#27: Sebastien Derivaux, Steakhouse Financial | Building Steakhouse, MakerDAO's RWA Legacy, and DeFi risk management
Wed Dec 10 2025
Today’s guest is Sébastien Derivaux, co-founder of Steakhouse Financial. We discuss the evolution of real-world assets in DeFi from MakerDAO’s pioneering experiments to today’s institutional-grade credit infrastructure, the recent mF-ONE private credit controversy and what it reveals about risk management in tokenized assets, and how Steakhouse built a $1B+ vault curation business on Morpho. Seb shares unfiltered lessons from five years of bringing TradFi credit on-chain—from Société Générale’s groundbreaking tokenized bond deal to defaults to launching Grove as a Sky Star allocating $1B into CLO strategies.
GUEST LINKS:
* Sébastien Derivaux: https://twitter.com/SebVentures
* Steakhouse Financial: https://twitter.com/SteakhouseFi
* Steakhouse Financial Website: https://steakhouse.financial
HOST LINKS:
* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh
* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi
* Vaults.fyi X: https://x.com/vaultsfyi
* Wallfacer X: https://x.com/wallfacerlabs
SUBSCRIBE TO WALLFACER PODCAST AND SHARE WITH FRIENDS:
* Apple
* Spotify
* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WallfacerLabs
* Substack: https://wallfacerlabs.substack.com/s/podcast
TIMESTAMPS:
* [00:00] Introduction & Background
* [02:20] MakerDAO’s Early RWA Experiments: Société Générale, Centrifuge & Lessons Learned
* [10:02] The Economics of RWAs: Cost Savings, Efficiency & What Actually Works On-Chain
* [16:31] Why Crypto Needs RWAs: Yield Sources, Composability & Liquidity Challenges
* [24:20] The mF-ONE Controversy: What Happened & How to Think About Private Credit Risk
* [31:00] Commercial Break
* [34:17] Risk Management Philosophy: Lenders vs. Investors & Diversification Strategy
* [42:46] Comparing RWA Risk to Crypto Collateral & Evolution of Market Perception
* [48:53] Building Steakhouse: Three Business Pillars & Becoming a Morpho Curator
* [51:45] The Future of Curation: Market Structure, Competition & Traditional Finance Entry
* [57:08] Vault Governance: Non-Custodial Design & How Morpho Captures Value
* [59:58] Grove Protocol & Sky’s Star System: Decentralized Allocation Strategy
* [1:04:33] Looking Ahead: Term Lending, Yield Curves & 10-Year Vision
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wallfacerlabs.substack.com
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Today’s guest is Sébastien Derivaux, co-founder of Steakhouse Financial. We discuss the evolution of real-world assets in DeFi from MakerDAO’s pioneering experiments to today’s institutional-grade credit infrastructure, the recent mF-ONE private credit controversy and what it reveals about risk management in tokenized assets, and how Steakhouse built a $1B+ vault curation business on Morpho. Seb shares unfiltered lessons from five years of bringing TradFi credit on-chain—from Société Générale’s groundbreaking tokenized bond deal to defaults to launching Grove as a Sky Star allocating $1B into CLO strategies. GUEST LINKS: * Sébastien Derivaux: https://twitter.com/SebVentures * Steakhouse Financial: https://twitter.com/SteakhouseFi * Steakhouse Financial Website: https://steakhouse.financial HOST LINKS: * Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh * Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi * Vaults.fyi X: https://x.com/vaultsfyi * Wallfacer X: https://x.com/wallfacerlabs SUBSCRIBE TO WALLFACER PODCAST AND SHARE WITH FRIENDS: * Apple * Spotify * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WallfacerLabs * Substack: https://wallfacerlabs.substack.com/s/podcast TIMESTAMPS: * [00:00] Introduction & Background * [02:20] MakerDAO’s Early RWA Experiments: Société Générale, Centrifuge & Lessons Learned * [10:02] The Economics of RWAs: Cost Savings, Efficiency & What Actually Works On-Chain * [16:31] Why Crypto Needs RWAs: Yield Sources, Composability & Liquidity Challenges * [24:20] The mF-ONE Controversy: What Happened & How to Think About Private Credit Risk * [31:00] Commercial Break * [34:17] Risk Management Philosophy: Lenders vs. Investors & Diversification Strategy * [42:46] Comparing RWA Risk to Crypto Collateral & Evolution of Market Perception * [48:53] Building Steakhouse: Three Business Pillars & Becoming a Morpho Curator * [51:45] The Future of Curation: Market Structure, Competition & Traditional Finance Entry * [57:08] Vault Governance: Non-Custodial Design & How Morpho Captures Value * [59:58] Grove Protocol & Sky’s Star System: Decentralized Allocation Strategy * [1:04:33] Looking Ahead: Term Lending, Yield Curves & 10-Year Vision This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wallfacerlabs.substack.com