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Sead Fadilpašić
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Sead Fadilpašić
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Why Trust Cryptonews
Cryptonews Podcast host Matt Zahab sat down for an exclusive interview with Chris Yin, the CEO and Co-Founder of Plume, a modular Layer-2 (L2) blockchain for real-world assets (RWAs).
Yin discussed the relevance and potential of RWAs, as well as the current issues the assets face.
He talked about RWA-Fi, or “RWA-flavored crypto,” what makes RWAs successful and useful, and when we may see widespread tokenization.
‘Play Around With This RWA Thing’
“I would have never guessed we’d go down this road,” Yin told Matt. RWAs were not on his map when he entered the space.
The initial step that led him into this sector was the idea of onboarding more people into crypto.
The possibilities surrounding RWAs started growing the more Yin learned about it, he suggested.
What the Plume team quickly learned is that getting an asset on-chain, regardless of what it is, is difficult.
Another issue is that, once they are on-chain, many of them are essentially useless.
Therefore, the Plume team decided to “play around with this thing” and “figure it out.”
While they began with their intuition alone, said Yin, they eventually started listening to the opinions of developers, protocol builders, and users.
“The totality of RWA, in my opinion, is how do we express ideas about the real world on-chain,” Yin remarked. “How do I have an idea about anything in the real world and be able to push a button on-chain and make it happen?”
Meanwhile, timing helped as well. Plume has been developing at the time of major institutional adoption, particularly following the launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
This has propelled the crypto industry further into the mainstream and is bound to help bring more of the traditional sector on-chain.
That said, “it’s still early,” said Yin. “There’s still a lot to do here [and] a long way to go.”
RWA-Fi: RWA-Flavored Crypto
Discussing actual use cases of the authentication of real-world assets, Yin noted the concept of “RWA-Fi.”
These, he said, are RWAs for crypto people, or “RWA-flavored crypto.” It is still crypto, Yin continued, but with “a tinge of RWAs to it.”
These assets are useful on day one and are, therefore, attractive to veterans and newcomers alike.
As an example, Yin gave stablecoins. This product is a classic RWA, but “packaged differently.” Yet, under the hood, it’s still crypto.
It’s widely successful, useful, and interoperable. As such, it has a vast adoption potential.
Therefore, Plume’s approach has been to search for what is valuable on day one.
Additionally, this asset needs to be more valuable once it gets on-chain. It makes no sense to make something that is less useful and illiquid, Yin said.
Meanwhile, Plume is “deep in our testnet right now” and has recently entered its second phase.
The project has already seen “a bunch of success” and now aims to showcase the RWA-Fi use cases.
“We’ve got a bunch of exciting announcements happening in the next few weeks,” the co-founder noted.
Moving an Aircraft Carrier
Some form of widespread tokenization is bound to happen, Yin suggested, though when that will happen is difficult to say.
Massive companies – even US Treasuries – are already in the space, and this will certainly hasten the adoption. But to put things into perspective, though they invest hundreds of millions, this is just “marketing money” for massive firms. They can afford to make a bet.
Nonetheless, once giants get involved, people want a piece of these products.
But it will not happen quickly, Yin said. More TradFi folks will need to get in, and many are still mentally recovering following the FTX fiasco.
So it will take time. It’s like “moving an aircraft carrier,” Yin said. We still have a long way to go.
That said, to get there, the industry needs to look at what people want and what products are successful and expand from there – build outwards.
“And then, as the audience changes, things will change as well. Those products will come on-chain,” Yin said.
The assets most likely to succeed on-chain are those that take advantage of crypto’s native architecture. This includes its availability 24/7 globally, instant settlements, composability, etc.
“If you lean into those things and have a blend where it’s born on-chain and lives on-chain, [and] it’s something you couldn’t do in the real world – that will bring people in. And to me, those are the things that matter,” Yin said. “It’s a whole universe of things we haven’t thought about [yet].”
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That’s not all.
In this interview, Yin also discussed:
- his experience as a founder/investor and working on financial products software products;
- building a successful product, raising money, going public, and establishing industry connections;
- the path and future of tokenization;
- Plume’s unique offerings in the RWA space;
- how Plume is evolving to serve institutional partners;
- biggest challenges in RWA deployment;
- taking a ‘crypto-native approach’ to building offerings suitable for TradFi;
- most valuable assets to bring on-chain.
You can watch the full podcast episode here.
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About Chris Yin
Chris Yin is CEO and Co-Founder of Plume, a modular Layer-2 (L2) blockchain exclusively for real-world assets (RWAs).
Yin founded Plume in 2024 to redefine how people use and think about RWAs.
He is leading a team that aims to simplify how users bring any asset on-chain, including collectibles, alternative assets, and traditional financial instruments. Yin has an accomplished track record as a product lead and investor, with prior positions at Beluga, Scale Venture Partners, and Rainforest QA.
