# Multicoin’s Applebaum Says AI Is Shifting DeFi’s Competitive Edge By Token Post Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/insights/54516 Published: 2026-11-11T21:42:52.000Z Updated: 2026-11-11T21:42:52.000Z Section: Insights & Views > He points to sticky customer relationships, capital and proprietary underwriting data as advantages that become more important as software gets cheaper to build. Artificial intelligence (AI) is lowering DeFi software costs, shifting competition toward customer access, capital and proprietary underwriting data, Spencer Applebaum, Multicoin Capital’s general partner and venture co-head, argued in a Nov. 10 essay. Applebaum’s framework centers on three advantages beyond software. Distribution means more than making an app available: he tied it to lasting customer relationships and the order flow those users generate. An existing customer channel can be harder to replicate than code, keeping users and activity connected to a financial product. Capital is a second advantage because a balance sheet can absorb losses. Applebaum cited risk-bearing prime brokers and reserves held by protocols as examples of capital that can support a business through losses. The third advantage is proprietary data used in underwriting, the process of assessing risk before extending credit or insurance. Applebaum pointed to OnRe reinsurance and USD.ai GPU-backed loans as cases where specialized information helps shape those assessments. Reinsurance and asset-backed lending depend on judgments about particular risks and collateral, making information part of the product. Multicoin general partner Shayon Sengupta has also proposed a [market for financing GPU and compute claims]() involving claims tied to GPUs, future computing capacity and customer offtake receivables. Applebaum sees risk tolerance as a possible entry point for startups. They can target areas that established firms avoid because of compliance or reputational concerns, then try to build lasting advantages around customer relationships, capital and data. In this framework, taking on risk creates an opening; a durable position would still depend on developing one or more of those advantages. Applebaum described separate pressures on general-purpose blockchains and developer ecosystems. He said general-purpose Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks are losing distribution and capital advantages as interoperability improves and users and capital reach DeFi through other channels. Cheaper software chiefly weakens the developer-ecosystem advantage by lowering the cost of building protocols. His argument puts more weight on who can bring users, fund losses and assess risk than on code alone. ## Links in this article - [market for financing GPU and compute claims](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/technology/44067)