The most interesting metric for me to watch is the usage of programmable blockchains to build software. While assets like Bitcoin and other cyber commodities create compelling economic narratives and stories about power, they don’t tell us much about the future of how economies are built and operated. To that end, using ConsenSys software like Alethio, we can see the number of various functional calls that developers make using decentralized programs.
Are people moving money and paying each other? Are they creating collectible digital tokens, or trading some particular assets, or executing some arcane function? Looking through chains and into the activities that humans choose to turn into permissionless software is fascinating. It’s like looking into the inner workings of a giant clock, its gears clicking loudly into the night. The more gears there are, the louder they click, the more composable they become, the larger and more significant the story they tell.
Decentralized finance, and projects like MakerDAO, Compound, Set Protocol, Uniswap and others show what the future of financial manufacturing may look like. We don’t have to imagine financial software written into the chain — it is already there. To me, those applications and next-layer solutions are the most compelling thing happening in financial technology innovation today. Understanding them, and then assessing them through initiatives like Codefi’s DeFi score, focused on protocol risk and function, should be the main focus for people interested in the future of finance.