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Should All Your Financial Assets be on Blockchain?

Feb 22, 2026

Chris Yin, CEO of Plume Network — a founder and former VC building tokenization infrastructure — discusses bringing real-world assets on-chain. He explains why many RWAs lack liquidity and crypto-native UX. Chris outlines Plume’s custom L1 and the Nest vault blending short and long-duration assets. He also covers regulatory plumbing like an SEC transfer agent license and the tension between decentralization and institutional capital.

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INSIGHT

Bring The Real World To Crypto Not Crypto To TradFi

Plume's thesis: don't recreate TradFi on-chain; instead bring TradFi assets into crypto in a crypto-native way.
They focused on rails, usability and pipelines so assets improve when on chain rather than just being copies.

INSIGHT

Stablecoins Are The Only Widely Used RWA Today

Stablecoins are the only RWA with real crypto-native adoption today because they seamlessly disappear into crypto UX.
Chris cites Tether's practical usability as why people treat stablecoins like core money despite unknown backing.

INSIGHT

Demand Drives Which RWAs Matter On Chain

RWA demand depends on who is using crypto and market sentiment, not the asset class itself.
Today 99.9% of users are crypto natives, so yield products must match crypto-native needs to attract usage.

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In this episode, host Sebastian Couture is joined by Chris Yin, CEO of Plume Network, to deconstruct the current state of Real World Assets (RWAs) and why the sector is at a pivotal inflection point. Chris argues that most RWA projects today are functionally "worse on-chain" because they lack liquidity, composability, and the "crypto-native" user experience that made stablecoins successful.

He details how Plume is solving this through a custom L1 stack and the Nest vault protocol, which tokenizes high-yield assets like Brazilian credit card receivables and oil production for a global market.

They explore the friction between traditional finance and DeFi, highlighting why private credit's long duration makes it unsuitable for the "looping" and leverage that drives crypto demand. Chris explains the significance of Plume’s SEC Transfer Agent license and its role in bridging the gap between regulated funds and permissionless rails.

Finally, the conversation tackles the "bleak" vs. "optimistic" future of crypto, asking whether the industry will maintain its core principles of self-custody and decentralization as it searches for a "new daddy" in institutional capital.

Topics

00:00 Intro & Context
04:15 The Job of a Founder: Finding Change
09:30 Crypto Natives vs. TradFi Suites
15:00 Stablecoins: The Only RWA That Matters (Today)
21:45 The Bottleneck: It’s Not Tokenization, It’s Demand
27:10 Why Build an L1 for Assets?
35:20 SEC Transfer Agent License Explained
42:15 Nest Alpha: Blending Oil, Credit, and T-Bills
49:00 Is Leverage Sustainable for Institutions?
55:30 The Exodus: Will Crypto Values Survive?

Links

Chris Yin on X: https://x.com/chriseyin
Plume Network: https://www.plumenetwork.com/
Nest: https://nest.plumenetwork.com/
NEAR: https://near.ai/

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