Designing decentralized finance for financial inclusion
Introduction
Reorienting goals
In order to fulfill this vision for economic prosperity and to go beyond the overplayed DeFi talking point of “banking the unbanked”, this paper proposes four goals that DeFi will need to prioritize: (1) cater to everyday use-cases; (2) offer easy to use products; (3) promote intentional risk-taking; and (4) account for mobile phones and internet accessibility.
The bottom line
DeFi protocols offer an alternative for people to access financial tools. While development has thus far focused on crypto native users, its future can push the frontiers of financial inclusion. For this, the paper argues that the responsibility of development falls upon private organizations and developers as well as public sector entities. Private sector serves as the frontline to the evolution of DeFi whereas public sector regulators and central banks establish the guardrails to protect users. At the same time, the paper concludes that DeFi in its decentralization, holds us all accountable. We cannot look to intermediaries to solve the most pressing financial problems. Instead, it falls upon each of us, public and private sectors, to design the frameworks and applications that enhance financial inclusion.
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