*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 02/08/21One of the big calls of DeFi is that it stands to eventually topple CeFi, and what place better to start at than with exchanges? The rise of the DEX has been a feat in the making for years, but we only really started to see the logos of DEXes last year, when platforms such as Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, and Sushiswap came to the scene and managed to amass billions in liquidity. Billions is a cool number to throw around, but when compared against ce...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 02/08/21One of the big calls of DeFi is that it stands to eventually topple CeFi, and what place better to start at than with exchanges? The rise of the DEX has been a feat in the making for years, but we only really started to see the logos of DEXes last year, when platforms such as Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, and Sushiswap came to the scene and managed to amass billions in liquidity. Billions is a cool number to throw around, but when compared against ce...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 10/18/20 Going off of the theme of decentralization, presented two blog posts ago, I have decided to create a short post concerning the valuation of Uniswap, a decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) that resides on the Ethereum blockchain. Personally, I have been interacting with Uniswap for about a year and consider it to be the best decentralized exchange out there in terms of UI and UX. Moreover, I even find it better than a centralized exchange. The tru...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 10/18/20 Going off of the theme of decentralization, presented two blog posts ago, I have decided to create a short post concerning the valuation of Uniswap, a decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) that resides on the Ethereum blockchain. Personally, I have been interacting with Uniswap for about a year and consider it to be the best decentralized exchange out there in terms of UI and UX. Moreover, I even find it better than a centralized exchange. The tru...

OverviewConnext presents the opportunity to bet on a multi-chain, multi-layer world through a capital infrastructure playAt its core, Connext is an L2<>L2 / L1 bridging solution, allowing users to move capital between chains / layers in a trustless and efficient mannerWith a strong team and a very competitive product, Connext will be able to capitalize on winner-take-all economics and, through its SDK-based business model, will become the backbone to dApp cross-chain operations. Overall, Conn...

OverviewConnext presents the opportunity to bet on a multi-chain, multi-layer world through a capital infrastructure playAt its core, Connext is an L2<>L2 / L1 bridging solution, allowing users to move capital between chains / layers in a trustless and efficient mannerWith a strong team and a very competitive product, Connext will be able to capitalize on winner-take-all economics and, through its SDK-based business model, will become the backbone to dApp cross-chain operations. Overall, Conn...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 07/19/20 Human history is painted with the ebbing and flowing of groups. As living organisms, we tend to group, and as times change, we leave groups, and the structures alter. We have grouped into empires, and disbanded those. We grouped into global supranational organizations, and now those are slowly crumbling. We saw the rise of the big corporate… yet those fell to more nimble tech entrants and disruptors. I am not arguing that everything trends towar...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 07/19/20 Human history is painted with the ebbing and flowing of groups. As living organisms, we tend to group, and as times change, we leave groups, and the structures alter. We have grouped into empires, and disbanded those. We grouped into global supranational organizations, and now those are slowly crumbling. We saw the rise of the big corporate… yet those fell to more nimble tech entrants and disruptors. I am not arguing that everything trends towar...

Why do financial institutions actually exist? Interesting question, and one frankly asked too little in crypto. Everyone is always focusing on the benefits and revolutionary innovation offered by DeFi, excited by the fast pace of change and the societal miracles that could be unlocked when this goes mainstream. But, in order for DeFi to 10x from here, we really need to make a case for why it is arguably better than the current financial system. And to do that, we need to ask ourselves, why do...

Why do financial institutions actually exist? Interesting question, and one frankly asked too little in crypto. Everyone is always focusing on the benefits and revolutionary innovation offered by DeFi, excited by the fast pace of change and the societal miracles that could be unlocked when this goes mainstream. But, in order for DeFi to 10x from here, we really need to make a case for why it is arguably better than the current financial system. And to do that, we need to ask ourselves, why do...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 01/15/21 NFTs have been fascinating me for quite a while. Clearly, crypto has been having a crazy month, leading to a flurry of thoughts, emotions, and reading. While my main focus remains on DeFi, I do sometimes find myself treading into NFT articles and posts. As a small child, I was an avid collector of many things. Some were pretty random: bottle caps, Yogurt toys, and these little disks called Tazos. Others were more mainstream and had real value: s...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 01/15/21 NFTs have been fascinating me for quite a while. Clearly, crypto has been having a crazy month, leading to a flurry of thoughts, emotions, and reading. While my main focus remains on DeFi, I do sometimes find myself treading into NFT articles and posts. As a small child, I was an avid collector of many things. Some were pretty random: bottle caps, Yogurt toys, and these little disks called Tazos. Others were more mainstream and had real value: s...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 10/10/21I spent a nice chunk of the Sunday morning reading through Why Nations Fail — a good break from crypto and finance, at least so I thought. Running through Chapter 7, “The Turning Point”, I couldn’t help but think about crypto in the context of the Industrial Revolution. Specifically, the legislative changes undergone by Parliament during the early innings of the Industrial Revolution. The chapter starts with an account of William Lee, a soon to b...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 10/10/21I spent a nice chunk of the Sunday morning reading through Why Nations Fail — a good break from crypto and finance, at least so I thought. Running through Chapter 7, “The Turning Point”, I couldn’t help but think about crypto in the context of the Industrial Revolution. Specifically, the legislative changes undergone by Parliament during the early innings of the Industrial Revolution. The chapter starts with an account of William Lee, a soon to b...

Some very interesting primitives are evolving in DeFi as it pertains to governance. Back in 2020 (or perhaps even earlier given MakerDAO), the concept of governance tokens was unleashed on the crypto ecosystem. This notion that a protocol should be decentralized and run by its community was in many ways revolutionary. When have we seen something like this occur in Web 2.0 -> JP Morgan letting users decide on product fees? Facebook giving users the right to reward key contributors? The basic i...

Some very interesting primitives are evolving in DeFi as it pertains to governance. Back in 2020 (or perhaps even earlier given MakerDAO), the concept of governance tokens was unleashed on the crypto ecosystem. This notion that a protocol should be decentralized and run by its community was in many ways revolutionary. When have we seen something like this occur in Web 2.0 -> JP Morgan letting users decide on product fees? Facebook giving users the right to reward key contributors? The basic i...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 11/12/20Why Africa? The question I hear either directly or indirectly when I present my vision for the future of crypto. “It cannot be Africa”, most people snap back — too many conflicts, not wealthy enough, lacks the technology and financial infrastructure, it’s not Silicon Valley… the list goes on. However, if you take a step back and digest all of these factors, while there may seem to be some merit on the face of it, the reality is they are actually ...

*Migrated from Medium* Original Date - 11/12/20Why Africa? The question I hear either directly or indirectly when I present my vision for the future of crypto. “It cannot be Africa”, most people snap back — too many conflicts, not wealthy enough, lacks the technology and financial infrastructure, it’s not Silicon Valley… the list goes on. However, if you take a step back and digest all of these factors, while there may seem to be some merit on the face of it, the reality is they are actually ...