In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Nevin Freeman, co-founder of Reserve, an open protocol for creating asset-backed token portfolios. Freeman discusses Reserve's pursuit of a currency that could preserve purchasing power without depending entirely on fiat, along with the years of experimentation required to pursue that goal. The conversation examines Bitcoin's growing role as a store of value, Reserve's work in Latin America, decentralized token funds , tokenized securities, and the regulatory changes needed for on-chain finance to reach a global market.

Nevin Freeman is the co-founder of Reserve. His path to crypto began well before the project's launch, starting with an interest in transportation engineering and later shifting toward AI and questions about how emerging technologies could affect society. Freeman first bought Bitcoin in 2011, sold his holdings the following year, and continued following crypto before becoming more deeply involved during the 2017 market cycle. That period helped lead to Reserve and a long-term effort to develop decentralized financial infrastructure around asset-backed money. Today, Freeman and the Reserve community are building DTF infrastructure while working through the technical, commercial, and regulatory requirements of making a globally accessible asset-backed currency possible.