Matt Molloy on Why Institutional Yield Is Moving Onchain
TruYields CEO and Co-Founder Matt Molloy joined Kieran O’Connor on the Calculated Risks podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on how institutional yield is moving onchain.
The discussion traced Matt’s route from consulting into digital assets, how the TruYields product range fits together, where onchain yield actually comes from, the controls institutions expect before they allocate, and why regulatory clarity shapes where capital can move.
One theme ran through the whole conversation. Institutional yield is moving onchain, but it only works when the operating model around the yield meets institutional standards. Access to yield is no longer the scarce part. The harder question is whether that yield can fit inside the controls, custody arrangements and reporting standards institutions already operate with.
A Deliberate Path into Digital Assets
Matt described a career that moved steadily out along the risk curve. He went from a consulting role at Accenture, where he ran a fintech innovation lab, to a fintech-focused private equity firm, and then into digital assets full time. What is now TruYields was first incubated as TruFin within WebN Group, the Web3 incubator from Brevan Howard Digital.
“I’ve always been willing to move to the areas where I think there’s the highest opportunity and the highest potential for growth, whether personal or for the company.”
That trajectory matters for institutional readers. TruYields was built by people who understand traditional finance diligence, rather than crypto natives encountering institutional requirements for the first time.
One Yield Engine, Three Product Lines
Matt walked through how the three product lines fit together, the combination he describes as the TruYields yield engine. TruCore covers tokenised RWA and USD yield, TruStake provides institutional liquid staking, and TruVault runs curated vault strategies. TruStake was first to market in 2024, and TruCore extended the business into US dollar denominated yield. TruVault builds on the other two by adding strategy flexibility, whether the objective is additional yield, risk management or more tailored exposure.
He also explained the thinking behind the March 2026 rebrand. The previous name said little about what the business actually does.
“TruFin doesn’t really convey anything. You very much need to be describing exactly what you do for people to recognise it. TruYields hits to the point of the types of products we want to build and what we do.”
Matt was candid about where institutions tend to begin. Many start in TruCore with a more familiar yield product such as a tokenised treasury bill, while clients already holding crypto-native assets such as Solana tend to start with TruStake. Balances then grow as operational comfort and trust build.
Where Onchain Yield Actually Comes From
One of the most useful parts of the conversation was Matt’s breakdown of where sustainable onchain yield comes from. He set out three sources.
The first is staking, the reward for helping a proof-of-stake network reach consensus, and often the closest onchain analogue to a base rate of return. The second is lending and borrowing, where capital earns a return through onchain markets rather than a bank, one of the earliest primitives in the space. The third, and the one increasingly central to TruYields, is tokenised real world assets.
That third source covers tokenised Treasury products backed by short-duration US government debt, and tokenised private credit funds paying 8 to 10 per cent in US dollar terms, brought onchain with their cash flows and made transferable within permissioned markets. The point for buyers is that yield is not a single thing. Each source carries a different risk profile, and a credible provider should be clear about which one a given product relies on.
What Institutions Worry About, and the Controls That Answer Them
Matt was candid about why institutions are right to be cautious. The defining feature of blockchains, transaction finality, is both the benefit and the risk.
“In crypto and the blockchain space, once a transaction goes through, it’s final and irreversible. That’s the benefit, but also potentially the risk.”
He pointed to FTX as fraud rather than anything crypto-specific, and to more recent smart contract exploits and increasingly sophisticated social engineering attacks, including cases where attackers spent close to a year building a trusted relationship before striking. TruYields addresses these concerns with controls designed for institutional workflows, rather than open, retail-native DeFi access.
Every participant goes through KYC, KYB and AML onboarding, after which their wallet is added to an allow list that defines exactly who can interact with the protocol and its smart contracts.
“We want to know who is interacting with our products and our smart contracts.”
Custody matters just as much. TruYields products are non-custodial, so clients keep full control of their assets throughout, and they are designed to work with the qualified custodians and institutional wallet infrastructure clients already use. The aim is to let institutions access yield through their existing custody arrangements, rather than forcing capital into unfamiliar operating models.
Why Regulatory Clarity Decides Where Capital Goes
Matt was direct that regulatory clarity, more than uniquely favourable rules, is what a business like TruYields needs. He explained the move to the UAE in those terms: a regulator willing to engage commercially, and a time zone that bridges Asia, Europe and the US.
“All we want really is clarity. We just want the rules of the road.”
He contrasted that with the UK, which has been less accommodating to the crypto space, and the US, which spent years in what he called regulation by enforcement before turning a corner. For institutional allocators, that clarity is one of the conditions that lets more capital move onchain with confidence.
Why Institutional Backing Matters
Matt reflected on funding. TruYields closed its initial round in 2023 with crypto-native investors alongside Brevan Howard Digital, and has since announced a strategic investment led by SC Ventures (Standard Chartered), with participation from FalconX and Road Capital. He was clear that this kind of backing is about more than capital. A larger, traditional name validates the business to the regulated counterparties it wants to serve.
“We were very fortunate to have great partners in Standard Chartered who saw the vision of what we were trying to build.”
That network also opens doors. Matt pointed to a tokenised treasury fund sub-managed by Wellington Management as an example of the institutional relationships such backing makes possible. He framed the growth in assets as evidence that the category is maturing, with capital under management rising into the hundreds of millions, a level that signals genuine product market fit for an institutional yield business. He was also candid that a difficult fundraising market made the latest round hard-won.
Crypto Under the Hood
On when onchain finance becomes mainstream, Matt’s answer was that most people will never see it.
“I’d see blockchain and crypto as an enabling technology to do things we’ve historically done, or maybe not been able to do, but in a more efficient manner.”
He compared it to buying a stock through an app, or sending a message while abroad. The user cares about the outcome, not the rails underneath. He expects onchain settlement to sit invisibly behind familiar products, pointing to tokenised stocks and platforms building their own chains. And he sees AI as an accelerant rather than a competing trend.
“I think it’s an accelerant. I see both AI and crypto as two emerging technologies.”
Watch the Full Conversation
The full episode covers Matt’s path into the industry, how liquid staking works, the full TruYields product line, raising capital in a difficult market, and where onchain yield is heading. Watch the full Calculated Risks conversation here.
