Ideas I want to write about

Until last year, launching an onchain subscription was difficult, as NFTs and ERC20s had no concept of time embedded within them. Instead, they offered one-time, discrete value transfer between buyers and sellers.

Token allowances and streaming escrow contracts are one solution to this problem, but they are complex and difficult to use.

We made STP... See more

By the end of 2028 we haven’t quite recaptured the all-time highs of crypto market capitalization, but the relevance of this all-encompassing statistic has diminished. There’s now comfortably $20+ trillion of crypto assets, but more importantly the technology has penetrated so many verticals – albeit to varying degrees – that we no longer speak in... See more

While memberships were restaurant-specific, $FLY would be a “pan-industry loyalty currency.” Every time you check in at Gertie, for example, you might receive 1,000 $FLY or 5,000 $FLY. Restaurants might incentivize certain behaviors – checking in at times that are typically slow – with greater $FLY rewards. So each time you check in at a specific... See more

The longstanding struggles of digital media businesses drive home the fact that internet-native media requires a fundamentally different business approach. Monetizing content assumes that the value is held in the content itself. Under the physics of infinity – frictionless content creation and distribution – the marginal value of every additional... See more

This framework implies a return to patronage – we are not paying for utility, we are funding the story, the taste, the culture, and its support and proliferation.

Ironically enough, patronage is an even older media business model than advertising or subscriptions. During the Renaissance, patronage was symbiotic – it afforded patrons cultural capital... See more

So if I step back, a good consumer token model in my mind:

• Releases a token early, recognizes the end state is entirely unclear, and maintains optionality on how it’ll evolve in future


• Has mechanics to distribute tokens over a long time frame to users / participants that are creating value


• Captures value from the speculation layer and funnels it into

... See more

If Blackbird succeeds, it will succeed because it builds a product that helps restaurants in the ways that they care about. The technology under the hood is a means, not an end.

I did ask Ben what he thinks the experience will be like in a couple years as the network scales. Here’s what he described:

You open the Blackbird app. Based on what it knows about you, where you are, and any specific queries you make, it will suggest two or three places nearby. That will be the last experience you have with the tech. You’ll just... See more