Web3

Crypto was really avant-garde here, because they had to argue with everyone, “Onchain isn’t in the front end or the back end, it’s this new third thing”, that was hard for us to put into words, especially for practical app-building purposes. Culturally speaking, the proposition remains: “for every piece of content, there is now a publicly viewable... See more

Another kind of art, which may make you mad, is NFTs and even more so Meme Coins. Because, 1) if suggesting something is art makes people Rite of Spring-level furious, you have something interesting; and 2), because they are a pure demonstration of public predictions as art, and the meaning of a thing being when you interact with it.

I've been in our "industry" for almost 9 years now and I don't ever recall the vibe being so lost with very little to look forward to. On the surface, it sounds like we got most of the things we always wanted: "institutional adoption" and technology being actually used. But something is missing and it's not just in prices, it's in the "soul" of it,... See more

For now, the state of play has shifted and the market is sending a clear signal: Utility alone is insufficient. Scale alone is insufficient. The market is demanding a direct and demonstrable link between usage, revenue, and asset value.

The industry was right about the technology. Now the market is deciding who gets paid. The builders who solve for... See more

Tokens will make a comeback too, but they will likely look different as they shift away from a governance-heavy emphasis and toward direct participation in app-layer economics or even becoming tokenized equity instruments with direct claims on cash flows.

Finance is undergoing a transformation from a distinct vertical sector into a horizontal substrate. As markets become more expressive and accessible, finance is becoming embedded into culture, and culture itself is increasingly expressed through finance. Simultaneously, as markets become permissionless software, they accelerate their role as change... See more

Gambling and trading address lower-rung needs: security (hit a big lick to escape your economic situation)—and maybe (just maybe) community, like when WallStreetBets tries to stick it to Citadel, or you bet on your team with friends. Investing maps closer to the top of the hierarchy: self-actualization and purpose. Owning a home is the American... See more

Many of the talented people I've met and worked with in crypto have followed some version of a common trajectory: from getting humbled on a moonshot token, to learning to manage risk as a trader, to becoming a more sophisticated, long-term investor. Even in losing, a gambler who gets wiped out and decides to only place bets on things they know... See more

In hindsight, the 2020 thesis was correct about people wanting economic upside in the things they know and care about. But whereas I thought it would expand to ownership in all of the products you use every day, skeuomorphic to employee stock options, in reality the opportunity turned out to be skin-in-the-game on anything you have conviction... See more