RADAR Retro

2020

Most public companies include a letter to their shareholders alongside their annual report. This letter is a rare opportunity for operators to speak directly to shareholders on vision, milestones, and strategy. This year, we continue that ritual (read 2018, 2019). While most of you aren’t shareholders (yet), you’ve invested your time and energy to help us grow. This letter is to you.

Our Next Financial System

We can’t predict exactly what our next financial system will look like, but we know three things. First, it’s going to be more fair, more transparent, and more inclusive. Second, we know it’s going to rely on peer to peer exchange, peer to peer payments, and a whole lot of new infrastructure. Third, blockchain is the best database to build a new financial system on top of.

We wrote that in last year’s retro. We stand by our prediction. In fact, we believe we caught a glimpse of what our next financial system could look like this year with DeFi.

DeFi is unbundling traditional finance and building an open source financial system in its place. One smart contract at a time, DeFi is replacing counterparty risk with technical risk.

1. Accessible: DeFi is global and permissionless from day one. The only prerequisite is an Internet connection.
2. Composable: DeFi uses open source blockchain smart contracts, not trusted middlemen, that are interoperable, immutable, and auditable.
3. Innovative: DeFi isn’t just recreating traditional finance, it’s inventing new financial instruments, incentives, and business models.

Onboarding the World

We believe in the power of decentralized exchange, the verb, to create a global participatory market. This year we evolved RELAY into an aggregator with support from 16+ DEXs (thanks to 0x!) and added one-click Margin and Earn (thanks to dYdX!). Stay tuned for new features coming soon!

Join RADAR

One more thing. We’re hiring. We understand that no candidate is perfectly qualified for any job. Experience comes in different forms; many skills are transferable; and passion goes a long way. Even more important than your resume is a clear demonstration of accountability, impact, and the ability to thrive in a fluid and collaborative environment. We expect you to learn new things in this role, and we encourage you to apply if your experience is close to what we’re looking for.

We know that building a new, more inclusive financial system requires new voices. We understand that diversity of background and thought makes for better problem solving and more creative thinking, which is why we’re dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team.

Thank You

Thank you to the users, friends, investors, and all of the RADARers (current and former) who have helped us get here. We are so inspired by the collective hope in our community and we can’t wait to show you what’s next! Follow along on Twitter!