Crypto finance is beginning to look at lot more traditional, Aave and Ethena founders say
Until recently, crypto users mostly traded tokens or borrowed against them, often chasing high, but unpredictable yields. New tools allow them to lock in returns, even in a market known for big swings.
By Margaux Nijkerk|Edited by Sheldon Reback Mar 24, 2026, 4:05 p.m.
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What to know:
- Crypto is evolving beyond trading into more stable, predictable return products, similar to bonds, as new tools let users lock in or manage yield despite market volatility, said the heads of Aave and Ethena.
- While DeFi yields still rely heavily on trading activity and leverage, Stani Kulechov and Guy Young said returns will increasingly come from traditional finance assets moving onchain.
Crypto finance is only now beginning to provide an environment that matches traditional finance: ways to earn steadier, more predictable returns — similar to bonds or savings products, according to Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov and Ethena CEO Guy Young.
“Most fixed income is like the distribution of risk in different formats … basically just slicing and dicing and distributing risk,” Young said during a panel at Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in New York. “This piece of DeFi was probably the least featured two years ago.”
Until recently, crypto users mostly traded tokens or borrowed against them, often chasing high, unpredictable yields. New tools make it possible to lock in returns, even in a market known for big swings.
“What you’re doing with Pendle is providing a fixed-to-floating rate swap,” Young said, referring to a system that lets users choose between more stable or more variable returns — similar to choosing between fixed or adjustable interest rates.
That’s not easy in crypto. “It’s very difficult to know three months out what the market is actually going to look like,” he said.
Kulechov said Aave has helped support this shift by providing deep pools of capital that other projects can tap into. “Aave is sort of acting as a liquidity sink,” he said, helping “bootstrap a lot of the new coming products in DeFi.”
For now, much of the money being made still depends on trading rather than traditional lending. “A lot of DeFi yield … is largely still based on … leverage,” Kulechov said.
Over time, that could change as more real-world assets move onchain, a process known as tokenization.
“A lot of the yields and a lot of the economics will come from the traditional finance,” he said.
Read more: Ethena-backed suiUSDe stablecoin goes live on Sui with $10 million yield vault launch
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Wall Street’s crypto push has been years in the making says Morgan Stanley
By Helene Braun|Edited by Stephen Alpher6 minutes ago
Morgan Stanley’s Amy Oldenburg says banks are expanding into crypto not because of hype, but after years of infrastructure development.
What to know:
- Morgan Stanley executive Amy Oldenburg said Wall Street’s move into crypto reflects years of behind-the-scenes work on modernizing financial infrastructure, not a sudden bout of FOMO.
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