In this episode of Inside the Hutt, Brooke Pollack welcomes Vishwa Naik, co-founder of Anera, a DeFi-focused prime brokerage. Vishwa shares his journey from finance and traditional startups to the world of blockchain, explaining how Anera provides inventory and execution services to institutional traders. They explore the complexities of cross-chain liquidity, arbitrage opportunities between CeFi and DeFi, and the future of capital-efficient trading. Vishwa also discusses the technical and security challenges of building a DeFi protocol, the role of tokenized assets, and how Anera is positioning itself to scale within both DeFi and traditional financial systems.
Key Points From This Episode:
Vishwa’s background – from finance to blockchain entrepreneurship.
The vision for Anera – building a DeFi-focused prime brokerage.
Why interoperability between chains is critical for market efficiency.
How Anera helps institutional traders access capital-efficient arbitrage.
The evolving role of DeFi prime brokerage and its relationship with existing players like FalconX.
Why Anera transitioned away from servicing retail users to focus on institutions.
How DeFi protocols and CeFi traders interact in arbitrage markets.
Challenges in scaling a prime brokerage for DeFi and key liquidity trends.
The role of tokenized yield-bearing assets in Anera’s future.
The importance of hiring domain experts from prop trading and market-making firms.
Regulatory considerations and the impact of a new U.S. administration on crypto markets.
Anera’s upcoming product launch in March 2025 and expansion plans.
Links
Vishwa Naik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishwa-naik-4748a3137
Anera Labs: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anera-labs
Brooke Pollack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhpollack
Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn: https://twitter.com/bhpollack
Hutt Capital: https://www.huttcapital.com/