Chris Perkins | Crypto: Where are We Headed? | The Curious Learners Ep. 33

The Curious Learners

My guest today is Chris Perkins. He is the President of CoinFund, which is a crypto-native investment firm founded in 2015. Chris joined CoinFund in 2021 after spending a long time in traditional finance. He was most recently a managing director at CitiGroup.
His experience in traditional finance is very relevant from the perspective of crypto's future as an industry. Chris was deeply involved at the time in the transition of the traditional finance derivatives industry from unregulated to regulated. That transition is now top of mind for the crypto industry.
I have previously discussed with other guests the topic of mass adoption of crypto. And this time, I thoroughly enjoyed the holistic conversation with Chris where we touched on regulation, usability and functionality of crypto.
Below some highlights from the show:
- How do you see the current landscape for crypto?
There are medium and long-term tailwinds specific to crypto:
1) ongoing regulatory de-risking (of course compared to a few years ago) and policy work to provide uncertainty to founders and to the ecosystem
2) institutions getting more comfort with crypto, including a wide range of companies from asset managers to consumer brands
3) strong pace of innovation continues alongside move of talent from web2 to web3
- Regulatory progress vs technological progress? Is the former lagging behind the latter?
Maybe. But not a big problem as some other instances in the history, technology has surpassed law and regulation. It is important for industry participants to invest in the dialogue and education with the policy makers.
- Is Cryptocurrency a security or a commodity?
Obviously, a very challenging question. It shouldn't matter as to who regulates the space (SEC in the case of security or CFTC in the case of commodity). It should be about focusing on underlying principles including preventing things such as manipulation, fraud and abuse.
- What excites you the most among CoinFund's areas of investments?
Excited across all verticals:
Infrastructure: huge potential to significantly improve onboarding and user experience
NFTs: you can put anything that is non-fungible online for value
DAOs: another example, where technology has surpassed regulation
DeFi: use case will be massive as we solve the regulatory and licensing challenges
Gaming: next generation gaming with enhanced user experience coupled with blockchain technology will unlock value across the space
- What is your interpretation of DeFi? Happy with what it has achieved so far?
It will change the financial world and lead to much more inclusion. However, we need to solve certain things to make that happen, including AML/KYC, sanctions, risk management and licensing regime. This will help make DeFi widespread among a much larger retail base and institutions.
- How do we practically execute the DeFi Mullet thesis, i.e. DeFi running the back-end systems of financial services with traditional fintech on the front-end?
Understand as a founder what you are solving for, e.g. if trying to maximize liquidity, you have to understand what regulation you need to deal with.
- If everything goes to plan, what will be the biggest transformation in crypto in the next year and in the next five years?
In the next five years, every company will be a crypto company. In the near-term, excited about the derivative landscape (working closely with the regulator) and stablecoins.
- What are you most #curious about these days and what are you doing to #learn more about it?
Often meet amazing founders who are building super exciting projects - hence curious to hear about them across all verticals.