A look at the subculture and ethos driving the white-hot DeFi space, which has grown from $2 billion to $9 billion in total value locked in just two months.

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This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

Today on the Brief:

• Traditional markets falter, led by tech stocks
• Bitcoin falls under $11,000 for the first time since July
• Stablecoins mint $100 million daily since mid-July

Our main discussion is about DeFi’s “degens.” NLW talks about:

• The numbers behind DeFi’s recent run-up
• What “degen” means in this context
• Why degen is, in part, a reaction to previous bitcoiner critiques of Ethereum 
• Why degen is (in even bigger part) a reaction to a no-yield, artificially low interest world

See also: A Simple Explanation of DeFi and Yield Farming Using Actual Human Words

For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, iHeartRadio or RSS.