Can on-chain lending actually do something legitimate?

Last week, I got into a debate with a friend who’s been in traditional lending for twenty years. The first thing out of his mouth was, “You crypto guys, what do you do besides speculating and gambling?”

I immediately showed him a heavy hitter—a certain DeFi protocol that recently launched a tokenized US Treasury fund product. Annual yield is a steady 5.2%, and the key point is that the collateralization ratio can reach 80%.

He stared at those numbers for almost a minute, then suddenly said, “Now this is the kind of thing a real bank should be doing...”

Real-world assets are starting to move on-chain, and DeFi is no longer just a tool for speculation. When even traditional safe-haven assets like Treasury bonds can become on-chain collateral, maybe it’s time to redefine what “financial infrastructure” really means.