1/ Here’s a question that has been rocketing around Crypto Twitter this week, both explicitly and implicitly: Just how different are crypto networks from tech startups?
2/ While they both involve new technology, risk financing, and share a similar cast of characters, some (like @ragnarly below) are drawing a line. This came through loud and clear in a conversation surrounding founder/developer incentives
4/ In a shocking twist for the usually reserved and largely amiable crypto community on Twitter, opinion was immediate, loud, and divided.
5/ Those who took issue with the reward labeled it evidence of centralization and/or questioned whether the difference in remuneration between Zooko and others was justified. A good example of (reasonable) discussion of this came on @ummjackson’s thread.
6/ Others argued that the reward didn’t seem unreasonable at all. @VitalikButerin chimed in: and @BenDavenport made the point that it aligns incentives akin to startup founder equity
7/ Interestingly, that defense harkens to the tech startups space, where it is by and large accepted that the impact the founding teams have on success or failure justifies massive differentials in how they are rewarded. It is, in other words, an accepted norm.
8/ In the blockchain space, these sort of norms aren't agreed upon yet. The closest thing we have to them come from those who hold up Bitcoin as the singular relevant reference point, a logic not everyone is willing to accept as the space continues to experiment and evolve.
9/ My bet is that in the period before normalization, difference in values will be pillars of competitive community recruitment. Don’t like the Founders Reward? You better believe there is a competing protocol that rejects it on principle & would love to get you involved.
10/ As @wheatpond put it - “unlike worthless fiat” you don’t have to stick around.
11/ In crypto, it’s not just capital formation but every aspect of organization design that is being impacted by the new liquidity that comes with open source & tokenization. Developers can fork; capital can redistribute; and communities can flee.
12/ Protocol layer blockchains get to look at this "liquidity of everything” as both design constraint and opportunity.
13/ My favorite commentary came from @BigKevMcCarty, who succinctly captured the non-mutual exclusivity of different perspectives on founder rewards and incentives:
14/ Whatever norms from tech startups do eventually also become norms in the blockchain space, it's incredibly important not to forget that we're in new territory. As @muneeb puts it: crypto projects are not startups.
15/ As a final caveat, the conversation above refers largely to protocol layer blockchains with native tokens, rather than the set of technology services being built around the blockchain space.
16/ For those interested in digging deeper into this conversation, I’m linking below to a longer thought piece “Blockchains are not startups” by @JacobArluck medium.com/tezos/blockcha… What other resources should be included in this thread?
