Opinion by: Merlin Egalite, co-founder at Morpho Labs
Fintechs in the front, decentralized finance (DeFi) in the back: the DeFi Mullet.
Today’s fintech companies offer excellent user experiences but are constrained by traditional financial infrastructure — siloed, slow, expensive and inflexible. Meanwhile, DeFi provides lightning-fast, cost-effective, interoperable infrastructure but lacks mainstream accessibility.
The solution? Combine fintech’s distribution and user experience with DeFi’s efficient back end.
The mullet is inevitable
Fintech companies heavily rely on traditional financial (TradFi) infrastructure that is siloed, slow to deploy and run, and costly to maintain. This inefficiency limits their control over costs and product offerings and has potential infrastructure risks. Fintechs have a strong incentive to transition to building on autonomous, credibly neutral public infrastructure.
The power of DeFi is evident in stablecoins. While traditional international wire transfers cost $30–$50 and take one to five business days, stablecoin transfers cost mere cents and settle in seconds. This revolutionary improvement in financial