Alignment of interests, for the win.

NFTs let us expand tech-style financing into way more areas: art, music, movies, games. And not a moment too soon, as the legacy culture has lost the plot.

Create risky, pseudonymous art. Make money. Become cancel-proof. What’s not to like?
Note: I am well aware that movies and music have established financing models, & many games are funded by tech investors 🙂

But the secondary markets & degree of monetization that NFTs open up will transform those sectors and see much more in the way of tech dollars pouring in.
Btw @TheStalwart is of course right that this was not a long-standing concern of many of the new entrants to the market.

But so long as NFTs will be around for a while (and they have been in gestation for 4+ years), economic alignment will lead to more lasting future alignment.
Right now we’re just at the early stages.

But pseudonymous, international, monetizable censorship-proof digital art will shake regimes.

And legacy propaganda outlets will rotate like turrets with no one to target.
Art and more generally culture has been on a tight leash for a while, both financially & reputationally.

Pseudonymous monetization means years, maybe decades, of pent-up creativity may burst forth.

It may take time to fully free minds, however... archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/067-…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with balajis.com

balajis.com Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @balajis

24 Feb
The defi matrix

As each asset class goes on-chain, it can be stored in a digital wallet. And it can be traded against other such assets. Not just cryptocurrencies, but national digital currencies, personal tokens, etc.

We’re about to enter an age of global monetary competition.
The defi matrix is the table of all pair wise trades. It’s the fiat/stablecoin pairs, the fiat/crypto pairs, the crypto/crypto pairs, and much more besides.

Uniswap-style automatic market making for everything. Every possession you have, constantly marked to market by ~2040.
More liquidity, less currency?

This is an interesting point. Cash doesn’t make you money. In fact, it can lose you money in an inflating environment.

Reliable, 24/7 mark-to-market on everything is hard — but if achieved, means less % of assets in cash.
Read 10 tweets
14 Feb
"I began to see myself less as a mirror and more as a weapon....I would call some stories kills...I got a man fired because he talked to me...he was a sweet and gentle man. I still feel sick when I think about him. And I think about him a lot." chosenbychoice.substack.com/p/learning-how…
"journalism...is about raw power...Anyone who has ever negotiated to land a contentious interview...knows that you only get those interviews when your subject fears what will happen if they don’t...Today, that fear is disappearing."
cjr.org/public_editor/…
Read 4 tweets
5 Feb
Start your own company
Start your own community
Start your own currency
Start your own city
apnews.com/article/legisl…
San Francisco sucks. You can build something better in the sands of Nevada. And decentralize tech to the rest of the world.

I’ve been working in this area for years with folks like @patrissimo @mwiyas @MarkLutter, so DM if you’re doing a project like this and seeking funding.
Tech companies: take all the money you’d have spent on an expensive office, and use it to bootstrap a city in NV.

Lower the cost of living for employees. Build an equity stake in land. Gain write access to your physical surroundings. Legalize self driving cars & delivery drones.
Read 4 tweets
4 Feb
India should support crypto as a pillar of its foreign & domestic policy.

It defends national security by preventing deplatforming, deters fraud via on-chain accounting, and offers a decentralized alternative to a new Cold War. @nsitharaman @narendramodi balajis.com/why-india-shou…
As background:

- Crypto is now a $1T industry
- Bitcoin and Ethereum have enabled >$1T in annual transaction volume
- Decentralized finance has ~$30B in assets
- Coinmarketcap.com is more popular than the Wall Street Journal!

It is now a global phenomenon. ImageImageImageImage
NATIONAL SECURITY

Crypto defends India's national security by foiling deplatforming.

Bitcoin prevents financial deplatforming. Digital gold is a rail of last resort for crises like 2008.

And Ethereum prevents social deplatforming. Create social networks the US can't shut down. ImageImage
Read 13 tweets
2 Feb
Fund! You invented a fund!

This technical illiterate is typical of tech journalism today. Comparing a smart contract to a fund is like comparing a website to a printed book.

This is why tech is building its own media. Hear from iPhone inventors, not gadget reviewers.
Smart contracts vs hedge funds:

1) can be coded by anyone, vs expensive lawyer
2) can be diligenced & used by anyone in any country
3) can be deployed in minutes, vs days to incorporate
4) blockchain enforces payouts, not legal system

As different as website & printed book.
Btw, hedge funds don’t “hedge their bets against one another”. The name is a legacy and many are actually high-risk vehicles.

It’s one thing for these people to know nothing about anything. It’s another to *not know how little they know*. And then to be snide about it!
Read 4 tweets
1 Feb
Old model: hire former writers as PR people. They’ve worked for media companies and have the relationships.

New model: hire social media influencers as first party content creators. They’ve built audiences from scratch and have a following.
You don’t outsource engineering via an IT department, you start with a founding engineer and end up with a CTO.

You don’t outsource media coverage via a PR department, you start with a founding influencer and end up with an editor-in-chief.
Many traditional PR folks have realized that a PR person without a following is like an engineer that can’t code or a salesperson who can’t sell.

The main skill is no longer working through legacy media, it’s building your own outlet. Not just a blog, a real content operation.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!