ARK Invest Research Director Refutes a16z Crypto's View on TradFi Adopting Blockchain
ARK Invest Research Director Lorenzo Valente published a rebuttal to a16z crypto's view that "traditional finance will adopt blockchain, rather than DeFi," arguing that institutions will increasingly rely on DeFi infrastructure in the future.
Valente stated that public chains are leading private chain projects in practical development, with the growth of tokenized assets on open networks like Ethereum as evidence. He also believes that crypto-native companies like Circle and Coinbase are better positioned than traditional financial institutions to build the next generation of financial infrastructure.
a16z crypto previously stated that banks and asset management firms would not directly adopt DeFi, but would choose blockchain technologies that comply with existing regulatory, governance, and operational requirements, including tokenization and atomic settlement functions, while continuing to maintain permissioned systems and institutional control.
Sentora co-founder Jesus Rodriguez also disagreed with a16z's viewpoint, suggesting that institutions might adopt the underlying infrastructure of DeFi and layer compliance, custody, and other enterprise-level controls on top of it.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Lorenzo Valente, as ARK Invest's Director of Crypto Research, has long favored public chains and DeFi. His public rebuttal of a16z crypto reflects differing institutional investment views, with the former emphasizing the actual lead of open networks and the advantages of crypto-native companies.
In terms of capital pathways, ARK's view supports institutions directly relying on DeFi infrastructure to accelerate adoption, while a16z leans towards permissioned chains to maintain control. Funding and resource allocation will compete between public DeFi and private blockchains.
Similar debates on infrastructure adoption in the crypto industry are currently in the early stages of the fusion between TradFi and DeFi, with the growth of tokenized assets on public chains providing empirical support.
This fundamentally represents a technological substitution: public DeFi infrastructure, with its actual adoption and innovation speed, challenges the dominance of traditional permissioned chains, shifting pricing power from institution-controlled chains to open networks and crypto-native platforms.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
- Actual adoption leads theoretical design; public chains have spoken with data.
- Crypto-native companies build infrastructure, with speed and adaptability surpassing traditional banks.
- Institutions must either embrace DeFi's foundation or be left behind by open-source innovation.