Conversation

2) As for why--well, WBTC is as liquid as the other assets on the platform, and so should have a similar collateral factor. In addition, right now most of the platform is DAI. This creates a lot of risk! Things we can do to diversify the assets are helpful.

3) On the other hand, there is risk in allowing WBTC as collateral. There are two risks: a) BTC drops a lot b) WBTC drops but BTC doesn't (a) is a risk but less of one than most other assets on Compound. (b) is the real worry. Many have brought this up as a risk!

4) For instance, BLCK has voted against prop 14 for this reason. I think this is a totally reasonable worry! Many have suggested putting a cap on WBTC allowed, and I'd be in favor. I'd love something like "WBTC on Compound can't increas by more than max(10%, 200BTC) in a day"

5) But that will likely take a while to roll out. So what's the best thing to do until then--wait, or add WBTC? I think either way is reasonable. But there are factors that tip me over the edge towards just adding WBTC:

6) One reason is that I do think it will make Compound immediately healthier and safer. $50m WBTC and $450m DAI seems better to me than $500m DAI. I think it's also less risky than the less liquid coins on Compound--BAT, ZRX, etc.

7) Beyond that, though, a lot of people are waiting to see what happens to the protocol. And right now it has one of the most restrictive asset sets in DeFi. Which is fine--there are advantages to this!

8) But in order to be a fully servicing platform, I think it needs to have USD, ETH, and BTC on it, at a minimum. It has USD and ETH--but no BTC yet. And without that it's missing a huge segment of activity.

9) Some projects flame out spectacularly. But many more die a slow death. The industry is littered with DEXes, and stablecoins, and exchanges, and protocols that have basically no usage left. Right now Compound is in a great state--it has tons of attention and resources.

7:23 AM · Jul 6, 2020Twitter Web App

10) The world is watching to see what it does--but eventually the world will get bored if it doesn't get more adoption. And so I think that it's a high priority to move towards greater adoption while we can.

Replying to

11) To that end--adding some BTC product, and ideally USDT, are the largest remaining targets. I'd be excited to see the community test out different BTC wrappers and choose one they like best--whether or not that's WBTC! And I'd be even more excited to see work on supply caps.

12) But in the end I think that it's the correct decision for Compound to add WBTC as collateral now. I think it makes the platform more dynamic, more useful, and in the end safer. Because this isn't coming in a vacuum, and it's replacing things at least as risky.

13) (For more color on that--DAI is pretty scary! You can't really redeem it when you need to which makes crash scenarios totally possible. And even creating it is pretty costly capital-wise. And the world is full of altcoins similar to BAT, ZRX, etc. that have crashed.)