Realizing the True Dream of DeFi: An Interview with Folks Finance CEO Benedetto Biondi
I had the pleasure of interviewing Benedetto Biondi, CEO of Folks Finance. Over the past two years, Benedetto has guided Folks Finance to a dominant position in Algorand DeFi, and now sets his sights on the next phase of expansion: community, capital, and decentralization. With the Folks V2 launching in December, we thought it would be the perfect time to pick Benedetto’s brain about his reflections on the past and plans for the future.
Thank you so much for joining us!
Thanks for having me, happy to be here.
What motivated you to launch Folks Finance?
Folks Finance was a project of Blockchain Italia, a web3 software house which often builds on Algorand. A few years ago, before there was any DeFi on Algorand, we realized there had to be a capital markets protocol. It’s a requirement for an economy of any scale, so we decided to take the opportunity and get to work.
What is it that excites you about what you’re building?
It’s exciting to give people tools to take control of their digital assets. The independence DeFi gives the individual is so valuable, and we’re just happy that people enjoy what we’ve built for them to use. Beyond that, DeFi is a very new industry; it’s exciting to be involved during this formative period.
What made you decide to build Folks Finance on Algorand vs other blockchains?
In our eyes, Algorand was an obvious choice for its technical capabilities. Block speed is a matter of seconds, throughput is extremely high, transaction fees are nearly nonexistent and the consensus mechanism is incredibly robust. The chain also has highly functional smart contract capability which sets it apart from most Layer 1s. Plus, the community is quite active, vocal, and positive, so it’s a joy to be a part of that.
What are your future plans for Folks Finance?
Our V2 is releasing soon, and it’s a huge upgrade on our initial release, which came out in April 2022. I’m not going to spoil the features but it will be the most composable DeFi platform on Algorand to date, so we can’t wait to drop it. Once V2 is out, our V1 source code will be published as open-source, and it’ll be great to see what other devs use that for. Into 2023, we’ll be focusing on growing the community, bringing in new capital, and launching our DAO, governed by the FOLKS token, which hasn’t come out yet.
If you had to share, “words of wisdom,” with a Founder who’s about to start their own Web3 startup, what would they be?
Establish your community and show respect to them, as they will be there for you in good times and bad. Make sure your idea has an audience. Don’t launch a token before you have a product. Focus on strong tech and make sure what you build is as secure as possible.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can check out the Folks Finance twitter, @folksfinance. My Twitter is @benedettobio.
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
