Why crypto Twitter's latest anonymous sensation is so into DeFi

Much about one of Crypto Twitter’s newest characters, @0x_b1, is a mystery. 

Here’s what we know: The Twitter handle is a reference to an Ethereum address that was created in August 2020 and holds more than $300 million. And this particular Ethereum whale is also an enthusiastic DeFi liquidity provider and yield farmer who has spent $111,000 worth of ETH on transaction fees thus far. 

It's also clear that this mystery whale has opinions. Since November, it has snapped up more than 20,000 followers on Twitter with its sharp commentary and criticisms of specific DeFi projects.

Recently, @0x_b1 published predictions for 2021, including that ETH and bitcoin will both hit new all-time highs, bitcoin will break $55,000, that more mainstream artists will enter the crypto art non-fungible token (NFT) space, and that Joe Biden’s presidency will be good for crypto.

But what makes @0x_b1 tick? What is the motivation behind their act? And why DeFi?

The Block reached out via Twitter to whoever is behind @0x_b1 to learn more. 

How and why did @0x_b1 start? What are you trying to accomplish? 

It started when all these DeFi farming activities ramped up. We saw a great opportunity to get in early on all these new protocols and provide value where possible. We soon found that the platforms with merit had long term value and supporting them would only realize this value sooner. 

We quite honestly owe the bulk of our success to the large increase in Ethereum blockchain utilization over the past 8 months, and the high fees available from decentralized platform support activities for providers like us. 

What does your name mean? Is it an address?

It’s an address, we didn’t brute force any vanity into it.

There have been rumors that this address is owned by Celsius. Can you comment?

People harp on this because a large amount of our funds came from a Celsius tagged address: that doesn’t mean our address is owned by Celsius. We have funds coming in from many sources. All applicable taxes will be paid to the appropriate tax agencies.

Maybe we are @mcuban @SBF_Alameda @AndreCronjeTech @rewkang @rleshner @tyler @jack or @DonaldJTrumpJr (why no love guys?!). Or maybe… We are new, unknown entities from the crypts of http://Sand-Hill-Road.com v1.0, coming to feed on the now ripened fruit of blockchain, as we have with all industries past.

Why are you in the DeFi space? 

Because it brings power to the people.

Why did you decide to start tweeting?

We saw that people were already talking about us, so we decided to join the conversation.

What’s the most interesting DeFi farming story you have?

Too much doxxing would be required to answer this.

Do you see DeFi expanding beyond Ethereum? If so, will you farm there as well?

It has already started expanding beyond Ethereum, but the liquidity hasn’t taken off, and there is little if any tooling. We are sure that proliferation beyond ETH will begin to pick up steam at a faster pace in the next few months, but we do not believe that trust in those systems will grow in direct parallel; that can only be built with time.

We’ve looked into other platforms, but most of the liquidity, DeFi protocols, tooling, and farms are currently on Ethereum. We look forward to more robust offerings in which to participate coming soon on Polkadot, Solana, and maybe even BSC (Binance Super Chain)… 

How do you determine the projects to which you deploy capital? 

We definitely look for the best risk-adjusted returns and generally prefer platforms where as little return as possible is based on a governance token holding its price. 

We have our own auditors review big-name projects and are careful not to ape when a critical threshold of data is not available. Anon or not, if a team is trusted, audits are solid, and a project’s goals make logical sense, it’s a keeper. 

What lessons can DeFi protocols take from the yield farming platforms we’ve seen so far?

95% of what is perceived as “yield farming” activities is unsustainable and dangerous for the average Jo(sephine) to be involved with. Be part of the 5%.

Have you seen any good practices in governance that you would recommend that other projects adopt?

Very few. Further, we see very few governance items pushed to true votes because of the monotonous rounds of pre-voting we see now as commonplace. YAM & YFI communities are probably handling themselves best from what we can see. Unfortunately, most of the platforms where governance votes would make the biggest difference, the voting power is held by a small group of whales.

Where do you think DeFi is heading in the next 1-2 years? And how about longer-term (5-10 years)?

In the next 1 to 2 years, we don’t think too much will change besides a) more people getting involved, b) increased liquidity, c) better user interfaces, and d) more advanced tooling. The next 5 to 10 could be crazy, imagine nation-states taking out loans via protocols.

Do you think traditional finance will adopt DeFi?

For banks & operators in the traditional finance world, it may be difficult to go into DeFi, as it currently stands, because they face such stringent, and deeply unclear regulations. However, as volumes pick up and costs to borrow go down from an increasingly large liquidity market, they may be able to lobby lawmakers to allow them to engage in such activities, or may build their own systems with de(centralized) KYC/AML tools. 

And finally: Is ETH money?

No. Better.