DeFi: The Disruption Felt 'Round the World'

In the words of economist Murray Rothbard,

“It should be clear that modern fractional reserve banking is a shell game, a Ponzi scheme, a fraud in which fake warehouse receipts are issued and circulate as equivalent to the cash supposedly represented by those receipts.”

Central and Institutional banks have been creating the problem and selling the solution for decades, robbing the layman in the process.

The 2008 TARP bank bailout in the US cost taxpayers $700 billion dollars to bailout wealthy bankers, while around 10 million Americans still lost their homes.

The banks caused this problem, but the government chose to save the wealthy instead of the American people, as the crisis launched 46.5 million into poverty. It is time for the monopoly of legacy banking to end.

We are in the midst of a financial revolution. A kairotic moment to be seized. For the first time in history, people are hedging against the realities of inflation with a truly viable fiat alternative.

The disenfranchised recognize the limitations of fiat currencies and are looking for stable currency options and different ways to give and receive loans. And they’re finding it in Defi. 

To quote Ali Kassab, founder and chairman of Centurion Financial, “There are so many use cases that can be applied to DeFi. I don’t think there will be any immediate limitation - the only thing that can stop the fight is the financial institutions themselves…

We’re still promoting cryptocurrency and blockchain because we want freedom and social inclusion. For anyone to have access to services and payments without necessarily getting any social status.” 

Satoshi Nakomoto started this movement with Bitcoin, a decentralized global digital currency that sits on a blockchain with a peer-to-peer network, eliminating the middleman. In the beginning, few believed it would work, and fewer still believed it would catch on. 

Now, cryptocurrency is mainstream. Coinbase was the first major cryptocurrency trading platform to be listed on Nasdaq in April. Major companies like Tesla and MicroStrategies hold Bitcoin and have been outspoken in their support.

Square allows for payment with crypto, as does Paypal. Thought leaders like Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Mark Cuban are not only investing in crypto, but believe it to be the future of finance. Cultural icons Tony Hawk and Floyd Mayweather attended the 2021 Bitcoin Conference in Miami, along with 12 thousand other attendees from all over the country.

Since Bitcoin’s creation, many new cryptocurrency projects have taken off, creating mind-blowing innovation and utility we never thought we would see with digital decentralized currency.  

With this has come a global push for Decentralized Finance. DeFi aims to cut out the middleman in our financial institutions.

Adds Assab [in a recent Cryptonized! interview],

“Why the social exclusion? Why should banks only be providing services to people who have a certain amount of revenue? This is a service everyone should have access to.”

With technology like smart contracts, self-executing contracts between buyer and seller written into code that are executed on blockchains, we no longer need an overpaid governing authority. Transparency is written into the code. 

DeFi apps include decentralized exchanges, which allow trading, buying, and selling of cryptocurrency at lightning speed on a global scale. You no longer have to wait to gain access to your money; it’s in your wallet instantly.

There are also Lending Platforms, which authorizes you to become a lender using your own crypto, and collect interest on what you loan. It also gives anyone the opportunity to take out a loan, without the need for a bank or broker to facilitate.

Billions of dollars have been invested into the DeFi sector, and that number is expected to grow as crypto, once considered a hedge against inflation, or a holding asset, provides utility and the potential for income generation for everyone-not just the people at the top.

As new blockchain technology emerges, we should expect new disruptions to our financial systems. SpaceX will launch a moon mission funded by Dogecoin. Jack Dorsey believes Bitcoin will bring about world peace. Even Al Gore was quoted saying

“I think the fact that within the bitcoin universe an algorithm replaces the function of the government… is actually pretty cool.” 

Central Banks have irresponsibly printed money, risking our national economies and destabilizing our currencies. Institutional and Central banks have held all the power for too long. DeFi puts the power back in the hands of the people.