It's happening: I’m going full-time Web3
Over the past year, I’ve built conviction around the space in a big way. I can’t sit on the sidelines.
Today is my last day at Vanedge
A bit about my journey 👇
A month ago, I left VC to go full-time Web3
It’s here: Today is my first day at
@gitcoin
🎉
...but it's a DAO, so it's not really my first day
My journey here made me realize I’m living in the future 👇
Over the PA on
@BCFerries
tonight, out of nowhere:
“A generous man has just offered to pay for every kid’s ice cream — so free ice cream in the cafeteria for anyone under 16”
The joy on the kids’ faces as they run down the boat. The world needs more of these gestures 🥹❤️
Me: I’m taking today off to relax in the sun. Really. I am.
Also Me: Goes to beach and listens to podcasts about macroeconomics & Ethereum monetary policy
When most people think “crypto”, they think:
🤑 speculative investing
❌ anti-government
💵 cross-border payments
When I think “crypto”, I think Web3:
🖥 read-write internet
🎟 new modes of ownership
🔗 interoperable identity
My dad passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday. Heart attack, age 71.
We're in shock, but coping. It's the happiest kind of sad I'm experiencing, because my memories are filled with joy and love.
A bit about my dad:
I've been spending time in DAOs, and want to start demystifying them for the 99% of the world that doesn't live in DAOland
Will do this in three posts. Part 1:
A DAO has no board of directors
It's budget season at
@gitcoin
, which offers a nice glimpse into how BoD-type decisions are made in DAOs
I'll walk through our (very public) budgeting process and how it works
To be clear: VanEck is a TradFi company founded in 1955 🤯
An entity like this recognizing the importance of core protocol development is *incredibly* encouraging for the ecosystem
Big announcement!
We intend to donate 10% of our $EFUT ETF profits () to
@ProtocolGuild
for at least 10 years.
Thank you, Ethereum contributors, for nearly a decade of relentless building & ongoing stewardship of this common infrastructure.
Details 👇
Two big reasons people get into Web3:
1. Money
2. New technical building blocks
The average person's entry point is
#1
. We need to inspire more people with the potential of
#2
.
A little over a year ago, I went full-time Web3
I've never looked back
Now, I'm moving on to the next step in my Web3 journey:
I'm joining the
@EcoAssoc
as its Executive Director to build it out in support of the Eco currency protocol
Part of what gets me so excited about Web3 is the prospect of recurring support of public goods becoming a norm for large orgs
Thrilled to have
@coinbase
rising to the occasion with a $1 million commitment via
@gitcoin
🌱✨
Crypto promised peer-to-peer payments — over a decade ago
We haven't really seen that. Until now.
just launched, built on
@eco
Beam is a non-custodial wallet with the properties of crypto, but the usability of Web2 fintech 💫
When Slack goes down everyone in Web2 celebrates
When Discord goes down everyone in Web3 is sad because we love our work
gm to everyone constantly refreshing rn 💕
The lack of structure & process in DAOs can be super disheartening
When the frustration hits:
Stop and reflect on the fact that we're building the future - without this open design space, there wouldn't be opportunity
Working through the ambiguity *is* the work
I’m scared for the economy—really scared.
I’ve been talking about my fears for awhile, but finally put pen to paper and outlined two dueling narratives:
🎉1️⃣ ‘Road to Recovery’
☠️2️⃣ ‘Doom & Gloom’
They paint very different pictures of where we sit 👇🏻
13/ There are blueprints right before our very eyes that show us where the internet is headed
Go get a
@Metamask
wallet and experience what it's like to authenticate to a Web3 site
Go read the stories of projects like
@lootproject
and
@AxieInfinity
The DeSoc paper isn't just for Web3 builders
IMO, the biggest power in
@glenweyl
@pujaohlhaver
&
@VitalikButerin
's recent work might just be its easy-to-follow illustration as to why, practically, the world will move on-chain
Crypto skeptic? Read it.
Waiting a few days post-minting for your art to be revealed is a powerful anticipation-building dynamic
My
@crypto_coven
NFTs popped up in my MetaMask today
and they are perfect 💫
5/ (
@raydalio
’s Changing World Order and
@adambarrata
’s The Great Devaluation, in particular, both led me to question a lot of ‘givens’ about fiat currency)
12/ We’re at a point where there’s enough in-your-face traction that, if you spend the time, the glimmers of what’s ahead are obvious
Once you’ve seen it you can’t un-see it – and, for me, there’s no turning back
As an
@OptimismFND
RPGF badgeholder, I'm laying out my draft voting methodology because
1. I believe in transparency in funding decisions
2. We have two days left — and I think by sharing my thinking publicly I can still make it better
Here's how I plan to allocate my 30M OP 🔴
Just counted and I’ve met 38 internet friends at ETHDenver so far. Like, people I already *know* — but had never met IRL
Coworkers. Partners we’ve worked with. Fellow DAO nerds. Founders I’ve invested in.
Most have been unplanned encounters
This place is magic ✨
ETHDenver waterbottles are the best indication of bull vs. bear market vibes
2022: An insulated stainless steel h2go bottle that I still use everyday
2023: A thin plastic thing whose lid won’t stay on to save its life
What type will we get in our swag bags this week?! 👀
Hot take: The term "Account Abstraction" is rugging us
Instead of leading with the nebulous concept of AA, we should focus discourse more on Smart Contract Accounts & their benefits
Why? 👇
Today in Vancouver tech:
✏
@thinkific
goes public
👨⚖️
@goclio
is a 🦄
Love watching our ecosystem grow - this is just the beginning. Congrats to everyone involved! 👏🇨🇦
The collectivization of VC has begun
From the $SUSHI discount uproar to
@prtyDAO
crowd ownership, the past month has provided a peek into the future of funding
@divine_economy
and I dug in - the piece itself is an experiment in collective finance 👇
15/ And as a data nerd, I’m like a kid in a candy store
Projects like
@arweave
,
@covalenthq
, and
@the_graph
are pioneering how we will store & govern blockchain data
Just wrapped up our quarterly grants round
@gitcoin
🎉
$5M being distributed to public goods ❤️
Some highlights as I reflect on the round:
🔥 Recurring Commitments
💛 Philanthropists experimenting with QF
✈️ Gitcoin Passport
👀 GTC Staking Experiment
For anyone who's a cryptography nerd and isn't in
@cryptothegame_
I want to walk through today's immunity challenge and how cool it was, since I'm still in awe of its design
TLDR: BIP39 mnemonic conversion x deep cut Survivor lore 🤓
Three years ago today, Keith and I quit our jobs, left NYC, and set off to backpack around the world with no itinerary
Learned more in that year than I have in any year working
✨🌍✈️
In 2018, we left NYC and moved to Vancouver to settle down and be closer to family
In 2021, my Dad died unexpectedly — and I *so* cherish all the time we had with him during those three years
Indeed: Proximity to people you love >>>
Nothing improved our quality of life more than moving across the country to live driving distance from our parents.
Proximity to people you love is worth more than any job will ever pay you.
6/ In zooming out and better understanding the history of money and empires, I became convinced that we are in for a global monetary reset in a pretty big way. (I’m still convinced of this.)
I’m scared for the economy—really scared.
I’ve been talking about my fears for awhile, but finally put pen to paper and outlined two dueling narratives:
🎉1️⃣ ‘Road to Recovery’
☠️2️⃣ ‘Doom & Gloom’
They paint very different pictures of where we sit 👇🏻
Fired up after another evening spent combing through
@optimismFND
RPGF projects — there is so. much. cool. stuff. being. built. 🔥🔴
Appreciate the hustle of everyone shilling their projects; it's been so fun to discover hidden gems
But I'm not done discovering yet...
9/ The traction kept me engaged initially:
Last summer, I refreshed DeFi Pulse almost daily I watched TVL increase at a staggering pace
I learned to play around with products like
@metamask
,
@uniswap
, and
@etherscan
16/ The world is changing. This stuff is real. And it's time I fully commit.
So, what’s next? I’ll share soon. First, I’m taking a couple weeks to relax and reset.
I'm *extremely* excited about
@ceramicnetwork
A macro-level shift in data ownership and value capture is afoot
Web3 is bringing about what I call "the de-platforming of data" – that is to say, the decoupling of application and data layers
🔥🔥🔥
I'm hiring!
As
@eco
scales, we're turning up the dial on our online presence
Very excited to be hiring a Content Marketing Manager to take charge of end-to-end content strategy & execution at the Eco Association
Just donated to
@gitcoin
grants and was *blown away* by the new UI 🔥
Seriously, go to and donate — if only to check out a great consumer crypto flow
- Multichain checkout
- Auto-network switching
- One-click passport verification
Truly delightful
Grants are common in Web3
But the question of "should I launch a grants program for my project?" is a big one, and not always simple
I recently started the work of launching grants at
@EcoAssoc
And in doing so,
@MegLister
and I wrote a how-to guide
11/ And throughout the rest of 2021, week-by-week, I found myself spending more of my spare time doing crypto things and talking to crypto people
I gradually evolved from pretty excited to completely captivated – and that’s where I stand today
My in-laws have been in town for two hours and we’ve already discussed:
- Space debris recycling
- Quantum computing timelines
- Proof of stake
I married right.
The collectivization of VC has begun
From the $SUSHI discount uproar to
@prtyDAO
crowd ownership, the past month has provided a peek into the future of funding
@divine_economy
and I dug in - the piece itself is an experiment in collective finance 👇
8/ While it was the macro environment & my concern for fiat that got me back into crypto initially, it quickly dissolved as my main focus in studying the space
Web3 offers so much promise beyond just money
Today, the macro side is just a subset of what keeps me in crypto
1/ Sharing my story since I’m convinced it’s indicative of what’s to come
(and bc I’ve received more DMs than I can respond to about getting into Web3!)
In
@fintechtoday_
chat, we were discussing "what we wish we'd learned in college about personal finance"
A very good American-focused flow chart was shared, so I created a Canada-friendly version 🙃
cc
@mengxilu
@seyitaylor
Just got an estimate to fix a window we have a crack in; it was $1000 and I grumbled at how expensive it was
Then I thought "actually, that's only 0.3 ETH, very reasonable"
I have been ruined
A year ago today, I started working in crypto full-time
We've had setbacks, but zoom out - we've also come so far. My conviction is even higher than it was back then, and I can't *imagine* focusing on anything else.
gm ♥️
17/ As with most things in life, the best thing about Web3 is the people - I have so many people to credit with both opening my eyes and learning with me
And so many amazing new friends (!)
It's happening: I’m going full-time Web3
Over the past year, I’ve built conviction around the space in a big way. I can’t sit on the sidelines.
Today is my last day at Vanedge
A bit about my journey 👇
The Superchain is the future — rollups will scale Ethereum
They already are
But they present a UX challenge: Rollups mean fragmentation of user funds across networks
Account Abstraction can help solve this at the wallet level — and the first implementation is live 👇👀
4/ Fast-forward to spring 2020. Markets were in turmoil after Covid hitting.
I was really worried about QE and the future of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, so I started obsessively studying macroeconomics.
Closing out the week grateful to work with so many incredible people trying to build a better future 🤖❤️
Market up or market down, I can’t imagine *not* dedicating my time to Web3 right now
It’s fascinating that DAOs — early-stage startups — are proactive about treasury diversification
And yet, in most mature companies, holding billions of dollars in just one fiat currency is the rule, not the exception