Unless you are really committed to a life of absolute, self imposed solitary confinement, you are aware of the DeepSeek AI product that was recently released by the Chinese based company. Currently, the drama surrounding this technological bombshell has centered around the company’s claims of achieving a true breakthrough on a shoe string budget. Specifically, the company has claimed to have trained its model for under $6M. In the week since the company announced
Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value. ~ Ferdinand Foch (French General and Military Theorist) In October of last year, I wrote an article entitled “Bitcoin and National Security.” That article explored Bitcoin’s ability to serve as a “truth machine” and why that functionality had implications beyond Bitcoin’s role as money alone. In promoting Bitcoin as a medium of truth, I was trying to give credence to the idea that governments, especially governments
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything ~ Mark Twain When it comes to financial journalism, there are two ways that most individual readers consume the content they choose: they can look for consensus and become susceptible to groupthink, or they can seek various opinions and become susceptible to decision paralysis. Both of these realities exist in varying degrees, with the investment mandates or goals of these consumers typically dictating which
Over the course of this bear market, I have encountered my share of crypto naysayers, and truth be told, some of the events of the past 24 months have certainly given them reasons to be skeptical. That there are grifters in this space shouldn’t come as a surprise though, and as I continue to tell them: drugs, hookers, and international arms deals continue to be facilitated in dollars, so perhaps the possibility of illegal activity
Not quite a year ago, I wrote an article trying to honestly assess a reality many in the crypto space would rather ignore. That article, “What If Gary Gensler Is Right” was a somewhat academic exercise trying to acknowledge the idea that some cryptocurrencies just might be securities and that the SEC’s regulatory crackdown on the space might have some justification. Much has changed, and much has occurred since that article originally appeared, but one
Admittedly, the crypto space has a bit of the Gadsen Flag running through its veins: “don’t tread on me” could easily be the motto for the entire space, but to assume that motto sums up the entire space, and sums up how it should be regulated, or how it should be viewed by politicians is incredibly short sighted. Over the past few years, as crypto has steadily crept into mainstream consciousness, it has been compared
Every now and then, it’s probably a good idea to go back and check yourself in terms of what you have said, written, built, or perhaps even supported in the past. In the context of digital assets and investing, I recently read through my four most recent posts. Thankfully, I haven’t uttered anything I’m frightfully embarrassed about, but the very process of combing through recent writings seems to have a nagging thought as its source:
Not long ago, I was at a lunch where nearly everyone present was new to each other. The central figure in the party introduced me as, “this is John, he’s part of a really cool crypto VC firm.” Of course I politely corrected him, letting everyone know that while my firm was in fact really cool, we were actually a crypto based hedge fund, not a crypto centric venture capital firm. I don’t think anyone
Even if you are only marginally interested in crypto, you are likely aware of the events of the past few weeks in which the stablecoin “UST” lost its peg, resulting in a “death spiral” for both UST and the LUNA token, which is the centerpiece of the Terra ecosystem. For many in the crypto space, it has been tempting, convenient, or perhaps psychologically necessary to blame the demise of UST and LUNA on some outside
On March 9th, President Biden signed his “Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.” This order had been anticipated for several weeks, and while highly anticipated within the crypto community, the order itself is short on specifics, long on bureaucratic jargon, and therefore subject to speculation by almost anyone who takes the time to read it. To start, it must first be acknowledged that nowhere in the order can there be found any
