New this week
Li Jin
A Theory of Justice for Web3
Li Jin
~11 min read · May 12th · Web3 Is Our Chance to Make a Better Internet
Reader View · Shared by 74
Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦
What kind of financial asset is Bitcoin?
Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦
10 min read · May 14th · Is it money? Digital gold? A tech stock? Recent events shed some light on the question.
paulbutler.org
The problem with bitcoin miners
paulbutler.org
6 min read · May 16th · Disclosure: I hold short positions in companies mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice. Six months ago, I wrote: [Bitcoin] miners burn an enormous amount of capital just to capture…
Reader View · Shared by 43, including your #1 source for absurdist true crime 🐍👑 🌷, Bill Johnston
TNW
Crypto crash explainer: This is why you’re losing money
TNW
3 min read · May 14th · This crash was possibly triggered by a financial “attack” on the stablecoin Terra (UST), which is supposed to match the US dollar.
VICE
The 'Holy Grail' of Cryptocurrency Looks Like the Banks We Already Know and Hate
VICE
8 min read · May 14th · Intangible Labs raised $133 million from established investors to create a stable coin with an "algorithmic central bank."
Fast Company
Panics and death spirals: a history of failed stablecoins
Fast Company
3 min read · May 14th · They were supposed to be a less volatile form of crypto, but Terra USD is just the latest of several so-called stablecoins to crash.
Current Affairs
Why This Computer Scientist Says All Cryptocurrency Should “Die in a Fire” ❧ Current Affairs
Current Affairs
20+ min read · May 14th · UC-Berkeley’s Nicholas Weaver has been studying cryptocurrency for years. He thinks it’s a terrible idea that will end in disaster.
Reader View · Shared by 118, including Kyle McDonald, Christo Meid
concoda.substack.com
The Coming Crypto Market Crisis
concoda.substack.com
~12 min read · May 15th · How the latest crypto boom has morphed into a house of cards
readthegeneralist.com
Blockspace: An Introduction with Chris Dixon
readthegeneralist.com
20+ min read · May 15th · Chris Dixon has called blockspace the “best product” of the 2020s. We ask a16z’s head of crypto to explain why that’s the case and where we’re headed.
Reader View · Shared by 31, including Ryan Selkis 📖 🖊🔑
VICE
‘The Guilt Is Unbearable’: UST-Luna Investors Discuss the 99.99% Crypto Crash
VICE
7 min read · May 13th · It took less than a week for the third largest stablecoin and its ecosystem to become virtually worthless, wiping out countless traders' savings.
Foreign Policy
The Cryptocurrency Crash Is Replaying 2008 as Absurdly as Possible
Foreign Policy
7 min read · May 12th · Substitute dollars backed by almost nothing are taking down the market.
Summary · Reader View · Shared by 25, including Cory Doctorow, Dorothea Baur (Dr.), Nouriel Roubini, your #1 source for absurdist true crime 🐍👑 🌷
Visual Capitalist
The Future of NFTs in the World of Web 3.0
Visual Capitalist
~11 min read · Apr 23rd · The following content is sponsored by NFT.com
Reader View · Shared by 62, including Nicolas Babin #AmazonPartner, George J Huba PhD, Evan Kirstel the $B2B Techfluencer, Chris Gledhill | gledhill.eth, Theodora (Theo) Lau - 劉䂀曼 🌻
0xelle.substack.com
Buying Beauty and NFTs, and Other Choices
0xelle.substack.com
5 min read · May 8th · Alternative title: Cherry-Picking.
Recently popular
Variant
The Ownership Economy 2022
Variant
~13 min read · Apr 28th · A primer on the state of web3
Reader View · Shared by 209, including Andrew Spence, Li Jin, Christian Hartmann, Jonathan Kogan, Merkstatt, Chris Messina
Matt Turck
The great VC pullback of 2022
Matt Turck
9 min read · Apr 29th · Are we witnessing a major VC pullback? Is it temporary? What does that mean for startups? Certainly the topic du jour in startup circles. Here's what I'm seeing. IS THE PULLBACK REAL? Yes. The market…
Reader View · Shared by 175, including William Toll, Anand Sanwal, 🇺🇦 Alex Iskold | 1kproject.org, Dave Kellogg, James Wise, Brian Laung Aoaeh, CFA, ErmanTaylan.eth, Florian Graillot, Marvin “Polymath but really Just Generalist” Liao
The Wall Street Journal
NFT sales are flatlining
The Wall Street Journal
3 min read · May 3rd · Is this the beginning of the end of NFTs?
Shared by 139, including Ben Sandofsky, Christopher Mims 🤌, Jennifer Stirrup - Next: #RDA #AI #AIOps #keynote, Frank Gruber, Rebecca Taylor FRSA, Evan Kirstel the $B2B Techfluencer, Tarik ESSAADI, Arlan 👊🏾, John Koetsier, Tim Bray 💉💉💉🎉
NFX
Why Web3 Hiring Is Unique
NFX
5 min read · Apr 22nd · We've seen 9 characteristics that make startup hiring in web3 different. Whether they present an advantage or a vulnerability is for you to decide.
Reader View · Shared by 124, including hiten.eth
Current Affairs
Why This Computer Scientist Says All Cryptocurrency Should “Die in a Fire” ❧ Current Affairs
Current Affairs
20+ min read · May 14th · UC-Berkeley’s Nicholas Weaver has been studying cryptocurrency for years. He thinks it’s a terrible idea that will end in disaster.
Reader View · Shared by 118, including Kyle McDonald, Christo Meid
Stack Overflow
New data: Do developers think Web3 will build a better internet?
Stack Overflow
4 min read · Apr 20th · Are blockchain and Web3 the future or are they just a fad? We asked the developer community about Web3, blockchain, crypto, and whether they are all hype or truly the future of the internet.
Vox
The growing, lightly controversial industry teaching kids crypto
Vox
6 min read · Apr 12th · Today’s parents must ask the age-old question: When’s the right time to teach my 5-year-old about NFTs?
Summary · Reader View · Shared by 110, including Taylor Lorenz, Josh Wills, Theodora (Theo) Lau - 劉䂀曼 🌻
adamtooze.substack.com
Chartbook #116: The end of crypto's "Wild West"? The battle to shape the future of digital assets…
adamtooze.substack.com
~14 min read · Apr 25th · Bitcoin has no reason to exist. It delivers no meaningful benefit for society. It is a form of gambling, propelled by naked greed and generating vast quantities of CO2 emissions. This was the…
The Atlantic
The Many, Many Beautiful Cartoon Women of Web3
The Atlantic
8 min read · Apr 18th · Is everyone finally welcome in the crypto community—or is this just non-fungible tokenism?
All-time favorites
moxie.org
My first impressions of web3
moxie.org
~14 min read · Jan 7th · Despite considering myself a cryptographer, I have not found myself particularly drawn to “crypto.” I don’t think I’ve ever actually said the words “get off my lawn,” but I’m much more likely to click…
Reader View · Shared by 1414, including Casey Newton, Vala Afshar, Ryan Selkis 📖 🖊🔑, zeldman, Michael A. Stelzner, hardmaru, дэн, Martin Fowler, Robert Scoble, Laura Shin, Ezra Klein, SwiftOnSecurity, Brian Armstrong - barmstrong.eth, Ryan Hoover, Jeff Jarvis, Benedict Evans, Charles Hoskinson, Matthew Green, Michael Arrington 🏴☠️, Steven Sinofsky
tante
The Third Web
tante
20+ min read · 2021-12-17 · I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to write this thing, that blockchains and NFTs and all that would just go away and become a chapter in a book about weird economic scams. But if 2021 taught us anything it’s that we can’t have nice things so here we are.
Reader View · Shared by 1238, including Mathew Ingram, Mark Kaigwa, Clemens M. Schuster, Tactical Tech, Pablo Felip, Thomas Knuewer, your #1 source for absurdist true crime 🐍👑 🌷, Nils Hitze, Michael Seemann, Dion Almaer, Kevin Marks, Katja Evertz, Richard MacManus, Yann “shalf@mastodon.social” Heurtaux 不停, rufuspollock, Fabio Chiusi, Luca Hammer, Nicolas Kayser-Bril, Jakob Adler
TNW
The ultimate, 3500-word, plain English guide to blockchain
TNW
~13 min read · From 2017 · Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of Bitcoin and blockchain. After all, they are one of the most trending topics these days — the ultimate buzzwords of the year. Even…
Reader View · Shared by 813, including Oleg Baskov, Andrew Cunning, Dominik Grolimund, Thomas Power, Mark Kaigwa, David Bauer, Klaus Eck, Sara Usinger, Charlie Oliver, Eric L. Barnes, k, Roger Friedensen, Howard Getson, Nicolas Berg, Bjorn Larsen, Lorenz König, Helmi, René Clausen Nielsen, Katja Evertz, Marco Unternaehrer
The New York Times
Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble
The New York Times
From 2018 · Yes, it’s driven by greed — but the mania for digital cash could wind up building something much more important than wealth.
Reader View · Shared by 730, including Dan Ariely, tjalve, Martin Rajcan 🇺🇦🕊, FinTech Connector, Ernst-Jan Pfauth, Anthony Hamelle, Nicolas Berg, Nir Eyal, Howard Getson, Matthias Lampe, Ha Duong, Patrick Scheuerer, Hans van Gent, Ricky Yean, 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤 𝙇𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖, 𝐦𝐫𝐯𝐧 , Vinny Lingham, Ste Davies, Thomas Power, cdixon.eth
HackerNoon | Will NOT Insert LINKS in HN stories
Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain
HackerNoon | Will NOT Insert LINKS in HN stories
~18 min read · From 2017 · Everyone says the blockchain, the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, is going to change EVERYTHING. And yet, after…
Reader View · Shared by 700, including Thomas Power, David Smooke, 𝐦𝐫𝐯𝐧 , Alex Barrera, Mike Butcher, Alf Rehn, Azeem Azhar, Michael Seemann, Martin Stabe, Nicolas Berg, Weiting Chen, Bjorn Larsen, Balthasar Glättli🌻 🕊, your #1 source for absurdist true crime 🐍👑 🌷, 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤 𝙇𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖, Martin Steiger 🔥, Stefan T, Howard Getson, Andreas Kubli, Nouriel Roubini
medium.com
You Don’t Understand Bitcoin Because You Think Money Is Real
medium.com
7 min read · From 2017 · Bitcoin is an illusion, a mass hallucination, so one hears. It’s just numbers in cyberspace, a mirage, insubstantial as a soap bubble…
Reader View · Shared by 640, including Klaus Eck, Helmi, 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤 𝙇𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖, tjalve, Vinny Lingham, Ha Duong, Jonathan Kogan, Thomas Power, Nicolas Berg, Matthias Lampe, Ines Bieler, Mathew Ingram, Rachel Miller | #SAPSapphireOrlando, Marc Steffen, Charlie Oliver, Scott Williams, Tris Hussey, Matthias «Delay» Göbel, Nando 💪🇦🇺🇦🇷, von Moerenburgh
VICE
One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week
VICE
10 min read · From 2017 · Bitcoin’s surge in price has sent its electricity consumption soaring.
Reader View · Shared by 624, including Nils Hitze, Alex Barrera, Bjorn Larsen, Dominik Grolimund, Thomas Power, John Battelle, Ryan Boren, Richard Joerges, Dan Gillmor, MariadPDC, Massimiliano Aroffo, Nicolas Berg, Philipp.Herkelmann, Paulmears, tjalve, Azeem Azhar, Taylor Pearson, Balthasar Glättli🌻 🕊, Ward Plunet, Christoph Janz 🇺🇦🎗🕊
stephendiehl.com
Web3 is Bullshit
stephendiehl.com
5 min read · 2021-12-04 · If you read tech journalism you’ll probably hear the fuzzy term web3 bandied about in the press. Sprinkled around all these articles are all manner of idealistic and utopian ideas about how we can…
Reader View · Shared by 587, including Nouriel Roubini, Dan Gillmor, Tristan Nitot 📱🎙🌿🚲, notsofast, Michael Seemann, Thomas “🐈🔭🕹” Fuchs, Christopher Mims 🤌, rufuspollock, Kevin Marks, Tony Parisi.eth 🇺🇦🌻 #SlavaUkraini, John Battelle, Dave Kellogg, Bjorn Larsen, Kyle Chayka, tante, Eric Vitiello, your #1 source for absurdist true crime 🐍👑 🌷, Evan Kirstel the $B2B Techfluencer, Mark Kaigwa, John Koetsier
TechCrunch
100 cryptocurrencies described in four words or less
TechCrunch
3 min read · From 2017 · This list describes cryptocurrencies. Each gets four words. There are many. Some are landmarks. Some are scams. Hopefully this provides orientation.
Reader View · Shared by 583, including Fabricio Teixeira, Thomas Power, Merkstatt, 👑Sir Lord Travis Wright, Web3 Speaker + #VeeCon, Stefan Steiner, Mario Camou, Dez S. Papp, Carl Morris, Weiting Chen, Ha Duong, Nicolas Berg, Francesco Forconi, Oleg Baskov, Gio Tiongson, Amaury Martiny, von Moerenburgh, Azeem Azhar, Michael R. Nall, Bram Kanstein, Balaji Srinivasan