The Fusion of Traditional Finance and DeFi: New Financial Products Challenge Market Boundaries | WebX2026

At the Limitless stage of WebX 2026, a panel titled "Questioning the Intersection of Traditional Finance and Decentralized Finance (DeFi)" was held. The speakers included Yoann Turpin, co-founder of the major market maker Wintermute; Tarun Chitra, CEO of Gauntlet, which specializes in on-chain asset management and risk management; and Andrea Perin from the Bank of Italy. Under the moderation of Daniel Kim, CEO of Tiger Research, discussions revolved around tokenized assets and stablecoins.

Daniel Kim divided the session into "present" and "future," starting the discussion with the current status of each company.
Yoann Turpin
We come from traditional finance (TradFi). Wintermute was established in 2017 and has been involved in DeFi since 2019. Recently, we have been actively engaged in trading tokenized securities, operating 24/7. Since last year, we have also handled tokenized gold, and this year we have started trading tokenized stocks, operating across three venues: CEX (centralized exchanges), CeFi, and DeFi. While challenges such as KYC (Know Your Customer) remain, the key is to establish a framework that includes off-ramps (exit to fiat currency).
Daniel Kim
Has the range of assets you handle dramatically changed compared to a few years ago?
Yoann Turpin
The core remains spot trading in cryptocurrencies, but OTC (over-the-counter) trading, reflecting institutional investor interest, has increased from about 5% of total trading volume in 2021 to nearly 15% now, and on significant days, it exceeds 25%. The participants in trading itself are changing.

A New Domain of Vault Curation
Next, Daniel Kim asked Tarun Chitra, who had just announced funding from SBI Holdings, about "risk curation."
Tarun Chitra
DeFi will celebrate its 10th anniversary in two years, starting from MakerDAO. Initially, transactions were completely pooled and permissionless, but as we try to integrate with traditional finance, some level of permission and separation becomes necessary. There are fully trustless parts, KYC-enclosed parts, and the middle ground, and vaults serve to "fill the gap" between these two extremes. On-chain primarily deals with liquidity risk, while traditional finance deals with underwriting risk, and balancing these two is the core of vault curation.

The discussion shifted to how central banks perceive private technological innovations.
Andrea Perin
It is very interesting that such an active environment for fintech has emerged. While we appreciate the efficiency and 24/7 nature, it also presents challenges for us. The foundation of the central bank's perspective is monetary policy, and whether centralized or decentralized, all activities come with risks that need to be managed and assessed, and capital requirements are also necessary. Stablecoins need to be carefully evaluated and controlled, not to push specific solutions, but to protect the public interest.
Yoann Turpin
The Federal Reserve in the U.S. is responsible for supporting growth, while European central banks tend to focus first on inflation instability. I have always believed that blockchain could be the perfect tool for central banks to deliver policies directly without going through the "transmission mechanism." However, the role of operators who want to hold assets (custody) remains significant.

In the latter half, Daniel Kim shifted the theme to the "future" and asked about the challenges to be addressed next.
Yoann Turpin
The challenge boils down to "how to deliver products in a good way (distribution)." We know how to create them, but we still do not know how to deliver them adequately. Tokenization of real estate has been attempted for some time, but scaling distribution remains a challenge and is also an educational issue. Regarding vaults, if the lending parties are sufficiently diversified, the system gains resilience. In fact, we have survived Luna and failed centralized lending companies.
Tarun Chitra
It is interesting to see who will dominate the non-dollar stablecoin market. I do not believe the euro will be strong in the long term. The next market is clearly Japan.

Concluding the discussion, Daniel Kim reflected, "I have been moderating for five years, and this was one of the most exciting panels in my career." The discussions among market makers, risk managers, and central banks highlighted that the fusion of traditional finance and DeFi encompasses multi-layered challenges, not only in technology but also in regulation, liquidity, distribution, and the question of "for whom the rules are made."

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