Hello!
Every few years crypto gets its moment in the spotlight. For most of its life, those moments followed a predictable four year cycle: prices shot up, usually too far, people piled in, most got burned, and a few stayed. That’s how crypto grew, by booms and busts that left behind true believers.
Institutions seemed like they were part of the same game. They bought Bitcoin for their balance sheets, launched ETFs, or let clients trade it. Each time, people called it a turning point. But institutional adoption was usually a top, not a beginning. “Institutions are here” became a meme. They never brought the next billion users, because they never really embraced crypto. They just nibbled.
But this time is different, because institutions aren’t just experimenting anymore. They need crypto. For the first time, it’s in their best interest to go all in.
It’s ironic, because crypto started as a big “fuck you” to institutions. The whole point was to build outside the system. And yet, ever since I’ve been in crypto, there’s been this hunger for recognition from the very incumbents it was meant to replace. Where does that urge come from? Probably from the realization that replacing the entire financial system is unrealistic. It’s built on decades of trust, and for better or worse, most people still believe it works for them.
So the more realistic goal isn’t replacing it. It’s red-pilling it. And that’s where the DeFi mullet comes in.
Read the full article on LI.FI Knowledge Hub: Crypto’s Distribution Playbook: Or, the DeFi Mullet (And Interop: the Mullet Under the Mullet)
In the full article, I cover:
Why Washington is embracing stablecoins as a policy tool
How the GENIUS Act locks institutions into crypto
The “DeFi mullet” as crypto’s smartphone/ChatGPT moment
Why interoperability is the “mullet under the mullet”
What founders and institutions need to do now to scale adoption
If you’re building at the intersection of DeFi and distribution, this one’s for you.
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