The post John Zettler: 2026 will be the year of DeFi vaults, infrastructure is primed for explosive growth, and liquidity preferences are key to optimizing yield appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

DeFi vaults are set for explosive growth by 2026, reshaping how institutions manage digital assets. Key takeaways 2026 is projected to be a pivotal year for DeFi vaults, with significant growth expected. The infrastructure for DeFi vaults is now in place, setting the stage for rapid growth. The growth of DeFi yield products will accelerate as more companies adopt vault strategies. Vaults serve as a layer on top of DeFi, allowing institutions to package financial products with compliance and risk controls. The construction of a good vault product involves optimizing for user preferences regarding liquidity and yield while considering various risks. Liquidity and yield are fundamentally tied in DeFi, and user preferences play a crucial role in determining the best yield opportunities. The yield from lending protocols comes from on-chain borrowers who utilize stablecoins like USDC as collateral to borrow more crypto. Aave is primarily a direct lending protocol, while Morpho relies more on vaults for its lending activities. Morpho introduces isolated markets and vaults to enhance flexibility in lending. The trend in DeFi will move towards more flexible, multi-protocol, and multi-chain solutions. The superpower of beta lies in its ability to offer multi-protocol, multi-chain vaults that provide simplicity and aggregation. Aave pioneered lending and borrowing at scale, while Morpho introduced modular lending. The category of risk managers in the crypto space is growing rapidly, paralleling the growth of vaults. Diversity in asset management is essential, as no single entity can manage all assets effectively. Protocols are increasingly trying to vertically integrate by developing their own vault infrastructure. Guest intro John Zettler is Director of Product, Earn at Kraken, where he leads the company’s yield business including staking, stablecoins, and DeFi strategies. Previously at Coinbase, he served as Staking Product Lead and drove over $1 billion in gross annual recurring…

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Filed under: News - @ February 4, 2026 1:28 am