ALYSE
@AlyseKilleen
Followers
35K
Following
135K
Media
1K
Statuses
13K
VC @HelloStillmark - moved to https://t.co/brumkFEf2r
Country of California
Joined September 2011
I’ve not had time to share many of the interviews I’ve done this year, but I’m dropping the joy of today’s Bloomberg Invest Summit and interview here! . On another note… the city’s most prescient large asset allocators on mainstage today have been consistent in expressing the
9
17
101
some folks have absolutely no idea what's happening in the Bitcoin industry and it shows.
83
122
2K
to be clear. The FTX blowup showcases failures of centralized crypto exchange AND DeFi and capital allocation (VC participation) in crypto.
89
244
1K
Bitcoin.
Invest your money where the smartest people invest their time.
19
120
1K
“toxic maxis” is a silly term coined by ICO leaders to malign those warning others (specifically retail investors) about the trade-offs inherent in the tech and it’s incentive structures. bc the tech is relatively complex this sort of propaganda can have impact. .
69
160
1K
ETH down vs BTC (in addition to being off 50% it’s ATH USD). Moreover, ETH never came close to its 2017 ATH vs BTC (ETHBTC), which is especially interesting given the effort that went into this cycle: EIP-1559, NFTs, DeFi casino, PoW FUD and anti-BTC lobbying in DC, etc.
73
114
1K
Brazil may soon follow El Salvador’s example and make #Bitcoin legal tender. A secure and stable core protocol + Lightning make it possible.
28
139
931
if wishing made it so . 🙃. but when a crypto’s cofounders initiate a hard fork to change monetary policy, 2 things are evident . 1. it’s not a sound money.2. it’s not decentralized.
Is Ethereum really ultra-sound money? @emilychangtv and @thestalwart talk to Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin ahead of the "London Fork." . Lubin says Ethereum will be "orders of magnitude" bigger than Bitcoin
59
159
884
might just be me, but I like less drama and suspense in my financial network
41
107
795
51
316
733
@BostonCore @RWPUSA @KarenJo91247695 Students have a constitutional right to peacefully act in a political manner without facing retribution:
5
144
630
.@Jack Dorsey believes it’s “only a matter of time until instant, low-fee bitcoin payments are as common as cash used to be” and Square’s positioning to be a leader in the field.
9
165
733
President @nayibbukele announces El Salvador is working w cell phone operators on a national wallet option + citizens (~6.5M ppl) will each be given $30 in #Bitcoin . vs Ethereum “DeFi” is 100K traders. 🚨 tl;dr - decentralized finance is #Bitcoin and adoption is on a tear.
President @nayibbukele in a live address says El Salvador is working with major cell phone operators to provide a national wallet option. Each citizen will be given $30 in #Bitcoin.
23
95
686
Seems like it could be dangerous for the Ethereum (and altcoin) ecosystem that the SEC Chairman gets the tech.
“Nakamoto’s innovation is real”. - @GaryGensler
34
92
675
but who cares . ?. Here’s an important difference between Bitcoin core protocol upgrades & altcoins - . In Bitcoin, protocol changes aren’t made to pump price, they’re made to enhance the defining properties of Bitcoin and in preparation for mass adoption by diverse populations.
Taproot is priced in . Sorry.
25
65
684
In BTC terms, ETH looks done. After the yrs-long touted merge was carried out earlier this week, ETH failed to break local all-time highs against BTC. The ETH peak in BTC terms (~0.15, 2017) was ICO-fueled & neither NFT activity nor merge hype/execution reinvigorated ETH vs. BTC.
60
68
669
Ethereum is in so. much. trouble. and I think this is just one piece of it, though a critical piece. see full RT’d thread.
In #Ethereum's history, complexity never decreased. Every EIP is piling on top. Every major change (1559, merge, sharding, verkle, stateless, L2, etc) is one more nail. I'm extremely frustrated when a research proposal says "everything's figured out, it's just engineering now".
70
109
637
thing is though, it’s not about “taking” one powerful person over another . *exact opposite of that*. it’s about the absence of such hierarchical thinking/structures from a system of global finance - that’s #bitcoin.
I’d take @VitalikButerin over @jack and Zuckerberg any day.
17
78
589
Bitcoin is not about making people rich, but allowing people to be free. *You may get rich in the process*.
18
210
544
Bitcoin adoption is trending faster than the pace of early internet adoption - this next wave will largely be powered by Lightning and by activities like social media and gaming, remittances, ecommerce, and earning.
19
95
510
only bitcoin passes that test. bitcoin, not crypto. I don't make the rules, you don't make the rules, Satoshi doesn't make the rules, and that's the point.
25
72
528
As a community reminder, in every cycle, a handful of prominent ppl within the bitcoin community FUD popular bitcoin tech or use cases (currently LN) in preparation for aligning themselves with token projects. We should expect the same this cycle.
39
64
438
We see a great example in the noise around the El Salvador news of the need for education of the differences between #Bitcoin and altcoins . we see why some are pushing hard for this education to be defined as “toxic”.
“toxic maxis” is a silly term coined by ICO leaders to malign those warning others (specifically retail investors) about the trade-offs inherent in the tech and it’s incentive structures. bc the tech is relatively complex this sort of propaganda can have impact. .
18
72
428
The people most hurt by the downfall of Luna and UST are those who did nothing wrong, the “plebs” - they bought & held. They’re busy with jobs and families and don’t have time to discern fact from fiction on deeply technical issues 🤷♀️. I feel a lot of empathy here.
48
37
426
bigger the ego, harder to grok bitcoin . that’s the story . it’s that simple. #Bitcoin (uniquely among cryptocurrencies) says no rulers, no authorities, no hierarchies of access or privilege and that doesn’t jive w the desires & world view of those who are otherwise “in charge”.
12
53
407
11
57
401
How Ethereum’s Problem X, “is solved by Y. But Y has this small problem Z [and] Z would work if [only] X is solved” explained by one of the best & most intellectually honest minds in the field, @hugohanoi.
Some background: About 3 and 1/2 years ago I started looking into PoS systems and published a series of articles documenting my thoughts & findings. 2/.
15
67
392
The best developers in the world are working on #Bitcoin, an exponentially advancing technology. A Bitcoin history thread from Pieter: the early history of Taproot.
10
49
373
@latimes This is inherently aggressive against your non-white readership. Please correct this alarming behavior immediately.
6
79
324
If you’re wondering why Bitcoiners are zen hodling <while others panic> it’s bc through the noise of price fluctuation #Bitcoin has solid intrinsic value established by “more than a decade of unblemished security, breadth of utility, and [rapidly growing] adoption.”.
I'm told by @AlyseKilleen @JasonADeane @bunsen @MatiGreenspan we aren't headed for a crypto winter. @woonomic: "We are far from a bear market, only traders are freaking out over technicals seen on exchanges like volumes and price action.". #Bitcoin.
6
56
376
Stillmark and Block co-lead a seed investment in @GridlessCompute, a new miner that harnesses small-scale energy grids in rural East Africa. via @business.
20
59
371
pretty excited not to know Satoshi’s father’s opinion on protocol upgrades
12
54
366
The referenced hack is a malicious transaction on the Ethereum network. BTC cannot be transacted on the Ethereum network. “Wrapped BTC” or “synthetic bitcoin” (i.e. ETH pegged to the price of BTC) can be traded on Ethereum, and that’s what was lost here, not #bitcoin.
One most affected user (w/ the loss of ~900 BTC): 0x53461e4fddcc1385f1256ae24ce3505be664f249. And here is the transfer-out tx: 😭
19
53
361
/u/nullc (Greg Maxwell), “A far bigger risk to Bitcoin [than a 51% attack] is that the public using it won't understand, won't care, and won't protect the decentralization properties that make it valuable over centralized alternatives in the first place.”
14
80
355
Congratulations to the brilliant and hardworking team @Blockstream. “Blockstream is bringing on board the Spondoolies core team and acquiring related IP to launch the world's 1st enterprise-class miner”. doing well while doing good . 🚀 🌕
7
36
357
HUGE news . @Blockstream has been operating a massive enterprise grade mining facility (and Fidelity is an early client).
7
101
344
Exactly right. Satoshi’s novel invention: verifiable, sustainable, digital scarcity. (btw - Satoshi appears to have made no money from the invention of Bitcoin; this was, I believe, his life’s work - motivated not by profit but by impact.).
The killer feature is long-term credible scarcity. Everything else is secondary.
7
45
348
Stanley Druckenmiller recounts a conversation w Paul Tudor Jones on #Bitcoin + why and how he’s bullish bitcoin (but not necessarily ETH). Thread . .
14/ #2- Paul Tudor Jones called & he said, "Do you know that when Bitcoin went from $17,000 to $3000 that 86% of the people that owned it at $17,000, never sold it?” Well, this was huge in my mind. So here’s something w/ a finite supply & 86% of the owners are religious zealots.
9
50
348
What is a piece of writing, on the internet (i.e. not a book), that you return to or at least consider foundational?.
3
18
329
“If I were not at $SQ or $TWTR I’d be working on #Bitcoin” . note, not building a 🤡 better 🤡 bitcoin, but **working on Bitcoin**.
14
35
310
Generally speaking, when someone replaces the word “Bitcoin” with the word “crypto” when the context is *specifically* Bitcoin (eg. El Salvador’s #BitcoinLaw) it’s smart to ask why. “Why” is usually that they have a token they’d like you to buy in order to use their blockchain.
10
50
293
personally, I don't have a problem with gambling when it's called gambling and participants know what activity they're engaged in. but when the casino is lauded as powered by altruism, that's another thing.
4
18
291
The headline is- . $TSLA was CASHFLOW NEGATIVE in Q2 without the trick of adding $936M to cash flow via the sale of BTC.
22
46
280
Excellent discussion between @TheStalwart & @starkness of @lightning on Bitcoin scaling and the lightning network.
10
87
277
rn we're spending ~40hrs/wk talking to founders building in Bitcoin & engage w several hundred distinct startups each year. Still, I know we're missing great ppl- the ecosystem is so incredibly active. (btw this why you rarely hear from us; we're busy being w Bitcoin builders).
18
20
278
btw- here's SBF describing DeFi pretty honestly. he has the capacity for honesty, he just wasn't committed to it. not sure why he thought Bloomberg was a safe place to be honest about altcoin (Solana, Ethereum) DeFi, but glad we have this on record.
5
45
285
Bitcoin's Adoption - Infrastructure cycle. November's Taproot activation + core's likely midterm roadmap upgrade Lightning users' experience *just as* emerging markets are onboarding to bitcoin via Lightning. w @RomaineBostick @TheStalwart @CarolineHydeTV.
9
31
263
Amboss unveils LINER (Lightning Network Rate), a benchmark interest rate for bitcoin w/out credit risk, similar to the traditional finance's LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate). ⚡️ @ambosstech advancing bitcoin ⚡️
34
64
224
ETH DeFi is inseparable from 1) the control & discretion of a small group of people + 2) the ponzinomics that drove FTX's collapse. ~75% of Ethereum blocks are censored due to "compliant" staking pools. That happened within just weeks of Ethereum's shift to PoS.
8
39
263
Two early social observations from the fallout of this bear market-. 1- The smartest guys in the room were in fact not the smartest guys in the room; they were just the ones least bound by a standard of ethics. More accurately, they were the "fastest & loosest" guys in the room.
10
33
263
financial establishment laser focused on NFTs while Lightning Labs onboards millions more in emerging markets to a new open system of transacting via #Bitcoin . incredible to watch IRT
7
26
252
“Sound money deserves sound financial infrastructure,” @AtomicFinance on their (late 2020) pivot from ETH to #Bitcoin to build the financial products of a new era.
Translation: thanks for sticking with me as I figured this "how to become a semi-decent startup CEO" shit out ❤️. Curious about our pivot from ETH to BTC last fall? Check out a blog from last yr we put together here:
6
30
249
In Oct I sat down with @CarolineHydeTV, @RomaineBostick & @RiggsReport to talk about the state of Bitcoin in 2021. I want to share a couple of ideas from that discussion. Video here:
23
35
236
15
75
205
absolutely brilliant draft. a must read. "Ethereum is basically the 4th largest bitcoin exchange and leveraging service [after Coinbase, Binance, and Bitfinex], and trading is a much larger bitcoin market than #bitcoin payments at this point in time.".
13
36
235
Will be annoying if 100K Wall Street bro’s high on yield farming get to define this market cycle as “DeFi” in the media when an entire emerging market country is adopting Bitcoin. tbh - that’s the pinnacle of elitism and exactly the dynamic Bitcoin was introduced to address.
7
27
237
@tribelaw @megynkelly Megan Kelly has never demonstrated integrity or commitment to truth or democratic values, but for @nbc @NBCNews to support this is madness.
9
69
170
a crypto VC GP (billion $ fund) just said that bc the ETH/SOL rules are software encoded the protocols are decentralized. nope. it's not that the rules are in the code that make a protocol decentralized, it's that the code cannot be changed w/o consent of disparate stakeholders.
3
26
240
A collection of cryptocurrency wallet responses to #Meltdown/#Spectre -. @TREZOR: @LedgerHQ: @DigitalBitbox: @OPENDIME: Coldcard: MEW:
Please stay secure out there. The spectre vulns are NOT going to be fun, especially if you have keys on your computer. - Update your OS immediately (seriously!).- Update your browsers.- Use Chrome with site isolation enabled: chrome://flags/#enable-site-per-process.
6
130
221
nope. Bitcoin was emergent from two decades of prior research and rigorous economic & technical discussion between researchers. It’s foolish to think that networks created by ppl who don’t understand the related tech tradeoffs (including those ID’d decades ago) will compete.
@gladstein @muneeb It’s foolish to think that a network created by one man as an experiment, should and will be the only of its kind and doesn’t need any improvements. Maximalism is dangerous.
5
32
234
for example, it’s groundwork for dollar denominated #bitcoin Lightning channels (ie programmable sats 👀).
Investor @AlyseKilleen: Taproot unlocks "mind blowing potential” for Bitcoin contracts. – CNBC.
6
23
220
100% with Congresswoman @MaxineWaters: "I don't honor him. I don't respect him. I don't want to be involved w him."
9
130
178
wen solana classic. 250M ETH gone after bridge between Ethereum and Solana is hacked 💸.
16
26
219
┏┓ .┃┃╱╲ in.┃╱╱╲╲ this.╱╱╭╮╲╲ house.▔▏┗┛▕▔ we.╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲ .understand that 2nd layer is for consumer scale.╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲ .▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔
Crude oil was never marketed to the public, rather gasoline, parrafine, and electricity. So it will be with Bitcoin: the main chain is industrial use bedrock, 2nd layer & application layers (secured by and derived from) the main chain are for mass market use.
6
44
213
*rich people*. cheap payments may not be in the top 5 reasons why *rich people* care about cryptocurrencies. But Bitcoin is for all people - and fwiw, that’s a massively bigger market.
"Cheap payments" isn't even in the top5 reasons why people care about altcoins, but good to see people are still fighting the windmills of 2015-16.
16
19
217
"There's this v dangerous moment when companies in the cryptocurrency space believe they have a mandate to represent their users." @aantonop.
5
62
214
you can do nothing with BTC and its unique protocols. *other than* . access and secure a free & fair money and monetary system.create generational wealth, saving for the long term.send payments w/out a bank.24/7 cross board payments.micropayments.pay per API call.and so forth.nbd.
10
16
212
just wait until they learn about stable⚡️channels .
There are lots of reasons why the @federalreserve is scared of stablecoins:. -waning monetary sovereignty.-maybe its own plans for a CBDC. -more here: . @nic__carter @AlyseKilleen @ronitA380 @MatiGreenspan.
7
26
210
Today, most users onboard to Bitcoin via purchase/investment, but that’s changing via @Stakwork, @OpenNodeCo’s onboarding of @SubstackInc, @Lightning games (see @zebedeeio), @fold_app rewards, etc. Earning as a path for Bitcoin onboarding is trending
13
31
216
This video snippet is excellent; the lesson: Focus on the technology of Bitcoin; much of the drama is manufactured by infiltrators.
5
61
201
It's a bear market so crypto funds are tweeting their Bitcoin hot takes. FYI the tweet storms present publicly what these guys are saying behind close doors to institutional investors (I know this bc the institutional investors tell us).
6
28
212
Bitcoin development is held to a much higher standard and tech tradeoffs are made to avoid the opportunity for these sorts of failures & breaches to happen - this allows Bitcoin to very uniquely be, for example, suitable rails for remittance and BTC a nation-grade store of value.
2
38
207
If a nation state were to spread disinformation to attack Bitcoin, they'd want to convince ppl decentralization isn't critical (see #bcash).
14
46
190
ETH has also failed to regain its ATH % market cap, which peaked in 2017 w the ICO boom. Conversely, BTC has remained above its 2018 ATL % market cap. ETH has ceded ground to alts and now, after losing its distinction as PoW-secured, is in a fight to hold its 2nd place standing.
7
17
200
this week's crypto mantras have been. a) DeFi fixes this .b) it's time to shift from token speculation to utility. same mantras we've heard following crypto's prior implosions, but FTX was deep into both DeFi and utility (FTX is gambling- tokens primary, sustaining use case).
11
14
205
The reason for Bitcoin from a western position of privilege is to avoid getting directly caught up in events such as the fall of SVB. With Bitcoin, you can truly bank yourself. Your assets are yours.
15
39
192
Hot tip: There was no plan to save the world. One way media could've picked up on this in advance was noting SBF's dishonesty against LN and BTC proof of work, which is v odd of someone who would like to save the world. He's copied this game from other crypto heads of state.
When Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire went down in flames, so did his plans to save the world
7
23
192
Why #Bitcoin?. a) It’s security model is long established; it’s historically proven robust and dependable. There’ve been no protocol breaches (a pretty important quality of an emerging market’s legal tender). b) It’s decentralized, and as a result, the rules are known & stable.
8
28
183
+1. Bitcoin *aims* for and is becoming a reserve currency and an open & fair global payment network. then there’s a field of folks financing other protocols w primary *aim* to “flip” #Bitcoin - very different aspirations, different magnitude; it’s reflected in the rhetoric
5
23
181
Bitcoin is a different asset and technology than ETH and other alts. Nakamoto’s innovation of a distributed network in which the incentives of different stakeholder groups can be aligned through BTC and a system of software rules is singular.
12
22
181
RTing bc being mentioned alongside the inimitable @LynAldenContact is #Bitcoin bucket list ✨
@LynAldenContact @AlyseKilleen @PrestonPysh @lileinsteins69 Alyse + Lyn podcast Preston. Please make it happen 🔥🔥🔥🔥.
3
8
176
earlier this week, the rumors were that wrapped BTC and wrapped alts such as ETH on Solana (e.g. soETH) were worthless. *wrapped BTC on crypto protocols drives that protocol's DeFi activity*. now we're past rumors.
Wrapped Solana assets are fucked. soBTC and soETH completely unpegged. soBTC trading at 70% below BTC price. No way to redeem underlying assets, as FTX have evaporated. Solana DeFi will have to absorb this loss.
7
26
180
2- Best to be careful in what you're paid *to do*, because that may come to shape your beliefs and values. Better to be paid for work you believe in, otherwise, over time, you may find yourself taking on someone else's beliefs. i.e., Like Satoshi said, incentives are powerful.
8
20
172
when your DeFi project is missing the De in DeFi.
JUST IN: @CreamdotFinance and @PancakeSwap are warning users to stay away as they deal with a DNS hijack affecting both #DeFi sites. @wsfoxley reports.
8
28
169
bitcoin = property rights for 8B across the globe.
To summarize my 4am hit on @MariaBartiromo’s show this morning with @dagenmcdowell:. -Don’t judge a long-term investment like #Bitcoin by short-term volatility.-IMO #ETH is a security.-#BTC is a digital commodity and global settlement network available to all but owned by no one
10
14
154
complete opposite of bitcoin. builders & venture investors are focused and optimist.price is 🟢 but massively lagging development activity and the expansion of bitcoin's utility set, the latter of which is driven by the ecosystem's entrepreneurs.
Don't think I've ever seen more divergence between price action and lived experience in crypto. Builders are feeling gloomy, venture scene is quiet, everything consumer-facing is struggling. But prices and regulatory outlook are rebounding. Tale of two cities.
11
28
150