Institutions and Web3: Where Do We Go From Here?
Updated: Sep 20, 2022
With Rumi Morales, Digital Currency Group, Hylton Irons, Listen Ventures
By Alejandro Ballesteros, Venture Investor, Decasonic
Rumi Morales of DCG had an enlightening conversation with Hilton Irons of Listen Ventures regarding the present and future of institutional adoption.
State of Institutional Adoption Today
Rumi echoed the earliness of the state of institutional adoption today and mentioned that consumer brands have been large driving forces in institutional adoption of digital assets.
“When I got into this in 2016 I had assumed that most major banks would be using bitcoin…. Gaming, brands, NFT, Media has plowed into NFTs way faster than any Goldman Sachs type of institution”
There are definitely different approaches to how institutions have been getting involved in the space. Some go all in, and some are studying it and keeping updated on this technology without going in head first immediately. Rumi echoed the importance of creating the habit of continuing educational efforts regardless of the market state, and not using bear markets as opportune times to ignore fundamental innovations in this space, given its potential to revolutionize so many existing business models.
Challenges in Institutional Adoption Today
“Where I found the hardest has been around the inflexibility of many traditional institutions who have frozen mindsets around blockchain technology. I know just how hard it is to be flexible when you are a large bureaucratic institution.”
This is the innovator’s dilemma at work. Legacy institutions are getting into the space at much slower pace than exciting new cases seeking to onboard the next billion users into the industry.
Building real value add for the mainstream is a core value of ours at Decasonic, and we couldn’t agree more with Rumi.
The depth and intensity of market cycles have also proven to be a difficult challenge for institutions to come. Rumi argues that because the previous crashes have been so profound, many legacy institutions were hesitant to dip their toes, as they couldn’t accurately assess the risk the industry would disappear for a significant period of time.
Rumi acknowledged that personally, having the will to not get too absorbed into the rampant short term money-making opportunity helps maintain the eye on the ball: building the next generation of use cases that will onboard the next billion users in blockchain.
To be an innovator requires a type of optimism and conviction that not everyone can uphold. At Decasonic, we utilize our conviction to strategically position ourselves during bear markets and continue building for the long term.