In the competitive landscape of technology products, sustainable growth relies on finding the right balance between development and distribution. As new platforms and systems emerge across various industries, their success largely depends on the intricate interplay of innovation and accessibility.
This morning, during an early NYC-NFT coffee meetup, the topic of Ceramic Network arose that illustrated this interplay. To provide some context, Ceramic Network is a distributed file storage system similar to Arweave, with some other clever structures involved. These systems play a crucial role in the world of NFTs and decentralized technologies.
In my previous role as CTO of Mirror, a decentralized publishing platform, I was often encouraged to experiment with Ceramic over Arweave. It was touted as the better approach. Despite my best efforts, I struggled to understand Ceramic's advantages. I even printed their entire documentation and spent a day reading it in a San Francisco hotel lounge.
Ceramic's main issue, in my opinion, is that they didn't prioritize distribution and ecosystem cultivation early on. They developed disproportionately to their distribution ability and ecosystem. It's akin to a person who focuses solely on building muscle, but neglects flexibility and stamina. The result is impressive, but ultimately impractical.
In contrast, Arweave had working examples from the outset. Sam, the founder, interviewed me on a podcast before I had even written a line of Mirror code, just on the potential for building NFTs that stored content on Arweave. While some of the examples were rudimentary, like WeaveMail, an email solution built on Arweave, they provided developers with an entry point and gave the core developers valuable feedback.
As a member of Ceramic's target audience, I believe the responsibility for my lack of understanding and enthusiasm lies with the protocol's author, not with outsiders for not "getting it". I harbor no ill will towards anyone involved. Rather, I see this as an opportunity to learn: successful products must balance development velocity with distribution capabilities. This equilibrium is essential for their survival.
GraemeBeyond Tokens: The Era of Onchain Points
Points are sweeping across the crypto ecosystem, following their catalyzing role in the launch of Blast ($800m TVL on launch), increased Rainbow usage, and many DeFi projects in the Solana ecosystem. This raises the question: are “points” merely a gimmick to spur speculative adoption for early users, or could they present a sustainable new primitive for consumer crypto apps? Drawing from experience in helping develop various points systems over the past year, and now launching a platform dedi...
GraemeBountycaster
Bountycaster is a new service for creating and completing paid bounties online, leveraging cryptocurrency, decentralized social networks, and AI. Bountycaster leverages the Farcaster network for identity and content. Users sign in with their Farcaster account and post bounty descriptions to the Farcaster network. On the backend, Bountycaster monitors posts to Farcaster, and uses AI to parse the bounty content. The service elegantly interweaves four powerful new technologies in a simple way:Bo...
GraemeThe New Leviathans
Serendipities often catch us in the most unexpected of places. On a recent journey to Europe, to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, I stumbled upon a treasure in a quaint multilingual bookstore nestled in the heart of Rome. The treasure? A freshly printed book, "The New Leviathans," by Professor John Gray (to be released internationally only on November 7th, 2023). Whenever I dive into Gray's writings, I am confronted with a wave of introspection, occasionally bordering...
CTO of Mirror
In the competitive landscape of technology products, sustainable growth relies on finding the right balance between development and distribution. As new platforms and systems emerge across various industries, their success largely depends on the intricate interplay of innovation and accessibility.
This morning, during an early NYC-NFT coffee meetup, the topic of Ceramic Network arose that illustrated this interplay. To provide some context, Ceramic Network is a distributed file storage system similar to Arweave, with some other clever structures involved. These systems play a crucial role in the world of NFTs and decentralized technologies.
In my previous role as CTO of Mirror, a decentralized publishing platform, I was often encouraged to experiment with Ceramic over Arweave. It was touted as the better approach. Despite my best efforts, I struggled to understand Ceramic's advantages. I even printed their entire documentation and spent a day reading it in a San Francisco hotel lounge.
Ceramic's main issue, in my opinion, is that they didn't prioritize distribution and ecosystem cultivation early on. They developed disproportionately to their distribution ability and ecosystem. It's akin to a person who focuses solely on building muscle, but neglects flexibility and stamina. The result is impressive, but ultimately impractical.
In contrast, Arweave had working examples from the outset. Sam, the founder, interviewed me on a podcast before I had even written a line of Mirror code, just on the potential for building NFTs that stored content on Arweave. While some of the examples were rudimentary, like WeaveMail, an email solution built on Arweave, they provided developers with an entry point and gave the core developers valuable feedback.
As a member of Ceramic's target audience, I believe the responsibility for my lack of understanding and enthusiasm lies with the protocol's author, not with outsiders for not "getting it". I harbor no ill will towards anyone involved. Rather, I see this as an opportunity to learn: successful products must balance development velocity with distribution capabilities. This equilibrium is essential for their survival.
GraemeBeyond Tokens: The Era of Onchain Points
Points are sweeping across the crypto ecosystem, following their catalyzing role in the launch of Blast ($800m TVL on launch), increased Rainbow usage, and many DeFi projects in the Solana ecosystem. This raises the question: are “points” merely a gimmick to spur speculative adoption for early users, or could they present a sustainable new primitive for consumer crypto apps? Drawing from experience in helping develop various points systems over the past year, and now launching a platform dedi...
GraemeBountycaster
Bountycaster is a new service for creating and completing paid bounties online, leveraging cryptocurrency, decentralized social networks, and AI. Bountycaster leverages the Farcaster network for identity and content. Users sign in with their Farcaster account and post bounty descriptions to the Farcaster network. On the backend, Bountycaster monitors posts to Farcaster, and uses AI to parse the bounty content. The service elegantly interweaves four powerful new technologies in a simple way:Bo...
GraemeThe New Leviathans
Serendipities often catch us in the most unexpected of places. On a recent journey to Europe, to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, I stumbled upon a treasure in a quaint multilingual bookstore nestled in the heart of Rome. The treasure? A freshly printed book, "The New Leviathans," by Professor John Gray (to be released internationally only on November 7th, 2023). Whenever I dive into Gray's writings, I am confronted with a wave of introspection, occasionally bordering...
CTO of Mirror
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