Radical Transparency - How Nansen surfaces the signal on the Ethereum blockchain

Nansen is an analytics platform for the Ethereum blockchain. Nansen combines on-chain data with a massive database of millions of wallet addresses. Nansen helps crypto investors and product teams surface the signal from blockchain data.  Guest: Alex Svanevik Why you should listen: Alex Svanevik and his co-founders have worked in the blockchain data space since 2017 and kept seeing the same problem. There was a need to get a better understanding of who the different participants were on a blockchain network. This challenge of trying to understand the different addresses on the Ethereum blockchain was unsolved. The Nansen team knew that knowledge about network participants would be valuable to crypto product builders and potential investors. Alex says “that was our big idea, to help those two customer profiles better understand Ethereum blockchain activity to inform their decision making. Crypto is information inefficient which means there are opportunities to be gained if you are able to gain an insight into blockchain activity.” Alex and his team have been tracking the deposits into the Ethereum 2.0 smart contract and he is excited by the potential of Ethereum 2.0. “I hope that people understand that the transition from Ethereum 1.0 to 2.0 is going to be a long and slow process but many of the challenges that Ethereum has faced will be addressed with 2.0.” Alex says DeFi has had a promising year in 2020 and it has a sustainable future, something that wasn't the case with ICOs. Despite the many smart contract exploits, Alex is not concerned and sees these as part of the evolutionary process and a result of early adopters experimenting and taking risks. “Everything is in an experimental learning phase at the moment that is fraught with risk,” he said. “Right now DeFi is complex and difficult to use. The future of DeFi will be a mix of centralized exchanges that integrate with DeFi protocols. This will improve the user experience and benefit all participants.”  Key takeaway: Blockchains represent radical transparency. Investors are able to get real time direct access to what is happening in the markets, something that is not available in the traditional markets. This radical transparency has advantages and disadvantages. On the negative side, some entities would prefer to hide their movements, whether that be purchases, investments, or trades, so there is a lack of privacy to some degree. On the positive side, this transparency creates a higher degree of trust. If you send your money to a centralized exchange, once your assets arrive with them, it is harder to trust that they are safe. However, decentralized on-chain platforms such as Aaave and Compound are inherently transparent and the user can see their transactions and assets on-chain at all times.  Supporting links: Nansen Alex on Twitter Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.