There’s a lot more to DeFi than Bitcoin, says Dispersion CEO

Dispersion Holdings, a DeFi company listed in the UK, recently submitted an initial application to join the NEO Exchange in Canada. According to its plans, it will be assuming a dual-listed structure.

Coin Rivet caught up with Dispersion CEO Philip Blows about the move.

He explained the company decided to apply to list on the NEO Exchange as it seemed as “a fantastic opportunity to expose Dispersion to an increased number of retail and institutional investors in North America and heighten brand visibility”.

“It is another step towards realising our global ambitions,” he said.

When it comes to Dispersion’s future goals, Blows commented the company is currently in the process of scaling-up its business.

“As one of the first DeFi firms to list in the UK, we are leveraging our early mover advantage and working to capitalise on a nascent market where there is strong growth opportunity whilst providing an attractive and easy-to-use product for consumers,” he said.

“Cryptocurrency and decentralised finance are both incredibly exciting asset classes which we believe will increasingly become part of consumers’ investment portfolios.

“Currently we are witnessing a global demand for people to have easy access to the world of DeFi.

“In November 2021 the total value locked in DeFi reached $250B and based on these market projections we have ambitious and aggressive growth targets as a company.”

Its recently launched decentralised platform AQRU enables consumers to engage with the decentralised markets at the level of knowledge and risk that they feel comfortable.

Returns in DeFi are typically higher

Blows explained the team works to identify the best opportunities available globally for consumers to generate high yields by lending out their digital assets through Dispersion’s online platform, while managing potential risk.

“Not only are the returns in DeFi typically higher than in traditional finance, but customers can take their currency out at any time, rather than having it locked away for extended periods by the bank,” he said.

He added that the company’s core plan for AQRU was to encourage consumers who have never invested in DeFi or crypto “to dip their toes in the water and engage with the DeFi markets”.

“AQRU is a great place to start – Dispersion takes a robust approach to risk management and the platform is fully insured,” he explained.

“We would love to see DeFi and crypto make up 5-10% of a diversified portfolio in future.”

He also opined stablecoins were an exciting asset class that does not receive enough attention.

“There’s a lot more to DeFi than Bitcoin and Ethereum,” he stressed.

“Stablecoins are cryptocurrency that are designed to remain stable in price, the most popular being pegged to the US Dollar.

“They have potentially high yields but without the same underlying volatility.

“These stablecoins are driving much of the growth that we are seeing in decentralised finance, and we are excited to offer returns on these assets almost 50% higher than our competitors in this space.”

Blows added that, in the future, DeFi Yield Technologies, which was acquired in October 2021, will continue developing a mobile yield application with features allowing its users to deposit funds directly from their bank accounts.

“This will be aimed primarily at institutional investors, with AQRU aimed at consumers,” he said.

He stressed that 2021 saw a sharp rise in investor activity within the DeFi space.

“Just last year Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange launched North America’s first Bitcoin ETF, and some of the country’s largest pension funds and family offices are taking a serious interest in the world of DeFi,” he said.

“Of course, the world of crypto is fairly novel and still complex – it can be a bit of a headache for investors to get themselves involved directly.”

He added Canada was emerging as a world leader in a multitude of technological fields, including AI, gaming and decentralised finance.

“The NEO Exchange in particular boasts a highly motivated and informed investor base and Dispersion has global ambitions and applying to list in Canada is an important milestone on this journey,” he concluded.

“We believe Canadian investors will be highly interested in a DeFi company that not only offers market-leading rates of return but takes a rigorous approach to security and is fully insured.”