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The top 7 on Defi Pulse (1) are currency exchanges ("liquidity pools") and overcollateralized loans, which are mostly used by speculators to get leverage. Usefu

The top 7 on Defi Pulse (1) are currency exchanges ("liquidity pools") and overcollateralized loans, which are mostly used by speculators to get leverage. Useful, I guess. But enormous — only in monetary terms. I believe crypto & blockchain technologies have a future. But we ain't there yet. (1) and I suspect more than that, those are just those I'm familiar with.

graeme 5y ago
What do you think that future is? I’m curious, since you believe it in but also are able to see that most of Defi by volume is just speculation. I’d be interested to hear to pro-Crypto case.
- norswap 5y ago
  Barring original developments, simply replacing the existing financial infrastructure — replacing the middlemen by smart contracts and decentralized organizations. This is less costly to build (in terms of infrastructure and paperwork) and much more flexible. Also, anybody with a good idea or use case can enter the space. Companies that could be replaced/rebuilt on the block chain include Visa, stock exchanges (NYSE, CBOE), Swift, Stripe, ... The blockchain also feels like the natural progression of a process of digitalization and increased transparencies. For many proposed uses, you don't actually need a blockchain, but it turns out to be the easier choice anyway. Let's make up an example: say we didn't have a way to track containers (the kind that travel on ships) - it would be much easier to set it up on the blockchain as an Ethereum NFT than spinning the required infrastructure. The blockchain also comes with governance cookie-cutter solutions. In the real world, you'd need to set up or contract a company to run the servers — who owns this company or who does it contracts to? The blockchain solution is easier to set up and probably easier to sell once the technology becomes more accepted. Another way to look at this is that the blockchain makes it easier to set up real-world APIs which enables not only to track things (recorded on the blockchain, a secure ledger) but also to perform real world actions (e.g. orders) that involve real-world financial values. Central to that is the ability to represent physical assets on the blockchain (e.g. our containers for before - you trust that the blockchain is an accurate representation of reality because you trust the transactions signed by container companies). Note that this vision is in a certain sense quite boring. Nothing really fundamental changes for the common man, though he may end up benefiting from the resulting innovations.

graeme 5y ago

What do you think that future is? I’m curious, since you believe it in but also are able to see that most of Defi by volume is just speculation. I’d be interested to hear to pro-Crypto case.

norswap 5y ago
Barring original developments, simply replacing the existing financial infrastructure — replacing the middlemen by smart contracts and decentralized organizations. This is less costly to build (in terms of infrastructure and paperwork) and much more flexible. Also, anybody with a good idea or use case can enter the space. Companies that could be replaced/rebuilt on the block chain include Visa, stock exchanges (NYSE, CBOE), Swift, Stripe, ... The blockchain also feels like the natural progression of a process of digitalization and increased transparencies. For many proposed uses, you don't actually need a blockchain, but it turns out to be the easier choice anyway. Let's make up an example: say we didn't have a way to track containers (the kind that travel on ships) - it would be much easier to set it up on the blockchain as an Ethereum NFT than spinning the required infrastructure. The blockchain also comes with governance cookie-cutter solutions. In the real world, you'd need to set up or contract a company to run the servers — who owns this company or who does it contracts to? The blockchain solution is easier to set up and probably easier to sell once the technology becomes more accepted. Another way to look at this is that the blockchain makes it easier to set up real-world APIs which enables not only to track things (recorded on the blockchain, a secure ledger) but also to perform real world actions (e.g. orders) that involve real-world financial values. Central to that is the ability to represent physical assets on the blockchain (e.g. our containers for before - you trust that the blockchain is an accurate representation of reality because you trust the transactions signed by container companies). Note that this vision is in a certain sense quite boring. Nothing really fundamental changes for the common man, though he may end up benefiting from the resulting innovations.