TAU Labs on The DeFi Drop

Guest: Vlad Totia, Founder of TAU Labs
Host: Edward Ward, Portals.fi

In this episode of The DeFi Drop, we invited Vlad, the founder of TAU  Labs, a vault curator and mechanism‑design lab behind some of DeFi’s most talked‑about strategies. TAU Labs has grown rapidly, showing over US$ 50 million in organic volume in just six months, and earning a strong reputation in risk‑management, mechanism design and yield strategy curatorship.

“DeFi is the most meritocratic industry in the world. If what you build works and it’s verifiable on‑chain, that’s all anybody needs to know,” Vlad said.

From Tokenomics Lab to Vault Powerhouse

TAU Labs began its journey as a tokenomics‑agency helping DeFi projects design incentive structures and emissions schedules. With deep expertise in mechanism design, it was a natural progression to evolve from designing on‑chain economies to managing them directly.

Earlier this year, TAU Labs launched its first vault strategy and experienced rapid grassroots community growth.

“We didn’t have big funds backing us. We grew just through retail and DeFi communities,” Vlad shared.
Rather than competing directly with large curators or auditors, TAU Labs made asymmetric bets on new protocols and niche assets, focusing on less‑crowded strategies and building automation entirely in‑house. This differentiated approach helped carve out a unique position in the vault ecosystem.

Risk Management as a Core Edge

A major theme of the discussion was TAU Labs’ quant‑driven approach to risk. Their team, which consists of data scientists and quants, places emphasis on delta‑neutral strategies, carry trades and fixed‑income style vaults designed for stability.

“We’re not taking 10x long positions hoping for the best. We keep principal neutral and farm funding rates. The strategies are designed to sprint when conditions are right — but they’re also built to protect capital,” Vlad explained.

Their flagship Pendle Bond ETF strategy is a prime example. It delivered stable yields through the October 10th crash, earning TAU Labs top rankings on IPOR Labs. By locking in fixed rates, users avoided drawdowns while the rest of the market faced volatility.

“When everyone else was being depegged, we were sitting on a 16% locked‑in rate on stablecoins. That’s why fixed income is the best sleeping pill in DeFi.”

Permissionless Vaults and Real Yield

TAU Labs also operates permissionless vaults on platforms such as MORE DeFi, generating double‑digit yields on stablecoins. Their strategies emphasise real organic yield, and focus on transparency, composability and on‑chain verifiability.

“Everything we do is on‑chain and auditable. That’s why users trust us. No hidden books, no opaque systems.”
This philosophy has allowed TAU Labs to scale rapidly without relying initially on large institutional capital.

Mechanism Design, Tokenomics and Incentives

Beyond vault management, TAU Labs remains active in assisting protocols with tokenomics and incentive design, especially in the growing RWA sector. Their research into points‑systems and incentive mechanisms has shaped how emerging protocols attract and retain liquidity.

“Tokenomics walked so vaults could run. That DNA still lives in everything we build today.” Vlad emphasised how incentive systems are becoming more dynamic and programmatic as capital flows from traditional finance into DeFi, particularly through RWA tokenisation.

What’s Next: New BTC and ETH Strategies

Toward the end of the conversation, Vlad teased two major forthcoming strategies focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum. These carry‑trade vaults will use BTC or ETH as collateral, loop stablecoin positions on Infinify and Morpho Labs, and target 9‑13.5% organic yield.

“I’d love for anyone to prove me wrong, but I don’t think there will be better organic BTC or ETH base yields on the market. These will be top three strategies for the next six months.”

These strategies are built with rigorous modelling, multiple liquidity buffers and conservative debt‑management to ensure resilience even under stress scenarios.

DeFi TVL Prediction Game

To wrap up the episode, Vlad joined The DeFi Drop prediction game. With total DeFi TVL (total value locked) sitting at approx US$ 152 billion, his forecast for December 31st 2025 is memorable.

“Let’s make it 202 billion. It’s a palindrome. You can read it both ways.”

TAU Labs is proving that vault curation in DeFi does not need to be reckless to deliver strong returns. By combining rigorous risk‑management, creative strategy design and a deep understanding of on‑chain incentives, they are fast becoming one of the most respected names in the vault‑yield space.

About TAU Labs

TAU Labs is a crypto‑native lab specialising in vault curation, mechanism design and incentive engineering. They curate next‑generation DeFi products — from multi‑asset stable strategies to algorithmic funds and fixed‑income vaults. Based on their website they work across major chains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base) and partner with protocols like Pendle and Morpho.

About Portals.fi

Portals.fi is the DeFi Super App — a one‑click gateway to the on‑chain economy. Powered by real‑time data and seamless execution, Portals.fi connects traders to over 20 million assets, thousands of protocols and every major blockchain.

App | X | Discord | Telegram | Developers | Support