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Tim RobinsonWhat is Ethereum
Ethereum is the settlement layer for global finance. It is the only blockchain that can be this. If you're surprised by the above statement, this article is for you. Other chains will still host many useful apps, and play niche roles, but the global financial system will run on Ethereum.What is a settlement layer?Rather than being a chain where consumers go to use apps and trade with their friends, a settlement layer is a chain that other chains build upon. It specializes in 5 things:Sec...
Tim RobinsonWhy Bitcoin Lightning Sucks
Bitcoin Lightning is mostly a meme used as a retort to people who say "Bitcoin doesn't scale", it's not a long term solution to anything. It's sad there are so few technically competent people left in the Bitcoin community to point this out, but its true. If Bitcoin had a hard fork to make ZK Rollups possible it would completely obsolete the lightning network (and be good for Bitcoins security budget!).What is the lightning network and how does it work?It's a state channel...
Tim RobinsonHow do we moderate Decentralized Social Media?
Moderation is the number one concern I've heard about DeSo. It's incredibly important as almost every protocol and platform on the internet has issues with spam. Moderating DeSo requires a completely different mindset compared to traditional social media. Here are three of my favorite options, in increasing complexity:Friends-only social mediaOpt-in moderatorsReputation SystemsFriends-only social mediaBy default your app could only show you posts from friends and/or friends of frien...
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Tim RobinsonWhat is Ethereum
Ethereum is the settlement layer for global finance. It is the only blockchain that can be this. If you're surprised by the above statement, this article is for you. Other chains will still host many useful apps, and play niche roles, but the global financial system will run on Ethereum.What is a settlement layer?Rather than being a chain where consumers go to use apps and trade with their friends, a settlement layer is a chain that other chains build upon. It specializes in 5 things:Sec...
Tim RobinsonWhy Bitcoin Lightning Sucks
Bitcoin Lightning is mostly a meme used as a retort to people who say "Bitcoin doesn't scale", it's not a long term solution to anything. It's sad there are so few technically competent people left in the Bitcoin community to point this out, but its true. If Bitcoin had a hard fork to make ZK Rollups possible it would completely obsolete the lightning network (and be good for Bitcoins security budget!).What is the lightning network and how does it work?It's a state channel...
Tim RobinsonHow do we moderate Decentralized Social Media?
Moderation is the number one concern I've heard about DeSo. It's incredibly important as almost every protocol and platform on the internet has issues with spam. Moderating DeSo requires a completely different mindset compared to traditional social media. Here are three of my favorite options, in increasing complexity:Friends-only social mediaOpt-in moderatorsReputation SystemsFriends-only social mediaBy default your app could only show you posts from friends and/or friends of frien...
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Share Dialog
Share Dialog
One of the most exciting ideas to come out of "tokenize all the things" is retroactive public goods funding (RetroPGF). It's one of the first good non-skeuomorphic ideas I've seen in the Web3 space.
RetroPGF Is a way to encourage people to invest in charities as much as they do in startups / public companies. How? By ensuring that future donations to those charities reward early investors in them.
Optimism kicked off this idea with their grants rounds - round two started this week. They are giving away 10M OP tokens to open source projects that are improving the Optimism or Ethereum ecosystems.
There are two big differences between this and a normal charity donation:
Instead of giving to projects who say they will do good, they only give to projects which have already done good.
These projects have DAO's with their own token. When they receive OP tokens their own token increases in value. This happens because of speculation they'll swap the OP token to their own, or because the projects token gives governance power and now the project has more funds to be governed.
So now everyone knows the best open source projects will get some funding, and this funding will increase the projects token value, what do they do? They speculate!
Why not front-run Optimism by looking for open source projects doing good work, and buy their token? That project gets some funding now, and if they receive a donation you make money! It's win-win.
This creates what we call a Regen Cycle, where more funding goes to projects that are helping make the ecosystem (or world!) a better place, instead of only startups looking to make a profit.
One of the most exciting ideas to come out of "tokenize all the things" is retroactive public goods funding (RetroPGF). It's one of the first good non-skeuomorphic ideas I've seen in the Web3 space.
RetroPGF Is a way to encourage people to invest in charities as much as they do in startups / public companies. How? By ensuring that future donations to those charities reward early investors in them.
Optimism kicked off this idea with their grants rounds - round two started this week. They are giving away 10M OP tokens to open source projects that are improving the Optimism or Ethereum ecosystems.
There are two big differences between this and a normal charity donation:
Instead of giving to projects who say they will do good, they only give to projects which have already done good.
These projects have DAO's with their own token. When they receive OP tokens their own token increases in value. This happens because of speculation they'll swap the OP token to their own, or because the projects token gives governance power and now the project has more funds to be governed.
So now everyone knows the best open source projects will get some funding, and this funding will increase the projects token value, what do they do? They speculate!
Why not front-run Optimism by looking for open source projects doing good work, and buy their token? That project gets some funding now, and if they receive a donation you make money! It's win-win.
This creates what we call a Regen Cycle, where more funding goes to projects that are helping make the ecosystem (or world!) a better place, instead of only startups looking to make a profit.
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