"Ethereum will be Bigger than AWS, Azure and Google Combined" - Pekka Kelkka

Ishan Pandey: Hi Pekka, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the story behind YeFi?

Pekka Kelkka: Officially, the project came to life in mid-March 2021. However, several years before the actual launch of the YeFi.one platform, a team of blockchain entrepreneurs, the future founders, had been living the DeFi revolution, learning its valuable lessons and nurturing an idea of creating a project that would one day combine all the essential decentralized finance functions while eliminating its shortfalls and mistakes of the past.

The founders had also recognized the value of decentralized data storage and computing projects like Filecoin, Swarm, Chia, and Dfinity. That is how the idea to collaborate and promote these projects have emerged.

Ishan Pandey: The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States has filed its first complaint related to the expanding decentralized finance sector, charging that a corporation traded digital tokens that ought to have been registered with the Wall Street regulator. From a regulatory standpoint, what measures should be introduced so as to induce a better system wherein full and honest disclosure is mandated and practiced?

Pekka Kelkka: We have the best crypto lawyers following closely what’s happening not just in the USA cryptos’ regulatory scene but globally. Unfortunately, at this stage, we do not welcome US investors on our platform.

The bottom line is that the global blockchain and crypto community needs to collaborate with the regulators. We must increase regulators’ and lawmakers’ understanding of blockchain and cryptos. I’m positive that we will find a common ground. Blockchain and cryptos will be the biggest change in the global financial and monetary system in centuries and Defi will lead the way. Also, governments and central banks will benefit from the fastest, most cost-efficient, and secure decentralized financial services. As we know commercial banks are already in the game. A big Switzerland bank Sygnum is already offering DeFi services to its investor customers. All the other banks must follow if they want to continue their business.

Ishan Pandey: Elrond recently stated that it has become carbon negative, as the cryptocurrency sector shifts to more environmentally friendly ideas to reduce its carbon footprint. What are your thoughts on the detrimental environmental impact of cryptos and can we gradually shift towards a more eco-friendly system?

Pekka Kelkka: This is a development led by Elrond. I see that the blockchain and crypto industry can lead the way also on th e carbon negative production front. Blockchain and cryptos can become the greenest business sector which others will follow!

Ishan Pandey: After a big Ethereum upgrade, Bitcoin and Ether hit their best values in more than nearly two months, despite concerns surrounding crypto restrictions in the US infrastructure plan. Do you believe this uptrend is here to stay or will we soon hit a low in the crypto market?

Pekka Kelkka: We are on the second wave of this bull run. It will still last months. We will hit ATHs quite soon. The bear market will come. Not 70-90% cut this time but less. Still, these are my personal opinions. No financial advice.

Ishan Pandey: Biden's huge bipartisan infrastructure project struck a rare chord of bipartisan collaboration between Republicans and Democrats, but the bill is being held up due to proposed changes to cryptocurrency regulation in the US. What does the future look like for cryptocurrencies in the United States?

Pekka Kelkka: Should we be worried? In the end, I believe that US lawmakers will understand that blockchain and cryptos will lead the technology development in the world, just as the internet has done since early 2000. The biggest problem is the US politicians who are funded by the US banks and financial institutions. They will fight back but they will give up. Common sense will win… also in the USA.

Ishan Pandey: The biggest significant enhancement to the Ethereum blockchain since 2015, according to Ethereum developer Vitalik Buterin, came into force just recently, and the network is well-positioned to make an even bigger improvement to reduce its energy usage by 99 percent. Can you elaborate on this new improvement and what its implications are for the Ethereum ecosystem?

Pekka Kelkka: How many hours do we have? :-) Let me start first by saying this: Ethereum will be the biggest game-changer in the global business. It will be “the global computer”. It will be bigger than AWS, Azure, and Google combined”. Ethereum's biggest change on the recent EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) 1559 was the change on “the economical model” which will make ETH deflationary in the longer run. Since EIP1559 the base fee amount of ETH is "burned" on every transaction i.e. on every transaction some ETH tokens will be removed from the market circulation. When transactions on Ethereum will explode - as expected - more ETH will be "burned" than produced (mined). Demand for ETH will become much higher than supply. What do you think will happen to the ETH price?

But "the money-making machine" of ETH is just a side product. Most importantly Ethereum will become the world computer as I mentioned earlier.

Even more remarkable changes will occur when ETH2.0 will be launched possibly before the end of the year. The major feature of ETH 2.0. Will be “Sharding”. The Ethereum network will be used much more economically which will reduce the price of the transactions as well as speed up them dramatically. This will also reduce the energy usage a lot on the Ethereum network.

Ishan Pandey: What new trends are we going to witness within the crypto ecosystem especially in the post-covid-19 era?

Pekka Kelkka: The whole blockchain and crypto scene will explode - watch out mainstream, here we come!

Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to remove informational asymmetry existing today in our digital markets by performing due diligence by asking the right questions and equipping readers with better opinions to make informed decisions. The material does not constitute any investment, financial, or legal advice. Please do your research before investing in any digital assets or tokens, etc. The writer does not have any vested interest in the company. Ishan Pandey.