tl;dr: the Layer 1s that don’t break atomic composability will have a competitive advantage. Why AC matters. Back during my consulting time with Dapper Labs, the inventors of Crypto Kitties and the NFT boom, I was working with them on the early stages of the Flow blockchain. The obvious question was: why would the company that had invented NFTs on Ethereum and had done so well because of them want to change course and create their own blockchain? I soon learned the answer: Atomic Composabilit...

tl;dr: the Layer 1s that don’t break atomic composability will have a competitive advantage. Why AC matters. Back during my consulting time with Dapper Labs, the inventors of Crypto Kitties and the NFT boom, I was working with them on the early stages of the Flow blockchain. The obvious question was: why would the company that had invented NFTs on Ethereum and had done so well because of them want to change course and create their own blockchain? I soon learned the answer: Atomic Composabilit...

My kids like to make fun of my wardrobe. Basically, my strategy is to walk around crypto events, pick up free t-shirts, and then just wear them everyday. It’s my way of continually supporting innovation in the industry and I’ll wear anyone’s shirt, even competitors. I picked up a great shirt recently, with a cool design and wore it to work. But here’s the thing, they put the name of the company at the bottom of the shirt. Now, I work at a standing desk so, most of the time, you can see the de...

My kids like to make fun of my wardrobe. Basically, my strategy is to walk around crypto events, pick up free t-shirts, and then just wear them everyday. It’s my way of continually supporting innovation in the industry and I’ll wear anyone’s shirt, even competitors. I picked up a great shirt recently, with a cool design and wore it to work. But here’s the thing, they put the name of the company at the bottom of the shirt. Now, I work at a standing desk so, most of the time, you can see the de...

One of the things I hear most frequently from people is that, given the amount of inflation, the bitcoin narrative as an inflation hedge is “dead.” I can understand why people reach this conclusion. But here’s the thing? What happened to gold? A recent WSJ article highlighted the issue: This Should Have Been a Great Year for Gold. Here’s Why It Isn’t Now, I’m not sure they have nailed “why it isn’t” and that’s just clickbait anyway. But why is gold down 8%? In the words of Buffalo Springfield...

One of the things I hear most frequently from people is that, given the amount of inflation, the bitcoin narrative as an inflation hedge is “dead.” I can understand why people reach this conclusion. But here’s the thing? What happened to gold? A recent WSJ article highlighted the issue: This Should Have Been a Great Year for Gold. Here’s Why It Isn’t Now, I’m not sure they have nailed “why it isn’t” and that’s just clickbait anyway. But why is gold down 8%? In the words of Buffalo Springfield...

My first boss, when I lived in Japan, said to me, “I have two pieces of career advice for you. 1. only work with people you like 2. never believe your own B.S.” I try hard to not violate #2, but it is a hazard of my job. As for #1, I’ve found that it’s easier said than done. In crypto, especially at this early stage, there are a lot of unsavory characters out there. The eternal question is: “is it worth working with the unsavory characters if you think it will help you achieve your objective?...

My first boss, when I lived in Japan, said to me, “I have two pieces of career advice for you. 1. only work with people you like 2. never believe your own B.S.” I try hard to not violate #2, but it is a hazard of my job. As for #1, I’ve found that it’s easier said than done. In crypto, especially at this early stage, there are a lot of unsavory characters out there. The eternal question is: “is it worth working with the unsavory characters if you think it will help you achieve your objective?...

That was the day of the dot com implosion. Last week felt very similar from the crypto perspective. After the dot com crash, Pets.com and Webvan may have been destroyed along with countless others, but Amazon was $6/share. The implosion didn’t mean the Internet was a bad idea. It just meant that the next phase was beginning. Ari Paul captured it really well in this tweetstormImo, crypto now going through something vaguely like post-2000 tech crash. We proved modest product market fit in sever...

That was the day of the dot com implosion. Last week felt very similar from the crypto perspective. After the dot com crash, Pets.com and Webvan may have been destroyed along with countless others, but Amazon was $6/share. The implosion didn’t mean the Internet was a bad idea. It just meant that the next phase was beginning. Ari Paul captured it really well in this tweetstormImo, crypto now going through something vaguely like post-2000 tech crash. We proved modest product market fit in sever...

Everyone has rough days on occasion. It’s part of the game. Sometimes it’s nice just to have someone who will listen with a sympathetic ear. A friend of mine gave me a good piece of advice last night. “No one wants advice.” But they do want to feel heard.

Everyone has rough days on occasion. It’s part of the game. Sometimes it’s nice just to have someone who will listen with a sympathetic ear. A friend of mine gave me a good piece of advice last night. “No one wants advice.” But they do want to feel heard.

There’s a term that I occasionally see thrown around online… “SJW” At first, I thought it stood for “single Jewish woman,” but I’ve since learned it’s “Social Justice Warrior.” An SJW is someone who is constantly on the attack, sometimes vociferously and borderline excessively/maniacally, against real (and perceived) social injustices. I guess my question is: “when will we have FJWs as a term?” Financial Justice Warriors who are on the attack against the numerous injustices that our current g...

There’s a term that I occasionally see thrown around online… “SJW” At first, I thought it stood for “single Jewish woman,” but I’ve since learned it’s “Social Justice Warrior.” An SJW is someone who is constantly on the attack, sometimes vociferously and borderline excessively/maniacally, against real (and perceived) social injustices. I guess my question is: “when will we have FJWs as a term?” Financial Justice Warriors who are on the attack against the numerous injustices that our current g...

I am writing this on the morning before the Fed’s most recent interest rate meeting. There’s speculation about what will happen, how many basis points will the interest rate rise, etc. What occurred to me earlier, as I was sitting in meditation, was that few people seem to talk about how we supposedly value the ideals of democracy, but we are content with 12 unelected people deciding the economic fate for the whole country (and arguably much of the world). I am not yet sure what a better syst...

I am writing this on the morning before the Fed’s most recent interest rate meeting. There’s speculation about what will happen, how many basis points will the interest rate rise, etc. What occurred to me earlier, as I was sitting in meditation, was that few people seem to talk about how we supposedly value the ideals of democracy, but we are content with 12 unelected people deciding the economic fate for the whole country (and arguably much of the world). I am not yet sure what a better syst...

The ‘blockchain trilemma’ was identified as a series of trade-offs required for the growth of blockchains by Vitalik Buterin. Basically, it posited that you could have security, scalability, or decentralization, but not all three. Since then, every major blockchain out there has run into this conundrum. Radix has addressed the trilemma by going around it, since it’s not a blockchain (though it is a public ledger). That’s a big leap for many people to make since most people think that all publ...

The ‘blockchain trilemma’ was identified as a series of trade-offs required for the growth of blockchains by Vitalik Buterin. Basically, it posited that you could have security, scalability, or decentralization, but not all three. Since then, every major blockchain out there has run into this conundrum. Radix has addressed the trilemma by going around it, since it’s not a blockchain (though it is a public ledger). That’s a big leap for many people to make since most people think that all publ...

Markets are in free fall. Inflation is high. Most people need cash, so they will continue to sell assets for cash. Those with a lot of cash, the richest, will then be able to pick up more assets at lower prices. Cycle continues. Inequality and wealth gap persists.

Markets are in free fall. Inflation is high. Most people need cash, so they will continue to sell assets for cash. Those with a lot of cash, the richest, will then be able to pick up more assets at lower prices. Cycle continues. Inequality and wealth gap persists.

The markets (crypto and otherwise) seem like they are somewhere between free fall and steady descent. Celsius paused withdrawals and there’s fear in the market that other firms like BlockFi and Nexo may do the same. Hard to say if this is the bottom or if there’s more pain on the way. But here’s what I saw and, yes, it may be confirmation. At Consensus 2022, there were 15,000 attendees from thousands of companies who descended on Austin for 3 days to continue to explore, grapple, and innovate...

The markets (crypto and otherwise) seem like they are somewhere between free fall and steady descent. Celsius paused withdrawals and there’s fear in the market that other firms like BlockFi and Nexo may do the same. Hard to say if this is the bottom or if there’s more pain on the way. But here’s what I saw and, yes, it may be confirmation. At Consensus 2022, there were 15,000 attendees from thousands of companies who descended on Austin for 3 days to continue to explore, grapple, and innovate...

There was an article in the WSJ the other day, KKR Widens Access to Fund on Blockchain I can’t tell if this is a big deal or not because the article doesn’t make it clear. First of all, it says that KKR is making its funds “available on the public blockchain.” Uh, “THE” public blockchain? Aren’t there hundreds, if not thousands, of them. Which one? Then, it says they are using Securitize to manage their back-end, but it’s not clear if Securitize uses a proprietary blockchain or a truly public...

There was an article in the WSJ the other day, KKR Widens Access to Fund on Blockchain I can’t tell if this is a big deal or not because the article doesn’t make it clear. First of all, it says that KKR is making its funds “available on the public blockchain.” Uh, “THE” public blockchain? Aren’t there hundreds, if not thousands, of them. Which one? Then, it says they are using Securitize to manage their back-end, but it’s not clear if Securitize uses a proprietary blockchain or a truly public...