Crypto Long & Short: Why real-world assets need fixed-rate loans onchain Real-world assets already back the largest stablecoins, yet borrowing against them onchain still runs through variable-rate pools.
Peter Gaffney of O2O Capital Partners explains why fixed-rate, fixed-term lending is the missing piece, and how a 5% shift in Sky and Ethena reserves could create $1.8 billion of demand for real-world assets
Happy Wednesday, This is your institutional newsletter, Crypto Long & Short. This week: – Peter Gaffney of O2O Capital Partners on what’s keeping real-world assets from scaling in DeFi – Top headlines institutions should pay attention to by Francisco Rodrigues – “Tron led crypto card volume in Q3 2026” in Chart of the Week …and if you’re looking for more institutional insights: ETF Central’s Trackinsight Global ETF Survey 2026, produced with Calamos Investments and S&P Dow Jones Indices, finds nearly 7 in 10 professional investors are reassessing their ETF holdings. Plus, CoinDesk’s latest Digital Assets Quarterly Report is out now.
Thanks for joining us! Real-world assets need fixed-rate lending to scale in DeFi Fixed-rate lending is the clearest growth lever for real-world assets (RWAs) in decentralized finance (DeFi). It unlocks a strategy that credit desks have run for decades but DeFi has never meaningfully implemented: buy a quality income asset, borrow against it at a locked rate below the asset’s yield and buy more of the asset.