Firelight is also evaluating a wider range of liquid assets that do not currently generate substantial yield, CEO Anthony DeMartino told CoinDesk in an interview.
“There’s a bunch of different assets that we’re considering,” DeMartino said. “Anything … that’s a solid asset, that has good liquidity to it, that doesn’t provide its own natural yield, will eventually be eligible to be posted as collateral.”
Bringing fintech money onchain
Firelight is targeting an opportunity beyond crypto-native traders as fintech companies, neobanks and payments providers increasingly integrate onchain yield products into their applications.
The risk of customer capital being lost in an exploit can become a significant obstacle when a product is ready to launch, DeMartino said. Firelight aims to provide a protection layer that makes the transition to onchain products less daunting.
“This isn’t built for degens,” he said. “This is built to bring the next wave of capital in. We want to be that protection layer to allow that adoption.”
DeMartino expects more money currently held in bank accounts to move into fintech earn products powered by stablecoins, onchain vaults and wallets. Sentora, he said, has also been working to bring yield products to fintech applications, including payroll and remittance platforms.
The gap in onchain protection remains substantial. Approximately $80 billion is locked in DeFi, according to Firelight, while only a fraction of a percent is covered by onchain protection.
