Eswar Prasad Says 5 Years of DeFi Failed to Upend Finance as Stablecoins Lead Blockchain
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 17
Eswar Prasad Says 5 Years of DeFi Failed to Upend Finance as Stablecoins Lead Blockchain
1 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 17
Summary
Five years after publishing The Future of Money, Eswar Prasad said decentralized finance has not disrupted traditional financial institutions as he once expected.
Prasad said the blockchain models that gained the most traction are centralized ones, with stablecoins emerging as the clearest example rather than fully decentralized systems.
His reassessment contrasts with the earlier promise that fintech, cryptocurrencies and DeFi would remake finance, even as digital innovation in payments and lending has continued to spread.
The shift suggests blockchain's real-world adoption has favored instruments that fit within existing financial structures, not Bitcoin's original anti-intermediary vision.