This morning I read this post from William Mougayar on how negative news kills the progress of the crypto industry, and it really resonated with me.
Depending on where and when I met you, I might not strike you as the kind of person who spent the past three years working almost exclusively on crypto projects. I might seem too straight-laced for crypto, or perhaps you’d think it was my way of breaking the monotony of pandemic parenting. Honestly, both might be true. And yet…
As William points out, the media often portrays a click-baity version of the “crypto persona” – the scammy tech narcissist, the money-hungry memelord, the covert criminal, the mediocre business model, or worse yet, the unethical business leader. But what I’ve discovered, after navigating the (yes, uncomfortably high) barrier to entry, is that many in the web3 space are driven by ideas, not just financial gain. Today, the “crypto persona” I admire includes a mix of technologists, philosophers, investors, governance experts, community leaders, and some of the brightest legal minds of our time.
These are the developers, researchers, and community-builders who convene by the thousands on conference circuits like ETHGlobal, Bitcoin Builders, and Solana Breakpoint. They’re the founders tackling big challenges through projects like decentralized finance (DeFi), regenerative finance (ReFi), and decentralized science (DeSci). They ask questions like, “How might we rethink how money moves through society?” “How can blockchain technology promote a greener planet?” and “How can we make scientific research more accessible?”
Blockchain protocol development and web3 applications challenge us to imagine a world where ownership is more evenly distributed, where wealth isn’t concentrated at the top, and where being a builder means something new. I've noticed that the question set founders ask themselves starts from a surprisingly technical and simultaneously existential place. The technology invites us to consider: "How might we change entrenched systems to make the world a bit different? What might it look like to give people the power to control their own destinies?”
This is why things like the Ethereum Foundation’s Next Billion Effort are so important. They aim to bring crypto-native technological access to the most underserved populations around the globe—quite literally, the next billion people.
Say what you will about “crypto people” but this blog post from Ethereum’s creator, “The End of My Childhood” may still be the best piece of writing I’ve read all year.
Canvas Stretching Across Crypto and Beyond
One of the reasons I like working fractionally is that it allows me to be a “canvas stretcher,” bringing lessons from one domain into another that might not have been exposed to those ideas. I’ve worked hard to represent the best interests and possibilities of the web3 industry and share those insights outside the “crypto bubble.” It’s been harder than I expected, partly because of the negative perceptions of the industry and partly because we still need critical infrastructure to bridge the gap between crypto and the masses. But despite these challenges, progress continues. We build through the bear market cycles, we tune out the noise, and we keep our heads down.
Does it sometimes seem like the persona of a crypto builder is pat of an idealistic collective that sometimes borders on zealotry and hype? Sure. But every movement starts with passion. And the fact that some of the smartest people I’ve met have dedicated their lives and careers to this industry is worth noting. So yes, there absolutely are problems in crypto, and many questions still to answer. Yes, there are scammers and criminals. Yes, there is a bubble and there are still major barriers to broad user adoption. And yet…
There’s a lot of promise too. When you bring enough bright, diverse minds together on one thorny problem, something powerful can emerge.
If nothing else, adopting the mindset of a system reformer has brought more flexibility and agility into many areas of my life. Even when I’m not working directly on a crypto-native project, I find myself returning to this key question:
"How might we we change entrenched systems to make the world a bit different?"
