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You have to start by decoupling crypto and bitcoin. I don't know what use Bitcoin is anymore except as a reserve of value. Some of the more interesting crypto p

You have to start by decoupling crypto and bitcoin. I don't know what use Bitcoin is anymore except as a reserve of value. Some of the more interesting crypto projects are even using BTC as a "peg" currency. The most interesting use case of crypto to me is synthetic assets. That's where the majority of money in the trading world is stored and made. Think of margin trading, and buying insurance on being margin called, and trading those insurance tokens - all of these are not "real" assets. They're synthetic; they've used a real asset (say, a stock), multiplied that manifold and enabled trade on it, unlocking exponentially higher value to be created. Trouble is that this entire world is completely closed to you and I. Goldman Sachs can trade it, but you can't. You can't drop into a bank and ask to underwrite the insurance on my trading account being liquidated - only the bank can. DeFi changes that. Any asset on-chain can be theoretically combined and made tradable. You can get a loan on DeFi platforms like AAVE. Another platform can offer insurance on those loans. And another platform can offer people the chance to bet on the insurance being called. Since everything is on-chain, a single asset can create exponential value. And since it's all decentralized, anyone can participate, not just banks. DeFi is honestly in its infancy. The biggest platforms are barely a few years old. The idea of synthetic assets has just taken root. New platforms are just starting to explore opportunities for synthetic assets. There are some very interesting new ideas about stable currencies (look at Ampleforth, Basis Cash, Dynamic Set Dollar). There are new insurance platforms coming up where you can add money into an insurance pool and take a cut out of insurance payments. If it works - and I truly hope it does - I can't imagine anything more exciting. The internet hasn't managed to break down the walls of traditional finance, let alone investment banks and insurance companies. DeFi is the chance to do that. Explore this space. I used to dismiss it as just memes and scams. But the more I've dug in, the more I've realized how important it is to make money - and the opportunities to make money - free from banks.

throw0101a 6y ago
> Trouble is that this entire world is completely closed to you and I. Goldman Sachs can trade it, but you can't. You can't drop into a bank and ask to underwrite the insurance on my trading account being liquidated - only the bank can. Fifty years ago you hand to walk into a physical office and buy shares in block of 20/50/100 or lots of a $500 multiple: no longer the case. Thirty years ago most people, could barely have diversification, and index funds were barely known: no longer the case. Nowadays you have to have at least a seven-digit account if you want to be able to do direct indexing: how long before that's won't be the case? Many things were only available to the large players because they were only practical/economical at a certain scale. Technology has improved efficiencies to the point that many product offerings are now available 'down market' to where they used to be. > Explore this space. I used to dismiss it as just memes and scams. I never (quite) believed that it was "just memes and scams", but rather solutions trying to solving so-called problems where (a) the problems were imagined, or (b) the creators of the solutions didn't understand things well enough to make useful solutions. (Deflationary currencies? Really?)

throw0101a 6y ago

> Trouble is that this entire world is completely closed to you and I. Goldman Sachs can trade it, but you can't. You can't drop into a bank and ask to underwrite the insurance on my trading account being liquidated - only the bank can. Fifty years ago you hand to walk into a physical office and buy shares in block of 20/50/100 or lots of a $500 multiple: no longer the case. Thirty years ago most people, could barely have diversification, and index funds were barely known: no longer the case. Nowadays you have to have at least a seven-digit account if you want to be able to do direct indexing: how long before that's won't be the case? Many things were only available to the large players because they were only practical/economical at a certain scale. Technology has improved efficiencies to the point that many product offerings are now available 'down market' to where they used to be. > Explore this space. I used to dismiss it as just memes and scams. I never (quite) believed that it was "just memes and scams", but rather solutions trying to solving so-called problems where (a) the problems were imagined, or (b) the creators of the solutions didn't understand things well enough to make useful solutions. (Deflationary currencies? Really?)