Smarter Markets

We close out Gold for the 21st Century this week with a special roundtable episode with Dan McElduff (President, Abaxx Exchange), Siddiq Farid (Managing Director, Abaxx Spot), and David Gornall and Steve Lowe (Strategic Advisors for Precious Metals, Abaxx).  David Greely sits down with them to discuss their experience and insights at the 2025 Asia Pacific Precious Metals Conference in Singapore this past week, following the introduction of Abaxx's integrated gold infrastructure – including physically-deliverable Gold Kilobar Singapore Futures on Abaxx Exchange and the launch of a new provider of spot market services, Abaxx Spot, enabling secure transfers of physically-allocated gold in Singapore through a central pool structure. Together, they mark the first instance of co-located spot and futures infrastructure for gold, aiming to reduce fragmentation in global gold markets by aligning futures and spot markets with how gold is actually traded, stored, and settled.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Thomas McMahon, Co-Founder of Abaxx Technologies. David Greely sits down with Thomas to discuss how the role that gold may play in our financial system in the near future is not that different from the one gold and silver played in the not-so-distant past. They also explore precious metals' market evolution in the latter half of the 20th century and its implications for the role of gold in the 21st century.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Greg Sharenow back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Greg is Managing Director & Portfolio Manager for Commodities and Real Assets at PIMCO. David Greely sits down with Greg to discuss how policy uncertainty and inflation are shaping the investing landscape and the role that commodities and real assets – including gold – are playing in helping investors grow and protect their wealth.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Sakhila Mirza, President of Responsible Gold. David Greely sits down with Sakhila to discuss the role of standards, data, and technology in building an ecosystem of trust for responsible and sustainable gold.

It's a holiday weekend in the United States, and we thought it would be a good time to revisit some of the big ideas that our guests shared with us over the past year.   Meeting the new commercial realities created by the globalization of the natural gas market, the energy transition to a lower carbon economy, and the rise of artificial intelligence requires new and smarter markets in which participants are empowered with new financial technology.   And building those smarter markets will require big ideas. We hope you enjoy revisiting these moments and ideas with us.   Our guests featured on this episode are:    -Robert Friedland, Founder & Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines -Brad Hitch, Director of LNG Trading, EQT Corporation -Samantha Dart, Head of Natural Gas Research, Goldman Sachs -Susan Sakmar, Visiting Professor, Univ. of Houston & Board Member, Flex LNG -Mark Lewis, Head of Research, Andurand Capital -Hannah Hauman, Global Head of Carbon Trading, Trafigura -Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist, Thomson Reuters -Andrea Hotter, Special Correspondent, Fastmarkets -Ben Hunt, Author of Epsilon Theory & Co-Founder/CIO, Second Foundation Partners -Michelle Finneran Dennedy, Chief Data Strategy Officer, Abaxx Technologies -Dr. David Bray, Distinguished Chair of the Accelerator & CEO/Principal, Stimson Center & LDA Ventures, Inc. -Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO, Abaxx Technologies  

On this week's installment of Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Steve Lowe into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Steve is Former Managing Director, Co-Head of Global Base and Precious Metals at Scotiabank. David Greely sits down with Steve to talk about his experience and insights into the gold markets from his time leading the iconic Scotia metals business. They also discuss what market infrastructure and technology the gold market needs now – and what could be the opportunity for the next iconic gold business of the 21st century.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Michael DiRienzo, President & CEO at The Silver Institute, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Michael to discuss the outlook for silver, its role in the energy transition, and the role it can and should play in investor portfolios and our financial system in the 21st century.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO of Abaxx Technologies. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Josh to discuss how gold has shaped Josh's vision and mission to build smarter markets throughout his career. They also talk about how the gold market is where the many dimensions of Abaxx come together as it launches a physically deliverable kilobar gold futures contract in Singapore through Abaxx Exchange, a gold pool through Abaxx Spot, and deploys the new financial technology that will pave the way to full digital title.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Gregor Gregerson, Founder of Silver Bullion Group, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Gregor to discuss the role of gold and precious metals in protecting wealth, the physical infrastructure and technology required, and why creating and maintaining trust remains the foundation of a functional financial system.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Don Casturo, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Quantix Commodities. David Greely sits down with Don to discuss the role of gold in protecting investors' portfolios, the drivers of recent gold market performance, and how de-dollarization is changing the way gold trades relative to other assets.

We present a Special Episode of SmarterMarkets™, bringing you exclusive interviews from the FT Commodities Global Summit 2025. SmarterMarkets™ returned to the annual Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland this March, where commodity traders get together to talk about the markets and how they're navigating them. In retrospect, this year was the calm before the storm of the wide-ranging U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. We partnered with the FT to once again interview commodities markets participants to ask them about the big developments being discussed at the conference this year. We also discussed the ways that markets and market infrastructure need to change to keep pace with the changing commodities trading landscape and what tools and technologies they need most. We've compiled a selection of those interviews into this Special Episode of SmarterMarkets™ with an introduction by Leslie Hook, Natural Resources Editor for the Financial Times. If you would like to listen to the full interviews, they are available on the SmarterMarkets™ Presents media portal. Our guests in order of appearance in this episode are: Leslie Hook – Natural Resources Editor, FT Helima Croft – Managing Director and Global Head of Commodity Strategy, RBC Capital Markets Mark Kristoff – CEO, Traxys Fernanda Ávila – Congresswoman & Former Secretary of Mining, Ministry of Economy, Argentina JP Aubin – Co-CEO, BGC Group Sacha Lifschitz – Head of Battery Materials, Abaxx Exchange

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Wade Brennan, CEO & Co-Founder of Kilo Capital, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Wade to discuss the effects of the recent tariff-related price volatility and pricing dislocations on the users of gold, as well as the role of bullion banking in the gold market of the 21st century.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Sunil Kashyap, Managing Director at FinMet Pte Ltd., Singapore. David Greely sits down with Sunil to discuss the role of gold in Asia, what the West can learn from it, and what new market infrastructure and technology can lead to smarter gold markets in Asia for the 21st century.

We present a special mid-week episode of SmarterMarkets™, bringing you exclusive interviews from FIA's BOCA50 – the International Futures Industry Conference. SmarterMarkets™ returned to FIA Boca to be a part of BOCA50, the 50th anniversary of the International Futures Industry Conference. We partnered with the FIA to interview a wide-range of futures industry participants. We asked them how long they've been coming to Boca, how the conference has evolved, and what keeps them coming back. We also asked them to share with us the big topics and issues they were at Boca this year to discuss with others and what new derivatives products and financial technology they were most excited about.  We've compiled a selection of those 9 interviews into this Special Episode of SmarterMarkets™. If you would like to listen to the full interviews, they are available on the SmarterMarkets™ Presents media portal. Our guests in order of appearance in this episode are: Walt Lukken, President & CEO, FIA Alun Green, EVP, Managing Director, Futures & Options, Trading Technologies Stuart Connolly, CEO, CloudMargin Thomas Texier, Head of Clearing, Marex Travis Schwab, CEO, Eventus Ryan Moroney, CEO, CQG Anthony Crudele, SVP, NinjaTrader Alan Guarino, Vice Chairman, Korn Ferry Joe Raia, Chief Commercial Officer, Abaxx Exchange & Clearinghouse

This week, we kick off our new series Gold for the 21st Century with David Gornall. Gornall is Strategic Advisor for Precious Metals at Abaxx Exchange, Former Global Head of Precious Metals Trading at Natixis, and Former Chairman of the LBMA. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Gornall to discuss where gold market infrastructure is not keeping pace with the evolving use of gold, what it means for regional price discovery and trading, and what market infrastructure and regulatory changes are needed to allow gold to take its seat at the financial table and meet the demand for gold in the 21st century.  

We wrap up Carbon Frontiers 2025 this week with Belinda Ellington, Principal at Ellington Resolution, Senior Advisor at IETA, and Former MD, Global Head of Commodities Legal at Citi. David Greely sits down with Belinda to discuss the challenges that banks face in carbon markets and sustainable finance – and why establishing the legal nature of verified carbon credits is a critical step to getting carbon finance flowing

This week on Carbon Frontiers 2025, we welcome back Peter Fusaro, Founder of the Wall Street Green Summit. David Greely sits down with Peter to discuss where we are in carbon markets and the energy transition – and the other big issues on the agenda as we head into the 24th annual Wall Street Green Summit in New York City on March 18-19.

We continue Carbon Frontiers 2025 this week with Rene Velasquez, Managing Partner at Valitera. David Greely sits down with Rene to discuss the ‘tale of two cities' state of the carbon markets – and the challenges and opportunities in getting carbon finance flowing.

This week on Carbon Frontiers 2025, we welcome back Peter Zaman, Partner at HFW Singapore. David Greely sits down with Peter to discuss the impact of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and how the rest of the world's response, whether ideological or pragmatic, will determine the path forward. They also talk about the need for a greater focus on adaptation and managing climate risk in a world where climate action is going to be slower and take longer to make meaningful change.

On our second installment of Carbon Frontiers 2025, we welcome Alasdair Were, Head of Environmental Markets at Abaxx Exchange, back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Alasdair to discuss how recent dramatic policy changes and hard economic realities are influencing both corporate and government approaches to the energy transition, what it means for the carbon and environmental markets, and some of the potential paths forward.

We kick off Carbon Frontiers 2025 this week with Mark Lewis, Head of Research at Andurand Capital. David Greely sits down with Mark to discuss the leading role that the EU ETS may play in moving carbon markets forward as it's forced to balance carbon emissions reductions with keeping its industry competitive in a world where the U.S. is no longer in the Paris Agreement.

We close out The State of Play in Battery Metals this week with Brian Menell, Chairman & CEO at TechMet. David Greely sits down with Brian to discuss how short-term oversupply is distracting us from making the investments needed to meet the growing medium-term demand for battery metals and critical minerals – and why governments and sovereign wealth funds may need to take the lead on financing the investment that is needed.

We continue The State of Play in Battery Metals this week with Andrea Hotter, Special Correspondent at Fastmarkets. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Andrea to discuss the flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump as he returned to the White House this week – and what they may mean for the battery metals markets.

On our second installment of The State of Play in Battery Metals, we welcome back Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist at Thomson Reuters. David Greely sits down with Andy to discuss the ways the energy transition hasn't gone the way people thought it would in battery metals; where we stand after a brutal year in the battery metals business; and the need to manage risk that's driving new exchanges and resurging trading volumes.

This week, we kick off our new series The State of Play in Battery Metals with Dan McElduff, President at Abaxx Exchange. David Greely sits down with Dan to discuss the evolving commercial needs of the battery metals markets – and how Abaxx is applying the approach Dan learned at the NYMEX to design and launch physically deliverable futures contracts for nickel sulfate and lithium carbonate.

We begin the new year with part two of our two-part Holiday Special. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely is joined again this week by Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO of Abaxx Technologies, along with colleagues Sacha Lifschitz, David Gornall, and Steve Lowe from the Abaxx Exchange Metals Team.   In part two of our Holiday Special, they continue their discussion on metals markets – battery metals and gold – and how better market infrastructure and financial technology can be brought to bear to make these markets fit for purpose for the commercial needs of today and into the future.

We close out the year with part one of our two-part Holiday Special. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely is joined by Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO of Abaxx Technologies, along with colleagues Sacha Lifschitz, David Gornall, and Steve Lowe from the Abaxx Exchange Metals Team.   In part one this week, they begin their discussion on metals markets – battery metals and gold – and how better market infrastructure and financial technology can be brought to bear to make these markets fit for purpose for the commercial needs of today and into the future.

We close out our Inside the Coffeehouse series this week with Steve Zwick and Renat Heuberger. Steve is Host & Producer of Bionic Planet, and Renat is CEO & Co-Founder of Terra Impact Ventures. David Greely sits down with Steve and Renat to discuss the paradoxes of the carbon markets – and what we can be doing better to bridge the gap between the complex realities and simple messages to move the conversation forward and support meaningful climate action.

We continue our Inside the Coffeehouse series this week with Dr. David Bray, Distinguished Chair of the Accelerator & CEO/Principal at the Stimson Center & LDA Ventures, Inc. David Greely sits down with Dr. Bray to discuss how technology is shaping how we relate to each other today – and how we can learn from the lessons of the past to put our technology to work to empower individuals, rebuild trust, and promote a freer and more peaceful society.

This week on our Inside the Coffeehouse series, we welcome Ben Hunt back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Ben is author of Epsilon Theory and Co-Founder & CIO of Second Foundation Partners. David Greely sits down with Ben to discuss what AI is teaching us about how we use language – and how we can build digital tools not to outsource our consciousness, but to increase our ability to have trusted conversations at scale.

This holiday weekend on our Inside the Coffeehouse series, we welcome Arjun Murti and Jeff Currie back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio.   Arjun is Partner at Veriten and Publisher of "Super-Spiked" on Substack. Jeff Currie is Chief Strategy Officer of Energy Pathways at Carlyle.   David Greely sits down with Jeff and Arjun, reuniting these two former Goldman partners and colleagues to share their perspectives on the market, economic, and political forces shaping the future of our energy markets.

We continue our Inside the Coffeehouse series where we're introducing you to Coffeehouse, our new social media platform for advancing the conversation on energy, climate, markets, and technology.    We have two guests joining us today. Susan Sakmar is Visiting Professor at the University of Houston Law Center, Board Member at Flex LNG, and Author of Energy for the 21st Century: Opportunities and Challenges for LNG. And Eirik Wærness is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at Equinor.   SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Susan and Eirik for a transatlantic conversation on the future of energy following the US elections – and asks them to share their perspectives on what it may mean for the US oil and natural gas industry, LNG, and Europe.

On our new series Inside the Coffeehouse, this week we welcome two guests from Abaxx Exchange into the SmarterMarkets™ studio: Alasdair Were and Joe Raia. Alasdair is Head of Environmental Markets and Joe is Chief Commercial Officer at Abaxx Exchange.   David Greely sits down with Alasdair and Joe to discuss what the US elections and COP29 may mean for carbon markets, what innovative environmental products the markets need next, and what we should be discussing now to create the smarter markets that are necessary to navigate the uncertain times ahead.

This week, we kick off our new series Inside the Coffeehouse. In this series introduction, host David Greely introduces SmarterMarkets™ Coffeehouse, our new social media platform for advancing the conversation on energy, climate, markets, and technology – and he discusses why we're doubling down on meaningful conversations and on markets during these divisive times.

We close out our Markets in Transition series this week with Brad Hitch, Director of LNG Trading at EQT Corporation. David Greely sits down with Brad to discuss the rapid development of the Gulf of Mexico LNG market, what it means for pricing dynamics, and how tools like physically deliverable futures contracts can empower traders to manage risk and unlock value.

We continue our Markets in Transition series this week by welcoming back Robert Friedland, Founder & Executive Chairman at Ivanhoe Mines. David Greely sits down with Robert to discuss the state of the energy transition, which metals are truly critical, and how we need to work together to re-engineer our energy system.

This week on our Markets in Transition series, we're celebrating our 200th podcast episode by welcoming Josh Crumb, the Founder & CEO of Abaxx Technologies, back into the studio. David Greely sits down with Josh to discuss what's been learned and accomplished so far in turning the SmarterMarkets vision into a reality.

This week on Markets in Transition, we welcome Sid Jha, Founder & CEO of Arbol, back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Sid to discuss some of the ways we can improve our insurance markets to meet the needs created by increasing climate risk as we experience what could be a historically devastating hurricane season in the United States.

We present a special mid-week episode of SmarterMarkets™, bringing you exclusive interviews from the IETA North America Climate Summit 2024.   SmarterMarkets™ returned to the Carbon Markets Studio at the IETA North America Climate Summit to take stock of where we are and what we need to do next to harness the power of markets to make net-zero possible.   We partnered with IETA to interview a cross section of conference participants to understand where they see the opportunities and challenges for using carbon markets to support climate action and the most important developments they're following in the carbon markets.   We've compiled a selection of those 11 interviews into this Special Episode of SmarterMarkets™. Our guests in order of appearance are:   Alfredo Nicastro, SVP & Global Head of Carbon Markets, StoneX Sandeep Roy Choudury, Director, VNV Advisory Svenja Telle, CEO, Denominator Hugh McAlpine, Partner, GS Environmental Peter Zaman, Partner, HFW Singapore Alex Saer, CEO, Cercarbono Sandra Pinzón, Founder & CEO, Global Zero Waste Juan Durán, CEO, EcoRegistry Steve Zwick, Producer & Host, Bionic Planet Yvan Champagne, Chief Carbon Officer, CarbonAi David Antonioli, Owner, Transition Finance

We continue Markets in Transition this week with Helima Croft, Managing Director & Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets. David Greely sits down with Helima to discuss the escalating situation in the Middle East as well as the U.S. presidential elections – and what each may mean for global energy markets.

Our Markets in Transition series continues this week with Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist at Thomson Reuters. David Greely sits down with Andy to discuss the many transitions happening in the metals markets today, as well as the big issues that the metals industry needs to be talking about if we're to meet these challenges as we head into London Metals Week.

This week on Markets in Transition, we welcome Dirk Forrister back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Dirk is President & CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). David Greely sits down with Dirk to discuss the transitions happening in the carbon markets – from analog to digital, voluntary to compliance, and OECD to global – as we head into IETA's North America Climate Summit 2024 this week in New York City.

We continue our Markets in Transition series this week with He Yiyong, Founder & CEO of LNG Easy. David Greely sits down with He Yiyong to discuss how rising LNG supplies are spurring the development of retail LNG markets in China and developing countries – and how the pricing system for LNG needs to be adapted to meet the needs of these retail LNG markets.

This week, we kick off our new series, Markets in Transition. The energy transition is changing global markets in natural gas, carbon, and battery metals. In our new series, we'll be discussing what these changes mean for our markets — and what smarter markets and market infrastructure we need to build to meet the needs of the energy transition. We begin our Markets in Transition series with  Andrea Aranguren, CEO & President of Minehub Technologies. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Andrea to discuss the transition from email and Excel to digital supply chains – and what it means for companies and markets.

We close out our Summer Playlist this week with Ted Merz, Founder of Principles Media. David Greely sits down with Ted to discuss the growing imperative for business leaders to tell their story – and how technology is changing the nature of how we write our stories and what our readers value in them.

Our Summer Playlist rolls on this week with Michelle Finneran Dennedy, CEO of PrivacyCode.AI. David Greely sits down with Michelle to discuss privacy in the age of data as a highly valuable commodity – and the focus we need to be putting on data supply chains and the data industry in the wake of the National Public Data breach.

Our Summer Playlist continues this week with Hannah Hauman, Global Head of Carbon Trading at Trafigura. David Greely sits down with Hannah to discuss how seemingly separate EU regulations on corporate green claims and reporting are coming together to create a new definition of net zero and a new approach to driving corporate climate action.

This week on our Summer Playlist, we welcome Edwin Dorsey, author of “The Bear Cave” on Substack, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Edwin to discuss his work and views on the short side of the stock market – and its role in making markets smarter by finding the serious problems that others may not see yet.

We continue our Summer Playlist this week with Peter Zaman. Peter is a Partner at HFW in Singapore and has been practicing law in climate finance and environmental markets since 2004. David Greely sits down with Peter to talk about the state of play in carbon markets. They discuss what the SBTi statements this week, the uncertainties facing CORSIA participants, and the EU's new methane regulation tell us about how the disputes over the right approach to addressing carbon emissions are having practical consequences on our ability to make meaningful progress – and what we need to be doing next.

Our Summer Playlist rolls on this week with David Szybunka, Senior Portfolio Manager & Managing Director of the Energy Team at Canoe Financial. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with David to discuss what's familiar – and what's different – in this commodity cycle, as well as his full-cycle approach to investing in all things energy.

We continue our Summer Playlist 2024 this week with Arjun Murti, Partner at Veriten and Publisher of “Super-Spiked” on Substack. David Greely sits down with Arjun to discuss America's energy independence – and what it will take to maintain America's energy exceptionalism to help meet rising global demand into a future of lower carbon and more sustainable energy.