American Consequences - January 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

Parkinson’s? This alone should be the most important takeaway. Each of these themes has current support in the U.S. and abroad. Alone, each of them will create a new ecosystem of investment opportunities. Stock picking will become that much more important. A rising tide will lift all boats only so much. For example, should investors own a real estate investment trust focused on cannabis companies in the face of banking reform? Should investors own the big cannabis stocks or the smaller regionals? Which will offer the best investment returns? Right now is truly a great time to be involved in cannabis, as an entrepreneur, lawmaker, investor, or otherwise. Times like these are an absolute investment gift if you know how to be a part of it.

Then-Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks calls it a trend toward “self- driving banks” in a nod to self-driving cars. In a recent essay, he speculated that the U.S. government may one day give out banking charters to these completely automated platforms. And then it will be so mainstream there will be no more need to point out that it’s decentralized than there is reason to say “mobile phone” when you refer to an iPhone. We simply won’t need to mention the technology – blockchains – that powers financial products. It’s only possible because blockchains are completely public and unchangeable. Anyone can see and verify transactions at any time. Once you can do that, you can unleash computer programs on top of those blockchains. And in the process, you can cut out virtually all the layers of middlemen we have in the financial industry today. This will make them so much better that traditional finance can’t compete. One metric we use to follow DeFi’s growth is the total amount of capital being put to work in DeFi platforms. Today, that number is around $22 billion... up from $800 million a year It will be so mainstream there will be no more need to point out that it’s decentralized than there is reason to say “mobile phone” when you re- fer to an iPhone.

ERICWADE CRYPTO CAPITAL

2021 is the year we’ll start (and then stop) using the term “DeFi.” DeFi, short for decentralized finance, is a catchall phrase for automated financial transactions. These transactions use blockchains to cut out all middlemen. It makes borrowing and lending, as well as trading cryptos, equities, bonds, securities and even issuing insurance policies, possible without a human ever getting involved.

American Consequences

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