Fireside Chat with Reid Simon (Figure) and David Hoffman (Bankless) at ETHConf

Sun, Aug 2, 2026, 12:00 AM

In this fireside chat, David Hoffman from Bankless sits down with Reid Simon from Figure to discuss how the company built one of the top 10 crypto assets by market cap through tokenized real world credit. Reid explains that Figure built quietly, creating a tokenization platform for HELOCs (home equity lines of credit), an esoteric consumer credit asset, now doing around $1.5 billion a month of natively tokenized HELOCs on the Provenance network, with TVL mirrored via CoinGecko for verifiability. Founded by Mike Cagney (also founder of SoFi), Figure operates as a capital light platform where about 380 partners plug into its tech stack for origination, credit decisioning, tokenization, trading, warehousing, and securitization across HELOCs, auto loans, residential transition, SMB, and inventory finance. Reid explains why Figure chose HELOCs: traditional mortgage origination costs banks around $11,000 to $12,000, making small equity loans unprofitable, so blockchain's cheaper rails unlocked lending banks could not provide. Once tokenized, the asset needed utility, so Figure built Democratized Prime, a borrow-lend market against AAA rated HELOCs paying around 6.5% with hourly liquidity, recently connected to DeFi via a Morpho launch enabling financing near SOFR. He describes the new buyers unlocked by public blockchains: TradFi buyers like pension funds and insurers who buy tokenized mortgages in monthly securitizations, DeFi curators who dig into the historical loan tape, and net new capital like Asian family offices who cannot otherwise access American consumer credit. He frames banks as the primary middleman being removed, citing a narrow banking thesis, and explains the margin benefits: financing on Morpho at around 4.4% versus Goldman's 6.7% warehouse rate is a meaningful accelerant. He covers why Morpho on Ethereum made sense after an MVP on Solana with Kamino (deeper liquidity, isolated markets, composability), how Figure charges 50 basis points but treats it as a flywheel rather than a profit center, and how competitors like Securitize and Superstate compete through value chain partnerships. He closes on expansion into auto loans, residential transition loans, and SMB and trade finance, projecting Figure's Ethereum and Morpho TVL to reach the billions by year end. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 How Figure Became a Top 10 Crypto Asset 00:41 $1.5 Billion a Month in Tokenized HELOCs 01:03 Mirroring TVL via CoinGecko for Verifiability 01:25 A 101 on the Figure Business 01:52 From Lender to a 380 Partner Platform 02:19 The Full Stack of Credit Assets 02:42 Beyond First-Generation Tokenized Assets 03:05 Why Tokenizing HELOCs Is Just One Piece 03:30 Why Figure Picked HELOCs as an Asset 03:49 Why Banks Could Not Provide Small Equity Loans 04:29 Why Tokenized Assets Need Utility 04:56 Democratized Prime Explained 05:27 Connecting HELOCs to DeFi via Morpho 05:46 The New Buyers Public Blockchains Unlock 06:06 Why RWA Tokens Struggle With Liquidity 06:26 TradFi Buyers of Tokenized Mortgages 06:50 Democratizing Access to Warehouse Finance 07:17 Are Banks the Middleman Being Removed 07:35 The Narrow Banking Thesis 08:19 Accessing 160 Billion in Stablecoins 08:40 Two Sources of New Capital 08:58 Success With DeFi Curators 09:48 Asian Family Offices Accessing US Credit 10:33 The Margin Impact of the Opportunity 10:49 Why Cheaper Financing Accelerates the Business 11:13 Financing on Morpho Below SOFR 11:49 A Whole New Product of Prime Borrowers 12:11 Why Morpho Was the Right Platform 12:37 Why Ethereum Over Solana for Scale 13:02 Is Morpho a Profit Center or Distribution 13:23 Why It Is a Flywheel, Not a Profit Center 13:53 What Competitors Are Learning 14:31 Competing Through Value Chain Partnerships 15:03 What Is Next: New Assets Coming On Chain 15:37 Auto Loans, Residential, and SMB Lending 16:06 Is the Model Unique or Scalable 16:40 The Two Keys to Success 17:31 Sizing the Assets on Ethereum and Morpho 17:58 Projecting Billions by Year End 18:21 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _