Trade To Black Podcast: Don’t Forget About DeFi

In this weekend’s Trade To Black Podcast, TDR Founder Shadd Dales and lead financial writer Benjamin A. Smith speak with the CEO of Liquid Meta Capital Holdings Ltd. (NEO:LIQD) (OTCMKTS: LIQQF), Jon Wiesblatt. Liquid Meta is a decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure and technology company with liquidity mining operations that are generating consistent yields via the allocation of deployed capital. As a former Portfolio Manager at Tier-1 investment firms Ninepoint Partners and Sprott Asset Management, Jon is not only a DeFi subject matter expert, but of the capital markets and economic influences that co-mingle with it.

One of the panel’s primary topics of conversation is the bear market in DeFi, with has seen Total Value Locked (TVL) tumble almost 80% (peak-to-trough) from the November 2021 highs. Simultaneous to the decline, annual percentage yield (APY) have been compressing as the halcyon days of mega yields have ended. Jon chimes-in on the current state of the froth-less market, and where the DeFi sector goes from here.

Another topic of discussion revolves around the news that Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest asset managers with $1.5 trillion in assets under management, has entered the crypto arena.

The firm announced this week that starting in the fourth quarter, it will begin offering two digital asset separately managed account (SMA) strategies through Eaglebrook Advisors. The Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Core strategy is market-cap weighted, investing in 10-15 of the largest digital assets. As of June 30, the portfolio is weighted with bitcoin (BTC) at 69.25%, and ether (ETH) at 26.15%. Next up is Solana’s SOL at 1.65%, with all other tokens weighted at less than 1%.

As well, CoinDesk reported this past week that institutional DeFi is growing at a rapid pace and some research firms say this niche sector will attract over $1 trillion in investment capital over the next five years.

So while the DeFi ‘hype’ meter is near zero currently, there are signs DeFi is attracting significant interest from institutions looking for a place to park capital and generate higher (and consistent) yields. Similar to the dot.com bubble or the first two crypto busts, DeFi appears to be going through a similar shakeout. But as the dust settles, Mr. Wiesblatt anticipates DeFi (TVL) will emerge stronger than before.

Click on the embedded link to view our latest Trade To Black Podcast with Liquid Meta Capital Holdings CEO, Jon Wiesblatt.

To view our previous Trade To Black podcast, click here.