Why Crypto is Exploding (& 10 Takeaways from Eth Denver)
The pump of all pumps.
36 Days. That's the next Bitcoin halving cycle when the rewards for mining Bitcoin are cut in half (meaning less Bitcoin is on the market). This has historically triggered significant price increases after the halving, not before.
Did you get that? In each previous cycle, Bitcoin rose to a new ATH *after* a halving event.
So ask yourself: why is Bitcoin pumping now? WTF is happening?
The keyword is Supercycle
The pump of all pumps
I’d be surprised if $BTC doesn't reach $100k this year. So here's what that means.
21 Million Bitcoins
Bitcoin is pumping due to Boomers and institutions entering the crypto market en masse via ETFs. If you don't know, an ETF is a fund traded on major exchanges such as the NYSE or NASDAQ, mirroring an underlying asset like gold or Bitcoin.
A crypto ETF allows dad, mom, grandma, and financial institutions to invest in Bitcoin easily.
Ostensibly, an ETF also stabilizes the price, allowing older investors and institutions to begin storing more of their gains from stocks in Bitcoin, and countries can also start storing a share of their holdings in BTC.
It will all just keep going, as usual.
But I have a few concerns.
One: I think BTC will become more prone to market manipulation as it trades hands with larger financial institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity, which have the most popular ETFs on the market.
Two: And this is my bigger concern.
This could be a new paradigm shift, and everybody who doesn't buy now will be priced out forever.
There are only 21 million Bitcoins. As we head into a landscape of digital currencies—whether that be CBDCs, Bitcoin, or Ethereum—anyone who buys the digital currency we bank the future on (which looks like Bitcoin) will be rewarded exponentially, while "Nocoiners" and anybody born in a future generation will not be able to afford this.
The institutions become absurdly rich, the poor are priced out forever. Normies who aren’t paying attention are fucked. This is capitalism on steroids…
Key Takeaways from Eth Denver
With this backdrop, let's turn our attention to Eth-Denver to see how this Bitcoin bull run will affect the rest of the market.
I spent a week at Edge City, a pop-up village hosted by Gary Sheng and Marcus Noel, two defected WEF members fighting for a better future. As I walked into Edge City, I saw an eclectic space with co-working areas, food trucks, saunas and cold plunges—and someone I met who offered me mushrooms. I took them. Tech thrives on chaotic energy and the brilliance of mad, mildly inebriated geniuses.
I learned a lot, and this is where smart money is going.
1. Crypto + AI = The Future
For every person I met working in crypto in Denver, two more were working on AI. The ultra-wealthy profit the most when something is centralized, and AI is no different. So many are working on fixing this—some projects to consider are Synesis One (which pays you to train AI) and Phoenix.
2. I Met Joseph Lubin
I was invited to meet Joseph Lubin, one of the creators of Ethereum and Metamask, at his riverside mansion in Denver. They had pizza and apple cider. Cool combo. Joe strolled in his backyard with his dog by his side. I got one takeaway about Ethereum: "We are in this 4th turning, and we are ready for a new system of the world as the other monetary systems end."
3. Gaming Will Be Big
Gaming was big at Eth-Denver. Apple, Google, and Valve make fortunes by processing in-game purchases through their stores. They don't want game devs to circumvent that process. It won't be easy to disrupt, but many projects, including Beam, Prime, and Enjin, are trying to decentralize this space. It could mean:
True item ownership for the first time in gaming.
Trade virtual items inside and outside games.
Faster adoption opportunity since it’s aimed at game developers and gaming community.
4. Gatekeeper Energy
Many crypto events I've attended over the years have had esoteric, borderline Unabomber energy that makes it hard for everyday people to understand. One year at Bitcoin Miami, a Web3 dev explained to my beginner-level buddy why BTC would be the currency of Mars.
This year, I wrote a conversation about scaling political systems in my notes: "Something something Dunbar's Number. Something, something, Prisoners Dilemma. Something, something shrooms." Clearly, gatekeeping is still a problem. However, Edge City felt better at implementing events for all groups like BLK Web3, Women of Web3, and health & wellness pop-ups.
5. Solana, Polygon, and XRP
For an "Ethereum" event, there was a lot of chatter about other projects, mainly because Ethereum is still expensive to develop. Solana now has the most active users, making it a rival to Ethereum. Polygon (although built on Eth) is where many Web3 devs are looking to develop, and a few people I met mentioned that XRP has a chance of being adopted as a functioning central-backed digital currency.
6. So is Ethereum Still the Fav?
This is why Ethereum's next upgrade in two days, "Dencun," which should lower gas fees, is a big deal. Ethereum is still the most decentralized platform for building decentralized apps. That's why some people, like Gary Sheng, the organizer of Edge City and a former Google tech lead, believe "Ethereum is the seed kernel for a regenerative civilization"—because nothing has created more.
7. Security and Privacy
With the rise in crypto applications comes security and privacy challenges. Eth Denver addressed this head-on, stressing the importance of secure development practices and the emergence of privacy-focused blockchains like zk-SNARKs and zk-STARKs. Also, why Oracles, which are crypto protocols that feed data back on-chain, like Chainlink and Pyth Network are essential.
8. Crypto + Africa + Harvard + Stanford
Crypto is everywhere - I met one group called Aya, who are educating African children in blockchain and Web3 so they can land high-paying tech jobs. I also found it interesting that Harvard and Stanford both had massive groups focused on building in crypto. It was like a mosh pit the days they hosted at Edge City, showing how built up this space is.
9. Crypto + Government
There was a lot of talk of decentralizing elections through Ethereum, and the governor of Colorado even showed up to Edge City. There’s increasing support for crypto in states like Wyoming, Colorado, and Florida.
10. Time for Eth to flip BTC?
As much as Eth-Denver was hype, I don't think anyone felt it could flip BTC. If anything, you felt a lot of gratitude toward Bitcoin as the king. As Michael Saylor simply put it—he wasn't there, but it's apt—“Bitcoin, which will never be subject to leaders or massive changes, with a fixed supply, is one of the realest assets left.”
Ethereum is working on many other significant problems, and after seeing Dune 2, I'd say humanity-saving problems. But from a financial standpoint, I do not believe that it will ever be valued more than Bitcoin.
I'll leave you with this: If you buy Bitcoin you know you are not only buying history, but buying land.
This might be the last chance before it falls into the hands of a financial oligarchy… opening up other problems, but that’s for another day.
Thanks for reading … I was going to write about the State of the Union but found it unbearable. All I know is put me on the drugs that Biden is on.
Well put, but the only thing I really understand is that many who trumpet their newfound riches don't seem to do much else. They remind me of the Day Traders, LBO, IPO, and Housing Market nuts who skyrocketed and then burned up in the ether. Are there any similarities?
Yeah the "crypto bros" really do exist and in a weird paradoxical way they turn off everyday people from the space while padding their own pockets. Many burn out. It's not all glamour. But like an IG model there's a sizeable insufferable group.