Crypto Corner: DeFi’s capital-efficient growth for investors

Welcome to Crypto Corner, presented by BTC Markets, where each episode we explore the latest in crypto market trends. In this edition, Charlie Sherry, Head of Finance at BTC Markets, and James Hanley, Head of Strategy and Growth at Drift, unpack how decentralised finance (DeFi) is maturing, and what that means for investors, builders, and the broader crypto economy.

According to James, the DeFi landscape has come a long way since the 2021 bull run. What started as a series of disconnected lending, trading, and derivatives protocols is now advancing into “full-stack” platforms, where users can borrow, hedge, trade, and manage risk in one place.

“The version of on-chain finance today is a lot more evolved… and a lot more mature. There’s big trends towards institutions coming into the space... finance on-chain is growing up.”

Institutional players are also entering the space with traditional strategies. James highlights how many are exploring market-neutral yield opportunities and bringing private credit on-chain, blurring the lines between DeFi and traditional finance (TradFi).

Capital efficiency is another major shift. James explains how DeFi on Solana enables users to deploy one asset across multiple use cases, borrowing, trading, and hedging, within a unified ecosystem.

“If I hold some SOL... I can deposit it, borrow stablecoins, go spend it, and still use that SOL as collateral to hedge a position or place a trade. That’s capital efficiency.”

He also contrasts the design philosophies behind Solana and Ethereum. While Ethereum’s multichain structure has created fragmentation, Solana’s single-chain design supports faster, more composable DeFi development.

Looking ahead, James outlines three trends driving the next wave of DeFi:

• Stablecoin dominance, with usage continuing to grow
• Institutional inflows, especially around on-chain yield
• Improving U.S. regulatory outlook, creating a more supportive environment

“Stablecoins are the clear winner. That chart only goes up.”

The episode showcases a timely look at how DeFi is developing into real financial infrastructure, and why it’s gaining traction with a broader set of users.

Watch the full episode on Ticker News.

View all episodes of Crypto Corner.

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