A Million Markets: From the Bazaar to the DEX
At Mechanism Capital, I come across countless investment opportunities in the incipient decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. When I do, I usually share the same reaction with my team: “it's another perp market” or “it’s just a uniswap fork”. Despite this abundance of market infrastructure, our reactions to this pattern likely stem from the observation that there are not many useful crypto assets to be traded. It’s like having the most luxurious, expansive supermarket imaginable with th...
A Million Markets: From the Bazaar to the DEX
At Mechanism Capital, I come across countless investment opportunities in the incipient decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. When I do, I usually share the same reaction with my team: “it's another perp market” or “it’s just a uniswap fork”. Despite this abundance of market infrastructure, our reactions to this pattern likely stem from the observation that there are not many useful crypto assets to be traded. It’s like having the most luxurious, expansive supermarket imaginable with th...
A Million Markets: From the Bazaar to the DEX
At Mechanism Capital, I come across countless investment opportunities in the incipient decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. When I do, I usually share the same reaction with my team: “it's another perp market” or “it’s just a uniswap fork”. Despite this abundance of market infrastructure, our reactions to this pattern likely stem from the observation that there are not many useful crypto assets to be traded. It’s like having the most luxurious, expansive supermarket imaginable with th...
A Million Markets: From the Bazaar to the DEX
At Mechanism Capital, I come across countless investment opportunities in the incipient decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. When I do, I usually share the same reaction with my team: “it's another perp market” or “it’s just a uniswap fork”. Despite this abundance of market infrastructure, our reactions to this pattern likely stem from the observation that there are not many useful crypto assets to be traded. It’s like having the most luxurious, expansive supermarket imaginable with th...
The logical conclusion of zero knowledge computation
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are an absurd technological breakthrough, and people like @VitalikButerin have publicly commented that they're likely on par with blockchains in terms of ideological importance for this decade. The power of ZKPs can be generally split into two superpowers: privacy & compression. Both sides of this technology are incredibly important, but I want to focus on the compression superpower as it relates to the first line of this thread. How do ZKPs help power compre...
The logical conclusion of zero knowledge computation
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are an absurd technological breakthrough, and people like @VitalikButerin have publicly commented that they're likely on par with blockchains in terms of ideological importance for this decade. The power of ZKPs can be generally split into two superpowers: privacy & compression. Both sides of this technology are incredibly important, but I want to focus on the compression superpower as it relates to the first line of this thread. How do ZKPs help power compre...
The logical conclusion of zero knowledge computation
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are an absurd technological breakthrough, and people like @VitalikButerin have publicly commented that they're likely on par with blockchains in terms of ideological importance for this decade. The power of ZKPs can be generally split into two superpowers: privacy & compression. Both sides of this technology are incredibly important, but I want to focus on the compression superpower as it relates to the first line of this thread. How do ZKPs help power compre...
The logical conclusion of zero knowledge computation
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are an absurd technological breakthrough, and people like @VitalikButerin have publicly commented that they're likely on par with blockchains in terms of ideological importance for this decade. The power of ZKPs can be generally split into two superpowers: privacy & compression. Both sides of this technology are incredibly important, but I want to focus on the compression superpower as it relates to the first line of this thread. How do ZKPs help power compre...
Settlement Layers
A settlement layer is where the final ledger of an asset lies. For physical goods & commodities, this definition is trivial, it’s just physics. For traditional, intangible financial assets, the ledger lies with some central authority. In the world of digital assets where the assets themselves are emergent from cryptonetworks, it’s not as straightforward. Bitcoin’s settlement layer is on the bitcoin network. ETH settles on Ethereum mainnet. USDC has multiple settlement layers across many smart...
Settlement Layers
A settlement layer is where the final ledger of an asset lies. For physical goods & commodities, this definition is trivial, it’s just physics. For traditional, intangible financial assets, the ledger lies with some central authority. In the world of digital assets where the assets themselves are emergent from cryptonetworks, it’s not as straightforward. Bitcoin’s settlement layer is on the bitcoin network. ETH settles on Ethereum mainnet. USDC has multiple settlement layers across many smart...
Settlement Layers
A settlement layer is where the final ledger of an asset lies. For physical goods & commodities, this definition is trivial, it’s just physics. For traditional, intangible financial assets, the ledger lies with some central authority. In the world of digital assets where the assets themselves are emergent from cryptonetworks, it’s not as straightforward. Bitcoin’s settlement layer is on the bitcoin network. ETH settles on Ethereum mainnet. USDC has multiple settlement layers across many smart...
Settlement Layers
A settlement layer is where the final ledger of an asset lies. For physical goods & commodities, this definition is trivial, it’s just physics. For traditional, intangible financial assets, the ledger lies with some central authority. In the world of digital assets where the assets themselves are emergent from cryptonetworks, it’s not as straightforward. Bitcoin’s settlement layer is on the bitcoin network. ETH settles on Ethereum mainnet. USDC has multiple settlement layers across many smart...
History Rhymes, In Defense Of Crypto
TLDR; Crypto doesn’t matter until it does.“what if all the layer 1's and eth died tomorrow would anyone care?”I saw this question floated around in a group chat and was surprised by my kneejerk reaction: “of course people would care!” But there is plenty of truth in the demise of smart contract platforms not affecting the real world. Airplanes would continue flying, grocery stores would still sell food, businesses would keep conducting business, and people would keep living without a hic...
History Rhymes, In Defense Of Crypto
TLDR; Crypto doesn’t matter until it does.“what if all the layer 1's and eth died tomorrow would anyone care?”I saw this question floated around in a group chat and was surprised by my kneejerk reaction: “of course people would care!” But there is plenty of truth in the demise of smart contract platforms not affecting the real world. Airplanes would continue flying, grocery stores would still sell food, businesses would keep conducting business, and people would keep living without a hic...
History Rhymes, In Defense Of Crypto
TLDR; Crypto doesn’t matter until it does.“what if all the layer 1's and eth died tomorrow would anyone care?”I saw this question floated around in a group chat and was surprised by my kneejerk reaction: “of course people would care!” But there is plenty of truth in the demise of smart contract platforms not affecting the real world. Airplanes would continue flying, grocery stores would still sell food, businesses would keep conducting business, and people would keep living without a hic...
History Rhymes, In Defense Of Crypto
TLDR; Crypto doesn’t matter until it does.“what if all the layer 1's and eth died tomorrow would anyone care?”I saw this question floated around in a group chat and was surprised by my kneejerk reaction: “of course people would care!” But there is plenty of truth in the demise of smart contract platforms not affecting the real world. Airplanes would continue flying, grocery stores would still sell food, businesses would keep conducting business, and people would keep living without a hic...
Writing Can Make One Rich*
It’s exceedingly clear to me that I have a very chatty internal monologue. From the first signs of an awakening mind to the moments before sleep, there exists a flurry of loose-ended thought processes in my head that range from explaining technical concepts to coming up with my own “self-help” principles. In parallel, I believe there is a common narrative that has been growing over the years in my social circles: that writing is a powerful tool. In the age of Proof-of-Stake blockchains, priva...
Writing Can Make One Rich*
It’s exceedingly clear to me that I have a very chatty internal monologue. From the first signs of an awakening mind to the moments before sleep, there exists a flurry of loose-ended thought processes in my head that range from explaining technical concepts to coming up with my own “self-help” principles. In parallel, I believe there is a common narrative that has been growing over the years in my social circles: that writing is a powerful tool. In the age of Proof-of-Stake blockchains, priva...
Writing Can Make One Rich*
It’s exceedingly clear to me that I have a very chatty internal monologue. From the first signs of an awakening mind to the moments before sleep, there exists a flurry of loose-ended thought processes in my head that range from explaining technical concepts to coming up with my own “self-help” principles. In parallel, I believe there is a common narrative that has been growing over the years in my social circles: that writing is a powerful tool. In the age of Proof-of-Stake blockchains, priva...
Writing Can Make One Rich*
It’s exceedingly clear to me that I have a very chatty internal monologue. From the first signs of an awakening mind to the moments before sleep, there exists a flurry of loose-ended thought processes in my head that range from explaining technical concepts to coming up with my own “self-help” principles. In parallel, I believe there is a common narrative that has been growing over the years in my social circles: that writing is a powerful tool. In the age of Proof-of-Stake blockchains, priva...
