Paul Frambot: Maple’s hybrid model combines CeFi and DeFi for institutional lending, resilience in crypto investment persists, and yield generation thrives through strategic partnerships

Key takeaways

• Maple operates as a hybrid model, integrating both CeFi and DeFi elements for lending.
• Institutional interest in crypto remains strong despite market volatility.
• Maple’s clients include prime brokers and asset managers, with loans ranging from $10 million to $500 million.
• DeFi composability is a key differentiator for Maple, driving growth.
• Syrup USDC and USDT holders benefit from over-collateralized loans to institutional borrowers.
• Partnerships, like the one with Athena, diversify asset backing and yield sources.
• Aave and Syrup collaborate to enhance user yield and utilization, not compete.
• Institutional trust in crypto is bolstered by the absence of recent fraud cases.
• More private credit players and investment banks are expected to enter bitcoin-backed lending.
• Users can leverage syrup USDC or USDT on Aave for higher yields.
• The hybrid CeFi/DeFi model of Maple appeals to a wide range of institutional clients.
• Institutional adoption of DeFi protocols is reshaping financial products and lending practices.
• Yield generation in Maple is driven by interest from over-collateralized loans.
• The DeFi ecosystem’s composability offers strategic advantages for lending platforms.
• Institutional resilience in crypto investment suggests a maturing market.

Guest intro

Paul Frambot is the co-founder and CEO of Morpho Labs, the research and development company building and growing the Morpho protocol. He co-founded Morpho Labs in 2021 while completing his Master’s in Parallel and Distributed Systems at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, raising $18 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Variant. Morpho has grown into a multi-billion-dollar DeFi lending protocol, with its latest version Morpho Blue serving as a secure and flexible base layer for onchain lending.

Maple’s hybrid lending model

• Maple integrates CeFi and DeFi lending practices, creating a unique hybrid model.

• We’re a little bit of a hybrid between CeFi lending which would use off-chain agreements and custodians and DeFi lending where you take in the capital on-chain and you record all of the loans on-chain

  — Paul Frambot

• This model allows for a seamless blend of traditional finance and blockchain technology.
• The hybrid approach is designed to cater to institutional clients with varying needs.
• Maple’s model records all loans on-chain, ensuring transparency and security.
• The integration of CeFi elements includes off-chain agreements and custodians.
• The DeFi aspect involves taking in capital and managing loans on-chain.
• Maple’s clients benefit from the security and efficiency of blockchain technology.
• The hybrid model is particularly appealing to prime brokers and asset managers.
• Loan sizes range from $10 million to $500 million, showcasing Maple’s capacity to handle large-scale lending.

• The loan sizes that we do are typically anywhere from the smallest loan we do would be about $10,000,000 and the largest we did was actually just before Christmas was a $500,000,000 one

  — Paul Frambot

Institutional interest and resilience

• Institutional interest in crypto has remained stable despite market price fluctuations.

• I would say over periods of kind of price weakness for lack of a better word… the resilience of the institutional interest in crypto

  — Paul Frambot

• The absence of fraud cases has helped maintain institutional trust in the crypto space.

• What we’ve seen is that the key difference this time versus 2022 is that there is no case of fraud or there’s been nothing that’s really dented the trust of institutions in the space

  — Paul Frambot

• Institutional resilience suggests a maturing market for digital assets.
• The stability of institutional interest indicates confidence in the long-term potential of crypto.
• More private credit players and investment banks are expected to enter the bitcoin-backed lending space.

• I think it signifies that you should expect to see more private credit players or investment banks start to move into this space over time

  — Paul Frambot

• The institutional adoption of DeFi protocols is reshaping the landscape of financial products.
• Institutional players are increasingly recognizing the benefits of blockchain technology.
• The involvement of large financial institutions could drive further growth in the DeFi sector.
• Institutional interest is a key factor in the ongoing development of crypto markets.

Yield generation and DeFi composability

• Maple’s yield comes from over-collateralized loans to institutional borrowers.

• The yield in our instance comes from the over-collateralized loans to these institutional borrowers so we originate a loan to them they pay interest that then gets passed through as yield to holders of syrup USDC and syrup USDT

  — Paul Frambot

• DeFi composability is a unique differentiator for Maple, driving significant growth.

• I think that DeFi composability has been another unique point where Maple kind of is different to other CeFi lenders and that drove a lot of our growth that we saw in 2025

  — Paul Frambot

• Users can earn higher yields by using syrup USDC or USDT as collateral on Aave.

• The important point is that you can earn a higher yield than the cost of borrowing on Aave so it makes sense to post it as collateral to Aave borrow against it mint more syrup USDC or USDT and then post it again to Aave

  — Paul Frambot

• The integration with Aave incentivizes borrowing and minting more assets.
• Maple’s products are designed to enhance user returns through strategic partnerships.
• The composability of DeFi allows for innovative financial strategies and products.
• Yield generation is a key component of Maple’s business model, attracting institutional clients.
• The ability to leverage assets on platforms like Aave is a significant advantage for users.
• DeFi composability offers flexibility and efficiency in financial operations.

Strategic partnerships and collaborations

• The partnership with Athena diversifies asset backing and yield sources for susde holders.

• The way that that proposal would work is that Athena would use syrup USDC or syrup USDT or our permissioned Maple institutional pool as a source of yield… it provides a yield and then the yield can serve or the yield can be passed on to their susde holders

  — Paul Frambot

• Aave and Syrup are not competitors but partners that enhance utilization and yield for users.

• Having syrup USDC on there increases the utilization and the yield available for Aave users… the answer is no we actually work quite well as partners

  — Paul Frambot

• Strategic partnerships are crucial for expanding yield opportunities in the DeFi space.
• Collaborations with other platforms enhance the value proposition for Maple’s clients.
• The DeFi ecosystem thrives on partnerships that drive innovation and growth.
• Maple’s partnerships are designed to maximize returns for users and stakeholders.
• The collaborative nature of DeFi protocols is essential for understanding market dynamics.
• Partnerships with established platforms like Aave provide credibility and trust.
• The ability to work with other platforms is a strategic advantage for Maple.
• Collaborations are key to unlocking new opportunities in the DeFi market.