🎙️ Solana's Liquidity Layer Goes Institutional: Michael Hwang (CEO, Orca) on the Future of DeFi | The Index Podcast

The man behind one of Solana's most foundational DeFi protocols finally sits down with us. Michael Hwang, CEO of Orca, breaks down how a protocol that's been quietly powering Solana's liquidity for 5+ years is now stepping into the spotlight — and building infrastructure for the next era of on-chain finance.What we cover:🏦 From BlackRock to Solana — Michael's backstory and why he believes blockchain is building the financial rails of the future🌊 Orca's evolution — How the protocol went from a retail-friendly DEX to the back-end liquidity engine for institutions, RWAs, and hybrid assets🔐 Regulated Asset Infrastructure — Orca's brand-new product that lets asset issuers toggle KYC/compliance controls directly into on-chain liquidity pools🪙 Tokenized Gold, Stocks & RWAs — Why permissioned DeFi isn't a contradiction, and how Orca is building rails for a full spectrum of asset types🤖 Prop AMM research — The internal market-making engine Orca has been quietly running in production (and what it might become)📈 Institutions on Solana — Why "institution" is a spectrum, who's actually ready to step on-chain, and what friction remains🌍 The democratization thesis — Michael's core belief: your grandma LPing alongside a Wall Street quant in the same pool is what makes DeFi worth building🔗 Links: 📺 The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast 🐦 Michael Hwang (Twitter): https://x.com/tmoClabs 💼 Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mqhwang/ 🌊 Orca: https://www.orca.so/ 🐦 Orca on Twitter: https://x.com/orca_so 💼 Orca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orca-so/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube