Writing & Ideas – Variant

Featured Writing

Why Bringing Real-World Assets Onchain Is Important

Geoff Hamilton

The Barrier to Mainstream Crypto Adoption Isn’t UX — It’s Product-Market Fit

Li Jin

Variant Founder Fellowship: Meet Our 2023 Cohort

Li Jin + others

Medha Kothari + others

Alli Pope + others

App-Specific Rollups: A Trade-Off Between Connectivity and Control

Alana Levin

How DEXs Are Demonstrating Their Resilience

Jack Gorman

Token Design

Overcoming ‘Token Debt’

Mason Nystrom

Centralized Dapps Through Tokenized Rebates: A Modest Proposal

Caleb Shough

Consumer Tokens Should Look Like Web2 Incentive Programs

Li Jin

Web3 Social

Variant Team Chat: Speculation as Growth Strategy for Social Apps

Variant Team

Web3 Social Networks: The Case For and Against Financialized Approaches

Li Jin

SocialFi: A Blank Canvas for Web3 Social Apps

Mason Nystrom

Investments

Alluvial: Liquid Staking for Institutions

Jesse Walden + others

DIMO: The User-Owned Mobility Network

Li Jin + others

Shibuya and Decentralized Creativity

Li Jin

Filter:

Why Bringing Real-World Assets Onchain Is Important

Geoff Hamilton

Crypto DeFi Article

09.29.23

The Barrier to Mainstream Crypto Adoption Isn’t UX — It’s Product-Market Fit

Li Jin

Consumer Web3 Article

09.26.23

Variant Team Chat: Speculation as Growth Strategy for Social Apps

Variant Team

Consumer NFTs Social Media Token Design Variant Team Chat Web3 Social Article Thread

08.31.23

‘Pop Music Is a Promise That You Aren’t Listening Alone’: What AI Music Can and Can’t Do

Li Jin

AI Art Consumer Article Podcast

08.07.23

How DEXs Are Demonstrating Their Resilience

Jack Gorman

Crypto DeFi Article

08.01.23

Building a Truly Scalable Lending Protocol: Morpho at EthCC

Geoff Hamilton

Crypto DeFi Web3 Article

07.31.23

Why UniswapX Will Be Additive to the Uniswap Protocol

Jack Gorman + others

Derek Walkush + others

Crypto DeFi Web3 Thread

07.25.23

DePIN and DeREN: Toward a Better Classification of Decentralized Infrastructure Networks

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Infra Web3 Article

07.20.23

Joining Variant: Jack Gorman aka J Hackworth

Jack Gorman

Joining Variant Article

07.12.23

Alluvial: Liquid Staking for Institutions

Jesse Walden + others

Caleb Shough + others

Derek Walkush + others

Infra Investments News & Updates Article

07.11.23

‘This Protocol Is Brought to You By’: An Onchain Model for Web3 Advertising

Mason Nystrom

Consumer Crypto NFTs Web3 Article

06.30.23

App-Specific Rollups: A Trade-Off Between Connectivity and Control

Alana Levin

Crypto Infra Web3 Article

06.30.23

Overcoming ‘Token Debt’

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Token Design Web3 Article

06.15.23

Web3 Social Networks: The Case For and Against Financialized Approaches

Li Jin

Consumer Frameworks/Theses Social Media Web3 Web3 Social Article

05.31.23

Adventures in Onchain Ownership

Caleb Shough

AI Art Consumer NFTs Social Media Web3 Article

05.26.23

SocialFi: A Blank Canvas for Web3 Social Apps

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Frameworks/Theses NFTs Social Media Web3 Web3 Social Article

05.24.23

Web3 Social Media Under the Lens

Li Jin

Consumer NFTs Web3 Web3 Social Article

05.17.23

Generative Art Will Be a Multiplayer Exercise in Meaning-Making

Tina Dai + others

Simon Hudson

AI Art Marketplaces NFTs Article

05.16.23

Building Base: Coinbase Engineer Jesse Pollak on Ecosystem Growth

Medha Kothari

Crypto DeFi Developers Variant Network Article

05.15.23

Centralized Dapps Through Tokenized Rebates: A Modest Proposal

Caleb Shough

Consumer Crypto DeFi Token Design Article

05.08.23

Actionable Tips for New DevRel Teams

Alli Pope + others

Medha Kothari + others

Developers Variant Network Web3

05.05.23

AI, NFTs, and Proof of Personhood: The Frontier of the Crypto Creator Economy

Li Jin

AI Art Consumer NFTs Web3 Article

04.27.23

The Interplay Between AI Abundance + Crypto Scarcity

Jesse Walden

AI Art Crypto Frameworks/Theses NFTs Web3 Article

04.25.23

Libraries vs. Networks

Jesse Walden

Crypto Frameworks/Theses Web3 Article

04.06.23

Building Psychological Attachment — Not Just Ownership — Into Web3

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto Frameworks/Theses Token Design Web3 Article

04.04.23

The NFT MEV Landscape

Alana Levin

Crypto Infra NFTs Web3 Article

03.31.23

Turnkey: Removing Barriers for Crypto Developers

Spencer Noon + others

Medha Kothari + others

Consumer Crypto DeFi Investments Web3 Article

03.21.23

About the Variant Network

Jesse Walden + others

Alli Pope + others

Crypto News & Updates Variant Network Web3 Article

03.20.23

Product vs Network-Driven GTM

Mason Nystrom

Frameworks/Theses GTM Article

02.28.23

See Variant’s Botto Art Collection in OnCyber

Caleb Shough

AI Investments

02.17.23

Consumer Tokens Should Look Like Web2 Incentive Programs

Li Jin

Token Design Thread

02.17.23

Whole Crypto Catalog: Progressive Decentralization

Jesse Walden + others

Medha Kothari + others

Alana Levin + others

Nina Suthers + others

Crypto Web3 Article

02.03.23

The Next Frontier in Cryptoeconomic Business Models

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Web3 Article

02.01.23

Productive Fees: Valuable Protocols / Extractive Fees: Valuable Companies

Jesse Walden

Crypto Web3 Article

01.30.23

More Than Semantics: “Crypto” vs. “Web3” Is About What Will Be Decentralized

Jesse Walden

Crypto Web3 Article

01.30.23

Hybrid Ownership

Caleb Shough

Token Design Web3 Article

01.26.23

Variant Values

Variant Team

News & Updates

01.25.23

Canto: A Layer-1 Incentive Experiment

Jesse Walden + others

Spencer Noon + others

Derek Walkush + others

Crypto DeFi Web3 Article

01.19.23

Progressive Decentralization for Media

Li Jin

Crypto Social Media Web3 Thread

01.16.23

Cross-Chain Order Flow Auctions

Alana Levin

Infra Web3 Article

01.10.23

DIMO: The User-Owned Mobility Network

Li Jin + others

Mason Nystrom + others

Jesse Walden + others

Consumer Crypto Investments Web3 Article

12.12.22

Shibuya and Decentralized Creativity

Li Jin

Crypto Investments NFTs Web3 Article

12.08.22

Perennial: A New Era of DeFi Derivatives

Spencer Noon + others

Derek Walkush + others

DeFi Investments Article

12.07.22

Pro Nouns

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Li Jin + others

Consumer NFTs Web3 Article

12.06.22

The Long View: Web3 and User Ownership

Li Jin + others

Jesse Walden + others

Crypto Token Design Web3 Article

12.02.22

Building a Better NFT Debt Market

Geoff Hamilton + others

Spencer Noon + others

DeFi Investments News & Updates NFTs Article

11.01.22

When Tokens Shape Behavior

Mason Nystrom

Consumer Token Design

10.18.22

When to Launch a Token

Alana Levin

Infra Token Design

09.28.22

The New Creator Playbook

Li Jin

Consumer Web3 Article

09.27.22

Hyperlane and the Bridge to a Multichain Future

Medha Kothari + others

Jesse Walden + others

Infra Investments News & Updates Article

09.22.22

Fans Are the New Creators

Li Jin

Consumer NFTs Article

09.01.22

A New DeFi Security Paradigm

Derek Walkush

DeFi Thread

08.31.22

Tokens Are Products

Jesse Walden

Infra Token Design Article

08.24.22

Designing Governance Tokens

Alana Levin

Infra Token Design Article

08.16.22

Music NFTs Can Revamp Music Royalties

Spencer Noon

Consumer Marketplaces Thread

08.12.22

What Can Tokens Do?

Alana Levin

Consumer Infra Thread

08.03.22

Sufficient Decentralization

Marc Boiron

Legal Web3 Article

08.02.22

Introducing Variant Fund III

Li Jin + others

Spencer Noon + others

Jesse Walden + others

News & Updates Web3 Article

07.28.22

Joining Variant: Alana Levin

Alana Levin

Infra Joining Variant News & Updates Article

07.18.22

Empiric Network: Oracles That Expand What’s Possible in Web3

Geoff Hamilton + others

Spencer Noon + others

DeFi Investments News & Updates

07.15.22

Joining Variant: Mason Nystrom

Mason Nystrom

Consumer Joining Variant News & Updates Article

07.01.22

The Unbundling of Wallets

Derek Walkush

Consumer DeFi Thread

06.30.22

The Garden of Magic Eden

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces NFTs

06.29.22

The 0-to-100 Guide on Stablecoin Designs and Risks

Spencer Noon

DeFi Thread

05.12.22

A Theory of Justice for Web3

Li Jin + others

Katie Parrott

Crypto DAOs NFTs Social Media Web3 Article

05.10.22

The Ownership Economy 2022

Variant Team

Web3 Article

04.28.22

Recent Trends in Token Distribution

Derek Walkush

DeFi Article

04.25.22

Joining Variant: Derek Walkush

Derek Walkush

DeFi Joining Variant News & Updates Article

04.13.22

What Is the Future of NFT Marketplaces?

Li Jin

Marketplaces NFTs Thread

03.01.22

Joining Variant: Alli Pope

Alli Pope

Joining Variant News & Updates Article

02.15.22

Joining Variant: Geoff Hamilton

Geoff Hamilton

DeFi Joining Variant News & Updates Article

01.31.22

7 Steps to Transition to Web3

Li Jin

Web3 Thread

01.06.22

The Web3 Renaissance

Li Jin + others

Katie Parrott

Consumer Web3 Article

12.20.21

Product vs. Protocol: Finding a Balance in Web3

Jesse Walden + others

Jonathan Glick

Web3 Article

11.29.21

The Future of Unions Is Decentralized

Li Jin

DAOs Thread

11.18.21

Music NFTs Are the Next Generation of Collectibles

Jesse Walden

Consumer NFTs Thread

11.08.21

Li Jin on the Future of the Creator Economy

Li Jin

Consumer

11.08.21

The Blockchain-Based Global Supercomputer

Jesse Walden

Infra Thread

11.01.21

What NFTs Can Learn From the Success of Legos

Li Jin

Marketplaces NFTs Thread

10.20.21

Variant Fund II: $110M Fund Built for the Ownership Economy

Jesse Walden + others

Li Jin + others

Spencer Noon + others

Variant Team

Article

10.19.21

The Passion Economy Is the What, the Ownership Economy Is the How

Li Jin

Consumer News & Updates Article

10.19.21

A Labor Movement for the Platform Economy

Li Jin + others

Scott Kominers

Lila Schroff

Consumer DAOs Article

09.24.21

The Creator Economy Is in Crisis. Now Let’s Fix It.

Li Jin

Consumer Article

08.10.21

Bankless Podcast: Li Jin on the Creator Economy

Jesse Walden + others

Li Jin + others

Cooper Turley

Consumer Podcast

07.01.21

Ownership Will Decide the Battle Between Platform and Participant

Li Jin

Consumer Thread

06.24.21

Fred Ehrsam’s Podcast: Jesse Walden on Creators, Communities, and Crypto

Jesse Walden + others

Fred Ehrsam

Blake Robbins

Podcast

06.23.21

Apple Is Holding Back the Creator Economy

Li Jin + others

Nathan Baschez

Yash Bagal

Consumer Article Podcast Video

05.10.21

The Case for Universal Creative Income

Li Jin + others

Lila Shroff

Article

04.21.21

a16z Podcast: Jesse Walden on the Creator Economy – NFTs and Beyond

Jesse Walden + others

Chris Dixon

Kevin Chou

Consumer Podcast

04.03.21

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy: Jesse Walden – A Primer on NFTs

Jesse Walden

03.23.21

The Pomp Podcast: Jesse Walden on the Ownership Economy

Jesse Walden

Podcast

03.11.21

NFTs Make the Internet Ownable

Jesse Walden

NFTs Article

02.15.21

Indie Hackers: The Passion Economy

Li Jin

Podcast

02.08.21

We Studied 50+ Startups on TikTok and Here’s What We Found

Li Jin + others

Lila Shroff

Article

01.27.21

The Creator Economy Needs a Middle Class

Li Jin

Consumer Article

12.17.20

Leadership in The Ownership Economy: Scaling Decision Making while Minimizing Securities Risk

Jesse Walden + others

Connor Spelliscy

Article

12.01.20

The Pomp Podcast: Li Jin on the Passion Economy

Li Jin

Podcast

10.20.20

Bankless Podcast: Jesse Walden on the Ownership Economy

Jesse Walden

Consumer Podcast

10.12.20

7 Indicators for DeFi Project Investment

Spencer Noon

DeFi Thread

08.16.20

Unbundling Work From Employment

Li Jin

Consumer Article

07.29.20

The Ownership Economy: Crypto & The Next Frontier of Software

Jesse Walden + others

Variant Team

Crypto Article

07.14.20

How Does DeFi Cross the Chasm?

Jesse Walden

DeFi Article

06.17.20

Unchained Podcast: Jesse Walden on How to Decentralize a Crypto Project Without Harming Security

Jesse Walden

Podcast

06.02.20

Four Implications of Disruption Theory for the Passion Economy (Part 2)

Li Jin

Consumer Article

05.22.20

How the Passion Economy Will Disrupt Media, Education, and Countless Other Industries (Part 1)

Li Jin

Consumer Article

05.14.20

a16z Podcast: Li Jin on How the Passion Economy Is Redefining Work

Li Jin + others

Sam Yam

Lauren Murrow

Consumer Podcast

04.17.20

Crypto’s Business Model Is Familiar. What Isn’t Is Who Benefits

Jesse Walden

Crypto Article

04.10.20

Narrative Economics

Jesse Walden

Crypto Article

04.07.20

1,000 True Fans? Try 100

Li Jin

Consumer Article

02.06.20

Progressive Decentralization: A Playbook for Building Crypto Applications

Jesse Walden

Infra Article

01.18.20

16 Key Metrics for the Passion Economy

Li Jin

Consumer Article

01.08.20

Paid Groups and the Passion Economy

Li Jin

Consumer Social Media Thread

10.20.19

The Passion Economy and the Future of Work

Li Jin

Consumer Article

10.08.19

Layers (Not Eras) of Blockchain Computing

Jesse Walden

Infra Article

09.03.19

8 Things to Consider When Building Managed Marketplace Companies

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces Article

08.28.19

Incomplete Contracts (and Scaling Crypto)

Jesse Walden

Crypto Article

08.04.19

Past, Present, Future: From Co-ops to Cryptonetworks

Jesse Walden

Consumer Article

03.22.19

The Best Marketplaces Solve a Demand Need

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces NFTs Thread

02.25.19

Fake Your Way to Marketplace Success

Li Jin

Marketplaces Thread

01.19.19

4 Eras of Blockchain Computing: Degrees of Composability

Jesse Walden

Infra Article

12.12.18

What’s Next for Marketplace Startups?

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces Article

11.27.18

5 Questions for Evaluating E-Commerce Viability

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces Thread

10.09.18

Why Crypto Community Building Matters

Spencer Noon

Crypto

09.15.18

a16z Podcast: Jesse Walden on Crypto and the Evolution of Open Source

Jesse Walden + others

Denis Nazarov

Devon Zuegel

Crypto Podcast

08.21.18

Crypto Community Building Playbook

Spencer Noon

Crypto

07.19.18

What NFTs Mean for ETH

Spencer Noon

DeFi Marketplaces Article

04.18.18

The Persistent Forker

Spencer Noon

Infra Article

04.11.18