Posts tagged Aave
Is Fintech or DeFi Bigger? And Who eats Whom? Hosted by The Defiant

In this video conversation we feature a roundtable by The Defiant exploring how and if the gap between Fintech and DeFi will be bridged.


DeFi Panelists
Lex Sokolin, head economist at ConsenSys
Santiago Roel Santos, angel investor
Spencer Noon, Investor at Variant
Vance Spencer, co founder at Framework Ventures

Fintech Panelists
Keith Grose, head of Plaid international
Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech
Simon Taylor, co-founder of 11:FS
Bruno Werneck, Business & Corporate Development at Plaid

Moderator
Camila Russo, Founder of The Defiant

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The path from institutional finance (Goldman) to enterprise blockchain (PwC) to the $26B edge of DeFi innovation (Aave) with Ajit Tripathi

In this conversation, we talk Ajit Tripathi, currently the Head of Institutional Business at Aave and a former colleague of mine at ConsenSys, about the path from traditional finance, to enterprise blockchain and “DLT” consulting, to full-on decentralized finance.

Thinking about how to connect these worlds and different available journeys? Or the timeless risks developing in tranched DeFi that look like mortgage-backed securities? We even touch on hegelian dialectics! Check out our great conversation.

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Crypto regulatory wargames with FinCen, FCA, and the US House of Reps, impacting Paxos, Compound, BBVA, and Northern Trust

This week, we look at:

  • Proposed US regulation from FinCEN, legislation from the House of Representatives, and UK FCA registration requirements that would impact the crypto industry

  • The difference between competition for share within an established market, and competition between market paradigms (think MSFT vs. open source, finance vs. DeFi)

  • The crypto custodian moves from BBVA, Standard Charters, and Northern Trust

  • The bank license moves from Paxos and BitPay, as well as the planned launch of a new chain by Compound, in the context of the framework above

Permissionless finance is a paradigm breach. It pays no regard for the very nature of the incumbent financial market. Without banking, it creates its own banks. Without a sovereign, it bestows law on mathematics and consensus. Without broker/dealers, it creates decentralized robots. And so on. It tilts the world in such a way as to render the economic power of the incumbent financial market less important. Not powerless -- the allure of institutional capital is a constant glimmer of greedy, opportunistic hope. But the hierarchy of traditional finance does not extend to DeFi, and thus has to be re-battled for the incumbent. This is cost, and annoying.

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Jamie Burke of Outlier Ventures on DeFi and NFT investing and acceleration

In this conversation, we talk with Jamie Burke of Outlier Ventures. This is a fascinating and educational conversation that covers frontier technology companies and protocols in blockchain, IoT, and artificial intelligence, and the convergence of these themes in the future. Jamie walks us through the core investment thesis, as well as the commercial model behind shifting from incubation to acceleration of 30+ companies. We pick up on wisdom about marketing timing and fund structure along the way.

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Why Peer-to-Peer models fail against oligopoly, with Lending Club shutting down p2p platform, Seedrs/Crowdcube merging, and Morgan Stanley buying Eaton Vance for $7B

This week, we look at:

  • Lending Club, the peer-to-peer lending innovator, turning off peer-to-peer lending after having a bank in its pocket

  • Consolidation of the UK's largest crowdfunders, CrowdCube and Seedrs, and their limited economics

  • The scale of the Morgan Stanley and Eaton Vance deal, creating a $1.2 trillion asset manager

  • The struggle of peer-to-peer models more generally, and whether the blockchain movement can overcome the Prisoner's Dilemma

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