Why pseudonymous identity
Very intrigued by NFTs in late 2020s
Initially thought it was cute games for kids
Saw Gmoney, Punk4156 – inspired by idea
Idea behind bitcoin – provable ownership
“If you’re not sure, you should just try it”
With tech, you can’t just read about it, you gotta use it
Now he checks in and out of 2 different ecosystems – Facebook is his pre-existing / real identity life
Twitter is his NFT and crypto community – noticed it’s as easy, if not easier, to cooperate and collaborate here, didn’t expect this at first
Fact that NFTs are always visible in wallets – security flaw, but solvable (especially expensive ones, eg, Fidenza)
On bulletin boards 20 years ago — didn’t know ID of those people, just had pseudonymous handles
“It’s not weird at all — you’re all gonna do it”
People present differently online, on LinkedIn v IG v Facebook
The NFT makes the pseudonymous ID provable
RSA: “Don’t trust anyone in crypto who hasn’t used Uniswap”
“No constitutional rights without freedom to transact”
There’s a progressive erosion of freedom
One is tech intermediated —
NYC yellow cabs, pay cash, no one can stop you from using them – decentralized physical activity
Now, Uber can stop you any time for any reason
Two is post 911 AML/KYC
Cash now viewed with suspicion
Impossible to launch “cash” as a product today
End state of all this is a few large databases that intermediate everything — it’s a chokepoint, a honeypot
No thinking about second order effects
Some very ambitious politicians will take control, shut down and control large numbers of people, including their opponents
All of this runs outside of due process
Starts with good intentions, but grows and grows
Network effects which become chokepoints
Crypto’s own permissionless architecture becomes an important counterweight – Bitcoin has no CEO
RSA: there will be 2 types of money — controlled money and free money
NFTs are our best shot at achieving decentralization — that’s why he started 6529
Most of his friends are completely clueless — lots of them think he’s lost his mind about NFTs and crypto
Caught in a MLM scheme or Ponzi
What’s funnier — lots of BTC people can’t get into ETH or vice-versa, or NFTs and DeFi — “have you looked at yourself in the mirror?”
“Hardened veteran of being yelled at”
A lot of super technical crypto lovers shit on NFTs, “kid stuff”
Because crypto was too obsessed with the technology, it was clear it was pre-product market fit
NFTs changed that
You don’t buy a CryptoPunk because it’s on Ethereum
When you talk about applications instead of the tech, you’re at the beginning of consumerization
eg, Dolce Gabbana at an NFT conference!
NFTs = generic carriers for intangible assets
Many things you can do with NFTs that you can’t do with crypto, eg, personal IDs
Big companies are using NFTs, but not bitcoin / ethereum
NFTs are infinitely expressive
Metaverse is just the internet, it’s not gonna be one website
Right now you’re 2 inches tall on my laptop, but in the future you’ll be full size – visualization will improve
You’ll need persistent digital objects — NFTs!
You can survive without Twitter, but not really without email
Politicians can’t ban email — it’s a protocol
Architecture of web 1 was open, inter-operable, came out of academia (eg, email, websites)
Architecture of web 2 came out of Silicon Valley, should have been protocols but was captured by large companies
Metaverse will be your all encompassing ambient digital environment
We have moment in time, next 2-3 years – while others think this tech is a joke – we have opportunity to win a technology shift
Twitter was thought as a joke, a curiosity – 11 years later, huge debate about how POTUS uses it
BTC won’t displace state money – state has tremendously powerful tools
ETH won’t be global computing platform – it’s AWS
You can make NFTs as first amendment protected speech – there will be a Supreme Court case on first amendment grounds
NFTs are
—first mainstream crypto consumer app
—possible to get large companies using and integrating
—less threatening to the state
Intangibles on corporate balance sheets are $70T dollars – far more than gold – and many more intangibles that aren’t on balance sheets at all
NFTs can carry any arbitrary intangible on the internet
“Yes We Can” and “Make America Great” are examples of intangibles that bind humans – memes – intersubjective realities and myths
It’s the underlying fabric of society – and now we can make it composable on the internet