Spectral at Fintech Devcon 2022

Given the slump, there was residual fear over the use of blockchain technologies in Fintech. However, crypto ideals such as collaboration, open software, and financial inclusion were well in evidence. Spectral’s verdict: DeFi is here to stay.

Spectral at Fintech Devcon 2022

Between August 23, 2022, and August 25, 2022, Spectral visited Fintech Devcon 2022 in Denver, Colorado. Attendees spanned a wide variety of professional backgrounds. Despite their differences, they seemed united by a desire to expand access to finance.

Financial Inclusion and Crypto Hesitancy

Financial inclusion was a common theme during Fintech Devcon 2022. A number of keynotes touched on the subject and everyone seemed to express enthusiasm, but many FinTechs were also weighing the potential costs of opening up to a broader economic community. Fraud prevention was frequently identified as a source of friction for many companies.

Spectral’s Developer Advocate Darrell Malone, Jr.

Crypto hesitancy was clearly evident among the FinTech devs. Few attendees said they were actively engaging with blockchain technologies this year. Given the recent slump in the crypto market, there seemed to be some residual fear about the use of blockchain technologies. Signs of a thaw were visible, however, and some L1 protocols were being discussed in favorable terms.

DeFi lives on in Open Source Banking

Open source banking, the idea that financial services could be opened to anyone willing to contribute stirred considerable excitement. Many talks discussed the release of open source tools. Baseline, a data sharing and synchronization protocol on the Ethereum blockchain, was particularly interesting. Despite the crypto grousing mentioned above, crypto ideals such as collaboration, open software, and financial inclusion were well in evidence. DeFi is likely here to stay.

Another fruitful area of discussion, particularly for creditworthiness assessment, was proof of income. Proof of income is a core aspect of computing creditworthiness in traditional finance. The rise of crypto income or streaming salaries is an important aspect to consider for developing web3 creditworthiness. There's also a privacy aspect to consider. Privacy-preserving reveals for sensitive data will require collaboration across projects.

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Meet the Spectral Team

Did you get a chance to meet the Spectral team? If you did and would like to follow up or you missed your opportunity and would like to connect, please reach out to us directly in the #Integrations channel on Spectral’s Discord server.

Catch us at our next events in Berlin at DappCon and EthBerlin.