SANDY, Utah–Mountain America Credit Union is expressing strong interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and cryptocurrency.
The credit union has published a white paper that states, “Some may fear that DeFi’s goal is to upend the traditional reliance on a central hub of financial operations,” but in instead sees an opportunity in the changing world of finance, according to the Utah Business Journal.
Indeed, MACU recently printed and gave away t-shirts that read, “Credit Union = The OG DAO” during a recent Utah Cryptopia event. The DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization, according to the publication.
“It’s an organizational setup that, when done properly, means decisions are made by a community of members, not a central leadership group,” the Business Journal reported.
“A DAO done properly is a group of people who are treated equally—that’s decentralized in the sense that everybody has equal voting power, and they’re able to then influence, drive, and manage the entity they’re a part of,” MACU CTO Marcus Daley told the Business Journal.
Parallel With CU History
Daley further told the Journal that credit unions were originally developed as a way of providing financial services to people who wouldn’t otherwise have had the financial means to access those services.
“They were treated as an equal member of the cooperative,” he was quoted as saying. “And in the spirit of a DAO, that really is what a DAO is about.”
“In Daley’s opinion, there are only two main differences between a credit union and a DAO. One is that voting at a credit union takes place in an analog manner, with paper contracts as opposed to smart contracts,” the Journal reported. “The other thing is that there are statutes that force a credit union to act in a certain type of way. Other than that, the two structures are very similar.”
Members Asking for Crypto
To that end, Mountain America, which has more than one-million members, said many have been asking about cryptocurrency, and that the credit union encourages people to “push forward without a third party if they feel comfortable with the current non-custodial user experience for cryptocurrency.”
But for those uncomfortable with navigating that world, Mountain America is exploring its option.
“Today we don’t do anything in crypto, but because so many aspects of how we operate are very similar to crypto, what we’re finding is a lot of people are very warm to the idea of being able to custody with us and then have the option to go out on their own when they need to,” Daley told the Business Journal.
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