Bringing Institutional Grade Finance Onchain I Jan Gorzny

Sat, May 2, 2026, 12:00 AM

In this talk, Jan Gorzny from Zircuit presents Zircuit Finance, a new platform launched at Denver that brings institutional-grade investment yields on-chain in a fully permissionless way. He frames the two core problems blocking DeFi mass adoption: inaccessibility (accreditation requirements, high capital minimums, lockup periods) and risk (smart contract exploits, complex looping strategies, yield unpredictability). His thesis is that if Web3 truly wants to "bank the unbanked," it needs to offer all the good aspects of institutional finance — professional capital management, predictable yields, proven track records — without the gatekeeping. Zircuit Finance solves this by letting anyone deposit USDC or USDT with no KYC, no minimum deposit, and no lockup, then lending those funds to regulated asset managers like Monarch, Fortis, and Fidelity who run strategies like delta-neutral quant funds. The platform targets 8-11% APY with 0% management fees and a 20% performance fee, keeping the smart contract architecture deliberately simple to minimize security risk. It's live on Ethereum and Base as a LayerZero OApp with multi-chain expansion planned, and also integrates DeFi protocols like Aave and Morpho to augment yields and provide flexibility alongside the institutional strategies. 00:00 Introduction 00:29 Pragmatic DeFi: Sensible and Realistic 01:49 Two Problems with High-Yield DeFi: Risk and Inaccessibility 03:21 Banking the Unbanked Means Matching Bank-Level Features 04:10 Bringing Institutional Capital On-Chain 04:50 Why Institutional Yields Are Currently Inaccessible 05:59 Professional Strategies and Higher, Safer Yields 06:56 DeFi Risk: Exploits, Contagion, and Horror Stories 07:42 De-Risking Through Regulated Partners 08:43 Growing the Pie Together 09:02 Solution: Permissionless Access + Predictable Yields 09:51 Introducing Zircuit Finance 10:27 Target: 8-11% on USDC/USDT, Zero Management Fees 10:49 Multi-Chain via LayerZero 11:10 Partners: Monarch, Fortis, Fidelity, Aave, Morpho 11:48 How It Works: Deposit, Lend, Earn 12:10 Key Takeaway: Predictable DeFi Is Safer DeFi 13:13 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 Jan Gorzny X: https://x.com/jgorzny ✅ Follow Zircuit X: https://x.com/Zircuit ✅ 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