DeFi summer of '20 --> DeFi spring of '23.
Crypto Twitter has never been as lit as we've seen over these past few weeks. Encouragingly, much of the talk has been about moving forward. The market is talking about a healthy future while licking its wounds. Most of the conversations I've had have been enthusiastic as many see the answer that has always been here. Decentralization.
Let's not forget that's where this all began, and take a look at the very first line from the Bitcoin White Paper Abstract:
"A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution."
Focus on "...without going through a financial institution."
DeFi, right? It's the core of what we're doing. We're removing the middleman, their custodial ways, and easing friction.
DeFi has been around for longer than many may realize. DeFi Summer raised awareness two years ago, but the rails have been around much longer. It was a good six or so years ago that I punted around some DeFi trading. It was cumbersome and slow. Frighteningly slow. Coming from tradefi futures, I shook my head in disbelief that anyone would transact that way. And the cost. Made execution brokers in the CBOT pits in the '90s look incredibly cheap.
It's all changed. I'm blown away by what I see in decentralized finance these days. It's easy to imagine that the table is set for '23 to be the year of DeFi. CeFi dreams have been shattered, and DeFi is there to pick up the pieces.
And why not? As noted, it's where we began. Functionality has made big leaps, and user experience has come a long, long way. We're nearing the point that users will no longer know if they're even using "DeFi" as protocols have stripped away many barriers of entry and smoothed the rails.
Keep the faith, my friends. Crypto is here to stay. Markets are wonderful at weeding out the ne'er do wells and let's face it, they wouldn't be in the space if there wasn't such tremendous upside potential.
Keep building. Keep clicking.