Avichal Garg: Investing in crypto and fintech offers better long-term returns, the importance of formal verification in DeFi, and how tokens enable participatory capitalism | Empire

Investing in overlooked sectors like crypto could yield better long-term returns than the current AI frenzy.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team Jun. 1, 2026

Key takeaways

• Investing in less popular sectors like crypto and fintech may offer better long-term returns compared to the current AI hype.
• The noise and volatility in AI make it a challenging area for investment, suggesting patience is key.
• Formal verification is essential for ensuring the reliability of smart contracts in DeFi.
• Aligning investment opportunities with personal expertise can lead to greater success.
• Despite the current focus on AI, there is still optimism for future opportunities in crypto.
• The integration of crypto into business operations is becoming increasingly important.
• The use of crypto for moving money and capital formation is still in its early stages.
• Reinsurance protocols utilizing stablecoin markets can offer significant returns.
• The future of capital markets may involve moving on-chain, transforming the industry.
• Tokens enable a new form of participatory capitalism by allowing users to share in protocol profits.
• AI’s current popularity may overshadow other investment opportunities, but sectors like crypto remain promising.
• The importance of formal verification in DeFi is underscored by the high stakes involved.
• Businesses will need to adapt to the growing role of crypto in financial transactions.
• The potential for blockchain to revolutionize capital markets is significant.
• Tokens offer a novel way for users to benefit economically from the success of decentralized networks.

Guest intro

Avichal Garg is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Electric Capital, a venture firm that invests in crypto, blockchain, fintech, and marketplaces. He previously served as Director of Product Management at Facebook, where he led the Local product team, and held roles at Google before co-founding Electric Capital.

Why investing in less popular sectors can be strategic

• Investing in areas like crypto and fintech, which are not currently popular, can be more interesting than investing in AI. – Avichal Garg

• If you’re an early-stage investor, you really want to be investing in things that are not hot today.

  — Avichal Garg

• The current investment climate favors AI, but there remains optimism for crypto opportunities. – Avichal Garg

• AI is just so noisy, and it’s not the time to put a lot of capital to work; you want to be really patient.

  — Avichal Garg

• The noise in AI makes it difficult to invest, suggesting that patience may yield better results.
• Understanding the current investment landscape and trends in AI, crypto, and fintech is crucial.
• The intersection of unique insights and personal expertise is crucial for investment success. – Avichal Garg
• Aligning investment opportunities with personal expertise can lead to greater success.

The importance of formal verification in DeFi

• Formal verification is crucial for ensuring the reliability of smart contracts in DeFi due to the high stakes involved. – Avichal Garg

• Formal verification is the idea that you can turn code into mathematical statements and prove whether it does what you think it does.

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  — Avichal Garg

• Smart contracts and DeFi are a perfect fit for formal verification due to their relatively small codebases but high financial stakes.

• Aave secures billions of dollars, making formal verification essential.

  — Avichal Garg

• Understanding the significance of formal verification in high-stakes environments like DeFi is important.
• Formal verification has historical applications in critical systems, highlighting its importance.
• The high stakes in DeFi make formal verification a necessary practice to prevent catastrophic failures.

• Formal verification ensures that smart contracts do what they are supposed to do.

  — Avichal Garg

The evolving role of crypto in business operations

• Every business will need to integrate crypto as a core part of their operations. – Avichal Garg

• If every business is trying to become a wallet and move money around, it’s going to happen on crypto rails.

  — Avichal Garg

• The integration of crypto into business models reflects a significant trend in the industry.
• Understanding the growing importance of crypto in business operations is crucial.
• The use of crypto as a means of moving money and capital formation is still in its early stages. – Avichal Garg

• Bitcoin and Ethereum are still relatively early as prospective stores of value.

  — Avichal Garg

• There is significant room for growth and innovation in the crypto space.
• Businesses will need to adapt to the growing role of crypto in financial transactions.

The future of capital markets and blockchain

• Reinsurance protocols can leverage stablecoin markets for capital, offering significant returns. – Avichal Garg

• Reinsurance protocols use stablecoin markets as their capital market function, providing real yield.

  — Avichal Garg

• The role of stablecoins in capital markets is becoming increasingly important.
• Capital markets will eventually move on-chain, significantly transforming the industry. – Avichal Garg

• All capital markets will move on-chain, which is a major shift.

  — Avichal Garg

• Understanding the potential for blockchain integration in capital markets is crucial.
• The future of capital markets may involve moving on-chain, transforming the industry.
• This prediction suggests a significant future trend in the industry.

How tokens enable participatory capitalism

• Tokens can provide users with a share of the profits generated by a protocol. – Avichal Garg

• Tokens solve the issue of participatory capitalism by allowing users to own a piece of the ecosystem.

  — Avichal Garg

• Tokens enable a new form of participatory capitalism by allowing users to share in protocol profits.
• Understanding the mechanics of tokenomics is crucial for recognizing their role in decentralized networks.
• Tokens align user incentives with the success of a protocol, a key concept in DeFi.

• Users can benefit from the overall success of the ecosystem using tokens.

  — Avichal Garg

• This insight explains the innovative role of tokens in decentralized finance.
• Tokens offer a novel way for users to benefit economically from the success of decentralized networks.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.