Multicoin Executive Claims AI Lowers Software Development Barriers, DeFi's Moat Lies in Distribution and Capital

Spencer Applebaum, co-head of the crypto venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, pointed out that AI has lowered the barriers to protocol development, leading to rapid homogenization of pure software. However, the core barriers in financial services remain outside of code. Applebaum believes that these barriers mainly consist of three aspects: first, distribution channels centered around sticky customer relationships and order flow; second, balance sheets and capital scales that AI cannot create from scratch, such as cross-currency prime brokers with risk resilience, and reserves backed by protocols; third, proprietary data underwriting involving offline proprietary data and non-public risk control, such as OnRe reinsurance or GPU staking loans. He also stated that underlying general-purpose L1 and L2 are losing their native distribution and capital monopolistic advantages, and the key for startup teams to break through lies in entering high-risk tolerance markets that traditional giants are reluctant to engage in due to compliance or reputational concerns, gradually building the aforementioned barriers.

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