Chain Reaction Host Jose Maria Macedo sits down with Stani Kulechov - Founder & CEO of Aave. Aave is one of the leading DeFi protocols with nearly $3B in TVL and $4B in loans originated. Originally known as ETHLend, Aave launched its ICO in 2017 and unlike most, built through a brutal multi-year bear market that saw its price drop >90%. The team’s persistence was rewarded with a truly epic 2020 as TVL grew 1000x (from $300K to $3B) and market cap grow ~150x (from $10M to $1.5B). Most importantly, the team has continued to innovate at breakneck space, pioneering features such as flash loans, delegated credit lines, collateral swaps and entirely new governance structures.

In this conversation, we skip over much of the now well-covered Aave back story and focus on covering new ground. We discuss things like:

• What makes a good protocol founder & CEO,  

(3:35) – Stani’s background and what brought him to crypto

(9:45) – Angel investing: What does Stani look for in projects & founders?

(13:57) – Learnings from being a Protocol CEO

(19:31) – Biggest mistakes and learnings from 2020

(23:47) – Aave’s e-money license and what it will enable

(28:39) – Aave’s Protocol and Application Layers

(31:43) – Aave’s Application Layer as a DeFi Aggregator

(33:16) – Application value capture

(38:14) – The potential of the Safety Module as an Insurance Product.

(40:47) – Delegated Credit and unlocking yield aggregation

(52:24) – Competitive moats in DeFi

(58:42) – Thoughts on Compound Chain

(01:01:13) – Thoughts on Algorithmic Stablecoins

(01:03:34) – Thoughts on CREAM, the Yearn conglomerate and “Protocol M&A”?

(01:08:39) – Aave’s new Governance Standard

(01:15:14) – How does Stani see the future of Protocol Politicians?

(01:20:14) – Stani´s Expectations / Strategic Focuses for 2021.

Resources:

• Stani’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/StaniKulechov

• Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q

Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast,