Messari Daily Brief Jan. 28, 2021 - Crypto’s Netscape Moment

Something changed this week. A switch was flipped, and the door swung open for mass adoption of bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi, and web3 assets. I’m not talking about Gamestop per se. I’m talking about "loss porn." Revenge. And the channeled fury of the masses.

The sideshow of the GameStop retailers vs. Melvin hedge fund managers was entertaining towatch at least. But seeing Wall Street Bets get summarily executed on Discord; Robinhood suspend buying of retail investors’ preferred stocks; and tech influencers (Chamath, Elon, Portnoy) stoke flames of populist outrage really hits a trifecta. The winnings will be paid out in crypto.

In marketing, you generally want to appeal to people’s vices when selling them something new: lust (mating game), greed (financial game), pride (status game), etc. If you can appeal to multiple vices at the same time, you’ve got the kindling for something big.

Since day one in crypto, the appeal has mostly been about greed (speculation, and number go up). Sure there are some cool emerging applications, and “save-the-world” fringe political elements, but real talk: most people get into crypto to make money. Some, in high-inflation states or oppressed situations, come out of fear and to *keep* their money, but that’s a small minority. Number go up is where it’s at.

The coordinated effort to curb “retail market manipulation” by suspending free trade in only one direction (to benefit shorts) and suspending speech and assembly (to reduce potential legal liability), gives us a new vice to tap into: wrath. Buy bitcoin to hedge against inflation, and potentially make a lot of money, but also to tell your government to f*ck off. Buy ethereum to secure the fledging decentralized financial system and potentially make a lot of money, but also to tell your bank to f*ck off. Buy DeFi assets to boost liquidity, additional investment in better financial infrastructure, and potentially to make a lot of money, but also to tell your brokerage, lender, or asset manager to f*ck off.

I think the best take of the day, goes (ironically) to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian: "We vote with 2 things in the USA: votes & dollars. The internet has obviously had a huge impact on our democratic process. Now we're seeing the impact it's having when the internet revolutionizes the dollar-votes, too.” No media outlet (tech or otherwise), financial institution, or politician will be safe if they continue to disenfranchise the dollar-votes of the "unwashed masses.”

I think this fury will have some staying power, as you don’t mess with people’s money.

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Headlines that matter:

• INTEL: Aave v2; new Grayscale Trust filings; FIL updates; CREAM, Terra, Thorchain updates (+ 15 more)
• Fred Wilson on GameStop. (AVC)
• What is WallStreetBets (CoinDesk)
• Bank of Singapore says BTC could replace Gold. (The Independent)
• The Bitcoin white paper is on the Miami government website (MiamiGov.com)
• Paradigm breaks down Optimistic Rollup (Paradigm)
• Mapping out the Cosmos ecosystem (The Block - paywall)
• What’s in Mark Cuban’s crypto wallet (Decrypt)
• Digital currencies and the future of finance according to BIS (BIS)
• Daily Shade: Portnoy. Is. On. A. Rampage

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