I’m a big believer in bitcoin, decentralization, and the value that blockchain standalone, and combined with other technologies can bring to society. I’m always interested in understanding the latest crypto reports, theses, and projects that come about in this small growing world today.
Ryan Selkis from Messari Research recently released a monster report called Crypto Theses For 2020. The report is far from a quick read, here’s what I think are highlights of the report.
Assets and Technology
The fact of the matter is that technology is critical but in the crypto world, assets, done right, lead the way. Selkis, implies that there are two types of blockchains, those that are asset first protocols like bitcoin, stablecoins, and others that strive to increase value in a monetary asset. The second type is those that are technology oriented like Ethereum and similar that strive to be service oriented first, asset second.
What’s interesting is that he notes that you can “not separate the protocol from the asset.” It is interesting because it means that the protocol and the asset matter equally. Implying that it is not just about the protocol but about the reasons why the asset exists, and how the asset incentivizes the different parties involved in it.
That’s profound in a time when one is trying to allocate value in the digital assets ecosystem and separate the good from the bad, learning why they will be a good investment.
For instance, we understand why bitcoin has value. From the most basic stance, it is comparable to gold, has a brand, consensus, and a robust community of supporters that range from leaders like Jack Dorsey to others. We see that more exchanges are willing to support bitcoin over other cryptoassets. Coinbase, Gemni, and other exchanges were, at first, very selective and chose to concentrate efforts on bitcoin before adding other assets.
Fidelity Digital Assets, and other firms are more likely to support bitcoin first before adding other tokens for a wide variety of reasons. Other assets such as stablecoins have value because of the reserves they represent or are backed by (gold, dollars, euros, eth, btc, etc).
Yet understanding token economics of many of these other projects and how the value translates directly into gains for tokenholder, still seems, murky, at best.
Crypto Media and Journalism
Selkis names organizations, people, and information businesses in his report. I think there’s more space within the sector for a media outlet that is differentiated, puts on compelling conferences, and focuses on innovation within blockchain.
I’m interested in understanding how crypto media can be better and provide more value to an end audience by focusing more on creation and projects.
Earn Crypto
Seriously, talking about crypto startups that help you earn crypto, why aren’t there more of them around that make sense? What kind of ideas are there for a platform that helps users to earn crypto while adding value. What are the legalities around creating projects that help people earn crypto?
I think staking services are great but they are not what I’m thinking about when I think, “earn crypto”.
Mining is great too and is critical but it’s important to realize that’s base layer activity, where’s the applications that make it worthwhile to participate and earn crypto?
Taking crypto mainstream will involve more entrepreneurs who are helping others to earn, get involved and contribute to real blockchain and crypto oriented projects that solve real issues.
Web3
Of course, Web3 and the projects around that is going to be another big trend mvoing forward if it can take back privacy and add value through other means. Decentralized internet applications propose to bring the values present in the old era of the web. That is another critical area to look at to tackle and use the blockchain to add real value within the world today. Especially as we are seeing larger issues such as government surveillance, data hacks, and much more disruptive issues.
