1/ Reading @opinion_joe's A Piece of the Action, it's interesting to consider the invention and mainstream adoption of credit cards as a successful example of consumer demand for increased financial self sovereignty and a parallel for future adoption of crypto lending or "DeFi"
2/ Before credit cards existed, "people would come into their bank four to five times a year, whenever they needed extra funds." If you wanted to buy a large household item like a TV or home appliance, you would need explicit "permission" from your banker for a small loan.
3/ This was a high volume, low margin business for Bank of America that at one point in the 1950s had a $60M portfolio made up mostly of $200 refrigerator loans, each originated through this high friction process of multiple in person trips to a bank and approval of loan officer.
4/ The BankAmericard credit card removed this friction giving consumers greater power and control over what they can purchase, when they can purchase it, and how they pay for it on a pre-approved line of credit. Other banks at the time feared giving consumers this much control. 
5/ Shifting from requiring a bank's "permission" per purchase to "permission" per general purpose credit line was a major innovation. Today, anyone who is able to get approved for a credit card likely takes for granted the benefits of this financial "self-sovereignty".
6/ However, there are a few billion people who don't meet the current criteria for banks and lenders to be willing to take the risk to extend them an unsecured credit line (lack a government issued ID, no credit history, low income, etc).
7/ Therefore, lenders need to either leverage new data sources and models to better underwrite loans like branch.co and @talamobile or they need to require collateral from the borrower in order to mitigate their risk.
8/ As long as collateral can be securely held and easily liquidated if necessary, it should lower the risk of default significantly. This can reduce the reliance on identity and trust of an individual which reduces the need for underwriting a "permissioned" line of credit.
9/ Despite their volatility, permissionless crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ether represent a form of digital collateral where a consumer can hold $100 in Ether and use within permissionless lending protocols like @compoundfinance to borrow $50 in a stablecoin.
10/ While these protocols are mostly used for speculation today, as fiat on ramps improve making it easier to buy crypto, wallets make it easier to access lending markets, and it becomes easier to spend stablecoins, I'm excited to see how crypto lending can extend credit access
