The Edge Podcast Why DeFi Needs Credit Ratings And How Credora Is Building Them
Gil Santos is Lead Quant at Credora, and Marcin Kazmierczak is CoFounder of RedStone, which recently acquired Credora.
We dig into why DeFi desperately needs credit ratings, how Credora is building them, and why this is the missing piece for institutional capital to flow onchain. Gil explains the problem: DeFi has transparency of transactions but opacity when it comes to risk. You can see every trade onchain, but you can't tell if a Morpho vault is genuinely safer than another. Credora is building the Moody's and S&P for DeFi—real-time, dynamic risk ratings that update as market conditions change.
In this episode, we cover:
+ Why DeFi needs a ratings protocol ($10B rated, 80% Morpho TVL coverage)
+ The L2Beat parallel: Raising standards for the industry
+ How Credora ratings work: assessment from collateral → markets → vaults
+ 2026 vision: Stablecoins to $1T, fintechs offering rated yields to retail
------
💎 THIS EPISODE'S PARTNERS
🔒 KPK | Best risk-adjusted yield through automated vaults
🏙 MAINSTREET | Bringing proven TradFi yield strategies to DeFi markets
🌅 NEUTRL | The next generation of crypto-native yield
🛡️ ACCOUNTABLE | Real-time financial verification
🕛 NOON | The highest and safest stablecoin yield, built for the long term
⚔️ KATANA | Deep liquidity & real yield
🏦 MANTLE | MNT is now live on Solana
🐡 PUFFER INSTITUTIONAL | ETH staking solutions for scale
⚙️ GEARBOX PROTOCOL | Onchain lending reimagined
------
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
1:26 - Gil’s background
3:28 - RedStone’s acquisition of Credora
5:48 - Problems in DeFi: Risk, trust, and information asymmetry
9:26 - The history of credit ratings in TradFi
15:17 - What is Credora for DeFi?
16:39 - How do Credora ratings work?
19:54 - Rating scale in crypto vs. TradFi
22:08 - Probability of significant loss: What the ratings actually measure
27:19 - How Credora makes money without compromising credibility
31:55 - How vault curators opt in to ratings (and Morpho's role)
36:19 - How much is automated? Dynamic ratings vs. human oversight
38:09 - Rating RWAs, derivatives, and tokenized commodities
41:11 - Why Credora won't become the "big bad ratings agency"
44:29 - Institutions coming onchain and the L2Beat parallel
47:53 - Institutions already demanding ratings
48:44 - Credora revenue and RED tokenomics: Post-acquisition strategy
51:00 - Long-term vision: Rating everything and raising standards
51:53 - 2026: Fintechs, prediction markets, and onchain parameter updates
53:57 - Why DeFi-mullet products could benefit from Credora
57:18 - Closing
------
🔗 GUEST LINKS
► Credora website: https://credora.network/
► RedStone website: https://www.redstone.finance/
► Credora on X: https://x.com/credoranetwork
► RedStone on X: https://x.com/redstone_defi
► Marcin on X: https://x.com/MarcinRedStone
► Gil on X: https://x.com/gil_n_santos_
------
🎙️ MORE FROM THE EDGE PODCAST AND EDGE NEWSLETTER
► Newsletter: https://the-edge.xyz
► Apple: https://tinyurl.com/edgepod
► Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/edgepodspotify
► Linktree: https://linktr.ee/edge_pod
► Follow DeFi Dad: https://x.com/DeFi_Dad
► Follow Nomatic: https://x.com/Nomaticcap
► Learn DeFi: http://defidad.com/
------
DISCLAIMER: Nothing said on The Edge Podcast is a recommendation to buy or sell tokens or securities. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing shared here is financial advice. Any views expressed by hosts or guests on the show are solely their opinions. Always do your own research. DeFi Dad, Nomatic, and guests may have positions in the assets or other matters discussed in this podcast. DeFi Dad and Nomatic are investors in RedStone.