Equilibrium and the Global Impact of Blockchain, DeFi, and Web3

About this Episode

In this wide-ranging and eye-opening discussion, Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity Technologies) speaks with Lesley Czuma, Head of Business Development at Equilibrium, a cross-chain money market combining pooled lending with synthetic asset generation and trading. They discuss the massive potential of Web3 and DeFi to radically impact global systems of organization and power, to disrupt monopolies, and bring benefits to those marginalized by the current economic paradigm. They also dive into what Equilibrium is building and the role played by Polkadot and Substrate, the blockchain-building framework from Parity Technologies.

Links:
Equilibrium website
Equilibrium on Twitter
Equilibrium on Telegram

Highlights:
02:00 - Web3’s potential effects on global systems of power and monopolies
10:30 - What Web3 can learn from political unions and nation states
16:40 - Web3’s impact beyond infrastructure builders
24:09 - Replacing legacy systems vs integrating with them
28:15 - Equilibrium’s mission
30:50 - Equilibrium’s role in the Polkadot ecosystem
33:35 - Equilibrium’s roadmap

Key Quotes:
“It’s not a coincidence that Web3 is sometimes compared to a borderless global society where people have the same chances.”

“This tech jump that we’re observing right now is catapulting new actors onto the world stage and forcing established monopolies to rethink their business models in order to stay on their toes, and it actually ends up being a little bit like a system of checks and balances”

“If the previously rich and advanced industrialized societies had the say on the world stage, together with some leading brands, I think there’s a clear trend that this new technology with blockchain is actually empowering individuals with no particular means, especially those have been disempowered until now.”

“Some of the large brand names, let’s say in credit cards, are keying into the process and realizing that if they don’t start taking blockchain seriously then they’re going to lose out.”

"As the scope in adoption of blockchain and DeFi grows, it’s automatically going to draw in more people from different walks of life. The mainstreaming is going to happen in the same way that it did with the dotcom revolution. You’re going to have blockchain apps becoming so essential that no one is going to be able to ignore them anymore.”