GigaBrain

What if executing a complex DeFi strategy — bridging, swapping, lending, rebalancing — took just one click? That's exactly what Haiku is building.

In this episode of GigaBrain, host João Simões sits down with Sash (aka Snowy), Lead BD at Haiku, to explore how Haiku's intent-based execution layer is turning multi-step DeFi workflows into a single, unified transaction across 20+ blockchains and 45+ protocols.

We cover:
- Why Haiku pivoted from retail to institutional trading clients
- How intent-based DeFi execution works (and why no one else does it without hardcoding)
- The $1M seed round led by Big Brain Holdings
- AI agents in DeFi — real utility or hype?
- Sash's take on founders tweeting, bear markets, and the future of on-chain abstraction

Whether you're a DeFi builder, trader, or VC, this episode is a sharp look at where on-chain infrastructure is actually heading.

Sash (aka Snowy) is the Lead Business Development manager at Haiku, a decentralised trading platform that collapses complex multi-step DeFi strategies into a single all-or-nothing transaction. With a background spanning commercial real estate and early-stage crypto startups, Sash specialises in institutional BD across DeFi infrastructure and cross-chain execution.

Pedro Verdades, CMO of Turtle Club, joins the GigaBrain Podcast to break down how the Lisbon-born liquidity distribution protocol is reshaping DeFi capital allocation. Pedro traces his journey from Web2 marketing through the DeFi Summer of 2020 to co-leading Turtle's $11.9M raise. He explains how Turtle acts as a matchmaker between liquidity providers and DeFi protocols — vetting deals, risk-scoring opportunities, and surfacing the best yield flow via their dashboard. The conversation covers the fallout from recent DeFi hacks (including KelpDAO), growing institutional appetite, stablecoin regulation, and Turtle's pivot from a BD-heavy operation toward an AI-assisted, data-driven matching platform.

Pedro Verdades is the CMO of Turtle Club, a DeFi liquidity distribution protocol that has facilitated over $6B in deposits. A Lisbon-based crypto OG since DeFi Summer 2020, Pedro previously ran a 32-person Web3 marketing agency and co-founded a liquid risk protocol before joining Turtle Club to lead its global growth strategy.

Building Conviction in Crypto's Next Chapter: A VC's Blueprint for Navigating Regulation, Security, and Institutional Adoption

In this episode of GigaBrain Podcast, host Joao Simoes sits down with Rachel Cheung, Head of Communications at Foresight Ventures, a $400M+ crypto-native fund backed by exchange giant Bitget, to explore how institutional capital, regulatory clarity, and security imperatives are reshaping the investment thesis for next-generation crypto infrastructure, from stablecoins and payments to AI agents and on-chain derivatives.

Androo Lloyd, co-founder and CEO of HypurrFi, joins Open Interest to pull back the curtain on one of DeFi's most ambitious projects: reverse engineering the closed-source Hyperliquid binary. Andrew explains why HypurrFi — a protocol built natively on Hyperliquid's EVM — chose to decode the binary using AI-driven agent orchestration, treating it as a competitive edge in a market where institutional trading firms have almost certainly done the same, just quietly. The conversation covers Hyperliquid's architectural design as a "consensus of multiple ledgers," the role of AI in accelerating reverse engineering from months to overnight CPU tasks, and what the binary reveals about Hyperliquid's future: HIP-4 binary options, permission spot markets, and TradFi integration. Androo also shares his bull case for Hyperliquid as the internet of money — eventually rivalling CME, entering insurance markets, and becoming the infrastructure layer that makes the EVM relevant for the next decade.

Institutional Yield Strategies Are Finally Coming to DeFi And They're Simpler Than You Think
In this episode of the GigaBrain Podcast, host João Simões sits down with Andrei Anisimov and Monica Quaintance, founders of HyperSurface, to explore how covered calls and cash-secured puts sophisticated yield strategies once exclusive to Wall Street are now accessible, transparent, and fully on-chain for everyday crypto holders.