Issue #9: Crypto, Tokens and Bubbles.
In 2012, over dinner/drinks, a friend shared that he’d bought this thing called Bitcoin. He felt it was worth a shot. Turned out it was. In 2015 he claimed he paid off his mortgage with the proceeds from the sale of some Bitcoin during the last gold rush. Fast forward to 2017 and we’re in the middle of another gold rush with a rally that most don’t fundamentally understand. 1 Bitcoin is going for ~$3000 (image below). Crazy to think my friend have sold too soon…
The investors who made early bets on crypto tokens and crypto infrastructure, Andreessen Horowitz + others with $116M in 21.co and USV + others with $117M in Coinbase, are pushing this so hard, they’ve lost objectivity. The more demand and interest these firms can generate for their portfolio company products, the more value these firms will capture when the inevitable liquidity event happens. You and I still need to be objective in assessing these things.
Do I own Bitcoin? No. While I understand the technology, I’m still trying to figure out where the true value comes from. Have I missed out on making some money from its increasing value? Absolutely yes. But I don’t worry about money I didn’t make/could have made. It’s the same as worrying about the milkshakes I didn’t drink, tacos I didn’t eat or the deaths I didn’t die, there’s definitely no value in doing that.
Books and articles this week cover crypto, tokens, and bubbles.
Articles
1. Blockchain (the framework) is more valuable than bitcoin (the cryptocurrency) and I write about how the blockchain might be applied to contracts in wholesale electricity markets.
2. How the Bitcoin protocol works explained.
3. And Chris Dixon of a16z explains the importance of crypto tokens.
4. For another tech segment that might or might not be a bubble, we look at the Gig Economy. Is it working? New Yorker investigates and The Gig’s False Promise is also covered by the New York Times.
5. And the tech industry’s fascination with the future is nothing new.
Books
6. For those of you looking to get into hardcore crypto enthusiasts, read the first three chapters of Cryptography (free PDF).
7. Flash Boys, not the best of Micheal Lewis’ book shares about the gaming of the stock markets.
8. Informative for where we are in the cryptocurrency space are lessons from exchanges and trading. Dark Pools by dives deeper into concepts shared how the unsophisticated stock market participants stand no chance against AI, bots and algorithms that the big firms now use. Must read.
9. While Scott Patterson (author of Dark Pools) does a good job explaining trading, he lacked a grasp of the bots and algorithms, Pedro Domingos does a better job explaining these in Master Algorithm.
As always, Have a great week and please share this with friends/family!
Seyi