Maple Finance CEO says that DeFi Market Can Be 100x Larger

Sidney Powell, the CEO of Maple Finance, recently sat down with Scott Melker to discuss DeFi market potential. During the podcast, the duo spoke about various topics, including the FTX effect, the role of AI, tokenizing assets, lending businesses, etc.

Talking about the DeFi market, Powell spoke about the reluctant nature of banks and other financial players to use smart contracts and cryptocurrencies due to what they perceive. Powell mentioned that this is because of regulatory uncertainty.

Additionally, he stated that if these financial institutions were to use DeFi, it is not hard to see a world in which DeFi is a hundred times larger in the next ten years, in terms of who is participating in it.

Melker, who is the host of the podcast, asked whether he sees it as a replacement for the legacy systems, if he sees it as a parallel rail, or whether he sees legacy systems evolving and operating on DeFi. He also quoted the examples of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, asking whether he sees them using DeFi in the future.

Powell, however, mentioned that he doesn’t see that happening. “I don’t think so. I think they will start to use the tools, but I think of it as an innovator’s dilemma.”

Melker also questioned how AI could influence this. Powell responded that AI is like a cost reducer. In one way, it could help developers be more productive and also help with credit positioning, which can help lower the cost in many ways.