jonathan

rick rubin of crypto and recently vibe coding: "I have no technical ability, and I know nothing about crypto, i have good taste and that's my superpower"

[jonathan @notjonathan]

I’ve been sitting on this for a while, but something about @RaoulGMI bullishness just wasn’t congruent with the way I saw things that line up with how @joemccann describes these platforms.

Thread: Ethereum as Microsoft vs. Solana as Apple? Nah, it’s more like BlackBerry vs. Apple. Here’s why Ethereum is closer to BlackBerry than Microsoft. 🧵👇

1/ Raoul Pal says Ethereum is Microsoft—stable, dominant, enterprise-friendly. But that misses the mark. Ethereum’s more like BlackBerry: a pioneer that owned the early smartphone (smart contract) game but got clunky, slow, and stuck in its ways.

2/ BlackBerry had first-mover advantage, just like Ethereum with smart contracts. But high gas fees, sluggish transactions, and a rigid dev ecosystem scream BlackBerry’s outdated QWERTY keyboards, not Microsoft’s adaptable Windows empire.

3/ Microsoft scaled by embracing developers, open ecosystems, and constant reinvention (think Azure, Office 365). Ethereum’s upgrades (like EIP-1559 or the Merge) are slow and divisive, more like BlackBerry’s half-hearted OS updates that couldn’t keep up.

4/ Solana, on the other hand, is Apple. Sleek, user-focused, and built for speed. Sub-second transactions and low fees are like the iPhone’s intuitive UX—designed for mass adoption, not just tech nerds. Solana’s ecosystem feels like iOS: vibrant, dev-friendly, future-ready.

5/ BlackBerry clung to its niche (secure email, physical keyboards) while Apple redefined the game with touchscreens and ecosystems. Ethereum’s stuck on “decentralization purism” while Solana optimizes for scale and usability, capturing DeFi and NFT mindshare.

6/ Data backs this up. Solana’s TPS (transactions per second) can hit 65,000 vs. Ethereum’s ~15-30. Gas fees? Solana’s often < $0.01, while Ethereum’s can spike to $50+. BlackBerry’s clunky UX lost to Apple’s polish; Ethereum’s cost loses to Solana’s efficiency.

7/ Ethereum’s community points to L2s (like Arb or Base) as a fix, but that’s like BlackBerry slapping Android on its phones too late. Patching an outdated core doesn’t match Solana’s native speed and vision. L2 =two problems

8/ Microsoft dominates because it’s everywhere—cloud, gaming, enterprise. Ethereum’s influence wanes as Solana grabs DeFi TVL (e.g., $10B+ in Solana DeFi vs. Ethereum’s slipping share). BlackBerry faded as competitors innovated faster. History’s repeating.

9/ Don’t get me wrong—Ethereum’s a legend, like BlackBerry was. But legends can fall. Solana’s Apple-like focus on performance and adoption makes it the future, while Ethereum risks being a nostalgic relic. Who’s building the next iPhone moment? Not ETH. 🏁

One line Raoul says “you can’t get fired for using Eth” but I disagree, you can be left in the dust and obsolete just like you couldn’t be fired for investing into Sears vs AMZN

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@DrJackKruse Tens unit? What’s your parameters

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@hellojintao Robots

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@BTCoptioneer What’s your timeline sir

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@elonmusk Only @HunterBiden can save you now

[jonathan @notjonathan]

This is my quant these days

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

@Camel_Crushin Now that’s an interesting question, because if Die Hard is clearly a Christmas Movie, which it most definitely is, why is Lethal Weapon not a Christmas Movie, which it most definitely is not.

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@BoJaxGOAT Ah thanks for clarifying

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@Osemka8 @DeadSeaTrader thoughts

[Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com @fundstrat]

Don’t fall for false narratives

- Equity bull market intact
- Crypto only way for tokenization
- Crypto key in a machine to machine AI world

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@BhavanChand Just annoying to have to titrate and subq

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Chicago lost the Bears this week. A team that's been in the city since 1921.

They didn't lose them to a bigger market or a better deal. The Bears decided they'd rather be a tenant in Indiana than deal with Illinois for one more year.

Think about how badly you have to run a place for that to be the smart move.

They lost them for two reasons.

The people running Illinois would rather villainize a builder than keep one. And they're bad at their jobs.

In 2021 the Bears spent $197M on the old Arlington Park racetrack.

Before they could break ground, Cook County valued the empty lot at $192M (Bears said $60M). They were salivating at the chance to extort a building that didn't even exist yet.

That fight dragged on for years.

The Bears were ready to put $2B into the stadium. All they wanted was a promise the county wouldn't reassess them into oblivion, plus $855M for infrastructure everyone uses. Roads, transit, utilities. A $3B project, two thirds of it private money pouring into Illinois.

Springfield had since 2021 to get this done. They dragged it to the final night of session, passed it through the Senate at 3:39AM, and the House went home without voting.

So now it's all gone.

The funniest part? This started because Cook County tried to grab the tax early. They knew a built stadium would pay $53M a year. Now they get under $4M on a vacant lot. No jobs, no buildout, no new anything.

Congrats on fighting for scraps and losing the whole prize.

Pritzker: they're "an $8.5B valued business" that doesn't need propping up.

But be smart for a second. Almost every NFL city throws in public money for a stadium. Not charity. The return is real. Tourism, hotels, restaurants, jobs, game days, property tax on a huge development. The math works.

Indiana did the math. While Illinois sat on it for years, Indiana passed a bill in months, put up $1B, and took the team.

And the Bears took a worse deal to get there. In Illinois they were going to own their stadium. In Indiana they rent it from the state. A team that wanted to build its own home gave up ownership just to escape Chicago.

Nobody won but Indiana. The Bears lost their stadium. Illinois lost the team, the $2B, and $53M a year in taxes.

Pritzker after they left: "I wasn't willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give it to a billionaire-owned family or team."

There it is. "Billionaire-owned."

That's how Democrats talk about any business right before they run it out of town. Call them a billionaire, act like you're saving working families, take a victory lap while the tax base drives across the state line.

Meanwhile they're running the whole state into the ground. And you already know how this ends. You're living in it.

Pensions are $143B in the hole, worst in the country and not close. You pay $6,285 a year in property taxes, double the $2,969 national average, for a city that's $1.15B in the red. The mayor called its finances "the point of no return."

When you run things this badly, you sell what's left.

They leased the parking meters for 75 years to Morgan Stanley and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi. Took $1.15B and burned through it in two years. The investors already made it all back, with 58 years left to collect.

Sold the Skyway. Sold the downtown garages. Every asset that made money, gone for one check.

But a fixed property tax rate for a team that's been here 106 years? That's "propping up billionaires."

Companies are leaving. Boeing for Virginia. Caterpillar for Texas. Citadel for Miami. In 2023 alone Illinois lost 56,000 people and $6B in income to other states. The ones who left earned a third more than the ones who moved in.

Indiana didn't outbid anyone. AAA credit, 16 years straight. A $676M surplus. Fourth-lowest debt per person in the country. They just weren't a disaster.

Illinois could have collected $53M a year. It chose zero. Ignore all the bad management but make sure to stick it to those evil, pesky billionaires.

[Tnut @tnuttin1]

Mossad send their regards

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@realpeteyb123 @ckirk47 @Mandrik Wonder if anyone can build the privacy layer on top or whether that is wishful thinking

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@realpeteyb123 @ckirk47 Any thoughts on their 51% attack or would you still think it’s investable

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@DipWheeler Fartcoin is fair

[Dip Wheeler @DipWheeler]

fartcoin can't be exploited.

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@elonmusk @HunterBiden they talking about you

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@HeiveUS any thoughts on it for IVF support?

[jonathan @notjonathan]

@BhavanChand @AndrewR25833429 lol do you have a link please and ty