Erbil Karaman is a technology entrepreneur and product executive whose work spans consumer internet platforms, financial technology, and blockchain infrastructure. He has held leadership and product roles at Facebook, Lyft, and Earnin, and is the co-founder and co–chief executive officer of Huma Finance, a company focused on blockchain-based financial infrastructure and payment financing systems. ^[2]

Education

Karaman studied computer engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2009. ^[1]

Career

Karaman began his career in telecommunications and internet technology in the early 2000s. From 2004 to 2005, he worked as a system administrator at Eser Telekom before joining Karel Electronics in 2006 as a telecommunications research and development engineer focused on interactive media and communication technologies. During the mid-2000s, Karaman founded and contributed to several technology and social networking initiatives. These included CampusPeople, an early university-focused social network in Turkey; Rotaractors.com, a professional networking platform later acquired in 2006; RealmLab, a social network for gamers; and SahneBenim, an online talent competition platform inspired by televised talent shows. He also helped establish the SaglikKafe Youth Center, a European Union-funded initiative providing technology and educational programs for students in underserved communities.

In 2007, Karaman joined SpeedDate.com as a founding engineer and growth lead. The company became an early participant in the online social dating sector before later being acquired by Match.com and IAC. In 2011, he co-founded SPRONGO, an AI-assisted sports training platform focused on collaborative coaching and athlete development. He led product, engineering, design, and growth efforts before the company was later acquired. Karaman joined Facebook in 2012 as a product lead, where he worked on product growth, international expansion, and connectivity initiatives. During his time there, he contributed to projects associated with Facebook’s growth to one billion users, served as a founding product lead for Internet.org, helped expand Facebook’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa through Facebook London, and worked on the early development of Facebook Jobs. Concurrently, he served as a mentor for the Thiel Foundation’s 20Under20 Fellowship and was a member of Sunfire Offices, an entrepreneurial community founded by members of the PayPal Mafia network.

In 2016, Karaman joined Lyft as an advisor before becoming Head of Product for Consumer & Platforms in 2017. He oversaw consumer products, growth initiatives, and AI platform efforts during the company's period of expansion. In 2019, he became an advisor to Earnin and was later appointed chief product officer in 2020, where he managed teams across product, design, research, and growth. Since 2010, Karaman has also worked as an investor and advisor to technology, digital asset, and cultural startups. In April 2022, he co-founded Huma Finance and became co-chief executive officer. At Huma Finance, he has overseen the company’s development of blockchain-based financial infrastructure and payment financing systems. ^[4]

Interviews

PayFi & DeFi

In an interview with AltCoinDesk in December 2025, Karaman explained that PayFi, or payment finance, encompasses traditional payment methods such as credit card transactions, remittances, and trade finance, which are essential for accelerating global trade and cash flows. He highlighted that blockchain technology, particularly stablecoins on networks like Solana, could significantly enhance capital efficiency by creating liquid pools for various payment flows, reducing the need for idle capital, and enabling faster settlements. Karaman emphasized the progress made in regulatory environments, notably in 2025, which facilitated enterprise adoption by clarifying the legal framework around stablecoins and on-chain credit. Huma Finance transitioned from a permissioned system to a permissionless protocol with Huma 2.0, resulting in rapid growth, over 100,000 depositors, and more than $8.5 billion in transactions. The company focused on high capital utilization, sustainable yields, and integrating its yield tokens into various ecosystems. They also launched partnerships, such as Project Flywheel, to develop yield products that address risks such as impairment, market discrepancies, and fluctuating rates through innovative mechanisms like reserve pools and automated leverage management, aiming to make on-chain finance more secure, transparent, and accessible for both institutional and retail participants. ^[5]

Solana Money

At the Solana Money Summit 2025 in December, Karaman joined Mike Cagney, co-founder and executive chairman of Figure, for a fireside chat focused on developments in digital assets and real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure. During the discussion, Cagney reflected on Figure’s early efforts to use blockchain technology in capital markets through securitization, describing the challenges of operating as an early mover in a market initially skeptical of the technology. He noted that Figure had originated more than $22 billion in on-chain assets and launched a public blockchain securitization platform within six years. Cagney and Karaman also discussed the broader evolution of blockchain ecosystems and institutional decentralized finance. Cagney highlighted the growing role of multiple Layer 1 networks, noting that Solana is notable for its developer ecosystem and emerging institutional use cases, including security-backed stablecoins and DeFi-based financial products. The conversation also covered Figure’s efforts to bring yield-generating loans onto Solana’s Provenance ecosystem to improve liquidity and institutional access. In addition, Cagney outlined plans for native on-chain securities that could be traded and financed directly through decentralized finance infrastructure, with potential expansion across multiple blockchain ecosystems, including Solana. The discussion focused on the continued development of blockchain-based financial instruments and the role of institutional participation in decentralized finance markets. ^[8]

Speaker Spotlight

At the RWA Summit in August 2023, Karaman discussed his background in consumer internet platforms, financial technology, and global connectivity initiatives. He reflected on his work at Facebook, including efforts related to international internet access and the expansion of connectivity initiatives such as Internet.org, as well as his experience at Earnin, where he worked on financial products focused on earned wage access and alternative credit models. Karaman also shared his views on the development of tokenized assets and blockchain-based financial infrastructure, noting expectations for broader regulatory frameworks and increased institutional participation in on-chain finance. He identified securities, indexed equities, and on-chain credit markets as areas likely to see early adoption as tokenization expands into additional asset classes. During the discussion, he also addressed the role of transparency and yield generation in blockchain-based financial systems and commented on the evolving regulatory environment surrounding digital assets. ^[6]

Presentations

Huma Keynote

At the PayFi Summit in May 2025, Karaman delivered a keynote that reflected on the deeper purpose behind payment technology, emphasizing that freedom and liberty were central to their mission. Inspired by a personal experience on a flight and by the symbols of freedom in New York, Karaman argued that the evolution of payments should accelerate the movement of money globally, especially in a world that never sleeps. He highlighted the extraordinary scale of New York's existing payment infrastructure, noting that trillions of dollars flow through institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank and the New York settlement systems, effectively making New York the central hub for global USD transactions. Drawing parallels with the early internet’s decentralized design, he emphasized the importance of open, flexible, and multi-layered solutions in payments, advocating for freedom of choice in transaction layers, stablecoins, custody options, and compliance methods. He expressed that the future of payments should be driven by open systems that enable innovation, especially in stablecoins and cross-border solutions, ultimately creating a more efficient, less centralized financial infrastructure rooted in the principles of freedom and building without restrictions. ^[7]