Episode Transcript
That maybe my mind is shifting overto the utility and value ethereum as a
function of how much staking rewards I'mearning, you know, With the Bitcoin
ETF off and running, and nowwe have new markets entering into this game
(00:22):
of the Bitcoin ETF, I've begunto turn my view as much as I
it was a little bit unnatural forme to do so, but I've begun
to turn my view towards ethereum.Now, yes, yes, yes,
yes. For those of you guyswho've been with me for almost a decade,
now you know my thoughts about ethereum, because you guys know that I
(00:46):
got rug pulled by vitallic Butterine himselfwhen the exchange that I was a part
of got bamboozled and he decided toroll it back. And that essentially,
let's be intellectually honest, put ethereuminto a position where ethereum is centralized,
(01:07):
period, full stop. So ifwe all agree on the reality that ethereum
is centralized and is not truly decentralized, and we're okay with this, and
the reality that unsophisticated policymakers, unsophisticatedindividuals, unsophisticated people who are pushing for
(01:29):
Ethereum's growth, will continue to pushfor Ethereum's growth, and they will win.
And so as a collector of data, as a collector of information,
so that I can amalgamate, conglomerate, congeal all the data together, do
my data analysis on it, andunderstand the markets that I must attack as
(01:49):
a venture capitalist and investor. It'stime in twenty twenty four to start.
I'm hesitating to say it, whichis crazy, but and of course I've
written a script here around it,but like, it's time to start looking
at ethereum as a mechanism of valuecreation, right, as a mechanism for
(02:13):
value growth, right as a mechanismfor monetary you know growth, these types
of things, Like I just haveto admit this. I just have to
admit this. And so we allknow that bitcoin is digital gold. That
is the narrative. That's the narrativeof bitcoin is bitcoin is digital gold.
(02:34):
Piece table stakes, We get itmakes sense. I've read an article recently
that said that Bloomberg said that Ethereumneeds a simple narrative so that people can
understand why would we want this assetclass, Why would we want all of
this market cap? Why would wewant this technology to proliferate, right,
(02:57):
and so it's easy with bitcoin.Bitcoin is digit gold, and Bloomberg says
Ethereum needs a simple narrative. WhileEthereum, in my opinion, is relatively
i'd say hard to hard to describein one line. Here's here's a tryadic.
Ethereum's simple narrative could be a highgrowth index fund for Web three adoption
(03:23):
or a call option on Web threeadoption, a call option on Web three
adoption. So let me explain this, Okay, Web three we already know.
Web three is the next iteration ofthe Internet, in which we introduce
global accounting ledgers and user controlled datadigital property rights. This started in two
(03:44):
thousand and eight, two thousand andnine with Sotoshi Nakamoto because he started Web
three and digital sovereignty. The globalaccounting ledger equals the rails or infrastructure on
which the next iteration of the Internetcommerce will take place. The ledger,
as I am seeing it today andas I am thinking about it and analyzing
it. The Ethereum leisure today hasthe potential to do several things. So
(04:06):
let's go through them. Number one, securely connect eight billion people globally it
could it could? Could Bitcoin dothat? Sure? Could Ethereum do it
faster? Maybe? Number two securelystore and transact all of the world's financial
(04:27):
assets in a peer to peer manner. Bit Coins a little slow sometimes,
but it's an asset, it's astore of value, it's digital gold.
You really shouldn't be moving it anywaybecause you don't want capital gains implications.
So Ethereum, in Ethereum's abstractions,all of the token projects on top of
Ethereum could truly store and transact allof the world's financial assets in a true
(04:54):
peer to peer fashion. Could itbe true institutionalize so potentially? Number three
remake business models across several industries viathe introduction of smart contracts and digital property
rights. Now, you guys knowwe've been talking about Ethereum and smart contracts
ever since it came out, andhow smart contract growth increased over the years.
(05:15):
Apps of frequent lutely are we seeingmultiple ways to create abstractions, permutations,
different permission functions, filters, usecases, examples. Have we seen
all of that grow in the marketaround smart contract functionality? Absolutely we have.
We've seen it all and as andmuch to my chagrin, it continues
(05:36):
to grow anyway. Number four,Ethereum could transform B to B interaction with
shared accounting ledgers with automation via smartcontracts like ERP or B to B interactions.
So what this means is that,you know what, if we can
have these shared ledgers across multiple industries, multiple partners, businesses, entities,
(06:02):
et cetera, it could create andbe a trusted right, a trusted ledger
across these multiple entities that could actuallybe used for real commerce trade, digital
you know, digital pulling data,pulling all that stuff. So could Ethereum
be that bridge? Maybe? Numberfive the house Ethereum could house the global
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financial services industry for payments, trading, settlement, customy, lending and borrowing,
and ownership records. It could trulybe the mechanism which all of these
can interact, interplay and work together. Number six transform business industries like digital
art, obviously, collectibles, NFTs, gaming, brand loyalty, advertising,
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digital content, social media, webhosting, and cloud computing business models creating
new net markets on their own.So as much as I to my again
once again much too much of mychagrin, Ethereum is something that will not
go away. It's almost like thatone system's law, right, I forget
(07:17):
what the name is, but essentiallythe system's law goes like this, is
that the longer the dysfunctional system isaround, the more that it'll persevere to
be around. It's kind of likeclassic ASP or cobol or you know,
do people still use could fusion dreamweaver, like like the old legacy codes
(07:43):
are still around, and they're stillaround because they're still useful and they don't
break. And so ethereum is inmy mind as I'm categorizing it at a
data level, ethereum is one ofthose things that it's just not gonna go
away, and so can we poohpooh. Some of the let's just say
foundational elements that underpin it are theirinherent risks with centralization and this type of
(08:11):
control mechanisms that control ethereum. Ah. Yes, but is there opportunity to
profit? Is there opportunity to makemoney? Is there opportunity to build on
it effectively? To this, Imust say, you know, I have
(08:31):
conversations with people who are Bitcoin Maxisall the time, and people tell me
that I'm not a Bitcoin MAXI.They would be correct. I am not
a Bitcoin MAXI. No, Ithink a Bitcoin MAXI is a very antagonistic
position to be in. And guys, please, please, please, I'm
not trying to rationalize anything here.Just hear me out. Like bitcoin maxie,
(08:56):
what does that mean? Bitcoin aboveall us? Fair enough? I
agree with that. The difference isyou, guys, only by Bitcoin.
Fair enough. I'm willing to buildon other systems. I am system agnostic.
Now, have I personally been burnedby the owner of Ethereum, mister
(09:16):
Boudin, Yes, I've been burned. That's why it was always hard for
me to participate. But that's soalmost a decade ago, and time has
passed and Bitcoin is rippin. Itain't going away, and Ethereum likewise is
not going away. So let megive you a couple questions that have been
(09:39):
on my mind when it comes toEtherium and Ethereum's narrative and where it might
go in the future. Let's talkabout it. So here's a few questions
for us to consider. How muchshould this global accounting ledger of Etherium be
(10:00):
worth? If you're thinking big numbers, maybe that's rationale enough to get in.
Number two doesn't have a larger,larger addressable market than bitcoin. That
you could make a good You couldmake a very very good argument that more
(10:22):
people will be have access to ethereumthan bitcoin. Number three, what does
the competition look like? Guys,I've been in this game just as long
as you have, maybe even longer. Right. We have seen the interoperable
networks and blockchains that were going tobe the ethereum killers. Right, We've
(10:45):
been through all of them. Doyou remember you bick? Do you remember
eos? Do you remember aunt shares? Now Neo? Right? Do you
remember Icon? Do you remember Cardano? Do you remember? Right? I
mean I could, I I couldgo back and back and back and back
and back back ethereums. The pointis, I'm actually making a solid argument
(11:11):
for ethereum being the survivor. Okay. Number Next, Does ethereum capture value
from its adoption? That's the finalquestion. Does ethereum and ethereum holders capture
value from its adoption? If I'velearned anything about the world of staking,
(11:33):
which, by the way, I'mdeep in I have lots of nodes.
If I've learned anything about the worldof staking, am I making most of
my staking revenue on the ethereum andin the ethereum world. Yeah, absolutely
absolutely, And I think that realityof running my own nodes and staking and
(11:58):
compounding yield in the ethereum world,the ERC twenty world, could it be
said that maybe my mind is shiftingover to the utility and value of ethereum
as a function of how much stakingrewards I'm earning. What do you guys think
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