Submissions are now being accepted for the 2023 FinAccelerate DeFi Challenge, a competition to promote the development of innovative solutions to some of the limitations and risks currently associated with Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
The contest is part of FinAccelerate Empowered by Jones Day, an accelerator program launched in October 2022 to help selected fintech start-up companies by providing legal guidance and connections to leading financial institutions, investors, and potential joint venture partners.
DeFi refers to various financial products and services that allow people to transact directly with each other, using blockchain technology instead of central intermediaries such as traditional banks or centralized exchanges. DeFi is widely viewed as having the potential to increase the efficiency and speed of financial transactions, extending the reach of finance to those without access to traditional financial services.
"DeFi has enormous potential, but the reality is that it has a variety of limitations and risks in these early stages of its development, and many institutional investors are not yet ready to adopt DeFi until some of those concerns are addressed," said Abradat Kamalpour, a San Francisco-based partner in the Firm's Financial Markets Practice, and the partner leading the initiative for the Firm. "The DeFi Challenge is open to any interested party—an individual or an organization—that can offer a solution to one or more of these limitations."
Proposed solutions can be singular or a combination of ideas in areas such as the following:
- Technological solutions (software and/or hardware) and concepts;
- Legal and/or financial structural solutions;
- Process flows;
- Industry standards;
- Law reforms; and
- Any other innovative proposal.
Entrants will be asked to provide a concept summary, including hyperlinks to further written information and relevant diagrams, and a description of their proposed technology build (if applicable). To complete the submission form, please click on the link below.
