Thread by @davetroy

1/OK, this is going to piss off a lot of people, but here goes: January 6th, crypto, NFT's, web3?

It's the same set of attacks—the revenge of the gold-bugs. They've been pissed about going off the gold standard since 1933, but especially since 1971 when Nixon killed it for good.

2/I've covered this extensively previously. What folks need to understand now, though is a) this is, in fact, an attack and not a guess or speculation, b) it *can* be stopped. Here's how.

But first know we're up against a very powerful force: network effects.

3/The January 6th attack could only get so far because it relied on radicalizing multiple networks of people but fell short of reaching Mike Pence. Had it reached him, things might be quite a bit different right now.

This attack is trying to reach YOU and millions globally.

4/And YOU need to... be like Mike Pence? Well... yeah. Let's do a reality check. This goes back to the PayPal Mafia, specifically Peter Thiel. The ambitions for PayPal were to replace the financial system. That wasn't really possible at the time.

5/In 1997, the book "The Sovereign Individual" (err... oil industry white paper?) was published under the names of James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg, two hardline libertarian anti-tax ideologues. It described the modern crypto-world as we know it today.

6/It's an anti-nation-state screed focused on the "individual" and his agency to choose jurisdiction based on taxes, etc. And this would all be enabled by "digital cash" which could function exactly as gold did. Peter Thiel wrote the foreword. goodreads.com/book/show/8225…

7/If there is one thing Peter Thiel understands is network effects: the tendency for networks to dramatically gain power as more people participate. Driving widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies is critical to the success of the project.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_e…

8/While no one knows exactly who created Bitcoin (and many suspect Thiel/Musk), we do know who funded the second most popular cryptocurrency, Ethereum: Peter Thiel, by way of his subsidy of the young Vitalik Buterin. Most of the web3/NFT wave is built on top of Ethereum.

9/Thiel's book "Zero to One" is all about network effects—about how a phenomenon can go from being 'nothing' to being 'something' overnight. The book was co-written with his friend Blake Masters, COO of Thiel Capital.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_to_O…

10/Thiel is now funding Blake Masters' run for Senate in Arizona. Kristen Sinema, the "Democratic" Senator in Arizona has taken money from Thiel-linked crypto interests too and has launched pro-Bitcoin legislation.
protos.com/crypto-tax-don…

11/And of course Thiel is backing the utterly odious JD Vance in his Senate campaign in Ohio, also. Thiel just purchased Wilbur Ross' house in DC so he can go be close to his pet Senators when, presumably, they win their races.
washingtonian.com/2021/11/15/rep…

12/Meanwhile, Thiel's gold machines crank forward, with its misanthropic hardcore libertarian ideology enshrined in immutable code. And anyone who is sucked into the project helps drive the "zero to one" network effects he's banking on.

13/Preying on our collective ignorance and greed, Thiel knows it's just a matter of time until one day we wake up and say "what happened? Everything is different now." Because of network effects, that's just how this will go if left unchecked.

14/Most people sucked into the get-rich-quick cults of cryptocurrency, web3, and NFTs have no idea they're advancing the January 6th agenda, or are even especially aware of Peter Thiel and his likeminded peers. But if you're not down with these network effects, *get out now*.

15/This will not make me popular in tech-bro circles. Here's the thing: I don't care, and I'm right. I'm here to speak for reality, and what's really happening. The fact that people don't know enough history to connect these dots is lamentable, but this is the truth.

16/Many people are now starting to call this out for what it is. Myself, @smdiehl, @dgolumbia, @PatatasSmall, @concodanomics are leading the charge to slow this down before undue influence takes it in an irreversible illiberal and ultimately fascist direction.

17/If this analysis is new to you, I suggest reading my other work at davetroy.medium.com which helps put this in perspective. Also my ongoing audio series on "Oil, Gold, Crypto, and Fascism" lays things out in very clear terms.
soundcloud.com/david-troy-463…

18/And I will say again: there are people trying to innovate in good faith and who can *maybe* try to break free of this agenda. They need to speak up now.

Any technologies that advance Peter Thiel's desired network effects should be suffocated in a trash bag NOW.

19/Some people naïvely say, "it's just a tool, it doesn't have to be fascist if you don't want it to be," but this is just dumb, and goes against the stated purpose of these projects: to enshrine "sound money" libertarian ideology in code.

20/As @lessig pointed out in his book years ago, "Code is law, law is code." One does not simply alter the political intent and nature of a technology simply by wishing it was otherwise.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_and_…

21/And @dgolumbia explores this further in his book "The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right Wing Extremism."

Either you're part of the problem, or you can decide to be like Mike Pence and get off the crazy train. There's no viable middle ground yet.
upress.umn.edu/book-division/…

22/The way to stop this is to box it in and arrest the network effects. Michael Saylor, the largest corporate holder of BTC, has a history of fraud and is trying to use FOMO to shill these assets. Just say no, and deny them the network effects.
newrepublic.com/article/160773…

23/Maybe we won't be successful in stopping this, because the cancer is just too far along. I hope that's not the case. But if so, we all will become serfs in a world run by fascists — just as envisioned by the Jan6 plotters, and just as Thiel and his Senate minions desire.

24/Whether we end up living in that world is up to us and how far we allow these network effects to proceed. But this is far more consequential than anyone realizes, and not just a matter of "personal choice." This is an assault aiming to determine what kind of world we inhabit.

25/We are called to engage now and confront this, and not allow "zero-to-one" network effects take hold without rigorous public engagement and democratic oversight. Thiel is counting on our ignorance and avarice. Instead, stand up for what's right.

26/And always remember this quote from Thiel: "Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." This is what's at stake here, and he's deadly serious. YOUR freedom and YOUR democracy are what's at stake.
cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/pet…