Paul Frambot is the CEO and Co-founder of Morpho Labs, a company focused on developing decentralized lending protocols. He co-founded Morpho Labs in 2021 to improve capital efficiency within decentralized finance (DeFi) lending markets. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Frambot graduated from the Institut Polytechnique de Paris in 2022 with a Master’s in Parallel and Distributed Systems and Blockchain. ^{[4] [2]}

Career

Frambot is the CEO and Co-founder of Morpho Labs. He co-founded the company in 2021 while completing his Master's at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris. Morpho Labs is responsible for developing and growing the Morpho protocol, which is designed to enhance capital efficiency in decentralized lending.

Under Frambot's direction, Morpho has secured funding, including an $18 million raise from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Variant. The protocol has achieved significant scale, becoming a multi-billion-dollar lending platform. A key development is Morpho Blue, a simple, independent, and flexible base layer for decentralized lending, designed to be secure and efficient. ^{[1] [2] [5]}

Interviews

Money Markets

On the Bell Curve podcast, Frambot discussed Morpho V2, a DeFi platform introducing fixed-rate borrowing and lending. He explained that V2 aimed to solve issues and improve upon V1, not solely focus on fixed rates. He highlighted V2's intent-based model, allowing market participants to manage risk and pricing dynamically, potentially attracting traditional finance users seeking predictable terms. The discussion covered market demand, vaults, and challenges like liquidity fragmentation and risk management for curators. ^[6]

Crypto Lending

In an episode of "The Crypto Beat," Frambot contrasted Morpho with platforms like Aave, noting that Morpho provides a permissionless framework for developers to build tailored lending products, whereas Aave manages risk and code internally. He acknowledged the risks of permissionless markets, including initial deployments of questionable markets on Morpho. Frambot mentioned the trend of existing DeFi protocols moving towards infrastructure solutions and highlighted Coinbase's integration of Morpho's technology to offer decentralized lending features within its app, emphasizing over-collateralized loans and transaction transparency to build user confidence. He stated Morpho's focus is on connecting diverse financial opportunities with technical backends and scaling decentralized financial products. ^[7]

Morpho Blue

Speaking on The Big Whale podcast, Frambot discussed Morpho Blue, emphasizing its role in enhancing the efficiency and accessibility of lending and borrowing on public blockchains. He highlighted the benefits of decentralized infrastructure for optimal matching without traditional finance's regulatory constraints. Frambot explained Morpho's evolution from an aggregator to an independent lending protocol, enabling diverse financial products for various risk profiles. He noted the protocol's focus on decentralization and user control, differentiating it from platforms like Aave by allowing users to build their own infrastructure. Frambot also touched on Morpho's business models and future token functionality, and addressed concerns about liquidity fragmentation and risk management. ^[8]

Morpho Labs

In an interview with Re7 Capital, Frambot discussed the evolution of DeFi and Morpho's role in improving lending and borrowing efficiency. He shared his entry into crypto in 2016 and the user experience challenges in early DeFi before platforms like Uniswap and Compound. He noted that many 2020-2022 DeFi innovations focused more on incentives than fundamental improvements. Frambot suggested a post-market setback rational approach could lead to lasting innovations. He detailed Morpho's peer-to-peer matching system, which aims to improve interest rates by enabling direct lender-borrower engagement while utilizing the infrastructure of established platforms like Compound and Aave. He expressed optimism for future DeFi innovation and encouraged education and thoughtful participation. ^[3]

Presentations

Morpho

At EthCC 2022, Frambot presented on the Morpho lending protocol, recounting his DeFi journey. He mentioned early P2P models like Dharma being inefficient due to low engagement, leading to a temporary break from DeFi. He noted Compound's impact in 2020 by providing liquidity and creating wide rate spreads due to pool imbalances. Frambot introduced Morpho as a more efficient protocol that facilitates peer-to-peer matching without direct interaction with liquidity pools, aiming for better rates. He stressed capital efficiency in DeFi, especially after market downturns, and described Morpho as a hybrid protocol balancing complexity and efficiency for improved user lending experiences. ^[9]

Panels

Fireside Chat

During a fireside chat at Variant LP Day 2024, Frambot described Morpho's shift from a lending rate aggregator to a decentralized lending protocol for permissionless, immutable market creation. The move aimed to overcome limitations of relying on off-chain systems and enhance user control and resilience. Frambot contrasted Morpho with governance-heavy protocols by offering an open framework for lending market development and discussed bridging decentralized finance with traditional finance. He noted increasing interest from asset managers and the growing importance of stablecoins, highlighting how decentralized infrastructure can boost cost efficiency, liquidity, and innovation. He also provided details on Morpho's token model, which used non-transferable tokens to reward early participants and encourage long-term alignment. ^[10]