# Fireside Chat with Nemil Dalal (Y Combinator) and Kartik Talwar (ETHGlobal) at ETHConf

- Speakers: [Kartik Talwar](https://streameth.org/speakers/kartik-talwar)
- Channel: [ETHGlobal](https://streameth.org/ethglobal)
- Date: 2026-07-09
- Duration: 20:42
- Topics: Y Combinator, Nemil Dalal, Kartik Talwar, ETHCom, USDC, Coinbase, Circle, stablecoins, DeFi, Maker DAO, Compound, Uniswap, Aave, DyDx, USDC Bootstrap Fund, Tether, X2X, AI agents, agentic finance, tokenization, tokenized stocks, neo banks, startups, hackathons, dev tools, prediction markets, Tatalis, regulation, CFTC, Coshi, Binance, foundations, L1, L2, incentive tokens, builders, fintech, AI plus crypto
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-R8ZHKNuOQTE
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ZHKNuOQTE

## Description

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar sits down with Nemil Dalal, visiting partner at Y Combinator and former head of Coinbase's developer platform, to discuss the early days of USDC, the current state of crypto startups, and what YC is looking for from founders. Nemil walks through how he spent seven years at Coinbase leading USDC from launch in 2018, when many in crypto circles thought stablecoins were the wrong vision and Bitcoin should replace everything. He pushed against two early strategies that didn't fit Coinbase's positioning as a US based regulated company: chasing high yield Asian markets where Tether dominated, and selling to banks that only knew about Bitcoin and saw stablecoins as a beta dollar. The breakthrough insight was bootstrapping DeFi adoption through the USDC Bootstrap Fund, deploying capital into Uniswap, Aave (then EthLend), DyDx, and other early protocols.

Nemil shares how YC funds about 100 crypto startups today and expects to 10x that in the next decade, since crypto is moving from a niche DGen product to something most Americans will use without realizing. He outlines what YC is excited about: stablecoins and the businesses built on top, tokenized assets including equities and debt, and AI plus crypto including X2X (which Nemil's team launched at Coinbase). He shares his controversial view that founders should launch fewer tokens, since most are incentive tokens that act like marketing schemes attracting mercenary users and worsening UX, while reserving tokens for L1s, L2s, and DeFi protocols where decentralization is genuinely core to the product. On regulation, he tells the story of Coshi spending three years suing the CFTC and winning, framing regulation as either go regulation forward and specialize per country, or follow the Binance playbook offshore first. He closes urging founders to combine crypto with AI thoughtfully and pointing to the rolling YC application deadline.

00:00 Introduction
00:08 Nemil's Background and Homecoming to Ethereum
01:08 Launching USDC at Coinbase in 2018
02:26 Why Stablecoins Were Controversial in Crypto Circles
02:41 Two Bad Early Strategies: Asia Yield and Banks
03:41 The Breakthrough: Bootstrapping DeFi
03:58 Maker DAO, Compound, and Early DeFi Signals
04:23 Launching the USDC Bootstrap Fund
05:10 Nemil's Role as Visiting Partner at Y Combinator
05:38 What YC Offers Founders
06:20 Funding 100+ Crypto Startups and 10x'ing the Pace
07:00 Why Bear Markets Are the Best Time to Build
07:32 Tourists vs Real Builders
07:50 Why ETH Global Hackathon Attendance Correlates Inversely with Price
08:46 What YC Is Looking to Fund in 2026
09:04 Stablecoins and Stablecoin Neo Banks
09:51 Tokenized Stocks, Debt, Equity, and Emerging Markets
10:12 X2X and the AI Plus Crypto Opportunity
10:50 Agentic Finance May Be Agnostic to Crypto vs Credit Cards
11:33 YC's Mindset: Make Something People Want
12:14 Where Is the Saturated Space in Crypto Startups
12:38 Common Patterns: Dev Tools, On Off Ramps, Wallets
13:08 Prediction Markets and Crypto as Core Stack
13:25 Should Founders Launch a Token
14:10 Incentive Tokens as a Marketing Scheme
14:48 Tokens Often Hurt User Experience
15:19 Where Tokens Genuinely Make Sense: L1s, L2s, DeFi
16:05 Solving Pain Points, Not Decentralizing for Its Own Sake
16:36 How Founders Should Think About Regulation
17:01 The Coshi Story: Suing the CFTC and Winning
17:39 Regulation Forward vs Binance Playbook
18:43 Onshore vs Offshore Based on Product Type
19:00 How to Apply to YC and Reach Nemil
19:35 The Magic of Crypto and AI Coming Together
20:33 Closing

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