Recently, Starkware initiated their much-awaited airdrop. Like, most airdrops it resulted in a ton of controversy. Which in a tragic way, doesn't really surprise anyone anymore. So why is it the case that this keeps on happening over and over again? One might hear a few of these perspectives: Insiders just want to dump and move on, cashing out billions The team didn't know any better and didn't have the right counsel Whales should have been given more priority since they bring TVL Airdrops are about democratising what it means to be in crypto Without farmers, there is no usage or ..read more

Crypto isn't the "scam", the existing system of how you denominate your wealth is. Read more ..read more

I'm currently reading the book "Grand Strategy" and it presents a case of the hedge hog and the fox: "The Hedgehog and the Fox. Hedgehogs, Berlin explained, “relate everything to a single central vision” through which “all that they say and do has significance.” Foxes, in contrast, “pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if … Read more ..read more

Introduction Over the past 3.5 years of running a startup that's raised millions of dollars in funding, we've iterated a lot on how we operate as a fully remote crypto startup (across 6+ timezones). Whenever I showcase to my friends our internal processes and tools, they eventually ask me to write an article to summarise everything. This article is a result of countless requests from founder/operator friends. As a baseline, there's a few key principles we operate by when thinking about our internal operations: 1. Extreme transparency. Unless there is a clear reason something should be priva ..read more

I first started writing this blog, or some variation of it in 2018 under the name "Protocol Weekly". It was meant as a growth hack for my first startup and a way for me to reach out to teams that I admired and liked in the space. What I didn't realise is, it'd stick with me for many more years to come around. You can still read some of these on my Medium. The idea was simple: reach out to teams and get them to provide updates of what they did that week and then send it out. It was actually inspired from Eric Meltzer who had a newsletter called Proof of Work. I'm not sure what happened to ..read more

It very much feels like a few weeks ago we had a strong, yet subtle shift in the tone of the broader market. One thing I constantly do as part of my job as a founder is keeping my pulse on things happening across the market. This includes, but isn’t limited to: What are retail and institutional investors feeling about the market? How quickly are fundraise… Read more ..read more

I’ve raised venture capital before, but understanding the nuances between crypto venture capital firms and hedge funds was a great learning experience. Ben runs a fund that invests in other funds, so he knows what’s up. This episode is helpful to understand the incentives of how both of these investor types (VCs and HFs) have fared over the past 2 years and what lies ahead. Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/bennypjacobs Scenius Capital Speaker #0 Cool. So to get started, can you explain the different types of crypto funds, hedge funds versus venture capital versus any other kind of str ..read more

I’m starting a new daily writing habit and thought it’d be perfect for paid subscribers as they’re shorter and relate to more current news events happening. I’d love to know your thoughts on it as I post more! Read more ..read more

Last week I wrote an article a few weeks ago outlining what is Permissionless Identity and why it matters This week I wanted to cover an example of a ecosystem/protocol/app that is the perfect example of Permissionless Identity and why it's better than most web2 counterparts. Let's get into it ☕️ Farcaster 101 I know web3 social is a tired narrative that not everyone believes in it, but after hanging on Farcaster for the past few weeks -- I see the promise. Farcaster leverages Ethereum for the identity layer and then a distributed gossip network between peers (known as Hubs) to store messag ..read more

Over the past few years of being in crypto, there’s one thing that became very clear to me: you have to understand everything and how everything relates to everything. I’m far from knowing everything but I do know enough to understand the basics. This article is around how the crypto market reaches a $10T market cap by understanding the macro implications of what’s happening in the broader financial world. I’m not a macro expert (and neither do I claim to be), this is simply a compilation of my self study. Before we begin, it’s important to understand the following concepts and how they tie ..read more