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Long Reads Sunday #55. The Donald Debrief.
Let's be real, no matter what else happened, this will forever be the week that Trump tweeted about Bitcoin. How’d we get here, and what does it mean?
Strap in friends, it’s long reads time! 👇
(art @CryptoScamHub)
Let's be real, no matter what else happened, this will forever be the week that Trump tweeted about Bitcoin. How’d we get here, and what does it mean?
Strap in friends, it’s long reads time! 👇
(art @CryptoScamHub)
2/ Quick Shill!
As you guys know, I’ve been doing a daily livestream - 3 topics, 3 minutes each, 3pm EST. But now it’s available as a podcast!
Check it out!
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2lEH6JKmL…
iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cry…
Now back to the content!
As you guys know, I’ve been doing a daily livestream - 3 topics, 3 minutes each, 3pm EST. But now it’s available as a podcast!
Check it out!
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2lEH6JKmL…
iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cry…
Now back to the content!
3/ The week started with a bang, as 18,000 Deutsche Bank bankers showed up on Monday to discover they didn’t have jobs. Some pondered what it said about the state of the global banking system, but most grabbed on to a very specific picture.
4/ Seriously, everyone was on this. It seemed to perfectly encapsulate the zeitgeist….Until we realized that it wasn’t laid off bankers, but tailors who happened to be walking by.
5/ Now, there is an argument to be made that it almost makes more sense this way, with meme making the reality. Still, for those interested in a deeper analysis of what actually went on at DB, check out this thread.
6/ Libra too was front of mind right from the very beginning of the week. CoinCenter released a piece (which would be made even more relevant by ahem later events) about how Libra and Bitcoin differ.
7/ @EpsilonTheory meanwhile went OFF on Libra, arguing that - quite different from those who have suggested FB’s crypto was good for Bitcoin - that Libra was designed to co-opt everything good about Bitcoin.
8/ Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, the conversation shifted away from the high falutin macro picture to the (for many people) much more pressing question: when alt season!?
9/ Seriously, as soon as Bitcoin began picking up, people started asking this question. I just don’t see it happening - not enough profit yet in BTC; average buyer more sophisticated, and bear market advocates told the BTC story
10/ For the slightly more emphatic reasons why there isn’t going to be an alt season (at least one resembling what happened last time around), check out @jdorman81 from @arca
Or, even more crisply:
Or, even more crisply:
11/ Interestingly, while there weren’t moves to suggest the sort of pumpydumpy altseason some have been hoping for, their WERE crypto financings - they just happened to focus on base layer protocols and infrastructure.
12/ What’s more, on Wednesday evening @muneeb announced that Blockstack had received the first ever approval for an SEC-cleared token offering.
13/ Within hours, @YouNow’s @PropsProject became the second to get the same approval through rule A+.
14/ One of the main reasons that people were excited was that through these rules, non-accredited investors are able to participate alongside accredited investors.
15/ As @jchervinsky pointed out though, it’s not just a question of whether the SEC will approve these crypto Reg A+ filings, but whether the market actually cares.
16/ @propelforward makes the point poignantly here: these sales will show whether tokens can have value because people want to use them or whether it’s always just been about pumping and dumping on unregulated exchanges
17/ Still, by the end of Wednesday and beginning of Thursday, much of the conversation was shifting back to the larger macro political context. This was because Fed Chair Jerome Powell discussed Bitcoin in a hearing
18/ Seriously, let’s take a pause for a second.
The most influential central banker in America
1) said he could see a return to an era of multiple currencies; and that
2) Bitcoin was being used as a speculative SoV.
The most influential central banker in America
1) said he could see a return to an era of multiple currencies; and that
2) Bitcoin was being used as a speculative SoV.
19/ In ANY OTHER WEEK, Powell’s statements would have been *THE* big story, endlessly repeated and analyzed. But, in true Trumpian fashion, the Donald stormed in will the most aggressive “hold my beer” in Bitcoin’s history.
20/ It was the Tweet heard around the (crypto) world.
On Thursday night, every other conversation came to a screeching halt as crypto denizens from Twitter to Telegram came out to holler about this doozy
On Thursday night, every other conversation came to a screeching halt as crypto denizens from Twitter to Telegram came out to holler about this doozy
21/ The first response was…. BULLISH.
This sentiment was exemplified by @paranoidbull
And by @jerallaire
This sentiment was exemplified by @paranoidbull
And by @jerallaire
22/ @Coinbase @brian_armstrong wrote about how this moment completed a long standing dream, and made an analogy to the “then they fight you” stage of the battle for mainstream power
23/ Others used the platform created by the tweet itself to make important counterpoints. @NeerajKA discussed the thread of the looming surveillance state
24/ @CaitlinLong_ argued that when it comes to crypto, the genie is out of the bottle, and “if the US fights this we will simply be bypassed by other countries that are welcoming it.”
25/ In a delightful twist, the MSM coverage of the event was actually rather good. @srussolillo’s piece for the @wsj featured that quote from @caitlinLong_ among others.
@srussolillo @WSJ @CaitlinLong_ 26/ @SquawkCNBC invited @APompliano to discuss it, who made this great point about how far we’ve come just after @JoeSquawk pointed out that the US government has the most to lose from Bitcoin’s success
27/ Interestingly, there was a meaningful group of Trump’s constituency that wasn’t pleased. For those who voted for him as a total shock to the system, attacking the most outside the system money ever invented was a bit jarring theverge.com/2019/7/11/2069…
28/ @NickSzabo4 made this point more or less on the thread itself
And Slate covered @prestonjbyrne’s response slate.com/technology/201…
And Slate covered @prestonjbyrne’s response slate.com/technology/201…
29/ Now, one interesting note is that it DID feel a bit like this antagonism and the immediate context for this tweet was more about Libra, with Bitcoin being shoehorned in as a straw man for the criminal argument.
30/ @TwoBitIdiot and @jillruthcarlson hung out with @TheStalwart and discussed, among other things, just how different Bitcoin and Libra are, with Jill arguing that BTC has more in common with gold.
@pierre_rochard did a great summary with clips
@pierre_rochard did a great summary with clips
31/ I also agree with the implication of @jeffreyatucker’s tweet, which is that - ready or not, the world is coming to Bitcoin/crypto. Either we can let someone else shape the narrative, or we tell the story, loudly and direct to everyone who will listen
32/ In case we needed a reminder of what happens if we let others shape the narrative, @TheBlock__ broke the news last night of the stupidly named, more stupidly conceived “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act”
33/ The good news is evidence proactive engagement can work. As #TrumpTweet was going down, Bank of England's Mark Carney (who may be the next IMF chief) was defending Libra - a project which had *actively sought out his perspective before launching* cointelegraph.com/news/bank-of-e…
34/ For more of this discussion - particularly what it means in terms of how we might want to organize to tell the Bitcoin and crypto story - check out Friday’s Crypto Daily 3@3.
Podcast at: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cry… or vid below periscope.tv/NathanielWhitt…
Podcast at: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cry… or vid below periscope.tv/NathanielWhitt…
35/ And finally, I think it’s at least worth asking the question - to the extent that the antagonism towards Bitcoin ratchets up - what are the relevant attack vectors?
36/ One possible impact of increased pressure is for companies to contort themselves in pretzels as traditional services aren’t available to them. See, for example, @coinbase setting up it’s own insurance company coindesk.com/coinbase-is-in…
37/ Anyway, it’s my strong guess that we’ll be discussing and dissecting this one for, well, ever. So let’s take a few more tweets to check out some of the other great content I haven’t mentioned yet.
39/ Or check out @jbrukh’s latest essay about the forces that are driving economic systems to incentives for even greater decentralization
40/ For those interested in the permissioned vs permissionless debate brought up by Libra, @AndrewDARMACAP flags this piece by @jwolpert arguing that there will be an inevitable shift, akin to intranets to the public internet
@AndrewDARMACAP @jwolpert 41/ I still can’t really believe that this is a real thing, but just in case, check out @CryptoTaxGirl’s analysis of 181 of the ugliest slides you’ve ever seen on the IRS’s plans to investigate crypto holders
42/ Update: the IRS confirmed it. Weep, child, for your eyes can never this unsee.
43/ If the surveillance state implications of cashless society do get your worry bones working, check out @dergigi’s thread on the new tech behind keeping track of you
44/ For those who want to veg out with some premium grade Bitcoin video content, @BitcoinMagazine has posted all the videos from #Bitcoin2019.
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 1:
Day 2:
45/ Is the term “Decentralization” causing more harm than good? This conversation, in the context of a recent move by 0x protocol to thwart a bug, turned into a pretty expansive exploration of just that.
46/ Speaking of “decentralization” - one narrative I’ve been watching is the rise of people talking about Decentralized Finance or DeFi — but with Bitcoin at the base instead of Ethereum. @MohamedFFouda @tokendaily dive in: medium.com/tokendaily/pat…
47/ One note on Libra that has been overlooked with so much emphasis on the regulatory issues and comparison to BTC: what the market things? @Melt_Dem is on the case, and it seems to like it:
48/ Given how much oxygen Libra, Powell and Trump sucked out of the room, my feeds were a little Ethereum light, but I still noticed this interesting thread from @MuteDialog about the platform’s ascent as a global platform for all digital assets
49/ Also notable: many projects came together to help @ideocolab launch a new crypto startup studio. This thread by @ianjohnlee is an epic history of the firm and how it got into the blockchain space
50/ For those of you interested in @Tezos (or simply noticing that, despite basically no marketing, it keeps creeping into the conversation) check out this big one from @Obstropolos
51/ Finally, because I love a good historical piece, check out this great one on the original cypherpunks by @TheVladCostea (h/t @brucefenton for surfacing!)
51/ Phew, there we have it. This week was one for the record books - I’m glad you could hang out for this ride. As always, let me know what you liked & what I missed.
Look out for the top 5 video edition with @BLOCKTVnews tomorrow!
Get LRS via email at getrevue.co/profile/nlw
Look out for the top 5 video edition with @BLOCKTVnews tomorrow!
Get LRS via email at getrevue.co/profile/nlw
