One of the most stunning things about the technology we consume everyday is the degree to which it is built, operated and even funded by its users. The device you’re using to read this post, the software that’s displaying it, the server hosting this content and so much else on the internet are built with […]
Author: Jesse Walden
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Research Partner
Update: We have extended applications through March 14 In October, we posted our first job listing at Variant Fund. The surprise was that instead of a hiring a Research Partner as planned, we added a General Partner, Spencer Noon, to the team. That changed the hiring timeline for our Research Partner role, and the time […]
co-authored with Connor Spelliscy tl;dr While many crypto startups have successfully made their users into owners by following the Progressive Decentralization playbook, a number of founding teams feel compelled to step back from their projects at the time of token launch to reduce the risk that their tokens will be deemed securities. An alternative path […]
Crypto unlocks a new economic model for networks that are built, operated, and owned by their users. Ownership accelerates network effects, resulting in platforms that grow bigger, faster.
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How does DeFi cross the chasm?
For a category that was unnamed and barely existed only two years ago, the growth in #DeFi is incredibly impressive. But within the crypto community I don’t think it is controversial to point out that DeFi is primarily used by insiders and enthusiasts, and mostly for speculation on crypto itself. I say this without negative […]
Many entrepreneurs and investors think that crypto projects can’t capture value because they are based on open source code. The thinking goes that if you develop open source code, someone will come along and copy it, luring away your users and any potential for revenue. That doesn’t seem like a good foundation for a business. […]
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Narrative Economics
Originally published as a Twitter thread, here is my high level reading/summary of @RobertJShiller’s book: “Narrative Economics” 👇 Narrative Economics is the study of the viral spread of popular narratives that affect economic behavior. The book explores historical examples of how stories go viral, referencing epidemiology to explain why contagious narratives can become epidemics […]
Crypto founders have a unique challenge in front of them. In addition to building a product that people want, they also need to consider how that product can successfully run in a decentralized manner — that is, as a protocol owned and operated by a community of users. This is a difficult challenge because much […]
Last year, I wrote a post: 4 Eras of Blockchain Computing, which introduced composibility (the lego-block approach to software) as a killer feature of blockchains. Recently, my view evolved so here’s a thread & new model for thinking about the ecosystem👇 Rather than the distinct eras, a better framing is Layers of Blockchain Computing. This […]
One way to think about various kinds of crypto projects is through the lens of contract theory. An axiom of this area of legal scholarship states: “all but the simplest contracts are incomplete”. That is, contractual arrangements cannot anticipate every possible outcome or set of actions, given complex and dynamic changes in the world the […]