gm,
this weekend, i embarked on a sundance quest to park city. at one point, i locked eyes with JLo across a shotski, and for a brief moment, all possible timelines collapsed into that singular reality. she was radiant. in the writing world, we call that divine timing.
speaking of cosmic omens, watching the markets react to DeepSeek this week felt like witnessing collective psychosis in 4K. but market panic just hits different when you're observing it from a ski lodge.
meanwhile, the altitude sickness became almost indistinguishable from the general dissociation of existing in crypto.
thank you xiao hong shu it's a wonderful day to believe in something
enjoy some mostly accurate reporting below.
xx, c
Venice launched on Base: zero-cost private inference API for AI agents, powered by open-source models and decentralized compute. The private testnet for Syndicate Chain is now live. Abstract mainnet is now live and Abstract's Global Wallet with Privy brings one-time onboarding and seamless identity/asset portability across all their apps. The Clankermon migration is going live. Native x Coinbase brings Farcaster to AgentKit, letting AI agents on Base post directly to Farcaster via Neynar. virtuals and arc became official partners with Solana. Burnt Toast stepped in as CEO of Doodles. OpenSea completed a snapshot for Gemesis holders, granting 49,785 eligible wallets access to the OS2 private beta. Brian Armstrong wants to rethink the listing process for tokens. New L1 network Pod raises $10M in seed funding. Robinhood CEO advocates for updated SEC investor rules to foster tokenization. Ross Ulbricht is said to be in market raising for a new crypto startup.
The market reaction to DeepSeek has been seismic: Bitcoin dipping below $100K, GPU-focused tokens dropping up to 40%, and NVIDIA shedding 10% in pre-market. While this turbulence is amplified by Trump's tariff threats and FOMC uncertainty, the timing couldn't be more significant - we've got a US president putting an "AI & Crypto Czar" in place, dropping a $500B AI fund, and then China comes in with this open-source bomb. Yet all the panic might be missing the bigger picture. This isn't just about AI models becoming cheaper - it's about fundamental shifts in how AI development and integration happens.
Deepseek is completely rethinking how AI learns, making it more like humans and less like brute-force data crunching. And this isn't about cheaper AI - it's about making it embeddable everywhere. While Wall Street freaks out about NVIDIA and the OpenAI/Anthropic crowd sweats about their moats, crypto teams are already running with it. Teams like ai16z, Venice, Arc, and Virtuals are already plugging DeepSeek into their platforms.
The real story isn't the short-term market implications for tech giants - it's how this enables new models of AI deployment and integration. Crypto's permissionless, community-driven development model might be perfectly positioned to take advantage of this shift, particularly as focus moves from pure model development to practical integration and infrastructure building. The combination of lower barriers, better efficiency, and crypto infrastructure is setting up something special in AI development.
But there's a darker implication few are discussing: DeepSeek represents a prototype for something far more significant - the integration of AI into national infrastructure at scale. China's centralized system can implement these technologies across manufacturing, robotics, and infrastructure without the bottlenecks of competing corporate interests or public debate. Unless the West can match this level of coordination, we risk falling behind in what might be the most crucial technological race in history: the development of civilization-scale AI systems.
But hey, at least NVIDIA shareholders are getting a nice entry.
Let's take a look at Dev.fun -- it's creating an entirely new social context for token launches by bundling AI-prompted development, hosting, and memecoin issuance into one seamless flow. While current output is mostly glorified landing pages for tokens, they're betting on rapidly improving AI capabilities to enable more sophisticated product development. The real insight is shifting from "token first" to "product first" thinking, using community speculation to fund continued development.
What's fascinating is how this bridges multiple gaps in the market: degens seeking quick flips, builders wanting sustainable products, and the broader market's need for new narratives. As AI development capabilities improve, we could see a new model emerge where token launches actually fund meaningful product development rather than pure speculation. Dev.fun is essentially betting that combining AI-generated products with token incentives creates stronger alignment than either mechanism alone.
The key question isn't whether the current tech stack is impressive (it's not) - it's whether this new launch context can create sustainable value beyond initial hype cycles. If they succeed, we might be looking at an entirely new model for software distribution where community speculation directly funds AI-assisted development. That's a fundamentally different approach to both token launches and software development.
Over the past few years theres been a fundamental shift in the technical stack. Sam Lessin nails it - As AI commoditizes technical skills, we're returning to fundamentally human advantages - knowing your shit, telling a great story, and knowing how to corral the right people.
Technical skill is no longer the key differentiator. The new winning formula is:
Deep vertical expertise (actually knowing your industry)
Storytelling ability (narrative builders over engineers)
Leadership (still need to marshal resources and people)
What's fascinating is how crypto is speed-running these changes. Permissionless asset creation and speculation are accelerating the shift from pure technical advantage to narrative/community building. It's Steve Jobs over Wozniak all over again, but this time it's happening everywhere simultaneously. The market's realizing that while code can be automated, compelling narratives and real industry knowledge can't.
Traditional VC vs Token Launches:
Pump.fun offers faster liquidity than traditional rounds
But not all projects suit public tokens (e.g., long-term research needs patient capital)
VCs traditionally made money front-running retail - that advantage is threatened by permissionless launches
Market cycles should dictate funding strategy
During hype: Liquid tokens win
During downturns: Private venture capital provides stability
Smart founders want both: Use token dynamics for growth while securing long-term runway
Just like NFTs, expect:
Few massive winners
Many dead projects
Winners will combine short-term token mechanics with long-term funding strategy
The democratization of access (no accreditation needed) is driving this shift, even if it means higher risk for retail. The challenge is balancing immediate liquidity against long-term sustainability.
Narrative is launching the first protocol for trading market themes directly through data-driven vaults. Instead of juggling dozens of tokens to catch waves like AI or memecoins, traders can now get pure narrative exposure through dynamically rebalanced baskets. Want to long AI Agents or short DePIN? One trade does it.
Built on Monad for 10k TPS performance, Narrative combines spot and leveraged exposure with proprietary AI data aggregation to track thematic movements. This solves a core crypto market challenge - narratives drive capital flows but have been impossible to trade efficiently until now. By creating structured products for narrative exposure, they're productizing one of crypto's most powerful but elusive forces.
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Cheryl Douglass
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what if u could just buy the narrative, close ur computer, and go touch some grass?
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