Posts in open source
What Goldman's institutional financial cloud on Amazon means for embedded finance
What Goldman's institutional financial cloud on Amazon means for embedded finance

In this analysis, we focus on Goldman Sachs launching an institutional embedded finance offering within Amazon Web Services, and Thought Machine raising a unicorn round for its cloud core banking platform. We explore these developments by focusing on the emerging role of cloud providers as distributors of third party software, think through some of the implications on standalone fintechs and open banking, and check in on AI company Kensho. Last, we highlight the difference between Web3 and Web3 approaches to “cloud”, and suggest a path as to how those can be rationalized in the future.

Read More
exchanges / cap mkts, mega banks, neobank, open banking / PSD2, open source, embedded finance, enterprise blockchain, digital transformationLex SokolinGoldman Sachs, Marcus, Kensho, Thought Machine, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Ethereum, Binance, Solana, Polygon
Scaling Web3 with the $10B+ Polygon protocol, with COO Sandeep Nailwal
Scaling Web3 with the $10B+ Polygon protocol, with COO Sandeep Nailwal

In this conversation, we chat with Sandeep Nailwal – The Co-Founder & COO at Polygon (previously Matic Network). Sandeep is a long time developer who’s been dabbling in the space since way back in his college days. Originally known as the Matic Network, Polygon rebranded with the aim to reach a global audience and they’ve certainly done just that.

More specifically, we touch on Sandeep’s intriguing entrepreneurial journey, developing a blockchain startup in India, DApps, Scalability & Interoperability of Layer1 and Layer2 blockchain solutions, Zero-knowledge Rollups, NFTs & Gaming, and so much more!

Read More
crypto, DAOs, enterprise blockchain, open source, metaverseLex SokolinPolygon / Matic, Ethereum, India, Flipkart, Cosmos
Developing regenerative finance using memes for the public good, with Kevin Owocki of Gitcoin
Developing regenerative finance using memes for the public good, with Kevin Owocki of Gitcoin

In this conversation, we talk with Kevin Owocki, who serves as the CEO & Chief Roboticist at Gitcoin, about the evolution of the programmable blockchain space, how open software gets made, where value comes from and all sorts of other really cool futuristic things.

Additionally, we explore the nuances of being an early developer in shifting markets, idea mazes, the founding of and philosophy behind Gitcoin, the deep work being done towards the Open Internet, the building of community-driven grant mechanisms, early work on quadratic-funding, and the idea behind memes powering DeFi.

Read More
crypto, decentralized finance, funding round, open source, p2p & crowdfundingLex SokolinGitcoin, StepOut, Techstars, Ethereum, MetaMask, Truffle, Uniswap, 1inch, Yearn
Crypto regulatory wargames with FinCen, FCA, and the US House of Reps, impacting Paxos, Compound, BBVA, and Northern Trust
Crypto regulatory wargames with FinCen, FCA, and the US House of Reps, impacting Paxos, Compound, BBVA, and Northern Trust

This week, we look at:

  • Proposed US regulation from FinCEN, legislation from the House of Representatives, and UK FCA registration requirements that would impact the crypto industry

  • The difference between competition for share within an established market, and competition between market paradigms (think MSFT vs. open source, finance vs. DeFi)

  • The crypto custodian moves from BBVA, Standard Charters, and Northern Trust

  • The bank license moves from Paxos and BitPay, as well as the planned launch of a new chain by Compound, in the context of the framework above

Permissionless finance is a paradigm breach. It pays no regard for the very nature of the incumbent financial market. Without banking, it creates its own banks. Without a sovereign, it bestows law on mathematics and consensus. Without broker/dealers, it creates decentralized robots. And so on. It tilts the world in such a way as to render the economic power of the incumbent financial market less important. Not powerless -- the allure of institutional capital is a constant glimmer of greedy, opportunistic hope. But the hierarchy of traditional finance does not extend to DeFi, and thus has to be re-battled for the incumbent. This is cost, and annoying.

Read More
decentralized finance, crypto, open source, philosophy, central bank / CBDC, stablecoins, regulation & complianceLex SokolinFinCEN, FCA, BBVA, Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, Paxos, BitPay, Compound, SEC, CFTC, MakerDAO, Libra / Diem, Aave
Will Open Source business models rule the world, as Enterprise Ethereum Pantheon joins Hyperledger
Will Open Source business models rule the world, as Enterprise Ethereum Pantheon joins Hyperledger

From a financial incumbent point of view, if you are going to mutualize infrastructure, you need to actually mutualize the infrastructure. This means solving the game theory problem of accidentally giving away the value of your back office systems to your biggest, best-funded bank competitor -- not a competitive equilibrium. To that end, technology companies are a natural place for maintaining crypto systems. However, note that public chains today already have the benefit of billions of dollars in cyber-security spending (i.e., mining) and the dedicated engineering of thousands of open source developers. By choosing to use a public chain, you get this out of the box. With a proprieraty solution, even if the end-results are open-sourced, community is impossible to replicate. Maybe this is why IBM bought Red Hat for $34 billion, and Microsoft bought GitHub for $7 billion.

Read More
venture capital, open source, enterprise blockchainLex SokolinHyperledger, ConsenSys, IBM, Red Hat, Linux, Fabric, Ethereum, Quorum