In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Samantha Bohbot, partner and chief growth officer at RockawayX, about why DeFi vaults have evolved from simple yield products into the foundation for actively managed, institutional-grade credit strategies. Samantha, who spent nearly four years as VP of growth at DCG before joining RockawayX, explains how the firm allocates over $2 billion across venture, liquid tokens, and onchain credit, and why it launched its own vaults on Morpho and Camino after spending years as one of the largest depositors into these products itself.

She walks through what separates a serious vault from a commoditized one, why credit underwriting and risk infrastructure matter more than yield numbers, and how AI agents could reshape how capital flows into DeFi. The conversation also covers the Resolve exploit, why prediction markets are overhyped relative to actual usage, how to spot confirmation bias in crypto venture, and why building real financial infrastructure takes longer than a hackathon.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Intro
(01:14) Samantha's background at DCG and path to RockawayX
(01:49) What RockawayX is: venture, liquid tokens, credit fund, and infrastructure
(03:11) Why vaults are the next stage of the DeFi promise
(05:24) How RockawayX differentiates its vault strategy from the crowd
(07:22) Why credit underwriting and risk infrastructure are what separate real vaults
(08:21) Why RockawayX decided to build vaults itself rather than wait
(09:03) How the first RWA mixed pool works
(13:37) Generative finance and how AI agents change vault UX and product fit
(16:19) Embedding vaults into fintech products to reach non-crypto users
(19:45) The Resolv exploit: how the attack worked and what curators got right
(22:30) RockawayX's 2026 priorities and where to allocate time and resources
(26:02) Why prediction markets are getting too much attention
(27:14) Running a market-neutral strategy on Polymarket and its liquidity limits
(33:16) Confirmation bias in crypto venture: pitching decks instead of businesses
(40:09) OCC charters and the future of crypto banking regulation
(42:37) Final advice: trust your gut on people and ideas

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Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.

How RockawayX Is Building the Actively Managed DeFi Vault | Samantha Bohbot