Hermetica Manifesto: Part 2
A financial system is, at its core, a network.
As history shows, the network with the biggest network effects wins; every time.
To establish dominance, a new financial system must not merely mimic the existing one, it must surpass it. It must offer financial services that are not just marginally better, but significantly superior and more cost-effective. It must be 10x faster, better, and cheaper.
Only then will enough users adopt the new system, tipping the network effects’ scale to allow the emerging system to reign supreme.
It is clear that Bitcoin currently excels at providing financial services like uncensorable storage and value transfer. However, it lacks many broader financial services including debt, spot, and derivatives markets.
Some of these services are being offered today through centralized companies. If you log in to your exchange account, you get access to everything from lending and borrowing to the trading of options and futures.
But these solutions come at a significant cost. They reintroduce the problems associated with centralization and permissioned access and increase Bitcoin’s attack surface.
Centralized systems recreate an environment where the few can introduce rules to benefit themselves and where a portion of the market needs to be excluded to comply with regulations.
Or, put differently, centralized services undermine Bitcoin’s probability for long-term survival.
That’s why we need Bitcoin DeFi.
For Bitcoin to succeed we need a Bitcoin native financial system that offers the full range of financial services — from lending, to trading of complex financial contracts, and everything in-between, while also maintaining the decentralization that makes Bitcoin so powerful.
We at Hermetica pledge to push Bitcoin DeFi forward and broaden its network effects. We strive to build an open financial system that unlocks services previously reserved for institutions and high-net worth individuals, making them available to everyone.
We stand at the cusp of a new era, proudly looking forward to a future where Bitcoin DeFi is the dominant financial system — a cornerstone for a free and prosperous world.
