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As I venture further into the captivating world of crypto, another thing I find quite interesting is the broad spectrum of personalities you’ll find in discussions online.
In particular, I think it’s curious how different crypto communities share extremely different values, and how politically polarized they can be. These differences aren’t necessarily about traditional Right or Left politics; rather, they’re the varied beliefs about the near future and what it might hold.
Delusional Optimists
I’ve noticed that on one end of the spectrum, you’ll find the most delusionally optimistic people who believe that, undoubtedly, the entire world will be transacting on Ethereum by 2030, and that NFTs will usher in a creator cultural revolution (not that one) like we’ve never seen before. Everyone will own and monetize their data and receive royalties every time they sneeze or send a tweet from the toilet. This digital utopia will extend into the metaverse, where virtual cities will be built out with plots of land registered on-chain, and the possibilities for speculation are endless.
Not only that — my new favorite meme spreading — is that ETH is the ultrasound, digitally-native money that artificial general intelligence will be using in the decades to come. There’s optimism that the scaling technology and layer two chains being built now will eventually handle billions of concurrent users, and governments will learn to embrace the loving warmth of open, trustless, permissionless — and private — transactions. UX will be seamless, wallet security not a hassle, and the world will grow rich on the blockchain. It sounds beautiful, and I’m tearing up just writing it.
Delusional Pessimists
On the other end of the spectrum — crypto diehards, just as committed and engaged as the above group, believe in a much different picture of the future. I’d present this as the Bitcoin maximalist view, where many believe that imminent hyperinflation will rapidly destabilize governments around the world, and the only safe-haven assets will be gold or bitcoin — the digital version of gold. Uncorrupted by newfangled consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-Stake, bitcoin is mined purely with raw energy (and ASIC supply chains) as its input, and the globally distributed community is the collective of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom that will prove resilient in any doomsday scenario. When we emerge from our bunkers following nuclear war or societal collapse, you’ll want canned beans and your Ledger nano.
You guys really should’ve remembered your private key Those of you reading this may be familiar with Balaji’s $1 million BTC bet, a rallying cry to take cover and protect yourself from the Federal Reserve’s relentless money printing that will soon lead to bank runs, collapses, and hyperinflation. There’s also the ever pervasive value of ‘not your keys, not your coins’ — urging anyone who holds BTC to move it off-exchange as, when shit really hits the fan, the government will begin seizures reminiscent of FDR seizing US citizens’ gold in the 1930s. While this is generally a good practice, many would agree the risk is due to custody providers shitting the bed, rather than an oppressive government crackdown in a time of crisis. Even if you’re less prone to apocalyptic ruminating, there is also the sense that making major upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol invites unwanted risk, and the system is perfect as it is- no need to alter Satoshi’s vision.
Synthesis
Now the Bitcoin scenario is a little less rosy than the Ethereum nerds’, but it’s similar to the optimists in one way: it’s not so far delusional to be worthy of complete dismissal. I think both scenarios certainly are possible, though to be honest I tend to lean towards the optimistic one. I don’t think the traditional financial system is going to imminently collapse, and I do believe that we’ll reach incredible technological heights in the coming years; great, I’ve outed myself as a delusional optimist. That being said, I’d argue that the combination of technological optimism ad absurdum from many in the Ethereum community, and doomsday prepperism of many in the Bitcoin community actually makes for quite a potent mix.
The rapid technological development that’s only made possible by a deep optimism for the future mixed with extreme paranoia of all the ways our current system can be destabilized, topped off by an intense self-preservation instinct, creates a robust combination. I believe it builds a dynamic and evolving ecosystem that has strong foundations. Growing from just a whitepaper to a financial escape hatch and full-fledged digital economy in a little over a decade shows that the ideas in crypto are powerful — and the personalities behind these powerful ideas are all motivated by wildly different visions of the future. I’m eager to see this future.