The reason why the performance indicates that payments are bound to become the next meta Recently, Bitget exchange has also started wallet and payment services, and even Aptos has launched payments. Why suddenly? With the trend of payments and neobanks popping up everywhere, the reason everyone is rushing to implement payment systems is simply because money is flowing in. It's easy to understand how projects like EtherFi are changing the game. Most DeFi protocols currently excel at just one thing: • Uniswap = DEX • Compound = lending • Lido = staking But now the market is showing interesting changes, and EtherFi is making huge profits in the L2 market. EtherFi was initially just another liquid staking protocol, but now? It has become the top player in payments. September's performance peaked at a whopping $5.34M... which means it's earning around 8 billion won a month. With staking, lending, credit cards, and even mobile apps, it has opened a pathway for people who make money in crypto to use that money without necessarily exiting through Upbit. Why is this important? Connecting 10 different wallets across 10 different protocols, getting drained by gas fees, and getting drained again at the bridge... EtherFi solves this all in one go, gaining the most vulnerable yet crucial "staying power" in crypto. Below is the usage of EtherFi cash; can you see that the amount used through EtherFi for stablecoins is increasing day by day? This means that the cases of using EtherFi to actually purchase stablecoins are on the rise. By providing convenience in storage and usage + DeFi yield to users, EtherFi creates the power to keep capital within EtherFi. I believe this is the most important aspect that drives the success of mass adoption. The incentive payback structure for all the volume that gets the neobank's flywheel rolling has so far established a great business model thanks to the explosive influx of stablecoins. Now, let's see how EtherFi achieved this through its strategy: Step 1: Secure TVL with LST Step 2: Launch additional financial products Step 3: Enter retail through a mobile app Step 4: Connect to real life with credit card services (Even if you don't use it right now, instilling the perception that you'll use EtherFi in the future + branding + etc.) Isn't it similar to banks merging booths with securities firms to increase cost and operational efficiency? But if you do this, people will naturally use it more, right? Since everything can be done in one place, they'll like it more, but thinking that way is a bit naive. As complexity increases, the risk of bugs and hacks also rises, and we can't ignore the resistance from users due to changes in the UI/UX of existing protocols, just look at KakaoTalk right now... I digressed a bit, but anyway, EtherFi's competitors currently include: • Morpho: Starting with lending and expanding • Pendle: From yield trading to portfolio management • Eigenlayer: From restaking to financial infrastructure Everyone is aiming for the same thing, and honestly, what they're doing is quite similar. Earlier, I mentioned that the influx of stablecoins made the neobank trend possible, right? The reason DeFi is gradually transitioning to neobank business is that while projects have increased their TVL, vault revenue has continued to decline. The capital pool keeps growing, but the capital efficiency of that money is getting worse, leading to new solutions? Or it can be seen as a natural next flow. Think about it: if people made profits during the crypto bull market in September and October, what would they do with that money? Ultimately, they would either spend it or withdraw it, right? Then opening routes to earn money would also become profitable. This is how it has naturally progressed. So now I've given you all the hints, right? We are in the stablecoin trend, and now the payment trend is next. With the payment incentives popping up everywhere and huge exchanges participating madly in this meta, what should we focus on? The area that is surprisingly overlooked is privacy and purchasing pattern information. The information about where our money is being spent is actually very valuable. Information held by card companies, companies like Coupang that have our consumption patterns, buying power, and so on. Ultimately, our task is to find companies that possess technology regarding consumer privacy and can effectively utilize it to drive the neobank meta's flywheel. Let's start sorting the wheat from the chaff (where can you find that? Just try everything, haha). Oh, I don't know, but if you ask me for a pick...? (See comments)