The Credit Layer Vaults, Lending Markets, and the Next Phase of DeFi I Jonathan Han

Sat, May 2, 2026, 12:00 AM

In this talk, Jonathan Han, CEO of Euler Labs, explains how modular lending infrastructure is essential for onboarding trillions of dollars in traditional financial assets onto DeFi. He outlines three key requirements for institutional RWA adoption: compliance enforcement at the smart contract level (KYC, sanctions screening, geo-fencing), risk isolation through modular vault architecture where each asset class has independent liquidation mechanisms and risk parameters, and composability via the Ethereum Vault Connector (EVC) technology that lets isolated collateral markets share stable coin liquidity pools. Jonathan details Euler's curator model where institutional-grade risk managers like Santora, Bitwise, and Apollo set and monitor risk parameters per vault rather than relying on DAO token holder governance. He highlights their partnership with Securitize for DS Token compliance integration and their launch of tokenized equity markets (S&P 500, NASDAQ, Tesla) currently operating 24/5 with plans for 24/7 weekend trading pending reliable oracle data and weekend liquidation partners. The talk emphasizes that permissionless deployment of high-quality assets, combined with professional risk curation, is the path to making previously inaccessible financial instruments — private credit, public equities, commodities — available to everyone through DeFi. 00:00 Introduction 00:31 The Credit Layer and Next Phase of DeFi 01:28 Key Categories for Institutional Onboarding 02:49 Compliance Requirements at the Smart Contract Level 03:44 Risk Isolation: Why Modular Architecture Wins 04:54 Modular vs Monolithic Lending Protocol Design 05:52 NAV Delays, Regulatory Halts, and Weekend Markets 06:33 Summary: Isolated Markets, Compliance Hooks, Domain Experts 07:51 Permissionless Deployment with Professional Risk Curators 09:25 Euler's Architecture: ERC-4626 Vaults and EVC 10:32 Independent Liquidation Mechanisms Per Market 11:58 Securitize Partnership and DS Token Compliance 13:37 Capital Efficiency: Isolated Collateral, Shared Liquidity 14:12 The Risk Curator Model Explained 15:32 Bridging TradFi and DeFi: 24/7 Markets and Settlements 17:12 Tokenized Equity Markets: S&P 500, NASDAQ, Tesla 18:25 Multi-Party Coordination for RWA Markets 19:30 Permissioned and Permissionless Vaults 20:05 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Jonathan Han X: https://x.com/0xJHan ✅ Follow Euler Labs X: https://x.com/eulerfinance ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city