Episode 2: Ben Simon

Ben Simon is a researcher and investment associate at Mechanism Capital, a venture capital firm investing investing in blockchain, cryptocurrency and DeFi applications. Ben and Dingo talk about how they got started in the industry, the philanthropic potential of crypto, potential government regulations, exciting future applications for Saffron Finance, and so much more.

https://www.mechanism.capital/

https://saffronacademy.podbean.com/e/episode-2-ben-simon/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:10 Ben’s background and his initial pathway into crypto and DeFi. Static nature of Bitcoin in contrast to innovation in ETH and DeFi. Problems with traditional financial system and payment rails.

10:20 Limitations of blockchain technology and DeFi. Potential evolution of DeFi and possible modes of interaction/integration with TradFi. 

17:20 Countering criticisms of DeFi as self-referential, overly speculative, and lacking in real-world use cases.

21:00 Trade-offs of permissionless systems.

23:30 Prospects for increased government regulation and risks that might pose to DeFi.

30:00 How Ben got further involved in crypto and landed a job in the industry. Recommendations for job seekers.

46:20 Why Ben likes Saffron. How Saffron is differentiated from incumbent insurance/risk mitigation protocols in crypto and improves upon them. Exploration of potential future use cases for Saffron and the niches it can fill.

56:45 Discussion of competing L1s; challengers to Ethereum; Ethereum scaling solutions; DeFi usability issues.

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