Author: Vikram Arun, Co-founder and CEO of Superform
DeFi has been transferring billions of dollars daily, allowing anyone to create new assets in minutes and offering users yields that banks cannot match. Using one app to find opportunities, another for cross-chain transactions, a third for exchanges, a fourth for deposits, and yet another to track your positions—while also managing wallets, chains, and gas settings—doesn't feel like a financial revolution. It feels more like a flight simulator where most pilots would crash on the runway.
If cryptocurrency is to upgrade global finance and surpass the earliest risk-takers, this complexity must disappear. But the answer is not just another protocol. It is about restructuring how DeFi is built and used. A way that combines unowned composable infrastructure with productized, intuitive interfaces.
This depends on two layers missing from today’s DeFi stack: superstructure and super applications.
The foundation of this new stack is what we call superstructure. Originally theorized by Jacob Horne, superstructure refers to protocols that are free to use, governed in a valuable way, and built to last. To support super applications, the superstructure must empower builders while rewarding users and investors. It is permissionless and decentralized, with incentives for improving and adding to the protocol. It is also free to use, but ownership and governance are valuable.
Superstructure can create various use cases, such as trading platforms like Uniswap and Curve, as well as creator networks like Zora and Farcaster. These platforms started as protocols and are now evolving into ecosystems that provide the backbone for the next generation of applications (i.e., super applications).
The most pressing frontier is building superstructure for one of the most fundamental functions of currency: self-growth. Historically, the ability to grow wealth through savings, investments, and returns has been heavily permissioned and gatekept. Cryptocurrency has made transferring funds permissionless. Through superstructure, we can also make growing funds permissionless.
The rapid growth of DeFi has exposed a problem. In scaling yields, many projects have adopted models that heavily rely on centralized APIs, privileged roles, and opaque off-chain arrangements. This experience only attracts a small subset of users with high-risk tolerance and institutional connections. It contradicts the core principles that make cryptocurrency valuable.
This is where super applications come into play. They compress the fragmented chaos of DeFi into a single, intuitive experience. To achieve this, the yield layer needs specialized infrastructure to expand yield access while addressing two key issues: discovery and execution.
The discovery function automatically showcases a comprehensive menu of yield opportunities, providing reliable on-chain data so that issuers do not have to apply, promote themselves, or rely on centralized listings. The execution function compresses complex workflows into an atomic transaction, giving every user the same superpower.
Doing this requires separating the rapidly changing product layer from the slower, neutral base layer, which is naturally more resilient and secure, with lower capital costs. Anyone can deploy, scale, or fork the base layer without requesting permission. However, it must still be able to deliver modern primitives that rival the convenience of today’s centralized platforms.
As the base layer standardizes, the experience becomes the differentiating factor. Super applications transform raw infrastructure into products that people want to use. You open the app and see familiar tools: "Instant Cash," "Savings," "Highest Returns." Click one, and the app automatically performs cross-chain transactions, exchanges, and deposits, all happening in the background. The best super applications will win in speed, strategy, support, and design. The superstructure is the engine; what users fall in love with is the car.
The question is: if we only optimize the experience while neglecting neutrality, DeFi risks becoming a disguised fintech. Centralized vaults. Opaque risks. Silent governance. That is the danger. And that is precisely what the superstructure aims to prevent.
Some may argue that users do not care about decentralization. Others may say that good design justifies centralization. But cryptocurrency has never been about short-term convenience; it is about long-term power. If we lose sight of that, we lose focus.
In the 2000s, few imagined that streaming 4K video between devices could be done through a single protocol. Today, it has become second nature. The same will happen with currency. People will not ask if they are "using DeFi." They will just be using currency… on an open, intangible, and unstoppable track.
DeFi does not expand as a patchwork of protocols. It expands as a new financial interface. The superstructure provides the foundation. Super applications provide the experience. When they align, the result is not just better applications. It is a better system.
Author: Vikram Arun, Co-founder and CEO of Superform.
Related: Report: Cryptocurrency Salary Payments Expected to Double in 2024
This article is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Original: “Opinion: DeFi is Becoming the New Standard Interface for Financial Systems”
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