The investing chief and research analyst at a $1.2 billion crypto asset manager share how DeFi is disrupting the traditional financial services industry

• Matt Hougan is the chief investment officer for the $1.2 billion crypto asset manager Bitwise.
• In a webinar, he and analyst David Lawant shared their bull case for decentralized finance.
• They also broke down the ten largest DeFi assets that have seen enormous growth and innovation.

When you have billionaire investor Mark Cuban talking about DeFi reminding him of the early days of the internet, and Bank of America issuing a report about DeFi’s radical challenge to modern finance at the same time, you know a paradigm shift is likely on the horizon.

DeFi or decentralized finance refers broadly to blockchain-based trading or lending platforms that are automated by software instead of being executed by human employees. DeFi applications are mostly built on the ethereum network. (Ether, the digital token for the ethereum network and second-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, shot above $2,000 for the first time ever on Friday.)