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Maple Finance CEO Predicts Blockchain Dominance Over Wall Street

#MapleFinance CEO Sid Powell declared "DeFi is dead" during a recent interview with CoinDesk, though his statement signals the end of distinguishing decentralized finance from traditional markets rather than the collapse of blockchain-based financial systems. Powell predicts institutions will stop differentiating between #DeFi and traditional finance within a couple of years as all capital market activity eventually settles on blockchains.

Powell compared the coming shift to the #e-commerce revolution that transformed retail shopping. Before the internet, consumers would physically visit merchants to purchase goods and services; however, the majority of shopping now occurs with a few clicks on platforms like Amazon or Alibaba. Blockchains will serve as the next technology layer on which global markets settle, according to Powell's analysis.

The Maple Finance cofounder expects #crypto to become the infrastructure for capital markets, with most transactions clearing and settling using public ledgers rather than legacy systems. He anticipates that more debt capital markets will adopt crypto-native structures, including $BTC-backed mortgages and asset-backed securities tied to crypto loans, as well as crypto card issuers whose receivables can be securitized and sold into capital markets.

Sovereign wealth funds, pension managers, insurers, and large asset managers will be the primary holders of this new "on-chain paper," according to Powell. The executive characterized this group as "the managerial class that controls the world's financial markets" and predicted they will drive adoption of blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

#Stablecoins could process $50 trillion in transactions in 2026, potentially eclipsing major card networks, according to Powell's most aggressive prediction.