The Potential of Blockchain Technology

-Another new capability is that the code can actually hold money

What is DeFi all about? Modernizing, disintermediating (banks etc.), reducing layers of fees in the middle. Transparency. This is a big misconception. People think it's opaque and used for criminal activity. Everything in blockchains is open...

-Compound, for example, is a lending protocol built on ETH with $10b+ of crypto available for borrowing. The creators could go away tomorrow and the code will still run.

'-If you look at a lot of the issues people have with social networks, I would argue a lot of it comes from a mismatch between the nature of these networks and the legacy corporate structures that govern them.

For example, BTC's value is enabled its scarcity. This scarcity is ensured through the code and design of BTC itself. There isn't a central party that can change the rules on users and take the supply beyond 21m coins.

A very hard unsolved problem, in fact, is how to make it private. The idea of using it for money laundering is absurd. It's the worst way to do it. Everything is public and exposed.

-BTC worked well as store of value in the sense that there's more and more people that accept it as such. Data supports that it is being used in countries with unstable currencies

-To analogize, think of the iPhone in 08. To see the opportunity, you had to imagine 1) that weaknesses get mitigated (it gets faster, service gets better), and 2) entrepreneurs will take new features (like GPS) and create new ideas with them

-You can also make commitments to other network participants such as developers. There's no platform that can change the rules, take rates, APIs, etc.