Wallfacer Podcast

Episode Description

Today’s guest is Arpan Gautam, founder of Noon Capital. We discuss how Noon underwrites private credit alongside DeFi lending, why he turned down circular stablecoin deals, and the growth tradeoff of bootstrapping. Arpan also makes the case that crypto can succeed by distributing existing yields, with transparent leverage giving blockchain a role beyond access.

Guest Links

* Arpan Gautam: https://x.com/ag_noon

* Noon Capital: https://noon.capital/

* Noon on X: https://x.com/noon_capital

* Noon documentation: https://docs.noon.capital/

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/

Subscribe to Wallfacer Podcast

https://wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

* [00:00] Intro

* [00:19] From traditional finance and Dexterity to Noon

* [01:37] Building a yield-bearing stablecoin around the user

* [02:57] Allocating across traditional credit and crypto markets

* [04:43] Underwriting DeFi lending, CLOs, and Fasanara private credit

* [09:34] What institutional allocators want to diligence

* [11:27] Why allocators demand higher returns from DeFi

* [15:16] The gap between simple collateral markets and complex underwriting

* [17:27] Growing without the VC stamp of approval

* [19:21] Bootstrapping, user ownership, and token distribution

* [22:48] Turning down circular stablecoin deals

* [26:01] Leverage looping and the distinction Arpan draws on backing

* [28:28] What could bring onchain yields back

* [31:43] Subsidized APYs and whether crypto needs new yield sources

* [34:08] What blockchain adds, transparent leverage, and Noon’s next steps

Episode Description

Today’s guests are Meet Patel and Ravi Shah, co-founders of Otus, a mobile savings app where each account is an agent that deploys your stablecoins across lending markets and tokenized T bills. They started as Blueprint, a chat interface for DeFi, and killed it when only 4% of users deposited. The same users deposited at 60% once the chat was replaced with a plain savings account. We get into why they cap yield between five and seven percent, how the agent picks and monitors vaults, and why Otus charges $5 a month instead of taking a cut of the yield.

Guest Links

* Meet Patel: https://x.com/_meetp_

* Ravi Shah: https://x.com/RaviOnChain

* Otus: https://otus.io

* Otus on X: https://x.com/otus_finance

* Download: Apple App Store (”Otus - Save Smarter”) and Google Play

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/

Subscribe to Wallfacer Podcast

https://wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

* [00:00] Intro

* [00:26] What Otus is and who it’s for

* [01:39] Why one account across many protocols beats a single DeFi integration

* [04:46] Rewinding to Blueprint: a chat interface for all of DeFi

* [09:16] Whether chat still has a place, and what Coinbase users don’t know about USDC

* [12:14] Abstracting stablecoins away, or teaching them

* [13:56] The moment they killed Blueprint: a 4% deposit rate becomes 60%

* [16:18] Who the Otus user is today, and the grandma test

* [18:03] On ramps: the part of the product they’re most critical of

* [20:37] Wealthfront, Acorns, and why auto deposits don’t work in crypto yet

* [23:29] What yields users actually want, and why 8% sets off alarm bells

* [25:38] Real world yield sources and why they’re easier to explain

* [26:44] Under the hood: what the agent can and can’t do with your money

* [30:27] Adding new vaults, LLM research reports, and overlapping collateral

* [33:37] Why charge $5 a month instead of taking a cut of yield

* [36:25] What’s next: equities, commodities, and the personal CFO

* [39:27] Ravi on life admin, BitMEX, and teaching partners what a perp is

* [41:14] Where to download Otus

Today’s guest is Jérôme de Tychey, president of Ethereum France, founder of EthCC, and a co-author of EIP-8363. He makes the case that Ethereum’s issuance curve has no equilibrium, concedes that the proposal’s original solo staker claim was a mistake his own team had to walk back, and puts community feedback at roughly 60 percent negative. We get into what actually breaks above a 50 percent staking ratio, the 15 hours he spent trying to convince SharpLink, and what he would still change about the proposal.

Guest Links

* Jérôme de Tychey: https://x.com/jdetychey

* EthCC: https://x.com/EthCC

* Ethereum France: https://x.com/Ethereum_France

* EIP-8363 discussion thread: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-8363-tapered-issuance-burn/29263

* Issuance research index: https://issuance.wtf/

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/

Subscribe to the Podcast

* https://wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

[00:00] Intro

[01:13] Why issuance, and why now

[02:22] Ethereum’s history of cutting issuance, from 5 ETH blocks to the Merge

[04:29] The original curve was set before LSTs and ETFs existed

[07:17] Justin Drake on why the topic stalled, and “impossible is not French”

[09:20] How the proposal came together, and the shape of the curve

[12:44] What actually breaks above a 50 percent staking ratio

[13:35] Slashing risk, LSTs, and the bailout expectation

[18:15] Economic finality, and why 20 to 30 percent is the target

[25:48] Why the diversity of the validator set matters more than the ratio

[28:26] The Nakamoto coefficient, and contestability over concentration

[30:28] “That was our own fault”: walking back the solo staker claim

[32:58] Talking to SharpLink, Bitmine, and the ETF issuers

[35:25] The coupon versus the principal, and what Grayscale pushed for

[39:48] Store of value, looping, and what ETH actually gets used for

[45:14] Monetary neutrality, and comparing ETH issuance to Bitcoin

[50:00] What he has changed his mind on since publishing

[52:05] The missing cascade model, and early signs of convergence

[54:41] Where to follow the debate

Today’s guests are corn, who works on growth at Yearn, and Connor Flanagan, COO and co-founder of Birch Hill. We get into why the word “vault” stopped meaning anything, how Yearn spotted $10 million missing from Stream Finance’s wallets weeks before it collapsed, and why Birch Hill responded to the SEC’s vault statement by asking for a meeting. They also walk through their launch with Groma, where a renter’s monthly payment buys equity in the building instead of disappearing.

Guest Links

* corn: https://x.com/omgcorn

* Yearn: https://x.com/yearnfi

* Connor Flanagan: https://x.com/cflan_

* Birch Hill: https://x.com/BirchHill_io

* Groma: https://x.com/GromaCorp

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/

Subscribe to Wallfacer Podcast

* https://wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

* [00:31] What does the word “vault” even mean anymore?

* [02:21] Birch Hill’s thesis: bringing credit origination onchain

* [07:01] Yearn is onchain to the core. Why work on offchain collateral?

* [08:32] corn on the three tiers of vaults, and which one produced Stream Finance

* [12:09] The spectrum of discretion, and whether KYC kills composability

* [16:35] “I don’t think every vault is a security”

* [18:02] What genuinely can’t be built onchain yet

* [19:05] Which RWAs actually work onchain, and why fungibility decides it

* [22:58] Modular lending markets as the new bootstrapping mechanism

* [25:16] The Stream test: how to spot the next blowup

* [27:03] Do curators inevitably push out the risk curve until they blow up?

* [30:35] The Groma launch, and rent vesting as a renter’s mortgage

* [38:22] Going live: permissioning, accredited checks, and discounted NAV oracles

* [44:21] Why Yearn curates on Morpho

* [44:35] What “institutional curator” actually means

* [48:06] What’s next: new asset classes, yearn V4, and why CLARITY timing matters

Episode Description

Today’s guests are Ivo Georgiev and Dimo Stoyanov, co-founders of Ambire and heyAura, who have been building together for 13 years, from Stremio to AdEx to a smart-account wallet. We get into why the “next billion” wallet thesis stalled and why Ambire instead built for the chronically on-chain, how the Ethereum Foundation’s Kohaku privacy initiative ended up built on Ambire, and why an AI agent living inside your wallet could make protocol interfaces, discovery, and even vaults obsolete. Along the way, Ivo argues that people trust user interfaces more than they trust smart contracts, and that almost everything in crypto is really just a swap.

Guest Links

* Ivo Georgiev: https://twitter.com/Ivshti

* Dimo Stoyanov: https://twitter.com/_DimoStoyanov

* Ambire: https://twitter.com/AmbireWallet

* heyAura: https://twitter.com/heyaura

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/introduction

Subscribe

https://www.wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

* [00:00] Intro

* [00:34] How Ivo and Dimo met, Stremio, and the start of AdEx

* [02:03] Why the ad network had to be built on Ethereum

* [03:32] From AdEx to Ambire: onboarding people who’d never used a wallet

* [06:02] The wallet market and who Ambire is really for

* [10:10] Accounts vs. wallets, and unsustainable embedded-wallet pricing

* [12:07] Shipping EIP-7702 first, and why it enabled Ambire’s growth

* [16:06] Kohaku: the Ethereum Foundation’s privacy initiative built on Ambire

* [19:12] The Safe integration, and trusting UIs over smart contracts

* [22:47] heyAura’s origin, and putting discovery and security into the agent

* [26:47] Smart sessions, and running an agent on your existing wallet

* [29:12] Prompt injection, and finding the use case people actually want

* [32:42] Can an agent replace the vault? Personalization vs. capital efficiency

* [35:24] Local models, order flow, and opaque addresses

* [37:31] heyAura’s top use cases and the year ahead

* [40:45] The business of wallets: why everything is a swap

* [45:05] Closing

Episode Description

Today’s guest is David Reising, founder and CEO of Lotus Protocol. Ryan and David get into why isolated lending markets keep converging on the same handful of pairs, how Lotus prices risk on liquidation thresholds, and why the recent string of DeFi exploits (Aave, Resolv, Stream Finance) is forcing a real rethink of how curators underwrite collateral. They also cover productive debt and the LotusUSD base rate, what David learned relaunching hyETH on Morpho with Gauntlet at Index Coop, and the case for going direct to markets in an agentic world.

Guest Links

* David Reising: https://twitter.com/Davidareising

* Lotus Protocol: https://x.com/LotusFi_

* Lotus Labs: https://lotuslabs.net

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/

Subscribe to Wallfacer Podcast

https://wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

* [00:00] Intro and what Lotus is

* [01:18] Pricing risk on liquidation thresholds, not collateral quality

* [04:47] The Morpho cbBTC market example and the case for tranched lending

* [08:24] Designing for borrowers, not just lenders

* [11:09] Embedded borrow, predictable rates, and what integrators want

* [16:09] Risk frameworks and the limits of curator diligence after recent exploits

* [18:43] Why collateral expansion will slow down in curated markets

* [20:08] Lotus vaults: conservative, balanced, and aggressive

* [24:24] Credora ratings and how onchain liquidity reprices risk

* [27:48] Productive debt, cascading liquidity, and the LotusUSD base rate

* [31:00] Senior vs junior demand, Ajna, and tick based lending

* [34:24] Index Coop, relaunching hyETH on Morpho, and what scaled

* [39:30] Operational intensity of the curator model

* [41:48] Going direct to markets in an agentic world

* [45:07] Launch timeline, pre-deposits, and subsidized borrow rates

Episode Description

Today’s guest is Joey Isaacson, co-founder and CEO of Nook, a consumer savings app that connects everyday users to DeFi lending markets on Base. Joey spent five years at Coinbase leading design on earn, staking, and lending before building Nook to reach the 99.9% of people who’ve never touched DeFi. We talk about finding users on TikTok and Reddit instead of Crypto Twitter, why Nook won’t force-rebalance your funds, and how to build a business in consumer crypto.

Guest Links

* Joey Isaacson: https://twitter.com/joeyisaacson

* Nook: https://earnwithnook.com

* Nook Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nookearnapp/

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

Subscribe

https://www.wallfacer.io/podcast

Timestamps

* [00:00] Intro

* [00:13] What is Nook and why Joey built it

* [01:13] Who the actual Nook user is

* [04:50] Distribution: TikTok, Reddit, Meta, and creator partnerships

* [08:00] Short-form content strategy and the three-second hook

* [10:24] Onboarding, trust, and starting with $5

* [13:45] Progressive disclosure: reputation scores, auto-deposits, building trust over time

* [16:21] What builds trust fastest: referrals, cash bonuses, real faces

* [19:43] Coinbase and the earn landscape: feature vs. product

* [23:19] Risk after a wild weekend: Resolv, Drift, Kelp, and Aave liquidity

* [29:05] How rebalancing works: Privy, CCTP, individual wallets vs. supervaults

* [33:21] Business model: curator revenue shares, yield compression, and exchange fees

* [40:55] Magic wand: cross-chain movement and insurance

* [44:29] Roadmap: multiple positions, multiple assets, OpenCover coverage

Episode Description

Today’s guests are Arthur Breitman (co-founder of Tezos), Owen (Hasheur) Simonin (CEO of Meria), and Dmitriy Kovalevskiy (founder of Hanji). Recorded live at TezDev 2026 in Cannes, the panel covers why crypto yields remain structurally higher than traditional markets, the real obstacles keeping fintechs from offering DeFi yield, and whether tokenized commodities or tokenized stocks will drive the next wave of adoption.

Guest Links

* Arthur Breitman: https://twitter.com/ArthurB

* Tezos: https://tezos.com

* Etherlink: https://etherlink.com

* Owen Simonin (Hasheur): https://twitter.com/PowerHasheur

* Meria: https://meria.com

* Dmitriy Kovalevskiy: https://twitter.com/dmitrytez

* Hanji: https://hanji.io

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

Subscribe and share with friends:

* https://www.wallfacer.io/podcast ← Apple, YouTube, Spotify, and more!

Timestamps

* [00:00] Introductions

* [00:33] What’s still holding fintechs back from offering DeFi yield

* [02:02] Why crypto yields are structurally higher than traditional markets

* [03:35] Two types of yield seekers: high yield chasers vs. reliability seekers

* [04:26] Celsius, Resolv, and the new wave of on-chain risk

* [07:08] Fixed-term lending: is there real demand beyond institutions?

* [09:28] RWAs in the earn stack: commodities vs. real estate vs. T-bills

* [12:06] Retail is attention-driven: the case for adding oil and macro assets

* [13:25] Collateral diversity and why it starts with user demand

* [14:27] The Robinhood of DeFi yield and Meria’s approach

* [16:07] Regulator conversations: custody, staking risk categories, and MiCA

* [19:46] Who are your users in two years? B2B2C, crypto natives, and new populations

* [23:53] Etherlink’s DeFi growth and vaults.fyi integration

* [24:04] Stablecoins as the onramp: why DEX trading will be easier than brokerage trading

* [25:25] Tokenized stocks: the NVIDIA problem and long-tail assets

* [29:23] Building the everything-app vs. staying specialized

* [31:30] What each panelist is most excited about in crypto right now

Today’s guest is Jeremiah Smith, co-founder and CEO of OpenCover. Jeremiah explains why less than 0.05% of DeFi TVL is insured, walks through how OpenCover’s new “covered vaults” primitive eliminates the upfront cost and manual renewal problems that killed DeFi insurance adoption, and breaks down the Nexus Mutual underwriting stack that backs it all. Ryan and Jeremiah also discuss the Resolv USR fallout, the xUSD claims payout, and why embedded risk transfer is becoming table stakes for any product offering DeFi yield.

Guest Links

* Jeremiah Smith: https://twitter.com/itsJeremiahS

* OpenCover: https://opencover.com

* Nexus Mutual: https://nexusmutual.io

Host Links

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi

Subscribe and share with friends:

* https://www.wallfacer.io/podcast ← Apple, YouTube, Spotify, and more!

Timestamps

* [00:00] Intro and OpenCover’s founding story

* [03:54] The “DeFi mullet” app that preceded OpenCover

* [06:40] Celsius, BlockFi, and why self-custody won

* [08:29] What OpenCover does and doesn’t underwrite

* [10:26] Yield compression and the challenge of scaling DeFi yield

* [13:01] How much DeFi capital is actually insured today

* [16:20] Why DeFi insurance adoption is so low

* [19:45] Tranching, TrueFi, and the structural shortage of conservative capital

* [22:14] OpenCover’s two verticals: protocol risk and transaction risk

* [26:01] How covered vaults work: stake, cover on, unstake, cover off

* [28:56] Premium streaming, rate dynamics, and whether insurance only works in high-rate environments

* [33:13] The Resolv USR fallout and contagion risk across Morpho vaults

* [34:46] The xUSD / Stream Finance claims payout, end to end

* [37:13] How underwriting and repricing works for Morpho vaults

* [40:00] Risk ratings vs. risk transfer: why insurance beats scores

* [43:37] The Nexus Mutual underwriting stack: syndicates, capacity, and claims

* [49:51] Who insures the insurers? Smart contract risk on the covered vault itself

* [51:13] What success looks like: embedded protection as the default

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

Today’s guest is Octave Mesnard, Head of Strategy and Consumer Products at Jumper Exchange. We discuss Jumper’s evolution from a thin cross-chain swap interface into a full on-chain consumer hub, the real challenges of building consumer DeFi products at the right time, and why Octave thinks the multi-chain future will consolidate around far fewer chains than anyone expected.

GUEST LINKS:

* Octave Mesnard: https://twitter.com/octavionotpunk

* Jumper Exchange: https://jumper.exchange

* Jumper Exchange on X: https://x.com/JumperExchange

* Jumper Earn: https://jumper.exchange/earn

Learn how Jumper leverages the vaults.fyi API: https://docs.vaults.fyi/general/case-studies/jumper-earn

HOST LINKS:

* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh

* Vaults.fyi: https://app.vaults.fyi/

* Build with our APIs: https://docs.vaults.fyi

SUBSCRIBE:

* Apple

* Spotify

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WallfacerLabs

* Substack: https://wallfacerlabs.substack.com/s/podcast

TIMESTAMPS:

[00:00] Introduction

[00:39] What was your initial foray into crypto?

[02:17] Are there any parallels between catastrophe bonds and crypto insurance?

[05:43] Tell us about Valha and Kook Exchange — what did you set out to solve?

[09:10] You had both an API and a consumer interface — was that intentional?

[12:05] Before joining LiFi, you were already working with them. How did that come about and how did you end up joining?

[13:34] When you joined, did you already have a vision for what you wanted Jumper to become?

[15:23] How do you think about where Jumper goes from here — browser, desktop, mobile?

[19:43] Does the Robinhood comparison resonate — one place where users manage everything?

[22:07] Who actually is the “normie” user in crypto?

[23:42] So Jumper started as a thin layer on LiFi’s stack — is Earn the attempt to thicken that?

[26:21] How have you thought about curation on Jumper Earn — what gets listed and what stays out?

[29:10] How do you think about risk scoring more broadly across DeFi?

[34:46] What are your concerns around RWAs coming into DeFi?

[37:28] How do you view the competitive landscape for swapping and bridging today?

[40:22] How did you think about working with vaults.fyi and how do you approach partnerships generally?

[42:01] Outside of your role at Jumper, what’s catching your attention in DeFi right now?

[44:22] You work in interoperability — do you have a contrarian view on the multi-chain future?

[48:58] What is the origin of Octavio Not Punk