“There are only two ways I know of to make money: bundling and unbundling.” – Jim Barksdale
There are only two ways to solve the World’s Biggest Problems: Centralization and Decentralization
Bitcoin decentralizes control but consolidates wealth.
- If cryptocurrencies become just another way for rich people to hoard money and evade taxes, then it won’t really change the world.
Cryptocountries are the future of the Decentralized Left.
- These nations will offer sovereignty for communities, not just individuals.
For all the hype about decentralization, the truth about crypto today is most major platforms are very centralized:
- Ethereum = Centralized
- I love ETH, but my bet here is highly dependent on founder Vitalik Buterin‘s continued leadership of both the community and protocol development.
- Apple stock dropped 3% the day Steve Jobs announced his resignation.
- ETH’s price would easily fall 30%+ if Vitalik left the project.
- I love ETH, but my bet here is highly dependent on founder Vitalik Buterin‘s continued leadership of both the community and protocol development.
- Coinbase = Centralized
- As Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, said in an interview when he left the company in 2017: “The end point seems pretty clear: Coinbase as a responsible regulated institution in the United States will fall under the same, or a similar, tax reporting regime as the major banks and brokerage houses.”
- Robinhood = Centralized
- Binance = Centralized
- Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, still owns 90% of the centralized exchange.
- Crypto.com = Centralized
- All those centralized fees buy a lot of Matt Damon ads and stadium naming deals.
The ideal future of web3 is distributed:
- Centralized → Decentralized → Distributed
This idea is a work-in-progress. If you’d like to riff on it, hit me up @neilthanedar on Twitter.