Beyond Yield Farming: How Curated Vaults Are Redrawing The Lines Between DeFi And Fund Management

The line between DeFi and traditional asset management is blurring — and the next battleground might be something most investors have barely heard of yet.

Vaults started as simple yield-farming tools, a way to deposit crypto and watch returns accumulate. But gradually, they’ve evolved into something far more sophisticated: programmable investment vehicles capable of managing collateral, allocating across strategies, and enforcing risk parameters — all without a fund manager on the phone or a term sheet in the mail.

Edwin Mata, CEO and Co-Founder of Brickken, believes this shift is more than a product upgrade. It’s a restructuring of how capital moves onchain. We sat down with him to explore whether DeFi vaults are the new crypto funds, what’s driving investors toward curated strategies, and what happens when programmable infrastructure starts doing what hedge funds, money market funds, and credit managers have always done — only faster, cheaper, and on a public ledger.

Are DeFi vaults becoming the next evolution of crypto funds? Why or why not?

Yes. Vaults are becoming programmable investment products. They are moving beyond simple yield products into structured investment vehicles that can allocate capital and manage exposure according to defined risk parameters.

DeFi vaults can allocate across onchain strategies, while RWA vaults — into tokenized credit, treasuries, receivables, real estate debt and other income-producing assets. Fund-like strategies are being rebuilt on programmable infrastructure.

What’s driving the shift toward curated vault strategies instead of traditional lending pools or passive yield products?

Investors want managed exposure. Access to protocols is no longer enough. The market has matured to the point where investors care about who is selecting the collateral, how risk is being managed and how capital is reallocated when conditions change.

Curated vaults simplify complexity by packaging strategy, collateral selection, risk controls, liquidity terms and yield generation into a single product. Investors are not looking to manage protocol selection, liquidation risk and liquidity conditions manually.

How important is personalization becoming in DeFi? Are investors increasingly looking for different risk profiles, collateral choices, and yield strategies rather than one-size-fits-all products?

Very important. Personalization is becoming a requirement. Investors increasingly want different risk profiles, collateral types, durations, redemption terms and yield sources.

A conservative stablecoin vault is not the same product as a private credit RWA vault or a leveraged DeFi strategy. Treating them as interchangeable yield products is a mistake. They are built for different investors, risk appetites and liquidity needs.

The next phase of DeFi will be won by products that can match capital to the right strategy, risk profile and collateral base.

How could the rise of vaults reshape the crypto industry over the next few years, particularly around capital flows, liquidity, and competition among protocols?

Vaults could become a major allocation layer for onchain capital. Their rise would change the competitive structure of DeFi. Protocols will compete for vault liquidity and curator confidence, not just direct users.

Curators will influence capital flows, collateral acceptance and which protocols become part of institutional-grade strategies. Investors will choose strategies based on risk-adjusted returns rather than headline APY.

Vault-based allocation pushes DeFi away from short-term yield chasing and toward more disciplined capital allocation. The protocols that win will be the ones that can prove depth, liquidity, risk controls and sustainable returns.

Could vault-based strategies eventually compete with or replace parts of traditional asset management, such as hedge funds, money market funds, or credit funds?

Yes, especially in areas like money market products, private credit, hedge fund strategies and structured yield products. Vaults will not replace traditional asset management immediately, but they can compete directly with parts of it. They can move allocation, risk management, reporting, access and execution onto programmable infrastructure.

The question is not whether DeFi replaces funds, it’s whether programmable vaults can deliver the same investment function with better transparency, lower operational friction and broader distribution.

What risks could emerge as more capital moves into curated vault strategies, particularly around concentration, liquidity, or reliance on a smaller group of managers?

The key risks are manager concentration, liquidity mismatches, poor collateral quality, opaque strategy decisions, smart contract risk, valuation risk and offchain enforcement risk in RWA vaults.

Vaults improve transparency, but they do not make risk disappear. More responsibility moves to the curator, the strategy design and the underlying collateral framework.

If too much capital follows a small number of curators, or if those curators make similar assumptions, vaults can amplify stress during volatile markets. Liquidity terms, collateral quality and exit mechanics will matter as much as advertised yield.

The industry should not market vaults as passive products. They are managed strategies, and they need to be evaluated with the same discipline as any fund, credit product or structured investment vehicle.

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