Thread by @Hootie_R

1/ i’m on a 16hr flight home from devcon and went through my notes to share some random takeaways from my convos in bkk

let’s kick it off with the fun stuff

2/ memecoins were pretty much a topic at every interaction

conversations ranged in intelligence from ‘fartcoin just hit aths’ to ‘will memecoins replace vc coins’

imo if you’re a founder, this is a huge distraction and founder distraction is one signal of a rising bull market

3/ i later learned that it gets worse. there are founders who are actively launching / marketing their own memecoins and full-time trading memes while trying to raise vc money for their own projects

probably not good

https://x.com/0xMeir/status/1857320692754383090

4/ in all of my convos i asked “if you had to hold one non-btc crypto asset for the next 10 yrs, what would it be?”

some people said eth/sol, some people said $coin, but lots of people said…doge

5/ the most interesting take i heard was when someone said “i bet doge will be the first currency used on mars”

@elonmusk already setting up the mars currency 20xx cycle narrative

6/ let’s move on to vc coins

as i’ve talked about before, vc coins have languished in public markets and continue to do so. every time btc has a 5% pullback, vc coins get reset lower

from two months ago:

https://x.com/Hootie_R/status/1831730743879315955

7/ lots of founders with live tokens are stumped by vc coin perf

exceptional founders are thinking through how to make their token resilient:
- how to drive network effects to the eco
- how to structure the token for institutional holders
- how to create organic and lt community

8/ many are realizing that launching a token in this cycle is much different than prior cycles

- attention is scattered
- both retail and institutions are smarter
- launching a token isn’t the end of contribution

9/ i spoke with an lp who reiterated this concept but from a fund level

2017 crypto vc vintages were very lucrative – fewer tokens, concentrated liquidity, and greater multiples from low to high swings

2020+ crypto vc vintages have been only ok given the category risk

10/ that being said, i was hopeful after speaking with unlaunched projects that are toying with novel ways of rewriting the token launch playbook

rejecting the large late-stage vc funding rounds that eject an untested product into liquid markets at multi $b vals

exciting to see

11/ speaking of rewriting the token launch playbook, there was a lot of buzz around hyperliquid and their upcoming $HYPE token launch

no venture funding raised, entirely new performant l1 made from scratch, real and sticky liquidity/users

12/ i met w validators, market makers, and vcs who were all excited about the hl eco – at a min excited to see how it performs

fwiw hl only had one 3 hour event the entire week. they didn’t sponsor any events and i don’t even think the founders were at their own event – legends

13/ i touched on lps earlier and although as a founder, you never think about them, they are important because:

lp $ --> venture fund $ --> protocol/co development $

if lps all of sudden don't like crypto, it will become harder to raise for your project

14/ i learned that some large lps (multi $b) who historically focused on crypto aren't investing in the category at all

i’m a bit surprised esp bc btc is at ath and the election is a huge catalyst

maybe this is cyclical and they return as the market gets more euphoric?

15/ some other imo less controversial negative takes:
- beamchain announcement was tone deaf wrt to ef execution pace
- l2 vs. l1 value extraction convos still happening
- ogs hate side events competing w main event
- tribalism between projects is real (eth alignment is a meme?)

16/ on the less controversial positive side:

- devcon was incredibly organized and attended
- eth global bkk hackathon had 2,700 devs participate - the largest eth hackathon ever
- not a lot of crazy euphoric parties despite corn being at ath; not a lot of tourists at events

17/ ok, that’s the main stuff

thai culture is so welcoming, thai spicy =! american spicy, thai classic car economics are fascinating

thaime for sleep