Musings on Technology
A personal collection of notes, reflections, and essays on technology, finance, and building — written over the years as I made sense of the ideas shaping our industry.
Bakkt Launches and Disappoints — Why That's Fine
Bakkt's physically-settled Bitcoin futures launched to underwhelming volume. The market was disappointed. But institutional infrastructure does not succeed on day one — it succeeds by existing, by building credibility, and by providing the plumbing that enables future flows.
The Privacy Debate in Crypto Is Far from Settled
Public blockchains are radically transparent — every transaction visible to anyone. Privacy coins and zero-knowledge proofs offer alternatives, but they face regulatory headwinds. The tension between transparency and privacy will define the next chapter of crypto regulation.
DeFi Yield Is Real — But So Are the Risks
DeFi lending rates are attracting serious capital. Compound, dYdX, and MakerDAO are generating real yield from real economic activity. But the risks — smart contract vulnerabilities, oracle failures, and liquidity crises — are equally real and poorly understood.
Central Bank Digital Currencies: The Sovereign Response
Libra forced the conversation. Now central banks are accelerating CBDC research. China's digital yuan is furthest along. The question is no longer whether sovereign digital currencies will exist, but what form they will take — and what they mean for crypto.
Facebook Libra: The Most Important Crypto Event of 2019
Facebook announced Libra — a global digital currency backed by a basket of fiat currencies and governed by a consortium of major corporations. It is the most significant validation of the crypto thesis to date, and the most significant threat to crypto's vision of decentralisation.
The FATF Travel Rule and What It Means for Crypto
The Financial Action Task Force has extended the 'travel rule' to crypto — requiring exchanges to share sender and receiver information for transactions above a threshold. It is the most significant regulatory development of 2019, and the industry is not ready.
Bitcoin at $8,000: The Narrative Shifts Again
Bitcoin has doubled from its December lows. The narrative is shifting from 'crypto is dead' to 'crypto is back.' Neither was accurate. The technology never died, and the recovery is not a return to 2017. It is something different — and potentially more durable.
The Binance Hack and the Reorg Debate
Binance lost $40 million in a security breach. CZ briefly considered asking Bitcoin miners to reorganise the chain to reverse the theft. The idea was rejected — but the fact that it was considered reveals uncomfortable truths about the concentration of power in crypto.
The DAO Governance Problem Nobody Wants to Solve
Decentralised autonomous organisations promise governance without hierarchy. In practice, they suffer from voter apathy, plutocracy, and the inability to make hard decisions quickly. The governance problem is not technical — it is human.
The Staking Economy Emerges
As Proof of Stake networks launch and mature, a new economic layer is forming: the staking economy. Validators, delegation services, and staking-as-a-service providers are creating an infrastructure layer that will define how capital participates in PoS networks.