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Mark HelfmanSEC Retreats From Ripple But Gensler’s Right About Crypto
Yesterday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped two more charges against Ripple for selling its XRP crypto the wrong way. The score stands at Ripple 3, SEC 0. Ripple isn’t the first crypto business to defeat the regulators. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler seems to lose, like, half of the crypto cases that go to trial. That’s an abysmal record for a US government agency, but I can’t object to Gary’s interpretation of US securities law. Legally speaking, he’s right. Under US law, s...
Mark HelfmanTwo Truths and a Lie About Altcoins
You’re hearing a lot about altcoins from bitmojis, analysts, and commentators. None of them are experts, but they’ve picked up some insights along the way. Since the market’s going up, they seem legit. Read on for two truths you might not realize and one lie you might believe.Truth #1—altcoins are $200 billion worth of crapAltcoins are a $400 billion asset class. At least $200 billion worth of that market cap consists of altcoins that suck, do nothing, and will bleed value forever. Some of th...
Mark HelfmanAnother VC Ditches Crypto? Good!
Did you hear the news? Big crypto investor Paradigm dropped crypto and web3 from its branding. https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1661902499857698818 Good for them. A lot of other crypto VCs failed before they could pivot. Julius Caesar called this thousands of years ago when he said “I came, I saw, I failured.”Not so badParadigm’s still into crypto, they’re just not saying it in public. Why would they leave? They did well with crypto. Many VCs did. For a few years, they held the keys to...
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Mark HelfmanSEC Retreats From Ripple But Gensler’s Right About Crypto
Yesterday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped two more charges against Ripple for selling its XRP crypto the wrong way. The score stands at Ripple 3, SEC 0. Ripple isn’t the first crypto business to defeat the regulators. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler seems to lose, like, half of the crypto cases that go to trial. That’s an abysmal record for a US government agency, but I can’t object to Gary’s interpretation of US securities law. Legally speaking, he’s right. Under US law, s...
Mark HelfmanTwo Truths and a Lie About Altcoins
You’re hearing a lot about altcoins from bitmojis, analysts, and commentators. None of them are experts, but they’ve picked up some insights along the way. Since the market’s going up, they seem legit. Read on for two truths you might not realize and one lie you might believe.Truth #1—altcoins are $200 billion worth of crapAltcoins are a $400 billion asset class. At least $200 billion worth of that market cap consists of altcoins that suck, do nothing, and will bleed value forever. Some of th...
Mark HelfmanAnother VC Ditches Crypto? Good!
Did you hear the news? Big crypto investor Paradigm dropped crypto and web3 from its branding. https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1661902499857698818 Good for them. A lot of other crypto VCs failed before they could pivot. Julius Caesar called this thousands of years ago when he said “I came, I saw, I failured.”Not so badParadigm’s still into crypto, they’re just not saying it in public. Why would they leave? They did well with crypto. Many VCs did. For a few years, they held the keys to...
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Since its creation, people have searched for a “use case” for Bitcoin.
It seems the world has no use for money that you can send to anybody, anywhere, anytime, in any amount, without restriction, without revealing your sensitive personal information, without putting your property in another person’s control, with certainty that your transaction will go through and confirmation that every payment you receive is authentic and valid.
Nor do they care about having a way to conduct finance that works in all conditions, even when counterparties fail, without political violence, military coercion, government manipulation, or sovereign debt.
Fine.
Did they ever stop to think about what would happen after nuclear war destroys the financial and monetary infrastructure of legacy governments?
I did!
While your government’s currency won’t work after the nuclear holocaust (assuming your government is even around), Bitcoin will.
It’s a computer protocol. Nuclear war can’t destroy it.
In fact, once people recover the capacity to use computers, mint coins, and print paper, they might find it easier to adopt Bitcoin rather than rebuild their old financial systems.
(In our hypothetical scenario, those “old” financial systems refer to our current financial systems.)
Today’s financial systems cost billions of dollars and require extensive experience and operational savvy. They need regulators, courts, lawyers, compliance departments, clearinghouses, accountants, settlement companies, brokers, traders, power companies, cybersecurity experts, and a whole legal and regulatory apparatus.
With bitcoin, you just need to plug in a device.
Which is easier to do after a nuclear war?
Since its creation, people have searched for a “use case” for Bitcoin.
It seems the world has no use for money that you can send to anybody, anywhere, anytime, in any amount, without restriction, without revealing your sensitive personal information, without putting your property in another person’s control, with certainty that your transaction will go through and confirmation that every payment you receive is authentic and valid.
Nor do they care about having a way to conduct finance that works in all conditions, even when counterparties fail, without political violence, military coercion, government manipulation, or sovereign debt.
Fine.
Did they ever stop to think about what would happen after nuclear war destroys the financial and monetary infrastructure of legacy governments?
I did!
While your government’s currency won’t work after the nuclear holocaust (assuming your government is even around), Bitcoin will.
It’s a computer protocol. Nuclear war can’t destroy it.
In fact, once people recover the capacity to use computers, mint coins, and print paper, they might find it easier to adopt Bitcoin rather than rebuild their old financial systems.
(In our hypothetical scenario, those “old” financial systems refer to our current financial systems.)
Today’s financial systems cost billions of dollars and require extensive experience and operational savvy. They need regulators, courts, lawyers, compliance departments, clearinghouses, accountants, settlement companies, brokers, traders, power companies, cybersecurity experts, and a whole legal and regulatory apparatus.
With bitcoin, you just need to plug in a device.
Which is easier to do after a nuclear war?
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