333: Mercenary DeFi, Real Utility – How Zilliqa Thinks About Tokens, RWAs and Regulation

L1 blockchains have gone through every hype cycle: ICOs, NFTs, gaming, metaverse, now AI. But what actually survives?

In this episode, I speak with Alexander Zahnd, CEO of Zilliqa, an L1 that launched in 2017 and recently became fully EVM-compatible. Alex shares his journey from a decade in Swiss TradFi and treasury/regulatory projects into DeFi, and how that shaped his views on financial rigor, regulation and long-term blockchain adoption.

Key Timestamps

[00:00:00] Mercenary DeFi users: Alex explains why liquidity follows the highest incentives and why this is a problem for long-term protocol sustainability.

[00:01:00] From Swiss banks to Zilliqa: A decade in TradFi, treasury and regulation, discovering DeFi as “finance without intermediaries,” and joining Zilliqa four years ago.

[00:05:00] L1 landscape today: How Zilliqa moved from sharding-focused scalability to full EVM compatibility, and why EVM + SVM gravity is consolidating general-purpose L1s.

[00:08:00] Narrative chasing vs. building: ICOs, gaming, NFTs, metaverse, AI—all tried at Zilliqa; why chasing every hype is fragile and a clear, durable North Star matters.

[00:11:00] AI x blockchain: Alex uses AI tools daily but is skeptical of forced “AI + chain” narratives until real, organic use cases emerge.

[00:13:00] Real institutional adoption: Institutions aren’t allergic to crypto; they’re allergic to operational and regulatory uncertainty. Why audit-ready, compliant infra will be a major driver.

[00:14:00] Where DeFi still has upside: Derivatives, perps, structured products, on-chain treasuries, RWAs, and permissioned DeFi rails for institutions and KYC’d wallets.

[00:17:00] Token design lessons: Tokens should coordinate and power utility flows, not exist purely for price appreciation or quick fundraising.

[00:20:00] Price vs fundamentals: How token price is the easiest visible metric, but often detached from real usage—unlike equities, where mature analyst coverage helps.

[00:24:00] Lowering dev friction: Why Zilliqa’s EVM compatibility and AI-assisted tooling matter for non-engineer builders to prototype and ship ideas faster.

[00:28:00] On-chain LEIs with Liechtenstein: A government-backed initiative for blockchain-verifiable legal entity identifiers as a bridge between TradFi and Web3.

[00:29:00] Alex’s ask: Strategic partnerships, institutional integrations and long-range alliances around regulated, EVM-based infrastructure.

Connect

https://zilliqa.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/zilliqa/

https://x.com/zilliqa

Disclaimer

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. 

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