DeFi Technologies’ Andrew Forson: ‘The Line Between TradFi and DeFi Will Be Blurred’

DeFi Technologies has reached a landmark moment in its mission to bridge the worlds of traditional and decentralized finance. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Valour Inc., the company recently listed its 100th exchange-traded product (ETP) — Valour Sky — on Sweden’s Spotlight Stock Market, cementing its position as the issuer with the largest portfolio of digital-asset ETPs globally.

At the center of that growth strategy is Andrew Forson, President of DeFi Technologies and Chief Growth Officer of Valour. In a exclusive interview with CryptoNews, Forson outlines how regulation, investor appetite, and innovation are converging to reshape capital markets.

“It allows me to basically be an executor of strategy at the parent-co level,” he said, “but I really do focus a lot on growth, business building, sales, and getting our products into new markets at Valour, which is actually our largest asset. Valour is DeFi Technologies’ cornerstone asset — and it’s an ETP issuer.”

Scandinavian Roots and Global Reach

DeFi Technologies is headquartered in Canada and listed on Nasdaq under the ticker DEFT, but its main business lies in Europe. “Our primary region of business is Europe, primarily Scandinavia,” Forson explains. “Our home market is actually Sweden, and the stock exchange where we have most of our products listed is the Spotlight Stock Exchange in Stockholm.”

Beyond Sweden, Valour’s ETPs are available on the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Paris and Amsterdam, Börse Frankfurt, Xetra, and SIX Swiss Exchange. Two of its most recognized products — the Ethereum Staking and Bitcoin Staking ETPs — trade in London, broadening regulated access to yield-bearing crypto exposure. Forson attributes Valour’s staying power to the firm’s pedigree.

“We are founded by Johan Wattenström, who actually created the world’s first Bitcoin ETF back in May 2015 under XBT Provider, which was then sold to CoinShares,” he said.

Also part of the firm is Co-founder, Olivier Roussy-Newton, who created the publicly listed Bitcoin mining company called Hive, which continues to trade on Nasdaq.

That foundation informs what Forson calls a “risk-averse, Scandinavian conservative approach” to business. “Our claim to fame is that of all the digital-asset underlying ETP providers, Valour has the largest portfolio of products — 100 digital-asset underlying exchange-traded products — which is certainly Europe-leading, and I think it’s world-leading.”

Regulation and Investor Confidence

Europe’s evolving regulatory landscape, particularly the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, has brought both challenges and clarity.

“When you have regulation, you have clarity as to how to proceed to listing instruments,” Forson said. “Because our focus is on regulated, exchange-traded instruments, we’re not actually directly in the crypto space. We’re more in the TradFi space, but our instruments wrap digital assets.”

That structure allows investors to gain crypto exposure through familiar brokerage channels. “We make it easier for regular investors via their brokerage accounts to gain easy, quick access to cryptocurrency and digital-asset underlying investments,” he said.

Forson added that while Europe’s framework has been strong, he expects further liberalization ahead. “Europe may need is also going to probably have to take a more flexible approach insomewhat regulatory framework if they want to stay competitive with attracting business, particularly in the stablecoin space.”

Growing Demand and Market Behavior

Institutional and private-wealth demand for regulated crypto exposure continues to rise. “As a company, we have not had since our inception a week of outflows,” Forson revealed. “That means every week we have net inflows of capital into our products — in a good market, in a bad market, there’s always more money coming in than leaving.”

Sweden and the broader Scandinavian region remain Valour’s most loyal base. “These markets are very progressive in terms of their investment appetite, and they tend to be buy-and-long-hold investors,” he noted. “We make sure that our instruments are effectively one-to-one hedged, we’re not taking on any significant counterparty risk, and we ensure that spreads and slippage are very, very small.”

Beyond Scandinavia, Forson sees momentum building in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, and the UK, where Valour’s physically backed staking ETPs have found traction since regulators eased earlier restrictions.

Product Selection and Due Diligence

Valour’s rapid product rollout is governed by a disciplined internal process. “We have an excellent product team headed by Elaine Buehler and our head of operations Nadine Kenzelmann” Forson said. “They make sure that everything that is supposed to happen happens in the correct way.”

“Our focus is always on those particular digital assets that have excellent liquidity, excellent volume, a strong track record, and if there appears to be strong investor appetite or demand, that governs our desire to create the product.”

Looking Five Years Ahead

Forson believes the traditional and decentralized financial worlds are converging. “In five years’ time, we’re definitely going to find that the distinction between tokenized assets and traditional assets is going to be diminished,” he predicted. “Whether you access a product that is tokenized and listed on blockchain versus via a regular TradFi platform, we’re going to find that that distinction becomes fewer and further between.”

He likened the shift to the digital-signing revolution. “Initially, people required a physical signature, then you’d have to scan and send it. Eventually we’re all used to using DocuSign. I think increasingly blockchain will become so reliable that even traditional securities exchanges will deploy their assets on blockchain because it just settles so much faster.”

Forson expects AI-driven portfolio management and hybrid financial instruments to define the next decade. “You can think of it as an automated personal trainer for your financial portfolio,” he said. “And increasingly the distinction between asset classes is going to be blurred … we’re going to see hybridized instruments which link debt, equity and digital assets to create more innovative return profiles.”

Expansion and Future Plans

Finally, Forson confirmed DeFi Technologies is looking beyond Europe.

“We are definitely eyeing some significant regions outside of Europe, and I anticipate we’ll be having some announcements with regards to that soon,” he said. “We’ll continue to eye the creation of innovative products that have more value-add and are better able to leverage our Valour platform.”

He also pointed to the firm’s investments in stablecoin projects, including CNGN in Nigeria and QCAD in Canada, as part of a broader effort to connect global financial ecosystems.

“These are the short-term accomplishments you can expect to see coming out of DeFi Technologies and Valour,” Forson said.

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