Why Does Crypto Need Real World Assets to Grow? | EP 31
Oct 24, 2023
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Scott Lewis discusses the growing trend of tokenizing real world assets. Topics include the rapid growth of RWAs in Maker and other protocols, stablecoin usage data points, success and challenges of crypto payment startups, tokenizing treasury bills and collectibles, potential demand for tokenized gold and carbon credits, composability of RWAs with DeFi protocols, and MakerDAO's plan to extend into real-world assets.
Tokenizing real world assets on chain solves important problems in traditional finance and opens up new opportunities for crowd-sourcing and diversification in lending, borrowing, and trading these assets.
Tokenized T-Bills offer a higher yield with less smart contract risk, making them an attractive option for individuals and institutions that lack direct access to T-Bill markets.
Tokenizing real world assets, like T-Bills, creates opportunities for greater liquidity, efficiency, and composability within the DeFi ecosystem, and there is potential for more diverse asset classes to be tokenized.
Deep dives
Tokenizing Real World Assets on Chain
Tokenizing real world assets and putting them on chain solves important problems in traditional finance, such as increasing liquidity and transparency. It allows for more efficient and frictionless finance, as assets can be collateralized and traded on permissionless protocols. Traditional assets that lack liquid secondary markets, like auto loan market, SMB receivables, and trade financing, can benefit from being securitized on protocols. This opens up new opportunities for crowd-sourcing and diversification, as anyone can participate in lending, borrowing, and trading these assets. The timing is right for tokenizing certain asset classes, such as short-term treasuries, which are safe and have low duration. There is also potential for tokenizing other assets, like auto loan market and SMB receivables, which have less liquidity and securitization in traditional finance. Challenges remain around regulatory compliance and KYC/AML requirements, but advancements are being made to address these issues. Overall, tokenizing real world assets on chain shows promise in transforming finance and creating more accessible and efficient markets.
Demand for Tokenized T-Bills
The demand for tokenized T-Bills on-chain comes from different sources. One source is individuals and institutions that lack direct access to T-Bill markets but want exposure to this low-risk asset. These participants can now access T-Bills through protocols like Ando, Maple, and others. Another source of demand is within DeFi itself, where participants are lending stablecoins to protocols at rates below the T-Bill yield. Tokenized T-Bills offer a higher yield with less smart contract risk, making them an attractive option. Although the exact buyer demographics are not known, the focus is on creating an efficient and secure market for T-Bills on-chain.
The Potential of Tokenized Real World Assets
Tokenizing real world assets, like T-Bills, creates opportunities for greater liquidity, efficiency, and composability within the DeFi ecosystem. It allows for on-chain trading, collateralization, and borrowing against these assets, opening up new avenues for financial innovation. The market for tokenized T-Bills is still developing, and there is potential for more diverse asset classes to be tokenized, such as auto loans, SMB receivables, and trade financing. These assets, although not as large or well-known as treasuries or high-grade corporate debt, can benefit from the flexibility and efficiency of protocols. The demand for tokenized assets comes from those seeking yield, diversification, and efficient access to traditional assets that may not have liquid secondary markets. As the regulatory landscape becomes clearer, real world assets on-chain have the potential to transform and democratize finance.
Challenges and Future Outlook
While the tokenization of real world assets offers many benefits, there are challenges to overcome. Regulatory compliance and KYC/AML requirements vary across jurisdictions, and issuers and tokenizers of real world assets must navigate these complexities. Additionally, ensuring liquidity and attracting a wide range of participants will be important for the growth and success of tokenized assets. However, the potential for increased liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in finance signifies a promising future for tokenized real world assets. The space is still evolving, and advancements in technology, regulation, and market development will shape the trajectory of this emerging market.
Demand and Liquidity in DeFi
There is a high demand for liquidity in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, such as Uniswap. Crypto whales and underground trading groups are actively providing markets for these protocols, leading to a significant total value locked (TVL) in real-world assets. The current macro trend of raising interest rates is also driving the demand for DeFi, as investors seek higher yields. This trend can potentially accelerate the adoption of real-world assets on the blockchain.
Tokenizing Asset Classes
While some asset classes like real estate and collectibles show potential for successful tokenization, others like precious metals have yet to prove their value in the blockchain space. The key factor in the tokenization success of an asset class is its compatibility with traditional distribution channels and the ability to provide unique features and benefits on-chain. Sleepy, high-yielding markets with fewer counter parties and inefficient cost structures are more likely to see successful tokenization. Music NFTs, for example, have potential but face challenges in creating a format that is compatible with traditional distribution and provides an enhanced user experience.
Imran and Qiao bring on Scott Lewis to discuss the growing trend of tokenizing real world assets.
No BS crypto insight for founders.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro (00:51) Welcome to Good Game (01:15) What we are going to talk about today (01:54) Real world assets gaining traction in DeFi (03:26) Rapid growth of RWAs in Maker and other protocols (04:29) Stablecoins settling over $11 trillion on chain (06:32) Interesting data points about stablecoin usage (08:41) Factors contributing to the success of crypto payment startups (09:47) Challenges faced by early attempts at crypto payments (11:18) Commercialization of real world asset utility through startups (12:36) Importance of understanding demand before tokenizing assets (14:25) Tokenizing treasury bills as a potential asset class (20:24) Potential tokenization of collectibles like Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering cards (22:26) Appreciation of collectible cards and nostalgia driving demand (23:44) Nikita Bier's tweet on belief in crypto and global events (24:10) Potential demand for tokenized gold. (25:52) Tokenized carbon credits and their potential on-chain. (27:49) Tokenizing assets without a liquid secondary market. (29:01) Composability of RWAs with DeFi protocols. (31:21) MakerDAO's plan to create a new brand and extending capital base into real-world assets. (35:50) Let's bring on Scott Lewis (37:43) Lack of strong thesis on why tokenizing assets makes sense (38:24) Scott's background (41:25) Scott's interest in real world assets due to solving important problems (41:43) Tokenizing assets provides open liquidity and transparency (44:39) KYC/AML requirements vary for different issuers and money markets (45:20) Real world assets in DeFi are a hybrid of centralized and decentralized (46:59) Gabriel Shapiro's tweet - 3 types of RWAs that exist (48:29) Scott's role as a builder of infrastructure for real world assets (48:42) Discussion about representing builders (49:48) The difference between tokenizing stocks and US Treasuries (51:05) Excitement about tokenizing specific asset classes (54:24) Question about the demand for on-chain T-bills (55:45) Underground trading groups and interest rates as a tailwind for DeFi (57:28) Discussion on the demand for traditional assets in DeFi (59:55) Bullish or bearish on tokenizing real estate? (01:00:11) Uncertainty about tokenizing precious metals and collectibles (01:00:29) Pokemon cards and Magic: The Gathering cards discussed (01:02:05) Speculators vs end collectors in the collectibles market (01:02:46) Making access to real world assets easier (01:05:38) Debate on the importance of real world assets in crypto (01:08:36) Demand and cost efficiencies driving real world asset tokenization (01:12:01) The next asset class that is most likely to get tokenized and succeed on-chain (01:13:31) Music NFTs and their potential in the market
Scott Lewis Twitter: https://x.com/scott_lew_is
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3N675w3 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3snLsxU Website: https://goodgamepod.xyz Twitter: https://twitter.com/goodgamepodxyz
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DISCLAIMER: The views expressed herein are personal to the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or entity. Discussions and answers to questions are intended as generalized, non-personalized information. Nothing herein should be construed or relied upon as investment, legal, tax, or other advice.
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