Why DeFi Needs Onchain Prime Brokerage | MacBrennan Peet

In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with MacBrennan Peet, Founder of Project 0, about why DeFi has reached a point where unified margin, solvency guarantees and onchain prime brokerage are finally possible. MacBrennan explains why risk systems and smart contract securities have matured, how Project 0 unifies margin across multiple venues, and why serious DeFi users inevitably create fragmented risk when they trade across swaps, perps, lending platforms and prediction markets.

They also discuss the evolution of Solana market microstructure, the shift toward institutional capital using onchain strategies, and how Project 0’s credit engine works under the hood. MacBrennan shares insights from founding multiple companies, his time at MarginFi, Temporal and MRGN Research, and why transparency, auditability and open liquidity make onchain prime brokerage structurally better than off-chain models.

Timestamps

(00:00) – Intro

(01:07) – MacBrennan’s background in finance, trading, health tech, and DeFi

(02:12) – From MarginFi to MRGN to Temporal: why prime brokerage needs persisted

(03:37) – Solana’s market structure, HFT insights & liquidation solvency

(04:48) – The DeFi turning point: staying power and better risk systems

(06:23) – Why DeFi users create fragmented portfolios across venues

(07:19) – DeFi’s inflection point: staking, onchain capital & looping

(08:14) – Project 0’s two user groups: left curve vs right curve power users

(10:03) – Unified margin for retail yield seekers and delta-neutral traders

(11:30) – Why Solana is viable for venture-scale financial infrastructure

(16:01) – Lending market risks today: isolated pools & vault disclosures

(18:24) – Onchain solvency, shared liquidity & why P0 beats offchain brokers

(20:11) – Prime brokerage explained & why retail users benefit too

(22:18) – Anyone can use Project 0 — even if they don’t realize they need it

(23:47) – Unifying credit, lending & liquidity across Drift, Camino, Jupiter

(28:33) – How P0 evaluates risk: volatility, depth, liquidity, counterparties

(31:42) – What real behavioral change in DeFi would look like

(34:42) – Why “Project 0” means priority zero and building from first principles

Essentials

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