Building the Next Layer of DeFi | Octant DeFi Summit 2025

Description

Speakers: • Ivie Satijn (Moderator) is the co-author of the Institutional RWA Guide and founder at Somma. • Marek Olszewski is a co-founder of Celo, an EVM L2, and Self Protocol, a new ZK Passport decentralized identity protocol. • Matt Gurbiel is the Head of Business Development at Redstone, an oracle provider specializing in yield-bearing collateral and real-world assets. • Ruca Sousa Marques is the Head of Growth at kpk (formerly karpatkey), a leading DAO treasury and asset manager deploying capital on behalf of the biggest DAOs in DeFi. • corn is a core contributor at Yearn, one of the original and largest yield protocols in DeFi, where he leads business development and growth. // TIMESTAMPS // 00:00 - Welcome & Introduction to the Final Panel 01:45 - Marek on Onboarding "Normies" and the Future of On-Chain FX & Payments 04:11 - Ruca on kpk's Mission to Onboard Net New Capital into DeFi 05:31 - Matt on the "Revenue Meta" and How Protocols are Becoming Real Businesses 09:15 - corn on Yearn's Focus on "Verifiable DeFi" 11:08 - The Two Worlds of Yield: Permissioned vs. True DeFi 12:42 - Ruca on DeFi as the "Wholesale Market" for Global Finance 15:06 - How kpk Uses On-Chain NAV Calculators for Transparency 16:26 - Matt on Redstone's Role in Securing Asset-Backed Tokens 18:38 - How Redstone's Acquisition of Credora Creates an "S&P for DeFi" 21:37 - Marek on Partnering with Opera's MiniPay Wallet (10M Users) 22:26 - How Opera Abstracts Away Crypto Complexity for Mainstream Users 25:52 - Marek on Self Protocol: Using ZK Proofs for On-Chain Identity 28:53 - How Google Cloud is Integrating Self Protocol for Sybil Resistance 31:05 - The Core Debate: Can the Crypto Ethos and Institutional Worlds Combine? 31:36 - corn: Why There Will Always Be Two Parallel Worlds of Finance 33:32 - Ruca: The 1% Will Play with DeFi Directly, the 99% Will Use Simplified Third Parties 35:28 - The Opportunity to Bridge On-Chain Yields into the TradFi World 40:26 - Where to Find the Panelists at Devconnect Argentina 44:45 - Final Thanks & Closing Remarks In the final panel of the Octant DeFi Summit, we explore the future of DeFi at the product layer. This powerhouse panel of builders from Celo, Redstone, kpk, and Yearn discusses how to move DeFi from a niche interest to a mainstream reality. The conversation covers the shift from onboarding users with capital incentives to onboarding "normies" with pure utility, like P2P payments and seamless on-chain experiences. The panelists debate the future of the industry, with some arguing for two "parallel worlds"—a permissioned, institutional-friendly version of DeFi and a truly trustless, verifiable, and immutable version built on Ethereum. This is a masterclass on the innovations happening right now, from on-chain NAV calculators and ZK-powered identity to the rise of the "revenue meta" and the crucial role of oracles in securing the next generation of asset-backed tokens. This panel was part of the Octant DeFi Summit 2025, a one-day event that brought together the brightest minds in the industry to discuss the future of decentralized finance. About Octant: Octant is infra for sustainable growth, powered by DeFi and aligned with Ethereum. To date, Octant funding rounds have sustainably funded hundreds of projects (over $7 million USD in grant funding) over 8 epochs, all through staking rewards. Follow the Speakers: • Ivie Satijn, Founder at Semo Marketing: https://x.com/IvieSatijn • Marek Olszewski, Co-founder of Celo & Self Protocol: https://x.com/marek_ • Matt Gurbiel, Head of BD at Redstone: https://x.com/mattgurbiel • Ruca Sousa Marques, Head of Growth at kpk: https://x.com/rsousamarques • corn, Core Contributor at Yearn: https://x.com/omgcorn Follow the Organizations: • Octant: https://x.com/OctantApp • Celo: https://x.com/Celo • Self Protocol: https://x.com/selfprotocol • Redstone: https://x.com/redstone_defi • kpk: https://x.com/kpk_io • Yearn: https://x.com/yearnfi • Somma: https://x.com/Somma_hq Keywords: DeFi, Yield, Verifiable DeFi, Institutional DeFi, On-Chain Finance, Celo, Redstone, kpk, Yearn, Oracles, RWA, Sybil Resistance, ZK Proofs, Mass Adoption