blessed matin,

ethdenver rolls on while I languish in nyc where spring's early harbingers have my neural pathways melting faster than crypto's recent price action, collapsing daily around 4pm when my third adaptogenic mushroom-lion's-mane-nootropic-ashwagandha beverage fails to counteract the effects of reading updates. I hope Denver finds you well and that you single-handedly rescue eferium this week—no pressure, but all of our bags kind of hinge on your ability to debug code and find pmf while microdosing at altitude. while you do that, I'm assembling my march wishlist that absolutely no one requested:

the market cap for a coin representing my esoteric aesthetic to surpass ten thousand united states freedom dollars; the ability to click buttons and play with apps without my CPA flagging my activity as "concerning;" the courage to admit I don't understand what vitalik is saying 73% of the time, a moment's reprieve from watching the rat/pigeon engage in a gentleman's standoff on the street over spilled ramen; the strength to stop responding "fascinating use case!" to everyday statements; a world tour with 6 stops in southern Europe, and perhaps most urgently, the sweet release of not having to explain to my family what I actually do for a living. the pigeon won, by the way.

enjoy some mostly accurate reporting below.

xx, c

Dream is partnering with Syndicate to create the first ever agent-only chain—for agents, managed by agents. The largest crypto hack in history occurred last week as Bybit lost $1.5B in ETH to suspected North Korean hackers, though the exchange has already frozen some funds and restored backing to protect users. Brian Armstrong announced a significant legal victory as the SEC agrees to dismiss its litigation against the company without fines or business changes. $Kaito is officially live. The EF announced its Open Intents Framework. Metamask partners with Mastercard. Anthropic has launched Claude 3.7 Sonnet. SEC ends Uniswap probe without enforcement. Aya Miyaguchi Transitions to EF President. OpenAI has expanded the availability of its Deep Research feature to all ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users. SOL and ETH plummet as Bitcoin drops to $86,000. Monad shipped its testnet alongside an ecosystem directory that includes 50+ dApps, infrastructure, and integrations on the test chain for users to explore. The EF has pledged a donation of $1.25M to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, a developer for Tornado Cash. Starknet, a L2 on Ethereum, is getting its first appchain called Nums, built using the customizable "SN Stack" toolkit that allows devs to create L3s based on Starknet's tech.

Zora overhaul

Zora has recently unveiled a significant protocol upgrade that fundamentally shifts its approach to digital content valuation. This update transforms the platform from a traditional NFT marketplace, which previously felt like an onchain IG, to what it is now which is a dynamic trading ecosystem where every piece of content becomes an instantly tradable coin, i.e. content coins.

The new protocol introduces several changes:

• Every Post as a Coin: Each post on Zora now automatically becomes a coin with a fixed supply of 1B tokens

• Creator Allocation: Creators receive an immediate allocation of 10M coins (1% of the total supply) when they post content

• Revenue Stream: Creators earn 1% of every subsequent trade of their content's coins

• Instant Tradability: Unlike traditional NFTs that required multi-stage market processes, content is immediately liquid and tradable

From NFTs to Attention Markets

This upgrade represents a philosophical evolution that Jacob Horne, Zora's co-founder and CEO, has been articulating for years. As discussed in his Dialectic podcast appearance, Jacob envisions a world where information has both free distribution and valuable ownership—addressing what Stewart Brand famously described as information wanting to be "both free and expensive."

The new model moves away from the scarcity-based approach of traditional NFTs toward what Jacob calls "attention markets."

Spencer Graham 🧢 on Warpcast

zora's journey... - from fungible ERC20 tokens redeemable for physical goods (remember Saint Fame?), - to scarce NFTs, - to open edition NFTs, - and now back to fungible ERC20 tokens is a fascinating story to observe https://warpcast.com/zora/0xc4988d66

Farcaster

Market Response and Implications

Early market response suggests this update is creating new dynamics for both creators and collectors:

1. Mental Model Shift: The upgrade represents a significant paradigm shift from "collecting" to "trading," requiring creators to think differently about how they share and monetize content

2. Process vs. Product: Creators who regularly share their process and maintain consistent engagement may see greater benefits than those who only post finished work

3. Markets as Algorithms: The system tests Jacob's theory that markets can serve as more transparent algorithms for content discovery than black-box recommendation systems

4. Leading vs. Lagging Indicators: Questions remain about whether these markets will function as leading indicators (predicting future popularity) or lagging indicators (following existing popularity)

This move represents one of Zora's boldest attempts yet to create a native value system for digital content that doesn't rely on traditional monetization methods like advertising or paywalls. Instead, it embraces the inherent characteristics of digital information—infinitely reproducible yet potentially valuable—and builds an economic model that works with, rather than against, these properties.

The question still largely remains about whether or not this overhaul is net good for creators.

Software as content

The software creation landscape is changing. Brexton Pham from Ohara sees a world where developers aren't coding gatekeepers, but where anyone with an idea can build digital experiences. Imagine a future where 99% of software emerges from people who don't speak code—individuals liberated from technical constraints and thinking far more creatively than traditional developers.

Ohara is positioning itself to become the default software generation platform in the crypto space. The platform allows users to generate apps that seamlessly integrate with the crypto infra stack through services like OnchainKit, Privy, or any APIs that enable users to interact across different chains.

The next two weeks will see significant expansion of Ohara's capabilities, including: 1) Mobile app development tools 2) Automatic database creation and management 3) Remix functionality for building upon existing applications and perhaps most significantly: 4) tokenized applications. This last feature represents a potentially revolutionary approach to software distribution, allowing creators to tokenize their apps and potentially create economic models around their software.

Ohara

@tryoharaAI

1/ Introducing: Prompt full-stack apps on @base in seconds

More mini apps. More Base-d apps.

Leverage the power of the entire @OnchainKit suite to bring the world onchain — whether you're non-technical or technical

Building happens on @base

391

6:30 PM • Feb 19, 2025

Software is becoming content, not just a technical product. The most interesting applications will come from people approaching development like storytellers, not engineers. Platforms like Ohara are creating environments where app generation feels as natural as posting on social media, breaking down the walls that have kept technology in the hands of a select few. "My only goal is to make sure people's apps go as viral as possible," Brexton says. This isn't just about building tools—it's about creating a new ecosystem where anyone can become a digital creator. This isn't just about making development easier. It's a fundamental reimagining of creativity.

$kaito

Kaito has emerged as an innovative AI-powered solution tackling crypto's information quality problem. Founded by former Citadel portfolio manager Yu Hu, the platform analyzes thousands of sources to deliver structured insights on market trends and project developments. At its core, Kaito embraces "InfoFi" principles—using market forces rather than centralized algorithms to distribute attention. Through its ecosystem of products including Kaito Pro, Kaito Yaps, and Kaito Connect, the platform rewards quality content creation while filtering out low-effort contributions, creating a merit-based information marketplace.

The recent launch of the $KAITO token represents a significant milestone for the platform, with early contributors earning substantial rewards for their participation. The token serves multiple functions, including staking for enhanced voting power and rewards, acting as the network's currency, and enabling governance participation.

$Kaito's launch has generated mixed reactions. The distribution method, particularly the "Yaps farming" system that rewarded social media engagement, has become a contentious topic. Many users expressed disappointment with the allocation formula, which appeared to favor those with large followings rather than consistent engagement. The token launch also exposed a fundamental tension in crypto's emerging economic model. When Jesse publicly criticized users for immediately selling their airdrop tokens, the community erupted in a heated debate about value, respect, and building for the long term. Jesse's core argument was simple: these tokens are a gift, a thank you from a team that's been building for years. By selling immediately, users were disrespecting the collective effort and potential of the project. But the community response was swift and brutal. Users pushed back hard, arguing that Jesse was engaging in "sell-shaming"—attempting to guilt people into holding tokens against their own economic interests.

Airdrops aren't really gifts, but rather calculated marketing tools designed to generate attention and initial market movement. One alternative would be long-term vesting schedules that align creator and community incentives. Typically the strongest tokens are ones that people choose to buy, as genuine value comes from creating compelling reasons for retention.

At its core, this controversy is about more than just selling tokens—it's a philosophical debate about community, value, and the evolving nature of tokens. Tokens are becoming sophisticated social coordination mechanisms, where economic incentives and collective sentiment interact in complex, unpredictable ways.

Live & online Fridays at 10am PT / 1pm ET.

Ansem 🧸💸

@blknoiz06

*exchange gets hacked for $1.5B*

"oh this is bullish they just have to buy all of it back" we are the most deranged group of individuals on the entire internet lmao

4,455

5:40 PM • Feb 21, 2025

scott belsky

@scottbelsky

you’re a better proxy for your customer than you think, so long as you look at your product through the lens of doubt and struggle as opposed to hope.

87

4:10 PM • Feb 24, 2025

THE lusty argonian maid

@lindawg

actually i think the elephant really ties the room together

57.5K

10:25 PM • Feb 19, 2025

Cheryl Douglass

@cherdougie

insanely helpful community note

64

12:59 PM • Feb 22, 2025

Ben Roy

@benroy__

there is no second best industry

148

10:15 PM • Feb 20, 2025

saarim not sorry

@poolnoodle93

the goal of software is to induce childlike wonder

42

9:34 PM • Feb 24, 2025