Software is Dead! Long live the internet money

🍽️ Introduction

In the tech world, the phrase "Software is eating the world" has been a guiding principle for many years, not just in the startup or VC industry, but in a more generalized sense. Coined by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, this motto encapsulates the idea that software is at the heart of significant transformations across all industries. However, as we've come a long way in the software industry, a new paradigm is emerging: "Internet money is eating the world."

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👩‍💻 The Rise of Software

Software has indeed eaten the world. From healthcare to finance, education to entertainment, software has become an integral part of how all industries operate. Even traditional businesses that once seemed impervious to the digital revolution have embraced software, transforming their operations and service delivery mechanisms.

Considering this, it is now time to look at the future and embrace new mottos that set the pave way for new tech to emerge.

🤑 The Shift to Internet Money

As users, we start to be conscious about our personal data usage and its impacts on both the online and offline world, setting the transition from web2 oligarchies and siloed databases to a web3 approach where ownership is king. While in traditional web2 platforms, companies are extracting value from you and the content you generate, by monetizing your data, in the web3 world, you’re instead maximizing your value.

You are not the product, you are the creator!

However, it is estimated that only 4.2% of the world's population owns crypto. And by owning it doesn’t necessarily mean using it.

Knowing what we know about the traditional financial industry (TradFi) and its history of bad usage of its client’s money, the next big wave will become from models that allow the users to monetize their generated content using a digital currency that intermediates the exchange of value between peers.

This is the type of money fuelled by blockchain tech, commonly known as cryptocurrencies, but that goes beyond mere wallet transactions. These technologies are not just another type of software; they represent a fundamental shift in how we think about and exchange value.

🌞 DeFi Long-lasting Summer

In 2021, we started to see the rise of DeFi as an alternative to TradFi. That period has become known as the DeFi Summer and it opened Pandora’s box to the infinite possibilities of not just owning your own money, but using it like Lego pieces that can make you do the things you’re used to doing in TradFi, but in a decentralized and non-custodial way: swapping currencies, borrowing and lending assets, providing liquidity in return for APYs (aka farming), among other building blocks that were the inception of something bigger

Protocols like Uniswap, Curve, Aave and a few others are taking over the space previous dominated by centralized services such as CEXs (centralized exchanges), having now over $51b in TVL (total value locked) in the whole DeFi market.

And the biggest protocol in terms of TVL, is Lido, an Ethereum Liquid Staking Protocol with more than $15b in value locked.

🚪 Entering LSDfi

With the emergence of more “Proof of Stake” protocols, as well as the shift to this type of protocol on the Ethereum ecosystem, it was also possible to create LSDs.No, I’m not talking about the drug, although this topic can be very addictive.

LSD stands for Liquid Staking Derivates (also known as LSTs, Liquid Staking Tokens). In essence, it is a token that allows you to get the incentives for being a validator of each network, without needing to fulfill the tech and financial requirements to do so. Through an LSD, you are lending your assets to finance the security of a network and as a return you receive a yield and a token that could be converted to another asset at any time.

Example:You can use Lido, one of the biggest LSD protocols at the moment, to lock your ETH and earn a daily reward with an annual yield of around 4% at the time of writing this article (this APY varies according to the usage of each protocol).

LSDfi Map

Credit: @SumCap

As the Liquid Staking narrative keeps growing, we see it mimicking some of the traditional financial products but on a decentralized approach.

The Lybra Protocol, for instance, allows users to deposit ETH/stETH and mint an interest-bearing stablecoin (eUSD). While Pendle is a yield-trading protocol enabling users to purchase assets at a discount or gain leveraged yield exposure.

As for the future of LSDfi, it's expected to grow as more PoS blockchains come online and keep evolving their infrastructure. So there will be a huge trend in this money Lego approach.

In essence, liquid staking can make staked assets more productive, as it allows users to participate in DeFi while still earning staking rewards. This could lead to an increase in the total value locked in staking, and potentially even increase the crypto market overall.

However, it's also worth noting that liquid staking protocols by being fairly new, can introduce additional risks, such as smart contract risks and hacks has there were in the DeFi space, but that is obviously part of the growth of this industry.

👁️  Don’t trust, verify!

⚙️ Introducing WorkFi: The future of work

It’s not just finance that is being revolutionized by crypto and blockchain tech, but also the way we work and get paid.

WorkFi, a blend of 'Work' and DeFi' (Decentralized Finance), is our vision for the new decentralized employment movement.

This model leverages the power of blockchain technologies to transform the freelance and remote work industry. Using tools like decentralized social graphs and soulbound tokens, we can create a transversal reputation system, enhancing trust between organizations and workers, and ensuring timely and fair payments.

As an example, at TAIKAI, our web3 hackathon product, we use PoP (Proof of Participation) NFTs as a way to attest to the work that person has done, as well as an ENS domain as a digital identifier. For Bepro, our bounty protocol, besides using PoP NFTs, we also have smart contracts managing the escrow for payment, as well as a curator role to make sure people are paid in a fairly and automated way.

👩‍🎨 Breaking down UX and Programmable Money

Starting with the obvious, everyone in this industry claims the UX is broken and we need more UX/UI designers. Although it is true in some form, have you tried using banking apps?

Let’s face it, understanding private keys and seed phrases is not the sexiest part of this industry, but it is the cost of owning your own money.

Isn’t that what we’ve always wanted?

Nonetheless, this industry doesn’t stop innovating and everyone is talking about Account Abstraction now. In simple terms, account abstraction allows you to set different kinds of permissions to access and move your funds. Your wallet is actually a smart contract that you can configure as you see fit.

You can define that to move less than $500 you only need **a face id from your phone, above $500 you need a password + face id and for transactions more than $10,000 that you need your mom to confirm it through an sms verification.

The beauty in account abstraction is that the configuration is not just for security purposes, but actually on how your money operates and works for you. In that sense, you can program how you use your money in an automated way (e.g. 30% of your salary goes to stETH, 50% stays available in your wallet, 10% goes for automated expenses, such as Netflix, Spotify, etc.).

As an example, Gnosis, the team behind Gnosis Chain and Safe, is now launching Gnosis Pay, taking this vision a step further.

Account Abstraction Map

Credit: @amanda0x

We’re not there yet, but it is for sure the ultimate goal for this Programmable Money, combining financial freedom with automated money tasks (imagine Zapier for your money).

💫 Final Remarks

The potential impact of Internet money on various industries is immense. Just as software transformed traditional business models, internet money could reshape the financial landscape and others, making it more transparent, efficient, and inclusive. As we stand on the cusp of this new era, it's clear that the future will not just be eaten by software, but also by internet money.

The phrase "Software is dead" is not a eulogy for software, but rather an acknowledgment of its maturity. Software isn't going away; it's simply making room on the stage for the next big thing: Internet money. As we look to the future, it's clear that we're not just in a world where software is eating everything, but also one where internet money is poised to take a significant bite.

Don’t take my word for it, as a16z also went down this web3 rabbit hole, with a specific department focused on investing in the space, and with that, its motto has now reshifted to “It’s time to build”.

If you haven’t gone through this rabbit hole, now is the time! I promise you will be dazzled by the immense possibilities of being and building in this space! 🙌