Why I’m Leaving Crypto
Spoiler alert #1 —Clickbait titles are a thing (sorry). I’m not leaving crypto. I saw the crypto light on June 29th, 2017, and I’ve been…
Spoiler alert #1 —Clickbait titles are a thing (sorry). I’m not leaving crypto. I saw the crypto light on June 29th, 2017, and I’ve been crypto 24x7 since. While frustrating at times, it’s been the greatest journey of my life.
Spoiler Alert #2 — If you thought COVID-19 and the imploding global financial system would rocket crypto higher, you haven’t been paying attention. Neither event is a black swan.
Crypto market cap market cap peaked on January 8th, 2018. People who were in it for the money, fell by the wayside in 2018/19 , as the easy money opportunities melted away.
Now, 2+ years in to the crypto bear market, even some people who’ve seen the crypto light are having second thoughts. I get why there’s a rising chorus of people like Jia Yung Lee who are becoming disillusioned with crypto:
https://medium.com/coinmonks/3-reasons-why-i-am-leaving-crypto-now-59b9e6f44287
The Three Reasons he gave we’re :
(Most) Crypto Companies Are Not Profitable
2. Crypto Is An Echo Chamber
3. Adoption Only From Less Developed Countries
He finishes with:
As a career, however, I don’t see the industry expanding significantly in the near term. This is why I think it is best to leave the industry for now and for you to consider that as well.
He’s probably right on all accounts. If he came here for the money today, leaving today is probably the right thing to do.
But I’m not leaving, and here’s THE 6 REASONS WHY I’M NOT LEAVING CRYPTO (the original title of this post, before I optimized for clicks).
1. The Current System is IRREPARABLY Broken
Trump isn’t the problem. He’s the symptom of a system that is so broken, a guy like him can become President. Whether its our health care system, social security, or our education system, we’re not even trying to solve our problems. Like most countries, the U.S. is broke.
So if we print another $6 trillion, it really doesn’t matter. Luckily, I don’t think we can’t get more broke.
So if you believe like I do, that the current system is irreparably broken, working to fix it is folly. So I’m staying in crypto to help build new systems.
2. Crypto Offers A Better Way To Organize The World
By taking the man out of the middle, who’s always solving for himself, we can now solve for the community.
While there are no panaceas. the bar of centralized governance is so low, I’m confident we can do better. Way better. DAOs are a thing.
Q: Why are you so bullish about crypto all the time? What issues do you see with the current financial system?
A: Fundamentally, I believe the current (or what I usually call the legacy) system is broken. And bitcoin fixes this
- CZ, CEO of Binance, Is Bitcoin A Safe Haven, March 21, 2020
This is a revolution. And revolutions are messy. They take time.
3. Amara’s Law
Amara’s law is the fact that the impact of all revolutionary technology is overestimated in the short run, and underestimated in the long run. See the internet bubble. I was there. I lost faith. I let the market tell me what was a thing. My macro lesson was that the market is a signal, but it’s not the truth.
4. Crypto Continues To Attract And Engage Some Of The Smartest People On The Planet
We’ve got a lot of problems to solve before crypto goes mainstream. But I believe we’ll figure them out because some of the smartest people in the world are working 24x7 to solve them. The vibrancy of the community at ETHDenver was a revelation.
5. Some Things Are Scaling
Speculation in Asia has been scaling for several years:
Binance Is Scaling & Massively Profitable
DeFi was scaling, and took a 50%+ hit as the value of ETH fell, but taking that out of the equation:
We’re less than 15% from the highs.
The “plane crashes” in DeFi were inevitable, and are being solved for. Future DeFi disasters are inevitable. But I’m pretty sure DeFis still a thing.
Our mission is clear. Find product market fit for the masses.
6. I have FAITH, You Should Too
For me, it’s about faith that there is a better way to organize the world. A better way for the 99%+ of us who are not getting bailed out by our government (which is a capitalist system for people, and a socialist system for large corporations).
I can’t see that better world. I can’t touch that better world. But I KNOW in my bones it’s there. And all we need is enough people to have faith, and crypto’s a thing.
Even though I have faith in crypto, I know I might be wrong.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
But we have to believe in something. And I don’t believe in our current system. I do believe in crypto.
I don’t know when crypto’s going mainstream. No one does. I get timing’s a thing, and the only way I know to get timing right, is to be there.
The only thing I know for sure is that whatever it ends up being, is different from what anybody thinks it’s going to be. When the internet emerged, no one was stalking about Facebook or Google or Amazon Web Services. But revolutionary technology, in the hands of brilliant people, changed the world.
And I have faith it’s happening agin in crypto.
Thx for the claps!