What Happens When Fintech Meets AI? | High Stakes Ep. 20

On this episode of High Stakes, host Alex Nwaka is joined by Lex Sokolin, co-founder of Generative Ventures, for an unfiltered conversation on how AI and blockchain are reshaping economic systems. Lex brings a rare blend of Wall Street experience, startup grit, and futurist vision to explore the infrastructure, incentives, and capital flows behind the emerging machine economy. From agentic payments to self-incorporating robots, this episode unpacks what’s hype, what’s investable, and what’s already here.

Key Takeaways:
• Generative Ventures is built on the thesis that robots will create future GDP and crypto is their native financial system
• There are three core fintech business models: money in motion, money at rest, and money at risk
• AI labor will increasingly generate digital outputs that require blockchain-based ownership and transaction layers
• DeFi marks a fundamental shift from digital storefronts to on-chain financial manufacturing
• AI agents will eventually perform labor, custody assets, and manage economic activity on behalf of users
• Web3 is best positioned to enable financial systems for autonomous machines
• Crypto's strength lies in building new native systems, not replacing legacy infrastructure
• Institutions adopt blockchain when there’s revenue, not just cost efficiency
• Productivity gains are being realized today in AI, especially around software and content creation
• Lex predicts a future where chains host intelligent bots transacting value with minimal human input

Best Moments:
00:00:00. “There's three business models in fintech. One is money in motion, two is money at risk, and three is money at risk.”
00:04:02. “I’ve just chased the frontier. I’ve chased novelty and curiosity on this topic.”
00:10:00. “Robo-advisors brought web2 experience to finance, digitized distribution of finance.”
00:16:38. “DeFi was the first sign you can manufacture financial products on architecture that isn’t just the old bank stuff.”
00:20:06. “Robots will create all of the GDP in the future and crypto is robot money.”
00:29:04. “If I tell MidJourney to do something on my behalf, that’s giving away some of my utility function.”
00:35:46. “The real productivity gains are happening at Web2. Crypto is not there yet.”
00:41:40. “We can go from a couple hundred AI agents to millions of agents with commercial capability.”
00:44:05. “The reason institutions are coming in now is because they’re making money.”
00:45:35. “What I’m looking forward to the most is crypto figuring out how to get involved in the humanoid robot wave.”

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