“Although we live in a world of a limited number of atoms, there are virtually infinite ways to arrange those atoms.” – Marian Tupy & Gale Pooley It is hard to be optimistic about crypto. I’ve watched lots of people cycle through this industry. Over time, I’ve started sorting folks into three buckets:Jaded PessimistsYour Jaded Pessimists are the industry tourists who are, well, not happy. These guys swallowed whole the “fiat bad...

“Although we live in a world of a limited number of atoms, there are virtually infinite ways to arrange those atoms.” – Marian Tupy & Gale Pooley It is hard to be optimistic about crypto. I’ve watched lots of people cycle through this industry. Over time, I’ve started sorting folks into three buckets:Jaded PessimistsYour Jaded Pessimists are the industry tourists who are, well, not happy. These guys swallowed whole the “fiat bad...

It is customary for a writer to leave their job, then start a Substack. So here I am doing that cringe, customary thing after being laid off in the Blockworks newsroom shutdown yesterday.TwitterMy time at BlockworksI joined Blockworks in July 2024 and spent 15 months as a “reporter”. Prior to Blockworks, I was a “newsletter writer” for ~18 months at BanklessHQ. The question I got most often at Blockworks: Can we do a paid article with you? Apparently, people think this is how the conversation...

It is customary for a writer to leave their job, then start a Substack. So here I am doing that cringe, customary thing after being laid off in the Blockworks newsroom shutdown yesterday.TwitterMy time at BlockworksI joined Blockworks in July 2024 and spent 15 months as a “reporter”. Prior to Blockworks, I was a “newsletter writer” for ~18 months at BanklessHQ. The question I got most often at Blockworks: Can we do a paid article with you? Apparently, people think this is how the conversation...

“The most common exit strategy was that we lost all our money.” — Jack Melchor, venture capitalist The year is 2013.Bitcoin spent the year running up from $10 to a $1000, a tidy 100x profit for anyone maniacal enough to believe in digital gold before it was digital gold. Near the peak of bitcoin mania in 2013, your cousin Greg in finance texts you about Mastercoin. What’s that, you ask? A protocol layer on top of Bitcoin so anyon...

“The most common exit strategy was that we lost all our money.” — Jack Melchor, venture capitalist The year is 2013.Bitcoin spent the year running up from $10 to a $1000, a tidy 100x profit for anyone maniacal enough to believe in digital gold before it was digital gold. Near the peak of bitcoin mania in 2013, your cousin Greg in finance texts you about Mastercoin. What’s that, you ask? A protocol layer on top of Bitcoin so anyon...