Thread by @coltholomew

Why the FTX drama is not the end of crypto, but rather a beginning. 🧵

(1/21) For those who don't know me, I guess I should start by just saying I've been in this space for a while. I was here before #MtGox imploded. I met Vitalik before #Eth was a thing. I remember exactly..

(2/21) exactly where I was when #Bitcoin hit $100 & $1000. I remember when the engine driving Bitcoin was a philosophical and ideological one, when the space was a bizarre hybrid of gold bugs, libertarians, anarchists, hackers & OG #cryptography evangelists.

(3/21) I've been here for a while & the recent/ongoing drama involving FTX & #SBF is probably the worst I've seen to date.

Lately we've all heard the same question. "Do you think the FTX debacle is the end of #crypto?". I understand the question, but as somebody who knows...

(4/21) where all of this came from, who helped gather the tinder and fan the flames of what is one of the largest uprisings against centralized powers exploiting the people on an individual level through their assorted financial schemes, I can tell you decisively...

(5/21) ...if this is anything, it's only the beginning.

There's a lot of talk that this #FTX/#FTT drama was a coordinated assault on crypto. An attempt to destroy a challenger to the legacy financial system before it could becomes so big they couldn't control it.

(6/21) And when you start digging into SBF, his parents, his political contributions, his families connections with Gary Gensler & what is undoubtedly a hostile position held by those who control what we knew to be money for generations before #Satoshi gave us Bitcoin...

(7/21) And everything we saw last night... That narrative seems increasingly compelling.

Whether it was or wasn't however is of little practical importance to me because the result is the same. Regulators and assorted government busybodies who have already made themselves...

(8/21) comfortable suckling on the tit of the legacy financial cartel will descend upon our world to "protect us from something like this ever happening again". These regulations will strip every bit of functional utility from the space.

(9/21) I don't think I need remind anyone of the recent proposed bills which included such deceptively vague wording so as to characterize almost all of us as an exchange so they could open the door to all manner of legal action against almost all of us.

(10/21) Whether by malice or incompetence, we can be assured that what is coming will violently assail the very spirit of our culture and community because government is the King Midas of feces... everything they touch turns to shit.

(11/21) Here's the thing though... This is a culture. It's our culture. It's who we are as a people. And whether we understand intellectually, intuitively or both that the legacy financial system has been one of slavery, violence, coercion, manipulation and deceit which has...

(12/21) kept us for want for generations... the end result is, we know who we are and who we aren't. One thing I can tell you for sure, we are a culture that doesn't quit no matter how hard we're hit. If we did, we wouldn't still be here right now.

(13/21) We're not going back to trading our precious time for #money. We're not going back to dying in wars they instigate and then finance on both sides. We're not going back to being robbed blind by way of inflation year after year.

(14/21) We're not going back to the systems used to control and manipulate us. And we're sure as hell not asking for permission.

(15/21) #WAGMI isn't about material goods. It's about an improved standard of living for everyone. That's the promise of crypto. That's what was and will continue to be under attack. And that's what we'll continue to aim for.

(16/21) So expect regulators. Expect the attack. Expect these cowards and clowns to try to leverage the violence of government against us so they can reap the benefits crypto has to offer us, for themselves and at our expense. Just know it's only going to backfire.

(17/21) You can't stop anti fragility. Every attack we will learn from and adapt to so our #culture will have one less choke point for them to leverage in the future. In the end, we will win because we have the tools, the numbers, the #community and the strength.

(18/21) All they've got is a desperation to maintain and expand power.

Going forward I will be looking towards projects that aim to bring greater decentralization & privacy to the community. Projects like #Monero, @Oxen_io (formerly Loki), @HavenXHV, @THORChain

(19/21) and others operating in a similar spirit of giving people the tools they need to be both prosperous and free.

(20/21) The future does not belong to those who politely ask for it from those who hold it. It belongs to those who take it and are willing to fight for it.

(21/21) Big thanks to the #developers, #whitehats, citizen #journalists, #investors, #FreeSpeech supporters & everyone who has been willing to fight for it thus far, and to those who will, like our future depends on it...
because it does.