Demystifying DeFi: GoodFi announces new advisory board, launches educational website

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has come a long way since its inception and gradual reception barely a year ago.

Decentralized finance is a global movement that shifts concentrations of monetary power from centralized authorities, enabling the creation of an open financial system in which anyone can participate, minimizing or even eliminating the need for trusting and relying on external or central authorities represented by banks, governments, and financial authorities with provenance and power over an economy.

Through the power of blockchain technology, cryptography, and the internet, decentralized finance is able to collectively build and operate a financial system without intermediaries or central authorities.

Now, a group of like-minded organizations have teamed up to establish GoodFi, a non-profit organization working to collate the resources of key DeFi protocols and companies, in a bid “to spearhead change, to educate and onboard the next 100 million  users to DeFi.”

GoodFi announced today that some 22 luminaries from the DeFi industry are joining them as advisors to help boost awareness and adoption of decentralized finance. GoodFi was formed by Radix, the first layer-one protocol specifically built for the DeFi ecosystem. The newly established Board of Advisors joining GoodFi are as follows:

• Michael Zacharski - Account Executive, Chainlink
• Omakase - Core Developer, SushiSwap
• Jonas Lamis - CEO, StakerDAO
• Trent Barnes - Principal, ZeroCap
• Alex Wearn - CEO, IDEX
• Sid Powell - CEO, Maple Finance
• Clayton Menzel - Head of Marketing & Content, Figment.io (http://figment.io/)
• Piers Ridyard - CEO, Radix
• Lawrence Till - Managing Director, NetZero Capital
• James Simpson - Co-Founder, mStable
• Isa Kivlighan - Digital Marketing Manager, Aave
• Scott Trowbridge - Co-Founder, Blockswap Network
• Fauve Altman - Global Community Lead, mStable
• Jay Kurahashi-Sofue - VP of Marketing, Ava Labs
• Jacob Kowalewski - Chief Strategy Officer, t3rn
• Isaac Rodgin - Head of Business Development, Fuse.io (http://fuse.io/)
• Adam Simmons - Head of Strategy, Radix
• Milana Valmont, Co-Founder & CEO, KIRA network
• Amanda Joki - Business Development & Marketing Lead, SushiSwap
• Kyle Lu - CEO, Dapp.com
• Dan Reecer, VP of Growth, Acala Network
• Rachel Chu - Project Management Lead, SushiSwap
• Albert Castellana - CEO, StakeHound

This group will meet monthly to “ tackle the combined challenges facing the adoption of decentralized finance” according to GoodFi. With the board’s combined experience, knowledge, and resources in the decentralized finance sector, initiatives that aim to lower the barriers of entry and participation to crypto and blockchain technologies will be launched, alongside projects that aim to spread access to and knowledge about decentralized finance, especially among new users looking into DeFi’s potential opportunities and rapid innovations.

“Open, distributed systems allow for great speed and innovation. It's no accident that there are so many projects with talented teams paving the way forward. What's missing are unbiased groups that seek to create shared value for all builders and users [...]” shared GoodFi advisory board member Jay Kurahashi-Sofue, who represents Ava Labs as Vice President of Marketing.

Alongside the announcement of new members to its advisory board, GoodFi has also launched a website that would cater to users looking for resources and information about decentralized finance in general.

“While opening a new cryptocurrency wallet and interacting with various DeFi dApps is second-nature to crypto-natives, these processes will initially be intimidating to the uninitiated majority across the globe,” said Adam Simmons, Head of Strategy at Radix DLT.

Introductory educational resources are now live on GoodFi’s website, and are open for anyone to read and learn from. The non-profit collective is also working on producing more content for the resource site, with work on new features to help DeFi learners and beginners find and match with DeFi dApps, opportunities, and asset classes that suit their needs and interests.

This DeFi “matchmaker” feature will help interested DeFi users get an unbiased overview of current DeFi projects and their associated risks by providing real-time yield data for the range of platforms and protocols listed, helping newcomers to DeFi navigate an increasingly complex world of opportunities.

GoodFi urges people who are already in the DeFi sector to work together and get involved, and the collective has opened for volunteers who want to contribute to the project. GoodFi also accepts donations to further their educational initiative for the DeFi movement.

According to current data from DeFiPulse, the decentralized finance ecosystem now has a total value locked (TVL) amounting to some $79.28B.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.