:08 Why payments infrastructure must stay open
15:12 Lightning round: Bad advice, great books, and deep work

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with @alive_eth @rhackett

a16z crypto General Partner Ali Yahya explains why privacy — not performance — will determine the long-term winners in crypto, and how it creates powerful network effects.

In conversation with a16z crypto show host Robert Hackett, Ali lays out how privacy creates lock-in and winner-take-most dynamics — without sacrificing decentralization. They also dive into the technologies making privacy possible today, from zero-knowledge proofs to trusted execution environments, and why financial use cases will drive mainstream adoption first.

They cover:

• Why blockspace is becoming a commodity
• Why users tolerate surveillance in social media—but not in finance
• How anonymity sets work and why secrets are hard to migrate
• The real trade-offs between privacy, composability, and decentralization
• The four privacy technologies shaping the next generation of blockchains

Highlights:

00:00 — Introduction
01:41 — Blockspace is becoming commoditized
03:11 — Privacy as lock-in: why secrets are harder to move than assets
06:01 — Do people actually care about privacy?
08:51 — Beyond finance: social, gaming, and private onchain apps
11:55 — Privacy zones, anonymity sets, and network effects
18:46 — Winner-take-most dynamics, explained
20:22 — What it means for crypto’s decentralization ethos
23:06 — Is privacy lock-in different from web2 lock-in?
28:31 — The privacy tech stack: ZK, MPC, TEEs, and FHE
32:13 — What this means for builders and investors
33:18 — Future considerations: Quantum computing and AI

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