Summary

In this episode of Block by Block, Peter Abilla sits down with Erbil Karaman, co-founder of Huma Finance, to unpack PayFi, income-backed DeFi, and the broken state of cross-border payments. Erbil explains how PayFi uses blockchain and stablecoins to give merchants instant access to cash flows that today are trapped in legacy rails for days or even weeks. They dig into remittances, trillions of dollars locked in pre-funded bank accounts, and how Huma plugs DeFi liquidity into real-world payment flows. The conversation covers Huma’s partnerships, investor perspective, token design, privacy and compliance, and what it will take to scale PayFi into a global financial network.

Takeaways

— Huma Finance positions itself as the first PayFi network, focused on income-backed DeFi for real-world payments.

— PayFi uses blockchain and stablecoins to accelerate global payments and free up trapped liquidity.

— Traditional remittance rails leave trillions of dollars idle in pre-funded accounts and are slow and expensive.

— Huma’s model gives merchants and platforms near-instant access to their incoming cash flows.

— The team integrates with established partners for cross-border and last-mile payout coverage.

— Liquidity is sourced by borrowing from DeFi, then routed into real-world transaction flows.

— Building strong local and regional partnerships is core to solving last-mile delivery of funds.

— A diverse investor base signals confidence in Huma’s category and long-term vision.

— Token design is used to align incentives between liquidity providers, partners, and users.

— Privacy, KYC, and regulatory compliance are treated as first-class requirements, not afterthoughts.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction to Huma Finance and PayFi

00:04:32 Understanding PayFi and Its Use Cases

00:10:20 The Liquidity Challenge in Traditional Systems

00:14:52 The Shift from Traditional Banking to DeFi

00:20:41 Building Partnerships for Last-Mile Solutions

00:25:24 Navigating the Complexities of Huma Finance

00:28:25 Scaling Infrastructure and Predictability

00:29:02 Go-to-Market Strategy and Partnerships

00:32:16 Privacy in Blockchain Transactions

00:35:35 KYC and Compliance in Remittance

00:37:01 Revenue Models and Liquidity Management

00:44:23 Tokenomics and Community Engagement

00:51:00 Future Vision for Huma Finance

Follow me @papiofficial on X for upcoming episodes and to get in touch with me.

Watch these interviews and subscribe on Youtube Block by Block Show.

See other Episodes Here. And thank you to all our crypto and blockchain guests.