Thuan ⚡️

building community at Electric Capital

[MR SHIFT 🦁 @KevinWSHPod]

This week I'm releasing a 1h conversation with @avichal, Co-Founder of @ElectricCapital and Chairman of @crypto_council.

Avichal and I discuss why crypto's institutional moment is earlier than you think, why digital assets will eat gold and silver, and what it takes to survive 15 years of building in this space.

We talk about:
- Why ETH is where Bitcoin was in 2019 and what that means for the next 5 years
- Stablecoin banks vs neobanks why spending on-chain is addictive once you try it
- Solana as the AWS of crypto - computational layer for retail financial transactions
- Why digital gold (BTC) and digital silver (ETH) will eat trillions in market share
- The hundreds of L1s thesis - why we're nowhere near blockchain saturation
- Resisting temptation and separating signal from noise in a hype-driven industry

And much much more….

Out this week!

[Electric Capital ⚡️ @ElectricCapital]

1/ We @ElectricCapital want to invest in 26 ideas that give users control, privacy, & access.

Why now:
•Trust in institutions is collapsing
•AI centralizes power but lowers build costs
•User-owned tech defends personal freedom

https://t.co/s5QXXDPs1p

👇

[Curtis Spencer @curtis0x]

1/ Announcing Open Dev Data, an open source dataset and tooling stack to measure developer activity across crypto and the decentralized web.

Starting in 2025 we are retiring our standalone annual Developer Report and replacing it with this continuously updated platform. 🧵👇

[infiniFi @infiniFi]

The infiniFi Pre-Deposit Vault on @Plasma is opening soon.

Earn ~10% APY, XPL rewards, & 4x infiniFi points (highest multiplier), bridged & optimized liquidity across Pendle + lending venues.

The vault is first-come first-serve, but here’s how to get notified early👇

[Avichal - Electric ϟ Capital @avichal]

Delighted to announce @0xren_cf has been promoted to General Partner at @ElectricCapital!

Ren started as an engineer at Electric & has grown into a phenomenal investor and unique thinker.

Founders are lucky to work with him. We are lucky to have him at Electric.

Link below 👇

[OpenBlock @openblocklabs]

Introducing OB-1: the new #1 coding agent on Terminal Bench.

After a year of R&D, our agent now outperforms Codex and Claude Code.

Early access is rolling out to waitlist users now.

[infiniFi @infiniFi]

Exciting to announce that the infiniFi protocol has passed $100M Total Value Locked.

A major milestone for infiniFi after being live for less than 3 months.

A system designed to infinitely scale.

Higher Yields. No Leverage.

[Re @re]

Re Points are LIVE!

✅ Stability for your assets
✅ Resilience for the future

Join the only onchain reinsurance protocol delivering real-world coverage.

Hold reUSD or reUSDe and stack points daily.

Start earning: https://t.co/rRxvMsZ5w0

[Forum @forummarkets]

1/ 10 years ago, Ethereum was born to rewrite the rules of programmable finance.

Today, ahead of Ethereum's anniversary, we’re thrilled to introduce ETHZilla, a NASDAQ-listed treasury vehicle for Ethereum, by Ethereum.

It will commence trading under the ticker $ATNF.

[Maria 🐸 @MariaShen]

Stablecoins are spreading the dollar faster than any financial tech in history.

And Ethereum is becoming the financial backbone.

For Ethereum’s 10th birthday, we’re publishing our updated @ElectricCapital ETH thesis:

Remaking the Case for ETH 🧵

1/

[infiniFi @infiniFi]

Partnership Announcement

iUSD is now live for yield trading on Pendle.

We're excited to share how infiniFi and @pendle_fi are working together & what this means for yield chasers, PT holders, & vePENDLE whales 🐳

Let's dive in 👇

[Avichal - Electric ϟ Capital @avichal]

🚨BREAKING NEWS

The White House just repealed the ban on supersonic flight over the US!

@boomsupersonic is the new Boeing.

Let’s gooooo!!!!

https://t.co/cKjvTvDT11

[infiniFi @infiniFi]

A New System - Tomorrow.

[INFINIT @Infinit_Labs]

Introducing INFINIT Intelligence:
The AI-powered engine redefining how you navigate DeFi.

It learns from your wallet. Knows your intent. Executes across chains.

From decisions to actions — all in one interface.

Welcome to the era of personalized DeFi.

[NEAR Protocol @NEARProtocol]

Blink and it's final.

NEAR Protocol just dropped 600ms blocks + 1.2s finality on mainnet. Blazing-fast performance and secure execution—finally, a chain that delivers both

Some chains talk about fast blocks. NEAR delivers real finality in 1.2 seconds.
No compromises. No waiting. Just confidence.
⚡ 600ms blocks
🛡️ 1.2s finality
📖 Dive in: [https://t.co/XuJtgOECI9 ]

[Ken Deeter (puntium.eth) 🦇🔊 @puntium]

If ETH becomes a digital store of value, it could reach 2T-20T like silver or gold.

If ETH becomes oil, it could reach 4T like oil reserves held today.

If ETH becomes money, it could reach 20T like USD M1 supply.

If ETH becomes all these things at once, then who knows.

[Thru @thru_xyz]

We are excited to announce that @untolabs has raised $14.4 million in funding from @ElectricCapital and @hiFramework to build Thru, a next generation base layer blockchain.

To bring L1 blockchain performance to parity with global scale applications, it takes more than putting a new paint job on an existing ecosystem.

Thru introduces a new RISC-V runtime, and a novel consensus mechanism, all in the service of unprecedented scale.

/1

[Crypto Council for Innovation @crypto_council]

1/ Today, CCI is proud to stand alongside nearly 30 key players in the industry to secure US leadership in staking. This kind of alignment matters. Here’s why:

[sam.frax @samkazemian]

Ethereum the tech & roadmap is the most bullish technology ever created in crypto. It's only the $ETH asset we have to fix & we can (listen below).

Thanks for having me on @TrustlessState to talk tokenomics. And thanks @hosseeb for helping/debating me to refine my thesis.

[Baz @CBazlamit]

7 years into my time at Facebook, I was demoted.

It truly felt like I got fired!

But it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

And it made me realize a hard truth any people manager has to face:

Hard conversations aren’t just necessary - they’re generous.

There’s a very real opportunity cost to your business every time you avoid having them!

I saw this photo recently of Janelle and I drinking margaritas on campus shortly after she took over my role and remembered how pivotal that moment was for me.

Quick back story:

Before all that went down, I was leading a global team of ~50 and had huge influence over many of our adjacent team’s strategy (People Ops, Compensation, Recruiting, etc).

On paper, it was a prestigious role. In reality? I absolutely hated it.

I spent most of my days in meetings, gathering information to pass down to my teams, and setting agendas for meetings I didn’t even want to participate in (let alone lead!)

The role took me away from what I loved to do most – spending time with clients, building strong teams, and coaching leaders.

Also…and this hurt my ego at the time to admit it…I just wasn’t very good at said prestigious role.

I wasn’t the super organized and thoughtful leader that the position needed.

For months I went to my manager expressing my doubts.

And like any good manager doing what they feel they’re supposed to do, she'd respond with encouragement:

"No, you're great! You can do this!"

It was the whole “fake it til you make it” approach – which CAN work.

For a long time we all avoided the conversation, but the reality was that we needed someone else in the role.

One day, my manager sat me down and told me this straight up.

I knew she was right but it also broke my heart (lots of tears…I may have called in sick the next day…).

We started a search and hired someone who was exceptional at the role. And as soon as she arrived, a weight lifted.

I went from hating 60% of my job to loving 90% of it (100% doesn’t exist, let’s be real!).

I stayed at Facebook for eight more years after my "demotion.”

In that time the company grew exponentially.

The HR team that I would’ve been running was 5x what I ran before I got ‘fired.’

And there’s no WAY I would’ve ever been the best person to run a team that size.

But the last several years were the happiest and most productive of my time there.

That tough conversation with my manager became a pivotal moment in my career and life in general.

And I see these types of conversations being avoided EVERY DAY.

So here are some key actionable takeaways:

1. Not having hard conversations is selfish. By avoiding them, you're keeping everyone from reaching their potential. You're hurting the team, hurting the company, and draining yourself.

2. Trust enables growth. I accepted this feedback because it came from someone I trusted. Build relationships beforehand to make ALL conversations easier.

3. You won’t put energy into something you don’t enjoy. This creates a double deficit – not only are you not good at it, but you're not improving either. Ask yourself, what are you currently doing that you don’t enjoy and can you find someone who’s better to do it instead?

4. What seems like the worst thing that can happen to you is sometimes the best thing for you and your company. Reshuffling isn’t always a failure on your part, it’s an opportunity to lean into your strengths and grow.

5. Your ego will hurt, but it’s only temporary. The clarity and fulfillment that follow are always worth it.

—

Avoiding hard conversations WILL cost your company.

And while you can never (and should never) avoid them, you can be proactive about minimizing the need for them:

- Constantly think a couple steps out about where the company is going
- Plan with a 1 year development horizon
- Have real conversations about your roles and who’s best suited for them
- Constantly coach people on their weaknesses

Sometimes the velvet hammer hurts.

But when you use it with care and fairness, you can create space for everyone to thrive!

Have you ever been "demoted" to a happier life?

And founders - are you avoiding a conversation that could set someone in your company free?

Perhaps even yourself..?

—

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Repost this tweet and follow @cbazlamit for more of my stories and learnings.

And founders – DM me for help! I’d love to chat.