A background in computer science, tech, and a succession of traditional financial roles preceded Barney’s journey into crypto. Working in capital markets and trading systems, he was familiar with the demand for “fairness” and the reality of varying degrees of preferential treatment inherent in traditional trading floors.

It was this incomplete view of fairness where subclass traders were unable to compete with the microsecond access and advantages of hedge funds. Big beats little. Systems may express principles of fairness, but they were ultimately rigged. The seed for Vega was born. Barney is mission-driven to restructure our financial systems and incentivize approaches that guarantee the ongoing design of fair trading.

• The tension between necessary hierarchies and the idealism of equity & freedom expressed in decentralism
• We’re incredibly early on the DeFi journey and several layers of abstraction away from everyday competitive use for non-natives.
• As the groundwork is laid, first arrivals will be forced to rely on centralised bridges. 
• We need to show them the model house, rather than the bricks and mortar. 
• Progress will be shaped by public demand for alternatives to the limitations of web2
• The biggest players in DeFi infrastructure will not be kitchen table names. Interacting with protocols will go largely unnoticed by the masses.
• Is a fully decentralised financial system even possible?

6:20: Decentralization & Necessary Hierarchy

16:15: Rigged Fairness In Traditional Trading

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20:18: Shared Ideology & Different Capabilities 

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24:00: The Buck Stops With Founders

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36:00: Why DeFi  

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39:30: Real-World Usefulness & Utility

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45.12: Several Layers Away From Adoption

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53:00: Demand Will Drive Direction 

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57:20: Vega’s Vision

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59:20: Product Parity & Deployable Capital

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1:02:40: The Team & Principles Driving Vega

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1:05:00: Vega’s Composable Tools For DeFi

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1:08:00: Creating Our Own Chain 

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1:18:20: Upcoming Releases From Vega

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1:23:20: Iterating Protocols In An Uncertain Future

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1:26:30: The Future Of Vega

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1:30:10: Advice For New Founders