The Persistence Of Memory (#17)

After three weeks in LA, I'm on the plane back home to Lisbon. I feel more relaxed, calm, and happy than at any other time in recent memory. The wholesome family environment and wonderful weather in LA have indeed contributed. Curiously, though, the current macro environment and crypto bear market have also helped me focus on slowing down, thinking big picture, playing long-term games, and feeling grateful.

I hope you haven't been completely REKT'd by this market downturn and can also take this as an opportunity to focus on what matters most! Have a great week friends!🙏❤️✌️

What I’ve Been Reading

A Letter From Our CEO | Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz – This guy got a Terra/LUNA wolf tattoo to pump his bags. Prob worth a read.

Choosing Optimism – Which L1 will win? Will we live in a multi-chain future? If so, how will we cheaply, quickly, and securely bridge from L1 to another? Is it better to build on ETH L2s and side chains or move to cheaper/quicker chains like Solana? This piece discusses Optimistic roll-ups and the tradeoffs developers should consider when developing dApps.

Lessons from the PC video game industry | Chris Dixon – Reading this 2015 piece about the media industry with the current knowledge of NFTs is a great exercise. NFT projects have raised millions from their own users to build products – NFTs were used both as end products and claims on future products. While the products can fail, the iteration of business models will be learned, and the Darwinian process of the market will result in more robust business models for media.

What Game Are You Playing? – Life offers a multitude of games to play. While we might believe the game we’re engaged in is “the most important one,” others engaged in different games exhibit different priorities. It’s a fun, short reminder to be more observant, less judgmental, and more self-aware.

What is a Dynamic NFT | Chainlink – Exploring use cases for dNFTs in both physical and digital realms and how NFTs will go beyond just the static storage and transferral of audiovisual data. One interesting application noted was the use of dNFTs to help transform degraded land into productive seawater landscapes.

How Web3 Apps are Building Composable Trust | Ceramic – In a world that’s increasingly conducting its economic and social activities in a Web3 environment, reputation is becoming an incredibly important and technically challenging problem to solve. This piece does a great job of thinking through how we can better use on-chain interactions to help people manage their professional, financial, and legal reputations.

Multi-faceted identities in Web3 | Drake Danner – How Web3 and on-chain verifiable actions and identities can help empower users. Examples include enabling users to prove that they are “top 1% listeners” in order to receive VIP treatment at a concert or enabling prospective workers to verify their education credentials and professional history while hiring or internally allocating workers to new projects.

How to Digest Books Above Your “Level” | Ryan Holiday – Actionable ideas on how and why to read better. A quite useful reminder.

Tokengated Commerce | Packy McCormick – Fascinating read on the future of commerce. I found the reframing of consumers to “wallet holders” particularly powerful. As a member of and investor in several DAO and NFT projects, I wonder what new methods to drive consistent value and generate revenue on-chain will be explored over the coming years beyond collabs with other DAOs & NFT communities, merch drops, IRL & metaverse events, and unique and unlockable media content.

Addicted to Speed | Nat Eliason – Useful reminder to slow down, think big picture, and play long-term games. Highly recommend!

How Crypto Is Regenerating The World | Bankless – This piece outlines a number of DAOs, projects, and tools using crypto to create positive externalities for the world/society. Inspiring!

DAOs Give Fans a Sporting Chance | Bankless – This piece outlines different models of decentralized governance for sports tread and the challenges associated with collective ownership.

The Coming Food Catastrophe | The Economist – Painting a bleak picture of the impending food crisis. I remain hopeful that the next 10 years will offer a last gasp innovation that reduces energy costs, thereby helping solve high costs of food production and the climate crisis!

What is ReFi? A tour through the climate crypto rabbit hole – This piece discusses how we can redesign the global economy to rapidly remove fossil fuels while caring for 8-9 billion people and the vast life on planet Earth that we depend upon.

What I’ve Been Listening To

How Did UST Collapse? | Jordi Alexander & Mika Honkasalo on Blockworks – Insights into the UST/LUNA/Terra catastrophe. I can’t help but fight the idea that if this bull continued for another 2 years, UST would have been far closer to being considered money, and the ecosystem may have crossed $1 trillion.

Tony Fadell on the Tim Ferris Show – Insights into Good Assholes vs. Bad Assholes, The Hydrogen Economy, The Future of Batteries, and Stories of Steve Jobs on “Vacation.”

All-In on the Recession – Highly recommend this for a grounded take on VC valuations and macro risks.

I’d Love To Hear From You

Thank you so much for reading. If you enjoyed it, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on what’s working, what isn’t, and what you’d like more of. Reach out on Twitter!

Cheers,
Anthony