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
For those new to the cryptocurrency market, stablecoins represent one of the more difficult aspects to understand. The reality of this point is further cemented when one has come into crypto because of Bitcoin or some other specific project or protocol that potentially serves as a universal ledger or universal unit of account. While the technology and enthusiasm behind Non-Fungible Tokens has understandably garnered much of the attention in the latter half of 2021, it
Gold and Bitcoin are fungible, durable, portable, divisible, & scarce. Both have limited acceptance today: there are few goods & services you can buy directly with gold or bitcoin. But Bitcoin has six advantages over gold: 1: Bitcoin is far more portable than gold. You can send it anywhere in the world instantly for a trivial fee. 2: Bitcoin transactions can be instantly and remotely verified. It’s impossible to fake a Bitcoin transaction. Verifying receipt of gold bullion is
Before the world switched to a fiat monetary system, people who wanted to build wealth kept their savings in a bank. Interest rates tended to equal the average rate of profit, which was enough for all but a small minority of professional investors and entrepreneurs. This all changed with the move to a fiat monetary system and the devaluation of money. Today, the majority of households own stocks — not because they wish to be
To the outsider, crypto enthusiasts largely look like a bunch of libertarian leaning, wanna be economists who appear to have a major axe to grind with the financial system as we’ve known it for the past 80 years or so. While there is some truth to this broad brush approach at generalizing a very large group of people, crypto is still so new, that what it is today, and what it might be tomorrow is
You are undoubtedly familiar with the idea of a “Trojan Horse,” an idiom derived from the Trojan War of Homer’s Iliad. A large, hollow, wooden horse is left behind by the Greeks after their supposed failure to take the city of Troy. The Trojans take the horse back inside their city’s walls, and that night, Greek soldiers pour out of the horse to open the city gates and overtake the unprepared and unsuspecting Trojan foes.
Even casual crypto observers are aware of the dramatic downward price action across the crypto space over the past few weeks. This price action has market participants weighing in with opinions regarding where the crypto market stands: on the cusp of a short consolidation and follow-on breakout, or has the next cyclical crypto winter made an early appearance? Long-time crypto traders, analysts, and investors have seen dramatic price drops in the past, and so the
