Luna crashed, 3AC crashed, FTX crashed... The crypto market has been in a downturn for the whole of 2022. Nowadays, KOLs are keen to discuss AI, and recently just switched to discussing AR/VR because Apple just unveiled Vision Pro. But today, I want to tell you why blockchain still offers the best opportunity for us in this era and that blockchain will change human history.

The arrival of ChartGPT has taken the world by storm.

I don’t deny the potential of AI and LLM to usher in a new industrial revolution, harboring immense business opportunities. But as average individuals, what roles can we play? Labeling data for $1/hour?

Constructing an AI empire is an endeavor dependent on enormous computational power - a harsh reality that prompts even institutions to carefully assess whether they possess the resources to invest in each subsequent round.

In recent times, AR/VR has wrestled the spotlight away from AI, yet it requires a robust industrial supply chain, among other necessities. Tech juggernauts such as Sony, Microsoft, and Facebook have invested significantly in this area for the past decade, yet clear success remains elusive.

With the increasing geopolitical turmoil, the defense industry has rapidly grown. But the question lingers - how can ordinary people like us stake our claim in this expanding sector?

Looking back at the past two decades, you'll notice the majority of self-made billionaires originated from the internet industry. This is because the Means of Production required – merely several servers – are vastly more attainable compared to the land required in the agricultural era, or the factories and machinery during the industrial age.

In the era of blockchain, you don't even need to possess a server. All you need to do is deploy your smart contract on Ethereum (or other public chains), and it will be replicated across nodes worldwide. If your product is of high quality, the community will rally behind you, supporting and nurturing your initiative. Take Uniswap, for instance - how much capital do you think was spent on building it?

The answer is, at most, a few hundred thousand dollars. In 2018, a mechanical engineer named Hayden Adams, laid off by Siemens and had been unemployed for ten months, received a $50,000 grant from the Ethereum Foundation. With this $50,000 and a few other checks from then-unknown institutions like Paradigm, he built Uniswap.

When Uniswap's daily trading volume exceeded $10 billion, the team consisted of merely the founder and two employees.

In the era of blockchain, the Means of Production you need is just a personal computer, and it doesn't have to be the latest model.

Right before the French Revolution took place in 1789, countless regulations and privileges ran rampant. The king and nobility had the unchecked power to levy taxes at will, resulting in over 50 different taxes being applied to a single bag of goods transported from Rouen to Marseille. However, during the same period, things were completely different in the United States: no trade barriers between states, allowing goods to flow freely. As a new nation, the US was free from the entrenched privileges that hindered productivity, and this became the secret behind its economic takeoff.

Blockchain is a new world without such privileges.

In the early 19th century, transportation was the biggest obstacle to the Westward Expansion in the U.S. The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825 was a game-changer, enabling the abundant resources of the West to be efficiently transported to the East through the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal. The cost dropped to just one-twentieth of the original, and the travel time was reduced to one-third. This breakthrough paved the way for tremendous prosperity in the American economy.

Today, if you make a cross-border money transfer, it takes from several business days to even weeks (depending on the countries and banks involved), and the transaction fees start from tens of dollars, with no upper limit. (And by the way, during extraordinary times, you might find yourself unable to transfer funds out of the blue. Oops it turns out that the SWIFT system is controlled by the Americans.)

I often chat with blue-collar Hispanics in the US, many of whom are from Mexico and Columbia and need to transfer money back home on a monthly basis. They often complained about the exorbitant transaction fees and lengthy processing time.

In contrast, on a blockchain, the fees are just a few cents and the funds are received within minutes, no matter where you are and where you send your money.

The Erie Canal bonds were the first-ever public fundraising initiative in American history. Prior to this, only the government and capitalists had the privilege to invest. The tremendous success of the Erie Canal resulted in significant profits for the ordinary people who invested in the bonds. The construction of the Erie Canal brought about enormous economic benefits, ushering in the golden age of the American economy and the first bull market in Wall Street's history.

The freedom for each individual to choose where to allocate their surplus funds objectively drives the circulation of funds throughout society. As a result, the financial resources of the entire society are allocated with greater efficiency, thereby propelling continuous economic progress.

A free market is not a zero-sum game. As Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations points out, when people engage in economic activities freely, without government intervention, it leads to more effective and equitable outcomes.

What is the value of the capital market? It lies in the efficient allocation of capital, ensuring that every penny goes to where it can maximize returns. However, in the current world, the flow of capital is restricted between countries, and both capital and people face limitations on their freedom.

A fully competitive free market is the most effective market. In today's world, All industries have monopolies, including the Internet industry. However, in the world of blockchain, every piece of data and information is transparent and publicly accessible (yet anonymous, protecting user privacy), thus a good business model can immediately be imitated. And if a project/protocol fails to consistently create value and fairly share profits with the community (participants, contributors, etc), people will leave and choose better alternatives right away, as there are no switching costs.

It's not just the free flow of capital but also the free flow of people.

After World War II, the world was divided into two blocs led by the United States and the Soviet Union. Following the disintegration of the SU, the US took the lead in the era of globalization. However, this globalization was centralized, with the US at the helm, having the power to decide who to allow or sanction.

In contrast, the world of blockchain represents the first truly borderless, permissionless, unrestricted, and decentralized free market in human history.

What is the essence of currency? It is a medium of exchange based on consensus.

In early human societies, there was no currency, and people relied on barter to meet their needs. (By the way, during the Shanghai lockdown in 2022, we saw barter again, as essential goods became way scarcer than currency during this extraordinary period.)

Around 2000 BCE, the earliest forms of currency, such as silver blocks and ornaments, appeared in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq).

Around 700 BCE, China during the Spring and Autumn period began using shells and knife-shaped coins as currency.

Around 600 BCE, ancient Greek city-states started issuing metallic currency, such as silver and gold coins.

Around 300 BCE, the Roman Republic began minting silver and copper coins.

Paper money originated in 11th-century China (Song Dynasty). During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song (1023), due to wars with Western Xia and Liao, military expenses increased, and the government started issuing "official Jiaozi" as a replacement for iron coins as the primary currency. During Emperor Shenzong's reign (1067), the issuance of Jiaozi doubled, leading to its devaluation. Ten years later, by the time of Emperor Zhezong (1077), due to unrestricted printing, Jiaozi experienced even more severe devaluation.

Paper money in the US first appeared in the 1770s-1780s when the Continental Congress (a federal legislative body composed of 13 North American colonies formed before and after the American Revolutionary War) couldn't issue enough national debt to support the war effort. As a result, they issued Continental Currency, which was a form of fiat money - a currency not backed by a commodity such as gold or silver. It was considered money simply because the government declared it as such. In just a few years, Congress revalued the previously issued paper currency to only 2.5% of its original face value. The phrase "not worth a Continental" later became an idiom in the US.

These episodes underscore that government endorsement isn't a prerequisite for currency. Moreover, when governments monopolize currency issuance, it often results in excessive printing and consequent devaluation. Cases in point include Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Argentina, where fiat currencies depreciated over 95% in the past decade.

In contrast, Bitcoin, the first application of blockchain technology, is inherently different. With a capped total supply of 21 million units, Bitcoin is designed to be resistant to inflation. While it lacks government endorsement (which is actually a good thing, as it doesn't serve any particular government), it enjoys widespread recognition worldwide, and governments can never confiscate your funds.

Last year, the assets of Russian billionaires in the Western world, including movable and immovable properties, were confiscated and frozen. As for the local population in Russia, at the beginning of the war, they couldn't withdraw US dollars or euros, and later they couldn't even withdraw Russian rubles as the government seized them all.

Some may argue that Russia has a dictatorial government. Well, how about the free and democratic United States? In 1933, the US government implemented the Gold Reserve Act, which prohibited US citizens from owning gold and required them to surrender it to the Federal Reserve Bank in exchange for fiat currency. Yes, fiat currency that can be arbitrarily devalued by the government. According to the regulation, each ounce of gold was exchanged for $20.67 in fiat currency.

This ban remained in effect until 1974 when the price of gold was $184 per ounce.

This is a world without privileges.

This is a revolution sprouting from the grassroots.

This is an opportunity for each and every individual.

This opportunity is not about being a reckless gambler in short-term speculation.

Choose one or several communities that interest you, immerse yourself in them, participate and contribute in your own way, and reap the rewards.

In this new world, the sky is the limit.