The Founder Fireside Chat series hosted by DeFi Pulse interviews DeFi founders in the hopes of offering readers an opportunity to better understand their perspective and what drives them to build their vision.
In this installment, we sat down with Clayton Roche, Community Lead at UMA and Co-founder of the DeFi Nation group, who offers a unique perspective on the trials of building a new industry.
I’ll be precise with my answer and list a few things that set UMA apart. UMA’s contracts are self-contained, so any issue with one collateral type will not affect neighboring contracts. UMA allows for any collateral type, as opposed to requiring the use of our own token.
UMA also has its own oracle solution, which is not the case for similar products, and this solution operates unlike any other currently live. It is a “priceless” system whereby the prices come on chain very infrequently and only ever due to a dispute.
Security is really first and foremost. Scalability without security just means losing people’s money more efficiently.
Decentralization is a certain type of security, but must come after actual smart contract security and effective financial engineering.
The most critical part? I would say, finding scalable ways to recognize when people bring value.
For example, if someone creates a dashboard or meme or shares an interesting idea, finding ways to recognize their contribution.
This can be done in many ways. Sometimes that means rewarding them with ownership in a protocol they are helping to build, and other times that means integrating their suggestion.
“Real-world” integrations.
I think DeFi has gotten very self-referential but that will all fall away after the bull market.
Everyone feels like they have imposter syndrome. And how could we not?
We’re literally designing a new industry—Even if someone tells you you’re great, who qualified them to make that judgement?
I’ve learned to let my passion and intellectual interest distract me from my own insecurities, and that usually keeps me going through the day.
It ain’t much, but it’s an honest living.
We hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading! And thank you to Clayton for sharing his witty but insightful thoughts with all of us.
