Despite the ups and downs of the Ethereum ecosystem, two of its most influential builders—Aave’s Stani Kulechov and Sky’s Rune Christensen—remain bullish.

In this episode, they discuss whether we’re witnessing a DeFi renaissance, the challenges of building on Ethereum vs. Solana, and why DeFi adoption isn’t growing as fast as some expected. They debate stablecoins, whether Solana is truly innovating, and how AI could transform DeFi by automating governance and risk management.

They also respond to some hot takes—including whether Aave is falling behind Solana-based Kamino, and why Sky deployed its USDS stablecoin on Solana despite Rune’s long-standing Ethereum advocacy.

Show highlights:

02:33 Whether Sky and Aave are experiencing a “DeFi renaissance”
11:49 How Stani and Rune are trying to appeal to a simpler audience
23:00 Whether developers overlook how easy it is to build DeFi on Ethereum
27:40 Why Stani believes there is not a lot of innovation in Solana
32:17 What would need to happen for Aave to be in Solana
33:27 Why Sky deployed USDS on Solana
40:30 Whether the Ethereum ecosystem should be worried about users going to other chains
49:19 Why Rune praises Solana’s culture
51:38 How USDS’s growth on Base happens organically, contrary to Solana
59:35 Why they believe that the combination of AI and DeFi will be so powerful

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Guest:

Links

Aave 2030 roadmap
Alex Svanevik of Nansen tweeted: “When Aave on Solana?”
Qiao Wang of Alliance DAO commenting on why he recommends people build on Solana
The First Non-EVM Deployment of Aave Protocol: Aave V3 on Aptos - General - Aptos Forum

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