As crypto markets continue to tumble, so do the beliefs of a major player in the industry as he shifts from a “Bitcoin maximalist” to what he calls a “Bitcoin rationalist.” The reason for this change seems to be that he sees a future for the decentralized finance (DeFi) currency.
Longtime Bitcoin backer Dan Held has exclusively told Marketingwithanoy that he has stepped down from his role as growth director at crypto exchange Kraken. He will play an active role in building DeFi products on top of Bitcoin, starting with a marketing partner role with Bitcoin-focused ecosystem and platform, Trust Machines. A source familiar with the matter also said that Held is expected to take on a brand ambassador role at Kraken.
“Bitcoin is what I care about. Nothing has changed there,” says Held, who has been in space for more than ten years. In his opinion, the stakes for Bitcoin are increasing as the crypto industry narrative shifts towards decentralized finance (DeFi) from centralized finance (CeFi), and as market participants “find more meaning by building on top of DeFi.”
The crypto industry and Bitcoin are at a turning point, he said. “I think there will be a renaissance in the Bitcoin DeFi world. At the moment, DeFi is not synonymous with Bitcoin, and most people think those two words don’t really go together.”
I don’t think it’s going to be a one-chain world. It will be a multi-chain world. Dan Held, Marketing Partner, Trust Machines
DeFi has long been the playground for alternatives to Bitcoin that maximalists have largely written off, such as Ethereum. Bringing DeFi concepts to Bitcoin may be considered heresy by some, although there may be a needle in the thread to return the popular field of crypto development to its original chain.
If Bitcoin is to succeed as the ur-chain in the long run, it will require as much developer attention as possible, making bringing DeFi and its legions of programmers a way to bolster the blockchain’s market position.
Popular (Former) Bitcoin Maximalists Like Nic Carter, Pete Rizzo, and Alex Gladstein have also taken more moderate stances to discuss other use cases in the crypto industry, be it building Ethereum infrastructure, finding utility in stablecoins or anything else.
“This has been brewing for a while,” says Held. “A large group in the Bitcoin [maximalist] space is moderately leaning.”