LN Markets newsletter - Issue #8:
Update on DeFi with @SBF_Alameda
Our two sats on DeFi
New Lightning proposal by @roasbeef
1-click Lightning Networks with @lightningpolar
LN Retail payment with @GaloyMoney
Satoshi GPT-3
Bonus
https://lnmarkets.substack.com/p/8-july-24th-2020









How can we define the value proposition of decentralization for finance?
In our view, #Bitcoin


By analogy with #Bitcoin


The term #DeFi is mostly used to refer to the so-called “Decentralized Exchanges” and “Automated Market Makers”.
They have mainly been developed on Ethereum so far, but coding public smart contracts is highly challenging.

And the possible attack surface increases exponentially with the complexity of the code.
Hence, most #DeFi contracts have back doors in case of major issue, meaning that they are not censorship-resistant.

As we do no expect Ethereum design to change anytime soon, #DeFi built on Ethereum will probably never be able to deliver the true value proposition of decentralization: censorship resistance.
Decentralization will not happen on Ethereum.

To label these financial contracts, the term open source finance would be more relevant (but certainly less catchy) than #DeFi in our view.
They are more transparent in the way they deal with the funds.

But they remain centralized, since there is trust involved in a smart contract, or in the person that can freeze assets locked in a smart contract…

Over the long run, after the rise of #DeFi governance tokens stops subsidising the whole field, end users will be faced with a trade-off.

Trading on open source finance services, they will benefit from a better transparency, NOT a better control over their funds.
We don't think it will be sufficient for hedge funds & big whales to take the risk of having assets stuck in a smart contract

With @LNMarkets, we took a different road.
We have decided to focus on the speed of fund transfers. We believe that it is a strong value proposition, much stronger than transparency.

Anyone who has regularly transferred large amounts of bitcoins knows the terrible feeling of having to wait for an hour to be sure that your transaction is finally done.

We have been following the DeFi craze from a distance, since well, as you know, we are more focused on building on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
@SBF_Alameda has recently published a great thread to demystify the dynamics of this very hot topic https://twitter.com/SBF_Alameda/status/1284965991445704705?s=19