What is Defi? Good question. If you’re barely heard of crypto or blockchain then you have little chance in really understanding what is dubbed as the future of financial institutions - Decentralised Finance (Defi).
The theory is actually fairly simple. Financial products, such as interest accounts, loans and even insurance, provided by not global conglomerates but a community of users. Governance of products handled by the community, technology hosted and maintained by a global community and even development open source and built by the community.
The world of finance could be fairer, cheaper, quicker and profitable for anyone who wants to be involved. A really interesting concept and opportunity.
So who are the latest players the existing crypto community are flocking towards, pinning hopes on and investing in with irrational interest?
What is Yearn.Finance?
This is an even better question than what is defi, but it’s one we’re not really able to answer and here’s why. Content.
What the actual F*** is their website about? TL/DR - absolutely woeful for a business that will require significant organic growth to progress from hype currency into a legitimate long term defi solution.
As professionals, many of us don’t have time to trawl reddit, medium or telegram groups looking for new discoveries, it’s simply not possible if you have a job. A bit of Google news and some Google searches is almost as far as it gets for some of us, maybe the odd Tweet or scroll of Facebook for the older of us.
So how do you find out what Yearn.finance is? Well a visit to their website offers up - absolutely nothing. Content strategy? what content strategy.
On arrival at the website, there are what seems to be 6 links to random products that even the most stringent blockchain enthusiast would struggle understand. On clicking through some, you’re faced with a request to connect your wallet, not so much as a hint of what the product on that link is or is for.
The dashboard on the other hand has some things going on, although unsure what as I’ve not connected my wallet. The most interesting thing is the footer links. Here is where things get almost amusing. There are no less that 12 brand links, of different websites and subdomains - 12!
How can any brand build a suitable online business model with such a structure? It just makes no sense. Although there is a Docs website, maybe we can find out what it’s all about after all.
This is not anti Yearn.finance and their products, it’s simply highlighting the pitfalls of these new brands and possibly seeing their nativity or lack of experience in growing brands with a focus more on building token value for the short term.
How will Yearn.Finance grow organically as a defi product?
Outside of their token trading, yearn.finance will first need to appeal to the crypto community, as the requirement to use crypto to make use of the products limits who can use it. But any new user will need educating, not just on how to use the products from a separate docs website, but marketing - what are these products? how do they benefit me? how do they solve my problems or make my life easier? what do they do?
How can a brand with a $1bn market cap genuinely be worth that without a marketing website? It can’t, outside of token hype - be warned when investing.
A message to the Yearn Finance founders - you might be worth a $billion guys, but work on your content, work on your SEO, work on ways to adopt real world users for the long term, to save you investors.
