When Crypto Titans Clash: The DeFi Debate Is On for Blockdown Next Week

In the clash of ideas between centralized and decentralized finance, is one better than the other, or do they both need each other?

The latest months of global quarantine have been nothing less than a renaissance for online events across spheres. This has been especially true for the technologically adept blockchain community. While crypto crews have been sailing from one event to another, the next big virtual conference on everyone’s calendar is Blockdown 2020. And the Blockdown team is preparing a showdown of ideas between two crypto heavyweights for part of its programming.

MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen and Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky will appear alongside each other to debate the merits of decentralized finance and centralized finance. The event is scheduled for June 18th, but we spoke with Christensen and Mashinsky in advance to gain a window into any clash of ideas that might place live.

We got the scoop from Christensen on what he plans to cover:

"Ultimately, I'm really going to talk about how CeFi and DeFi really need each other. And they complement each other. I think the big advantage of DeFi is that it’s all about creating these global, transparent, directly accessible infrastructure networks, essentially. They’re very efficient, very secure, and anyone can join them. But the downside to this approach is that if you’re just a regular user dipping in your toe, it’s intimidating to interact with something like that."

We also talked to Mashinsky, who raised questions about whether or not cloning existing systems in a decentralized manner will actually solve real financial problems:

"A lot of what's being created within DeFi is a copy of what's happening on Wall Street. I think that the big debate is really: is the existing financial system solvent or not? Is it something that we need to rely on or propagate? And if not, well, what is that new system going to look like? The point here is to solve the financial problems. Seven billion people don't have an alternative."

Both business leaders agree that the virtual event space has taken off for crypto in the wake of COVID-19. Christensen said he’s done “too many to count,” and Mashinsky says he does “two or three a day.”

They’ll both chalk up one more on Thursday, June 18th.