
The Index Podcast Bitcoin’s Next Frontier, DeFi’s Future & On-Chain Finance | VEDA Co-founder Sun Raghupathi
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May 16, 2025 Sunand Raghupathi, Co-founder and CEO of VEDA, dives into the world of DeFi and its transformative potential for on-chain finance. He discusses his shift from academia to crypto and the creation of a user-friendly platform with a focus on transparency. Raghupathi explains how VEDA integrates cross-chain capabilities to uncover yield opportunities while ensuring safety through verifiable constraints. He shares insights on market dynamics in Solana, the untapped potential of Bitcoin in DeFi, and why he believes the space is more robust than ever.
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From PhD To DeFi Founder
- Sunand left a computer science PhD to join Sommelier Finance in 2021 and never returned to academia.
- His startup path began after falling in love with DeFi's principles and impact potential.
Early Work At Sommelier Finance
- Sunand joined Sommelier Finance, a Cosmos chain powering products with smart contracts on Ethereum.
- He says execution and immature infrastructure made some early designs premature.
Package DeFi As Consumer Products
- DeFi primitives are backend infrastructure and must be packaged for consumers.
- VEDA packages yield into simple, non-custodial vaults so users can access DeFi safely.
