#34: corn (Yearn) & Connor Flanagan (Birch Hill) | What even is a vault?

Today’s guests are corn, who works on growth at Yearn, and Connor Flanagan, COO and co-founder of Birch Hill. We get into why the word “vault” stopped meaning anything, how Yearn spotted $10 million missing from Stream Finance’s wallets weeks before it collapsed, and why Birch Hill responded to the SEC’s vault statement by asking for a meeting. They also walk through their launch with Groma, where a renter’s monthly payment buys equity in the building instead of disappearing.Guest Links* corn: https://x.com/omgcorn* Yearn: https://x.com/yearnfi* Connor Flanagan: https://x.com/cflan_* Birch Hill: https://x.com/BirchHill_io* Groma: https://x.com/GromaCorpHost Links* Ryan Rodenbaugh: https://twitter.com/ryanrodenbaugh* Vaults.fyi: https://vaults.fyi* API Docs: https://docs.vaults.fyi/Subscribe to Wallfacer Podcast* https://wallfacer.io/podcastTimestamps* [00:31] What does the word “vault” even mean anymore? * [02:21] Birch Hill’s thesis: bringing credit origination onchain * [07:01] Yearn is onchain to the core. Why work on offchain collateral? * [08:32] corn on the three tiers of vaults, and which one produced Stream Finance * [12:09] The spectrum of discretion, and whether KYC kills composability * [16:35] “I don’t think every vault is a security” * [18:02] What genuinely can’t be built onchain yet * [19:05] Which RWAs actually work onchain, and why fungibility decides it * [22:58] Modular lending markets as the new bootstrapping mechanism * [25:16] The Stream test: how to spot the next blowup * [27:03] Do curators inevitably push out the risk curve until they blow up? * [30:35] The Groma launch, and rent vesting as a renter’s mortgage * [38:22] Going live: permissioning, accredited checks, and discounted NAV oracles * [44:21] Why Yearn curates on Morpho * [44:35] What “institutional curator” actually means * [48:06] What’s next: new asset classes, yearn V4, and why CLARITY timing matters 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