Summary
In this episode of Block by Block, Peter Abilla sits down with Erbil Karaman, co-founder of Huma Finance, to unpack PayFi, income-backed DeFi, and the broken state of cross-border payments. Erbil explains how PayFi uses blockchain and stablecoins to give merchants instant access to cash flows that today are trapped in legacy rails for days or even weeks. They dig into remittances, trillions of dollars locked in pre-funded bank accounts, and how Huma plugs DeFi liquidity into real-world payment flows. The conversation covers Huma’s partnerships, investor perspective, token design, privacy and compliance, and what it will take to scale PayFi into a global financial network.
Takeaways
— Huma Finance positions itself as the first PayFi network, focused on income-backed DeFi for real-world payments.
— PayFi uses blockchain and stablecoins to accelerate global payments and free up trapped liquidity.
— Traditional remittance rails leave trillions of dollars idle in pre-funded accounts and are slow and expensive.
— Huma’s model gives merchants and platforms near-instant access to their incoming cash flows.
— The team integrates with established partners for cross-border and last-mile payout coverage.
— Liquidity is sourced by borrowing from DeFi, then routed into real-world transaction flows.
— Building strong local and regional partnerships is core to solving last-mile delivery of funds.
— A diverse investor base signals confidence in Huma’s category and long-term vision.
— Token design is used to align incentives between liquidity providers, partners, and users.
— Privacy, KYC, and regulatory compliance are treated as first-class requirements, not afterthoughts.
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction to Huma Finance and PayFi
00:04:32 Understanding PayFi and Its Use Cases
00:10:20 The Liquidity Challenge in Traditional Systems
00:14:52 The Shift from Traditional Banking to DeFi
00:20:41 Building Partnerships for Last-Mile Solutions
00:25:24 Navigating the Complexities of Huma Finance
00:28:25 Scaling Infrastructure and Predictability
00:29:02 Go-to-Market Strategy and Partnerships
00:32:16 Privacy in Blockchain Transactions
00:35:35 KYC and Compliance in Remittance
00:37:01 Revenue Models and Liquidity Management
00:44:23 Tokenomics and Community Engagement
00:51:00 Future Vision for Huma Finance
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See other Episodes Here. And thank you to all our crypto and blockchain guests.
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