‍We Need A Fairer Financial System‍

A background in computer science, tech, and a succession of traditional financial roles preceded Barney’s journey into crypto.  

Working in capital markets and trading systems, he was familiar with the demand for “fairness” and the reality of varying degrees of preferential treatment inherent in trading.

It was an incomplete view of fairness where an underclass of traders are unable to compete with the micro-second access and advantages of hedge funds. Systems may express principles of fairness, but they were ultimately rigged.

The seed for Vega was born. Barney unpacks the need to restructure our financial systems and incentivize approaches that guarantee the ongoing design of fairer trading.

Real-World Utility And Usefulness

We need real-world utility in DeFi that can improve the service and usefulness of centralized alternatives, whilst adhering to the values of decentralization. 

We’re incredibly early on that journey and several layers of abstraction away from everyday competitive use for non-natives. Further conclusions:

• As the groundwork for an independent DeFi ecosystem continues to be built, the first arrivals will be forced to rely on centralized bridges. 
• We are a long way from presenting competitive alternatives to centralized services. 
• We need to go beyond developing the functionality to show end-users the utility and use. Show them the model house, rather than the bricks and mortar. 
• Progress will be shaped by public demand to offer alternatives to the limitations of web2 and what’s necessary for DeFi to succeed.
• The biggest players in DeFi infrastructure will not be kitchen table names. Interacting with protocols will go largely unnoticed by the masses.

Continuing the Good work Of The Internet

There is an essential need to secure irrevocable digital rights in an increasingly digital society. 

The internet and technology have been a force for good in decentralization. You would have previously needed billions of dollars and legions of servers to access what’s now achievable from a coffee shop, the cloud, and a laptop.

Its evolution has largely democratized access, entertainment, and information, but it’s imperfect and unfinished. The ability to centrally control its utility has created a crater of inequality.

Necessary Hierarchies

There is tension in a functioning society between the necessary hierarchies and the idealism of equality and freedom expressed in decentralism.

Full decentralization is perhaps unachievable, but it will become a crucial yardstick for measuring the systems, governance, organization, and rules that we accept. 

What’s critical, is to cultivate a space that deconstructs unnecessary hierarchies, allows for permissionless innovation, and offers an ecosystem for decentralised finance to function independently in.