New things are a little scary. It is often more natural to accept the detriments of what we already know rather than to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. The shift between Traditional Finance (TradFi) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a clear example of this.

Your money is yours. However, to manage it, the traditional banking system has taught you not only to accept its bureaucracy, its procedures, its limitations, but also to provide all kinds of personal data. It works well for those who benefit from it, and they are neither you nor us. We’re told to believe there is no alternative. However, we feel exploited by it.

In fact, we have so internalized this unequal relationship that we don’t consider whether it’s possible to change it. Your money is subject to their agendas, and you can’t benefit from intermediary services. 

They use their position with central banks to make your access to credit more expensive — that’s just the way it is. Your money takes ages to be accounted for during their digital money transfers, and that’s also just the way it is. 

It’s Not About the Money, It’s About You

One would think that this collusion means bankers respect the rules as they’re already protected by a status quo that benefits them. However, Centralized TradFi is riddled with banks blatantly flaunting the rules and getting away with it. That’s what centralization brings, we can guess.

A basic aspect of centralization is control and there is no greater example of this than the control of the identity of the users, other than the control of our money, of course. As long as there were no alternatives, everything was quite as it should be.

There Is No Need to Like Change

In the long journey of the traditional banking stages of grief, the denial phase was relatively comfortable dealing with crypto: It is just a geek oddity. It is just toy money. Then came the attacks: It is money for terrorists and drug dealers. And when the traditional banking sector finally seems to be catching up, DeFi is already five steps ahead. That changes things for all parties involved.

– For the finance sector. The main effect was the reckoning of having a competitor that offers services where traditional banking users are not allowed without being amply funded. DeFi is a challenge to an exclusive club. Suddenly the life of any investor has become easier, but what’s next, users asking to be on the bank’s board? Where is this going to lead us!? A DAO!? Like Pillar’s!? The resource constraints imposed by the existing financial structure (capital reserves, compliance rules, staff) are now reduced to having a DeFi wallet like Pillar.

– For the institutions. In the beginning, it all came down to an amusing debate about whether cryptocurrencies were money or not. This made sense because crypto started to be successful as a store of value and a cross-border transaction tool. Then a few Central Bank Digital Currencies projects appeared that tried to narrow down the issue by providing the same tools in a different format. DeFi, however, has not stopped to think about where others left off. The latest DeFi boom — NFTs — for instance, is an example of how dynamic the sector is and seems to be just the tip of the iceberg. Here is where you want a wallet like Pillar, able to cope with the flexibility provided by this new type of product.

– For the traditional banking users. By using a DeFi wallet such as Pillar TradFi users gain access to financial freedom they’ve never experienced before. No longer will you be constrained to the breadcrumbs of interbank services that were not for people like us. You can participate now in pools of intermediary services that were previously off-limits to the plebs.

Only the Resilient Survive

The Pillar wallet provides you a single interface to manage all your crypto in one place. With a few taps, you have access to a wide range of decentralized finance products. This flexibility is not compromised by delegating your control. As Pillar is non-custodial, your funds are always managed by the user only. This means that only the user controls the wallet’s private keys. Always being in control of your private key is the fundamental step to financial independence.

Finally, for those of you who wish their bank had invited them to board meetings, look no further. Pillar is organized through a DAO —  Decentralized Autonomous Organization. This means that those stakers who want can take part or create initiatives to decide the actions that affect the operation of the wallet. In Pillar, everything is designed for and by the users.

In short, Pillar is a complete solution for you to control and decide what you want to do with your crypto, and we don’t ask for any special privileges in return.

Download your Pillar wallet here — but beware: it might let you be your own bank, but it won’t be bailing you out if Dogecoin plummets!