Generation Crypto is focused on how brands and marketers are exploring and building in the Web3 ecosystem to experiment in and potentially transform their businesses. Each week, our hosts Avery Akkineni of Vayner 3 and Sam Ewen from CoinDesk, will dive into how Fortune 500 brands and new start-ups alike are coming to the blockchain and utilizing new technologies, the creator economy and rewriting fandom/ownership to generate attention, gain customers and create value for their bottom line and those of their communities.
The impact of giving synthetic beings a wallet, an identity, and eventually a body.
Jansen Teng, Co-Founder of Virtuals Protocol, joins Sam to lay out one of the most ambitious visions in crypto right now, a parallel society of AI agents that can trade, hire, earn, and eventually inhabit physical bodies. Jansen digs into what it actually takes to build an agentic economy from the ground up, from escrow mechanisms that prevent agents from stealing each other's funds, to real-world robotics deployments at hotels and malls in Southeast Asia.
Links mentioned from the podcast:
Jansen’s Twitter: https://x.com/ethermage
Virtuals Website: https://www.virtuals.io/
Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
1:52 Virtuals Protocol Origin Story
3:58 The Pivot to Economy OS
4:24 The Experiment That Changed Everything
5:11 Defining the Agentic Economy
6:43 Agents Beyond Crypto: Real World Use Cases
7:33 Accountability & Agent Failures
14:05 Agent Identities, KYC & Economy OS Toolkit
17:05 Self-Sustaining Autonomous Agents
19:22 The Pareto Rule: Which Agents Will Succeed?
21:59 Embodied AI & Robotics
29:04 Do Agents Deserve Rights?
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"Gen C" features host Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.
16 Jun 2026
$17 Billion Stolen in One Year: The State of Crypto Crime with Chainalysis
Crypto scams and how to protect yourself with Chainalysis' Eric Jardine.
Eric Jardine, Head of Research at Chainalysis, joins Gen C to break down their latest crypto crime report and the staggering numbers of nearly $17 billion stolen in scams in 2025 alone. Eric explains how AI has changed the scam equation by allowing bad actors to hit massive scale without sacrificing quality, why the people executing scams in Southeast Asian compounds are often trafficking victims themselves, and why crypto's measurability is actually an argument in its favor and not against it.
Links mentioned from the podcast:
Chainalysis Website: https://www.chainalysis.com/
Crypto Crime Report: https://www.chainalysis.com/reports/crypto-crime-2026/
Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
0:40 Sam's intro: crypto crime by the numbers
1:44 Welcome Eric Jardine, Chainalysis
2:34 $17B+ stolen in crypto scams (2025)
2:55 Why are scams growing? Bull markets & victim pools
4:19 Impersonation scams up 1400% YoY
5:10 How impersonation scams work (IRS, Coinbase, deepfakes)
6:53 E-ZPass smishing — crypto settlement demands
8:24 Scam-as-a-service: $500 spoofed government websites
10:24 AI as a productivity boost for criminals
11:58 DPRK (Lazarus Group) vs. Southeast Asia scam compounds
13:57 Human trafficking & forced labor in scam operations
17:37 How to protect yourself
20:09 Jurisdictional challenges & enforcement gaps
21:45 Silk Road anniversary & crypto's illicit narrative
23:04 Is crypto actually worse than cash for crime?
25:13 Enforcement wins: 61K BTC recovered, $15B forfeiture
26:13 Closing Remarks
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"Gen C" features host Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.
2 Jun 2026
Gary Vaynerchuk on AI, Entrepreneurship and Why Blockchain Is Still Relevant
Diving deeper on AI with Gary Vaynerchuk.
Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman of VaynerX and CEO and Creator of VeeFriends, joins Gen C to discuss why we are living through the most consequential technological moment since electricity. Sam and Gary dig into his long-held conviction that NFTs are a generational collectible, not a fad, his bold thesis that the rise of AI will trigger a massive IRL comeback, and why agentic commerce will make brands more important, not less.
Links mentioned from the podcast:
Gary’s Twitter: https://x.com/garyvee
Vayner Website: https://vaynerx.com/
VeeFriends Website: https://veefriends.com/
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"Gen C" features host Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.
Who has been a guest on Gen C
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Yorke Rhodes III
Roham Gharegozlou
Cat Ferdon
Tim Queenan
Johann Kerbrat
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 63 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
92
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
85
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Sam Ewen host the show. Published by CoinDesk.
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The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
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