The DCo Podcast EP 38 — How to Fix DeFi with Andre Cronje
Apr 15, 2025
In this insightful discussion, Andre Cronje, a leading figure in DeFi and CTO at Sonic Labs, delves into the challenges and complexities of building in the decentralized finance space. He talks about the heavy toll of regulatory pressures and how upgradability has undermined composability. Andre highlights the contradictions between usability and decentralization while proposing a roadmap for a walletless UX. He also emphasizes the need for more foundational primitives in DeFi, urging aspiring builders to learn from past failures and innovate responsibly.
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SEC Letters Consumed Months Of Work
- Andre Cronje described receiving repeated SEC letters that escalated in detail and legal pressure over months.
- He hired counsel and spent weeks compiling logs and evidence, which consumed his time and halted other work.
Market Shift Killed Appetite For Immutability
- Market participants shifted from techno-anarchists to mainstream users, changing product priorities.
- That change made decentralization and immutability less valued and drove safer, revenue-focused builds.
Upgradability Broke Composability
- Composability collapsed because many protocols became proxy-upgradeable and mutable.
- Builders now silo systems to avoid upstream changes breaking their products.