I work at Optimism and leading a defi research project. I’m at the point where I have gotten existential and wonder to myself, wtf are we building. 

Zooming out, what is the point of defi? Do we need half of these applications that offer only slight modifications to base primitives?

Strong feelings only.

Eternal optimist.
defi partnerships @optimism

I don't see many more core primitives - they just need to become more efficient over time.

We need better products (not features). Literally 1000s of web2 companies try to improve the checkout process 0.1% for better UX and conversions. This user focus & onboarding is lacking but can be done on current infra.