Nate Strang Details Lace Carbon, Pogun Credit and RealFi Integration

Lace is preparing the next phase of its wallet experience through Carbon, an opt-in redesign intended to change both how the application looks and how users access its expanding functionality. Nate Strang from the Lace team discussed Carbon, wallet security, AI and upcoming DeFi integrations during an interview on Block 45 hosted by Wendy O and Crypto Crow.

Wendy O is a crypto market commentator and interviewer, while Crypto Crow is a longtime crypto content creator with a strong focus on Cardano. Their guest, Strang, said he has worked in Web3 since 2018 and previously joined Solflare, a prominent wallet in the Solana ecosystem, before his work with Lace.

Lace is Input Output’s light wallet platform, allowing users to manage digital assets, stake on Cardano, connect to decentralized applications and access additional blockchain functionality without operating a full node.

Lace Carbon Follows the V2.1 Stability Update

Strang described Carbon as the next major layer of work following the architectural changes introduced through Lace V2.

V2 rebuilt much of the wallet’s underlying infrastructure so Lace could move beyond its earlier model as a browser extension supporting a single blockchain. The architecture was designed to make additional networks, mobile applications and new platforms easier to support without repeatedly rebuilding the core application.

The release was also followed by performance and stability problems.

Strang acknowledged issues including hanging transactions and difficulties connecting to decentralized applications. He said Lace V2.1 was designed to address most, if not all, of those problems.

According to Strang, feedback following the V2 release also changed some of the team’s priorities by identifying issues that had not received the same emphasis before the update reached users.

Carbon shifts the focus from the underlying infrastructure toward the user-facing experience.

Strang said in the interview that Carbon was planned to launch as an optional, opt-in experience later that month. The first visible change will be a redesigned interface and a new design language for Lace.

The redesign is also intended to support how additional functionality is introduced inside the wallet. Rather than presenting users with a growing collection of features simultaneously, Lace plans to introduce capabilities more gradually as they move through the application.

That approach extends to onboarding and recovery phrase security.

Strang said Lace is moving toward a security-first model that prevents users from simply copying a recovery phrase into their clipboard. New users may also encounter wallet functionality sequentially after creating and funding an account, instead of immediately being presented with the full range of staking, DeFi and other Web3 options.

The team is also preparing a beta program that will allow users to test functionality before broader releases. Focus groups and targeted surveys are expected to form part of that feedback process.

Lace Is Not Prioritizing Autonomous AI Wallet Agents

AI was another major topic during the Block 45 conversation, particularly the possibility of autonomous agents interacting directly with wallets.

When Crypto Crow asked whether Lace could eventually provide infrastructure allowing AI agents to connect to the wallet, Strang said agentic trading is not an immediate product priority.

He said the team is comfortable allowing other projects to experiment with the technology first, observe which approaches work and identify potential failures before considering a Lace implementation.

Strang also expressed reservations about simply placing a conventional AI chatbot inside a wallet, including the potential security implications of an open-ended interface operating close to financial assets.

Instead, he described other ways large language models could support the wallet experience.

During onboarding, for example, Lace could gather information about a user’s goals and level of experience and use that context to determine which functions and information should be presented. Such a system would not require users to interact with a traditional chatbot.

Strang connected that approach to a broader product goal around onboarding and education. New users entering Web3 are often faced with unfamiliar terminology, financial products and security requirements, and Lace is working toward an interface that introduces those elements in a more controlled sequence.

Pogun and RealFi Could Connect Credit, Staking and Yield in Lace

The interview also covered plans to connect Pogun and RealFi through Lace.

Pogun is an Input Output initiative developing credit infrastructure that includes a peer-to-peer credit market.

Strang described a model in which prospective borrowers and lenders enter directly negotiated agreements rather than relying exclusively on the price-triggered liquidation mechanics commonly found in pool-based DeFi lending.

Under that structure, Strang said the borrower would not be liquidated simply because of a large market price movement. The credit agreement instead defines payment obligations and the conditions under which collateral can be claimed.

He then described how this model could be combined with RealFi.

A Lace user could place ADA as collateral in a Pogun credit agreement and borrow a stablecoin such as $USDCX. According to the workflow described in the interview, the collateralized ADA could continue generating Cardano staking rewards while the borrowed capital is deployed separately.

The stablecoin could then be used within the RealFi ecosystem, creating a structure similar to a traditional carry trade.

In that model, the original ADA position continues generating staking rewards while capital borrowed against it can be placed into a separate yield-generating position. The user therefore maintains exposure to one productive asset while deploying borrowed liquidity into another financial strategy.

Crypto Crow asked whether the yields generated through that structure could eventually be used to make payments on the original loan.

Strang confirmed that this is part of the longer-term direction, although he said it would likely not be natively supported in the first rollout. The eventual model could allow RealFi rewards to be automatically claimed and directed toward scheduled loan payments without requiring the user to manage every transaction manually.

If delivered as described, the workflow would place several currently separate actions inside Lace: Cardano staking, collateralized borrowing, stablecoin deployment and RealFi yield management.

Carbon provides the interface through which Lace plans to introduce those capabilities, while Pogun and RealFi supply the credit and yield components discussed in the interview.