0xValmy

[Bankless @Bankless]

“I understand the importance of crypto” — @RobertKennedyJr

Our full interview from @EthereumDenver, touching on his pro-crypto policy, what’s at stake if an anti-crypto candidate makes it into office, and how he wants to make “…crypto part of the American experience”👇

[DCinvestor @DCinvestor]

When I was younger back in ~2008, I worked and lived in the middle east for close to 2 years. First in Saudi Arabia (KSA) and then UAE. I was working with a US company, but all of my clients were based in the region.

While there, I lived and worked closely with people from all over the region, and I had the opportunity to travel across most of it (save for Israel, because back then, if you had that stamp in your passport, you weren't easily getting back into KSA or even UAE). I found the region to be a warm and hospitable place, probably because of the people who I worked with, who were gracious guides and hosts when I traveled.

Most of the people I worked with were Lebanese and some were Palestinian. They grew up through civil and international wars, and it deeply shaped how they lived their lives. They were some of the brightest minds from their respective countries, and they almost never talked about any ancient hatreds they may have harbored. All they wanted for themselves and their families were lives free of conflict. They didn't want their kids to grow up the way they did, so many no longer lived in the countries from which they originated. Many preferred the stability of a place like UAE to their home countries.

It's easy to dehumanize people from afar, or even forget that they are people. I grew up in a small town where my American high school classmates used to callously joke about "turning the Middle East into a glass parking lot and starting over."

I was excited at the prospect of recent moves towards Middle East peace, and not for the first time in my life. I was almost shocked when I learned that the US was close to brokering a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia and Israel. I thought about how years ago, if I had that stamp in my passport, I wouldn't have been able to get back into KSA, and I reflected on how much things had changed. Of course, things just changed again, but for the worse.

It's easy to forget that most people are decent humans who just want to live their lives in peace and be prosperous and help their families. But terrorists don't care about that. Angry zealots of any stripe don't care about that. They want violence, and they want a reaction of violence.

It breaks my heart to see that cycle of hatred and violence be rekindled by the recent Hamas attacks, while still recognizing the real struggles which Palestinians living in Gaza must endure every day. Terrorism is not a legitimate answer, and it almost always ends up bringing greater harm to the people which it claims to help. It is a *dead end*, literally, for those who perpetrate it and for many who are around them.

But nation-states must also take great care to ensure they do not become the enemies they seek to smite. History shows us that it's all too easy to lose yourself in the blood lust, even if you feel that it's legitimate retaliation. It is easy to "postpone" your humanity when you find yourself enmeshed in a group which becomes obsessed with achieving victory at any cost.

I'd say there is a balance, but if it exists, I have no idea what it is. I won't be so bold as to prescribe a solution, as if there were an easy one, perhaps it would have been found by now.

There was a younger and more idealistic version of me who was in college during September 11, 2001 who changed my major from Chemistry and Comp Sci to Government almost on the spot, based on the belief that maybe I had something different to contribute to the world than the path I was on.

Now like everyone else, I watch, feeling somewhat helpless, and can only hope things don't get worse, that the toll on innocent civilians of all nationalities can be minimized, and that it does not conflagrate into a new quagmire of regional instability which embroils the rest of the world. 🕯️

[Sev @SevNightingale]

What can we learn from Natural Systems?

I listened to ep. 144 of @greenpillnet Podcast where Kevin (@owocki) interviews Shuya (@ohmygong) about regeneration, biomimicry, and nature’s mascots we can learn from.

Here’s what I learned:

🌱 Radishes
Adaptable to summer or fall growing seasons.

They grow big leafs up top when the summer sun is shining, and big bulbs in fall when the soil is full of nutrients.

The #ReFi connection: design your org to be adaptable to changing conditions. Do you have a place to draw nutrients when bull cycles transition to bear?

Personal example: Our market research for @SunflowerEcoTec showed that our core offer (ecological assets) was too early, and that demand would come later. We decided to pivot and explore short term temporary opportunities that still advanced our mission (MDaaS - Methodology Development as a Service)

🦞 Lobsters
Conditionally immortal.

The Lobster won’t die if it doesn’t get too comfortable and wait too long to molt, temporarily becoming vulnerable to grow back a rejuvinating new shell.

Takeaway: Don't let your shell hold you back! Know when it's time for a change and embrace growth. If lobsters can do it, so can you.

Personal Example: For the first year of operations, our startup was called Eco Labs. It was a lackluster brand (and one that could have earned us a cease and desist from the multibillion dollar Ecolab). Rebranding to Sunflower EcoTech was a very uncomfortable experience, arguing about names, testing ideas, etc. but now that it’s over the business has been invigorated with new life, and everyone seems more excited to work with us!

🦫 Beavers
Spend $12m building a dam? Or play the sound of running water and let the beavers do their thing?

Takeaway: Nature knows what it's doing. Let's be humble enough to sit back, watch, and learn. Also, beavers are ecological badasses.

🌿 Moss
The cause of the 2nd largest extinction event.

Highly efficient at turning CO2 into Oxygen, the first proliferation of moss on this planet caused all the creatures that relied on a CO2 rich atmosphere to die off!

Takeaway: small, consistent action that changes the container (the systems we inhabit) can lead to big impacts. It's not about the speed, it's about the transformation.

🐜 Ants
They measure distance by the number of steps it takes them, not by inches or miles like us silly hoomans.

Takeaway: rethink what you measure. Is revenue & profit the only thing you measure? Measurement is inherently political and what and how you choose to measure is an expression of what you value.

🌾 Kohlrabi & Co.
Ever tried Brussel sprouts, cabbage, or kale? Same plant, different vibes.

Takeaway: The analogy is open source code “forking”. Embrace systems that can evolve into different niches. Linux is a great example.

✂️ Pruning
Like a gardener, sometimes you've got to cut back to grow. Effective pruning can help a plant grow stronger, and the extra biomass can build soil.

Takeaway: don’t be afraid to identify parts of your organization that need to be cut back. Prune so that you can grow.

Personal example: one of the ReFi orgs we collaborate with is low on cash and had to trim down. The branch they pruned happened to be someone we really admire and enjoy working with. We were able to hire them part time. Their talents are being recycled to help our collaborative ecosystem grow<3

🔥 Phoenix
A mythical creature that is designed to burn up into ashes.

Takeaway: Tech companies want to be unicorns, but what if we designed some of them to end and be recycled? A temporary DAO with a time constraint?

🎶 Song & Dance
Who says design can't be playful? Let's add a bit of flair and fun to the way we create algorithms and web3 protocols.

Takeaway: Protocols don’t have to be dull. “Square dancing is a protocol.” - Kevin

🤔 Squishy Economics
TBH I have no idea what you were getting at with this one, Shuya. Please elaborate what squishy systems means lol

If you got value from this give it a repost, and go listen to the episode yourself!

[jesse.base.eth @jessepollak]

proud to see @BuildOnBase exceed ethereum transactions yesterday and all L2s have 5x more

we're scaling y'all 📈

[jesse.base.eth @jessepollak]

took 15 minutes to onboard my 12 person extended family to base this evening.

23 year old cousin to 95 year old grandfather.

got them their first ETH and minted base day one.

10x easier than a year ago but still need to make it 10x better.

onchain summer 🟡

[Bankless @Bankless]

⚠️ A Contagion Event? ⚠️

EVM compiler @vyperlang revealed a zero-day vulnerability and DeFi is at risk of a contagion event as pools drain and threats of liquidation loom!

A THREAD 🧵👇

1/14

[Christopher Nolan Archives @NolanAnalyst]

Italian physicist Carlo Riveli on #Oppenheimer:

“I just saw the movie and I’m still under the spell. I think everybody should see this movie not only because it’s fantastic, but because the kind of questions that it raises are not just about the ’40s and general issues about morality of science. These are burning questions today. The doomsday clock that is supposed to estimate the risk of nuclear catastrophe has never been closer to midnight. We are in a situation where the kind of concerns that Oppenheimer was expressing, in his confused way, are our concerns today. I think this is what the movie brings out so strongly.”

(via @IndieWire)

[Polygon | POL @0xPolygon]

1/ Today, the next technical proposal of Polygon 2.0 is unveiled:

POL, the upgraded token of the Polygon protocol! 💫

POL is the next generation native token, designed to secure, align and grow the Polygon ecosystem.

Watch the video to get an idea how cool it is, then 🧵

[rektdiomedes @rektdiomedes]

Thread: 10 Thoughts On Macro + Crypto

🧵

Are we headed for economic collapse?

Or will the 'Powell pause' usher in a renaissance in meme stocks and monkey jpegs?!?

1/x

[sassal.eth/acc 🦇🔊 @sassal0x]

Here's how I see the whole SEC thing:

I don't think Gary Gensler really gives a shit about crypto either way - he just sees it as a very easy target to go after to achieve his own goals.

What are his goals? To get promoted to the Treasury Department (specifically to take Janet Yellen's job) and assume more power for himself. What's the best way to do that? To appease his superiors - high-ranking democrats and the president.

What do his superiors want? Public favor so that they can retain power. One of the best ways to get this public favor is to be seen as being "tough on crime" so Gensler does this by bringing SEC enforcement actions against highly visible targets (Coinbase, Binance, celebrities promoting shitcoins etc). He mostly ignores the low-visibility but actual scams/frauds that we all know about in crypto (think of all the people ZachXBT exposes that the SEC never goes after).

So why is Gensler going after crypto specifically? Because crypto is very hated by the general public thanks to all the high-profile fraud and scams that took place (Terra, FTX, 3ac etc) and all the money that was lost by retail investors. Notice how he does a media tour after every high profile enforcement action? That's simply more marketing for himself and the democrats.

All in all, Gensler probably won't be SEC chair long enough to see the Coinbase and Binance cases play out to their end - but I don't think he cares about that - he just wants to his promotion and at this rate, he's probably going to get it.

Oh and lastly, he very clearly does not give one shit about "protecting investors" - if he did he would be playing a very different game.

[Bankless @Bankless]

👮‍♂️ The SEC Endgame 👮‍♂️

The SEC is showing its cards and Gary Gensler doesn't believe crypto in America should exist at all 🤯

A THREAD 🧵

1/6

[Anish Giri @anishgiri]

One Ding to rule em all. #NepoDing

[Patrick McCorry 🐋 @stonecoldpat0]

Ethereum (and the EF) provided the time, space, and money for the community to learn how to scale blockchain systems.

It'll soon be time for Rollups to take care of Ethereum and support the next set of innovations that brings DeFi to the mainstream audience.

🔷🤝🔴💙🌠🟪

[Ross @rpoo]

What a time to be alive! Crazy to think
* Universe is 14.7B years old
* Earth is 4.5B years old
* Life started ~3.7B years ago
* Earliest hominins ~5-7M years ago
* Agriculture 10-12k years ago
* First flight 120 years ago
* Nuclear weapons 90 years ago
* Internet 40 years ago
* First stacked starship flight: yesterday
* ~1 billion years from now the sun will boil the oceans as it ages out

If life took just a little bit longer to start we might not be here

[Euler Labs @eulerfinance]

Following successful negotiations, all of the recoverable funds taken from the Euler protocol on March 13th have now been successfully returned by the exploiter.

[0xValmy @0xValmy]

Requesting faucet funds 0x278A875081E46ddbc58Ae317b938053334028BA0 on the #Goerli #Ethereum test network via https://t.co/bJowIm8kAq

[0xValmy @0xValmy]

@GoingParabolic Conclusion: most of your follower can't read the question

[0xValmy @0xValmy]

@GoingParabolic 18. I rode a horse and met a celeb

[Bankless @Bankless]

Me: Let’s go Bankless!

Biden Admin: Ok, we’ve unbanked the entire crypto industry and caused a run on all your banks.

Me: Not like that.