EthCC Voices: David Bachelier, APAC CEO at Flowdesk
During his interview, David reflects on the growing pains of crypto, and explains why he believes we are entering the next, much more prosperous chapter of crypto’s history.
Welcome to EthCC Voices, the Medium Series for the EthCC community. Taking place in Paris from 19–21 July 2022, the conference organised by Ethereum France is regarded as Europe’s leading Ethereum conference for the community by the community!
What do you think are the highlight moments in crypto over the past year?
Crypto is undergoing its growing pains. It is leaving behind its rebellious past where due diligence is building, as well as when building was overlooked in favor of growth and scaling. It used to even disregard blockchain technology’s own fundamental principles in chasing higher and higher numbers. The implosion of FTX following Terra Luna and Celsius has finally disproved this approach.
CEXs’ credibility has suffered. Consistent building efforts, however, showed the way forward. There has been a notable switching to DEXs that proved themselves to be more reliable. Also, the Shapella Upgrade has taken the Ethereum ecosystem further. This is especially noteworthy because it was completed on time, smoothly, without any massive negative impact on ether’s price or network performance. This is leadership by example.
Also, importantly, regulators and lawmakers have started to take crypto seriously — not only due to the backlash generated by the scandals. The EU has passed its landmark legislation on crypto, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (MiCA) laying the foundation for future growth.
This emerging legal certainty combined with consistent “buidling” efforts has ultimately made the past year a positive one, I believe that it is the beginning of the next, much more prosperous chapter of crypto’s history.
What are some new trends you think will emerge over the next 12 months, which ones are you excited about?
We at Flowdesk think that more certainty and clarity in regulations will attract more retail users who have so far been lacking important legal guarantees and assurances. Additionally, institutions and businesses that have so far been staying away from digital assets because of reputational risks, might now reconsider and enter crypto soon. This means more users, more liquidity, increased stability, and ultimately, more investments.
This hopeful trend is matched by blockchain developers: we see new solutions and features rolling out such as the adoption of Uniswap v3’s concentrated liquidity and decentralized order books being developed and introduced on DEXs. All these can contribute to more sustainable, more stable digital asset markets.
Also, blockchain-specific hardwares from cold wallets to phones may also contribute to this trend. Even Apple’s Vision Pro could prove to be a boon for metaverse and gaming projects and tokens.
How has being a part of the EthCC impacted you/your team thus far? Has anything come out of it?
This is our first time participating in EthCC, and we are really looking forward to be a part of a truly “buidl-focused” event. Flowdesk is an infrastructure provider rather than a financial service start-up. Thus we can learn a lot from the Ethereum community, draw inspiration from its work — especially that we are also working hard to improve our own infrastructure. We cannot wait to hear about the latest updates and meet with the participants of the ecosystem!
What impact do you think Ethereum updates this year will have on the overall ecosystem, crypto projects, and mainstream adoption? (this can be the Shanghai Upgrade, the upcoming danksharding update, or any other developments you’ve been paying attention to)
There is no doubt that Ethereum is a linchpin in today’s crypto ecosystem. Therefore, changes to it potentially impact crypto as a whole. The Shapella Upgrade was feared to depress ether’s price — and as a digital asset that is far more liquid than most tokens and coins, negatively impact the whole crypto market. The fact that the Shapella Upgrade was carefully designed and executed on time put those fears to rest. So we really look forward to the next upgrade, proto-danksharding, a step towards scalability. If Ethereum can make this step, it is a great step towards solving the blockchain trilemma, and would cement it as the leading crypto ecosystem — with the potential to bring crypto to the masses. Therefore, we eagerly await what is next on Ethereum — it has the potential to bring so many more use cases as well as users, and take blockchain adoption further.
Anything else to add? (feel free to share more about the projects you are working on)
We at Flowdesk also believe that on the road towards tokenization, building is key. That is why we have also created a unique model and technological infrastructure for next-generation market making: Market Making as a Service (MMaaS). It essentially lets projects become their own market makers — making it a trustless solution. Thus MMaaS solves many issues that have been plaguing crypto markets: the conflict of interest between crypto projects and their service provider, lack of transparency, scalable liquidity, and more. What is more, we are constantly working on improving our infrastructure, building a network that is even more reliable and even faster. This is the attitude to innovation that we believe will bring mass adoption closer.
