Once cryptocurrency (defi) was a wild child of the code, especially during the infamous “summer,” but now, according to Dan Tapiero, it has quietly matured into something even stronger: boring and reliable.
“Defi said it was boring. That means the income comes from their time during Defi summer is more than ten times,” said Tapiero, founder and CEO of 10T Holdings and CEO of 1roundtable partner, in a rounded discussion of Scott Melker and the agency’s Crypto adoption. “It’s just kind of a tick and it works and no one talks about it anymore.”
Tapiero has been a longtime macro investor, entrepreneur and digital asset advocate, co-founded Gold Brion International and held senior positions with legendary investors such as Stan Druckenmiller and Julian Robertson.
But if Defi is quietly winning, what’s back after a large institution jumps in?
“The more I go there, the more I call them Web 2.5 – the business already uses Stablecoin and Crypto Rails,” he explained, citing Stripe as an example. “On the weekend, they will make payments with Stablecoin Rails.”
That said, traditional finance still has a long way to go. “There are still many people in the facility who don’t even know Bitcoin,” he added. “They’ve heard of ETFs… but they really don’t get it.”
So, will a major bank always be completely defi? Probably not. “Do you think Midwest banks will suddenly be operating in defi? Probably not. But that’s all early signs.”
For the institutions involved, risk management is the name of the game. “Survival here is a lot about risk management,” Tapiero said. “Even this sleeve of our new fund…is only 15% of the fund, so it’s only four or five of these protocols. It’s very managed.”
The message is clear as Altcoins still drops 90% from the high. This is no longer a gambler game. “We really need to know how to manage risk,” he said. “Every three or four years decreases by 50-80%.”