ARK pushes back against a16z’s ‘TradFi wants blockchain, not DeFi’ claim
ARK Invest’s research director rejected a16z crypto’s view that traditional finance will mainly adopt permissioned blockchain systems instead of DeFi. Lorenzo Valente said public blockchains have already proven stronger than private blockchain efforts, pointing to the expansion of tokenized assets on Ethereum and other open networks. He argued that crypto-native companies like Circle and Coinbase are better positioned than legacy financial institutions to build future financial infrastructure. a16z crypto had argued that banks and asset managers will selectively use blockchain features such as tokenization and atomic settlement while keeping systems permissioned and under institutional control. Sentora co-founder Jesus Rodriguez also disputed that view, saying institutions will likely use DeFi’s core infrastructure and add compliance, custody, and other enterprise controls on top.
