The problem with consumer crypto:
Putting trading first, value second.
We have a million ways to trade tokens. But the tokens are slop. Nobody holds. Everything goes to zero.
We need the reverse:
Put value first and let trade emerge naturally.
One problem with creator / content coins is their form factor:
They have a $ticker. They trade like financial assets. You view their charts and interact with them through exchanges.
These need a completely different, non financey feel if they are ever going to go mainstream.
If everything is just a trade, then the value of everything is reduced to $$$.
What's gained in efficiency is lost in meaning.
This is why I'm bearish Zora and Base app--and most consumer crypto apps--in their current form.
Crypto makes the internet multiplayer.
Earn tokens and NFTs in one app and take them to another to get new benefits.
The challenge is overcoming the "chicken and egg" problem to bootstrap this network effect.
https://x.com/lokithebird/status/1945725237414486236
Volatile creator tokens are a category error.
They force fans who wanted to be part of a community - into cutthroat PvP finance with each other and the market.
Crypto social hasn’t found its raison d'etre, but maybe:
Crypto turns the internet into a giant MMO.
Earn “loot” (badges, items, characters, skins…) in apps, and then take them to another app where they have new value.
Therefore crypto social is where apps and loot go to mingle.
NFTs are still in their “websites in the early 90’s” phase.
Normies think they're silly. Even most crypto people think there’s only a couple uses for them.
But in time, like with websites, we’ll discover endless uses.
Everyone is trying to be more liquid.
Trade anything. Bet on everything.
Guaranteed selling via AMMs and bonding curves. 24/7 markets.
But there is an ocean of product ideas for builders who do the opposite.
Intentional friction. More holding. And more long term value.
In the pursuit of an Everything App, I’d start with an Everything Inventory:
A place to store, manage, and show off possessions from across web3, aka the internet.
Then build functionality around this from first principles, instead of imitating the web2 super app concept.
Why are all crypto apps building this? Does anyone actually think this is going to go mainstream?
I don't even think most people in crypto today like this.
We will be building the exact opposite of whatever this is.
Crypto apps treat everything like it's just a trade. Lost all your money? Tough. No crying in the casino.
I call bullshit.
We have not just a moral, but a business imperative, to create consumer apps that don’t wreck all our users.
Paintings have brushstrokes.
Music has lyrics and notes.
NFTs have metadata.
Apps and creators need to stop confining art to the image_url...
...and instead weave all their metadata together to create compositions that take full advantage of the NFT medium.
Wallets should be "Inventories."
For years, crypto was only for finance. All onchain "things" were assets and money.
The next era will have apps of all kinds and onchain things of all kinds - app currencies, items, skins, badges...
These belong in an inventory not a wallet.
The average user is not a finance blackbelt.
Lumping all users together into a PvP finance ux guarantees a few sharks will eat everyone else.
Consumer crypto apps should find creative ways to implement a “ranked” or “hardcore” mode which keeps beginners safe.
We don’t need to “onboard” people to web3 like it's some different place.
Web2 wasn’t a different place. It was the same internet. Web3 is no different.
What we need is to build things that people actually want and they will onboard themselves.
Crypto is creating the Infinite Order Book: each asset trades against every other in infinite combination.
Giving users a token therefore exposes them to infinite choice, the ultimate insult to Hicks Law.
Consumer crypto apps should experiment with more selling friction, less liquidity, lockups, and other mechanics that insulate users from the maelstrom of the market.
