“Bitcoin is a system of software rules, with no rulers.”
Alyse Killeen, the Managing Partner of StillMark, recently commented on the possibility of DeFi innovation on Bitcoin, in an interview with Blockworks.
In the past, the DeFi boom in the industry has largely been on the back of Ethereum. However, the Bitcoin venture capitalist believes that innovation unlocking at the top of Bitcoin will be revolutionary. In the context of DeFi, she said,
“Bitcoin presents a really interesting sort of foundation. That’s because of the type of decentralization that exists in Bitcoin…”
She further estimated that Bitcoin-type decentralization doesn’t exist in other cryptocurrencies or protocols. As a result, DeFi users do not have to worry about the rules changing, she added.
Earlier this year, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had stated that his payments company is focusing on Bitcoin-based DeFi business. In response, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had expressed skepticism on the plan. In an interview, Buterin had said that Bitcoin is limited as the “currency of the house” and therefore, would need to essentially create a “system” to enforce rules. A system that was already built-in on the Ethereum network through its smart contracts protocol.
On a similar front, Killeen argued,
“Bitcoin succeeds only by being consistent and stable and unchanging, in terms of the rules that define it.”
Therefore, she thinks that Bitcoin has “no rulers” and can be further counted on. She added,
“[Bitcoin] it has become more dependable.”
While she spoke about the price movement of Bitcoin asset, she added that adoption and price has a positive correlation. And with time, the asset has “proven to be more resilient and robust.”
As she moved focus to the technology behind the asset, she explained the various use cases of Bitcoin for retail, business, and financial institutions. Apart from being a store of value, Killeen said that Bitcoin is used as digital money allowing for “remittances and other forms of payments.” She added,
“We’re moving on from there. An example is to DeFi.”
In terms of the roadmap, she explained that the developers are now working on Bitcoin security, dependability, stability, and privacy. However, on a different level, the VC is focused on,
“What’s being introduced to affect those variables, that also can open the door for the greater utility of smart contracts.”
