The DeFi Download

Tascha Che - a macroeconomics view on creating competitive digital nations.

June 10, 2022 Radix DLT
The DeFi Download
Tascha Che - a macroeconomics view on creating competitive digital nations.
Show Notes

In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard is joined by Tascha Che, macroeconomist and founder of Soundwise. They discuss the enormous potential of Web3 from a macroeconomic standpoint.

Tascha holds a PhD in macroeconomics and has extensive experience in macroeconomic consultancy. She advises countries on their economic policies as part of her job. She is also a technology investor and a founder of a start-up. She is the creator of Soundwise, which can be accessed at mysoundwise.com.

Tascha is a deep thinker when it comes to DeFi and cryptocurrency. The Web3 space brings together two of her greatest loves: economics and technology. 

[0:41] Tascha's journey from a PhD in macroeconomics to cryptocurrency and spending a significant amount of time studying Web3 is remarkable. What is it about crypto, Web3, and public ledgers that Tascha finds so exciting for the world, the global economy, and humanity in general at this time?

[3:55] The labour-capital divide, according to Tascha, is one of the most important markers of inequality or social unrest. What exactly does that imply?

[7:20] Can transaction fees be considered a form of tax, if the money does not go into a budget for social good?

[10:42] Piers adds to Tascha's comparison of public ledgers to nation-states by pointing out that one of the major determining factors in the success of societies throughout history is whether or not they were dogmatic or flexible societies. Tascha responds.

[16:30] When there are many stakeholders, how can you develop a system that works well? Does Tascha have any ideas on what that would entail?

[20:50] Tascha believes that public ledgers and Web3 will improve people's access to capital. The cynical counter-argument is that Web3 is merely a more convenient way to make programmatic finance and that capital owners will come in and dominate the Web3 market in the same manner that they have dominated the existing financial industry. What does Tascha say to those who aren't a part of the crypto bubble and believe it will simply create a new group of insiders or that the old insiders will simply come in and dominate here as well?

[25:06] There are two current trends, according to Piers. The first is a long-term trend that indicates an impending societal crisis. The other is the industrial revolution's short-term trends. Web3 will accelerate the capital-labour divide, increasing inequality. What can these new systems accomplish in terms of welfare, universal basic income, or even considering redistribution?

[32:37] Piers inquires about Tascha's thoughts on the following: The larger macro issue that concerns him is the trend toward automation or the increase in the number of ways in which a small group of people may essentially create large amounts of value. Piers cannot envision a scenario in which, without some form of a collective sense of what we want the end state to look like, we don't wind up with a small number of individuals holding a large amount of capital and everyone else not owning nearly as much. There has to be a point where we consider the concept of redistribution itself.

[39:20] Tascha proposes that modern ledgers and blockchain governance serve as a counterbalance to nation-states. She goes into greater detail about what she means by that.

[40:04] Is Tascha not of the opinion that the entire economy will eventually be subsumed by public decentralised ledgers, in which every single economic activity that we undertake will effectively be done via a public ledger? 

[43:24] Once blockchain becomes a Metaverse economy it becomes a significant element of the entire economy. How does Tascha think it will be organised? Will it have the appearance of a government? Is, eventually, a government the least bad approach to construct a stakeholder management system to manage a public good?

[45:59] Tascha’s closing remarks to the Radix community