As I discussed with more people, I think I have more clarity on what I don't like about the EF posting the mandate. Just to clarify:
1. I like the mandate and the cypherpunk spirit, but I don't think the EF is actively acting according to their guidelines when it comes to anything related to finance.
2. I don't care if EF holds ETH or sells it. I don't care about anyone's financial strategy; I care about how it's executed
If EF wants to sell, I would like to see them actually find a decentralized protocol (or code one themselves) and use it instead of a centralized exchange
I don't think they realize that every day they're not doing this, they're supporting the growth of centralized entities, banks, and making DeFi less appealing to themselves. Here are my reasonings:
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The foundation constantly acts like everything in DeFi is greedy and for profit, and keeps mentioning support for "non-financial" apps
But what the foundation doesn't realize is that building a real decentralized financial protocol is the same as building a non-financial app because there is no way to monetize it
Nobody has ever solved the "free rider" problem; protocols are free to fork, and it's theoretically impossible to charge fees. That's part of why "tokenomics" was invented in the first place—it was a way for teams to get funding without charging fees, and everybody with a moral compass hates it
IMO, the most ideal solution we have is the theory of "hyperstructure": a token controlling a fee switch can be worth something even though no fee is charged. This gave me hope because it shows ways to fund permissionless systems to be built. But sadly, I don't think most people believe in it
So, the DeFi world is full of tokenomics and governance because that's what it takes to keep a project alive.
Why can't you just build things with no funding just like other open source software? Because blockchain security sucks, and one audit costs tens of thousands. How do we get that money? Put our suits on and join the tables we vowed to fight in the first place
Despite all that, "non-profit" protocols still exist today: many agree that DeFi protocols should be free for access and free of charge. It's just very, very hard to make that a reality
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When I read the mandate, I just can't stop thinking about one thing:
How come an organization with such noble principles, also using only open-source tech, is still handling their financing with centralized exchanges?
How come "OTC" with multisig transfer is the only way you figured out in the last six years, while thousands have built many different protocols or products to help people move out of centralized exchanges?
What else can we do to help EF -- a group of people who care nothing but about anti-surveillance and censorship-resistant tech -- to actually use that tech?
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My Message for EF (or whoever still believe in DeFi can really help humanity)
1. Financial freedom is as important as other human rights like privacy and data ownership. Don't try to look away
2. Finance doesn't necessarily mean profit; defi protocols were supposed to be public goods.
3. Financial primitives are like cryptographic primitives; they empower other things. They're not products. They are neutral tech with a funding problems.
If we don't find a way to support good defi teams, others with resources and influences will come in and do it. They will build their centralized stablecoins, attract people with better UX and yields, trick people in thinking that is "the blockchain magic", and when it collapses, no body would ever trust any chain again.
If you really believe in CR, privacy, financial freedom. Do something.
Stop using centralized exchanges.
This is exactly what I was complaining about:
> EF built Ethereum, a generalized censorship-resistant VM
> People built "permissionless, open-sourced, censorship-resistant" protocols like Airdwap, 0x, and Seaport to enable "swaps" without counterparty risks -- all on top of Ethereum. Completely, censorship-resistant, tools.
(0x has been live since 2018, and even Seaport is 4 years old now)
> EF published a mandate to support open source, CR, and privacy
> EF did OTC with a direct transfer.