The Writings of Michael Jagdeo

making-it-easier-to-program-money

4 min read

Making It Easier to Program Money

“Someone needs to make it easier to program money.” - LiminalSnake

That really stuck with me. I’d like to think I’m a fairly smart guy. I’ve created solutions with rust, haskell, n8n, tailwind, all that stuff. But smart contracts? I’m yet to find a noob-friendly ecosystem when it comes to smart contracts…until today?

📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcqQqUoUimc

Executive Summary

The central challenge in decentralized finance (Finance 3.0 aka DeFi) is that smart contracts—programs that move and manage money on blockchains—remain too difficult to use. Despite years of documentation and mentorship, even capable developers often find themselves blocked by steep learning curves and hidden prerequisites. This barrier has slowed the adoption of “Finance 3.0.”

A breakthrough may be emerging through Model Context Protocol (MCP), a framework that allows AI systems to access and interact with APIs in real time. MCP bridges the gap between AI-driven coding and constantly evolving smart contract documentation.

The Aptos Blockchain, built by former Meta engineers behind Diem/Libra and powered by the Move smart contract language, has embraced MCP. By doing so, it enables developers to “vibe code” smart contracts with AI assistants that always have the latest references.

The implication is clear:

  • Easier smart contract development = easier programming of money.

  • Blockchains that integrate MCP servers will have a decisive advantage in unlocking DeFi adoption.

  • Aptos may represent the first ecosystem to seriously lower the barrier to smart contract programming.

Bottom line: If Finance 3.0 is going to scale, it won’t be because smart contracts got simpler—it’ll be because AI and MCP made programming money accessible.

Smart contracts are programs that use money on the blockchain, basically. I’ll give you an example of why someone needs to make it easier to program money.

I’m an active part of the Stacks Ecosystem, which has its own smart contract language called Clarity. Clarity allows you to create a programmatic economy using Bitcoin.

Do I know how to use smart contracts languages like Clarity? No. Have I read docs about it? Yes. Have the docs helped me launch code? Yes. Do I understand what’s happening? Hell no. And that’s why I don’t build financial applications…smart contracts are still a mystery to me, even with able and willing mentors around me. It’s like there are all these hidden pre-requisites lurking at every npm install.

But seriously, the primary barrier to becoming a software developer in Finance 3.0 (DEFI) is in understanding how to use smart contracts. I know because there aren’t that many smart contract developers on Stacks, and they’re the leading Bitcoin layer two solution in the world. In fact, the entire ecosystem is being held up because nobody can figure out smart contracts.

6 years after Bitcoin was released, the primary reason that Finance 3.0 hasn’t achieved mass adoption is because it’s so hard to program…until now.

I think I discovered a light at the end of the tunnel.

About a year ago, everyone started going nuts over MCP.

MCP provided a standard way to have AIs interact with APIs. APIs are the the hotlines of the internet, like phone numbers you can call to get data or to get stuff done. Want the latest price of Bitcoin? Get the CoinGecko API. Wanna know what movie to watch next? Get the IMDB API. All are simply hotlines you can call to get data or get stuff done.

A few weeks ago, we started working towards a submission for The Aptos Hackathon. Aptos, started by two former Meta Libra/Diem intrapreneurs, using the Move Language created at Meta for smart contracts.

📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePf2eToS4f4

I saw a video where an Aptos team vibe-coded a Labubu app using Move on Aptos, and decided to see how they did it. And there it was…MCP for Aptos.

The number one challenge in vibe-coding is dealing with an AI who doesn’t have the latest docs. You just sit there, watching this AI spit out irrelevant code because it doesn’t have the latest docs.

By getting Aptos’ MCP set up, I can now start vibe coding with Move the smart contract language on Aptos because my AI has access to the latest docs.

And so, I think Aptos has the vision: if you want to make it easier to program money, your blockchain better have an MCP Server.

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