The Border Between DeFi and CeFi with Nuke Goldstein

My guest today is my friend Nuke Goldstein, Co-Founder and CTO of Celsius Network. Celsius provides a platform of curated services that have been abandoned by big banks – things like fair interest, zero fees, and lightning quick transactions. Celsius also offers much higher rates of returns on savings and deposits, much easier and fairer loan requirements and automated rewards computed for each user algorithmically. Despite a building momentum behind defi, fintech companies like The Celsius Network are innovating in the space between centralization and decentralization. This middle ground is an inherent stepping stone to an entirely decentralized future and the benefits it can afford. The Celsius Network is a prime example of the value this interplay can unlock. Celsius’s goal is to disrupt the financial industry, one happy user at a time, and introduce financial freedom through crypto. Nuke is a seasoned software developer, architect, innovator, and entrepreneur in cutting-edge technologies. His career ranges from image processing and AI to IoT and blockchain. Prior to his work on the Celsius crypto assets lending and borrowing platform he designed P2P credit protocols using distributed storage and smart-contracts. Nuke was the CEO and founder of Sevenpop, a leading interactive music technology provider to hundreds of hotels and shopping centers across Israel. Nuke holds a B.Sc. in computer science from the Technion in Haifa (Israel’s most elite Institute of Technology). In addition, he has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation. In our conversation we discuss a variety of topics including Celsius, Bitcoin, the resiliency of peer-to-peer networks, the failure of traditional institutions, the parallel paths of disruptive technologies, the intersection between DeFi and CeFi, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing why peer-to-peer networks are antifragile and why they are so resilient. Nuke draws parallels between the different robust systems and how they are able to withstand various attacks. We discuss how peer-to-peer systems draw their power from human ingenuity and why that is vital to their success. Our conversation transitions to discuss Bitcoin and Bitcoin’s game theory. Nuke does an excellent job at breaking down the game theory behind Bitcoin adoption at the nation state level and why people will have to capitulate as adoption continues. Our next major conversation topic, centered around the failure of traditional institutions. We discuss how our financial institutions have abused their power, which has led to a complete degradation of trust. Our conversation pivots to discuss the evolutionary paths innovative technology takes as it becomes adopted by society. Nuke illustrates how these technologies follow similar paths and the importance of looking back at previous innovation cycles to understand how crypto will be adopted. Nuke stresses the need for sensible regulation and desire for open communication between entrepreneurs and regulators. Another very interesting conversation topic was the importance of the intersection between CeFi and DeFi. Nuke explains Celsius’s role in helping bridge CeFi and DeFi to make crypto accessible to everyone. Nuke also explains why Celsius is committed to providing their customers with the best possible experience possible and how they are empowering users toward financial freedom through crypto. We finish our conversation by discussing why the future is bright and why we are living through the most exciting time in history. Please enjoy my conversation with Nuke Goldstein.

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