When Crypto's Tulipmania Meets The Real Economy
Regulators begin to consider how to keep DeFi from becoming the next subprime.
With the cryptocurrency world’s luminaries having joined globetrotting elites at Davos — and punters swept up in the market crash suffering sleepless nights — it’s time for regulators to reflect on the real-world impact of the next boom-and-bust crypto cycle.
Fintech and crypto apps have already expanded rapidly into digital cash, loans and complex products that can seem as simple as a credit card in e-mail form. That has created financial channels far beyond a one-way wager on Bitcoin or Bored Apes: Decentralized-finance (DeFi) platforms offer crypto yields of 8%-10% to investors; some then in turn fund startups around the world without touching banks. Tulipmania meets the real economy at WhatsApp speed.