DeFi: podcast episodes, research and news
Overview
DeFi, short for decentralized finance, is the set of financial apps that run on public blockchains with no bank or broker in the middle. It covers lending markets, exchanges, perpetuals and yield products, plus the stablecoins that tie them together. Anyone with a wallet can use them, and the rules are written in code anyone can inspect. When it works, a loan or a trade settles in seconds with no account to open. That openness is also DeFi's biggest weakness: mistakes, exploits and confusing interfaces hit users directly, with no one to call.
Much of our DeFi coverage is about making it usable:
- Moonwell. Luke Youngblood went from building cloud infrastructure to running Moonwell, one of the leading lending apps on Base. His goal is simple: make DeFi usable for people who have never touched it, and make it safe.
- Lotus Protocol. David, recorded at EthCC in Cannes, explains lending that sits between two models: large pooled markets with governance-set limits, and isolated markets with fixed risk parameters.
- 1inch. Sasha explains why liquidity still feels fragmented after years of building, and how 1inch Aqua aims to fix it.
Trading gets its own thread. Anas, co-founder of Flash Trade, describes a Solana perpetuals exchange that keeps its operations on-chain and shares revenue with its community.
Other guests bring outside discipline. Jesus Lander makes the case for bringing hedge fund strategies and TradFi risk management on-chain. Dyma Budorin of Hacken covers security, where audits are only the start. Ben Nadareski explains how Solstice approached its token launch so it wouldn't suffer the dump that hits most new tokens.
Use this hub to follow DeFi across chains, from Solana and Base to Bitcoin layers such as Citrea. Our news desk follows exploits, governance fights and new products, and our beginner guides cover the basics. The episodes, research and news below update as we publish.
Disclosure: Hodl Up has a partnership with Flash Trade, and the hosts took part in Solstice's Flares campaign.
Episodes11 episodes
Hyperliquid Prediction Markets: The Binary Options Play
Stratium founder Wasim Fukase on building Hyperliquid prediction markets, why he calls them binary options, and why liquidity is still the binding problem.
Wall Street Strategies Are Coming Onchain
For our last magic trick, we had a talk with Jesus Lander, a founder and investor. From TradFi to DeFi, with ease!
Reconnecting With Ben: The SLX TGE, Community Feedback & The Future of Solstice
While in Paris, we had an insightful discussion with Ben Nadareski, the CEO of Solstice, about the recent SLX TGE, the community feedback, the whole thought process behind it, and what lies ahead.
The DeFi Model Institutions Actually Want
Our industry has survived plenty of challenges, and we are used to overcoming them. We sat down with David from Lotus to discuss how they plan to change DeFi for the better.
Is 2026 the year of the DOGE?
DogeOS is the app layer for Dogecoin, built to give Doge users more to do than just hold DOGE or leave it sitting on exchanges. Stablecoins, DeFi, games, AI tools, consumer apps, all of that becomes important once Dogecoin has rails around it.
DeFi UX is Broken: Moonwell Aims to Fix That
Seed phrases, bridges, gas, price feeds, and agents that can get socially engineered. Most of it still isn’t built for the masses.
Ex-Banker Reveals: Why Your Bank is Actually Scared of DeFi
Even after all these years of building, crypto liquidity feels fragmented. We broke down how 1inch Aqua aims to fix this with Sasha in Abu Dhabi.
Bringing Institutional Grade DeFi to Solana
Insightful discussion at Breakpoint 2025 with Ben in Abu Dhabi. We went deep in USX, eUSX, and the upcoming SLX TGE, scheduled to happen in Q2 of 2026.
The Stablecoin Narrative: How Long Will it Last?
We had a chill chat with Xuling from Unitas Labs at Breakpoint 2025 in Abu Dhabi. USDu yield-bearing stables, onchain delta-neutral, real yield w/o banks, Orca & Kamino integrations.
From Idea to Execution: Building a Trading Platform on Solana
Anas from Flash Trade joins Hodl Up to talk about why trading should be onchain, the long road to full decentralization, and the rise of perpetual DEXs.
Bringing Credit Onchain With Huma Finance
Erbil from Huma Finance joins Hodl Up to talk about bridging TradFi and DeFi, why access to money matters, and how Huma is bringing credit onchain.
Research and guides6 articles
News3 stories
Guests who discussed it10 guests
Ben NadareskiCEO & Founder at Solstice2 episodesStablecoinsDeFi
Wasim FukaseFounder & CEO at Stratium1 episodePrediction marketsDeFi
Jesus LanderFounder & Investor1 episodeDeFi
David ReisingFounder at Lotus Protocol1 episodeDeFi
Jordan JeffersonFounder & CEO at DogeOS1 episodeDeFiInfra
Luke YoungbloodCEO at Moonwell1 episodeDeFiAI
SashaHead of BD at 1inch1 episodeDeFi
XulingMarketing at Unitas Labs1 episodeStablecoinsDeFi
Anas KhaderFounder at Flash Trade1 episodeDeFiSolana
Erbil KaramanFounder at Huma Finance1 episodeDeFiPaymentsFrequently asked questions
What is DeFi?
Financial services such as lending, trading and earning yield that run on smart contracts on public blockchains instead of through banks or brokers.
Is DeFi safe?
It carries risks that a bank absorbs for you elsewhere: smart contract bugs, exploits, oracle failures, liquidations and user error. Moonwell's Luke Youngblood and Hacken's Dyma Budorin discuss how teams reduce them.
What are perpetual futures in DeFi?
Derivatives with no expiry date that let traders take leveraged long or short positions. Flash Trade runs a perps exchange on Solana, and its co-founder explains the model in his episode.
Why does DeFi liquidity feel fragmented?
Liquidity is split across many chains, pools and venues, so prices and depth vary from place to place. Aggregators and newer designs, including 1inch Aqua, try to pull it back together.