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Make Crypto Simple
Crypto News and Concepts Made Simple - Straight to your inbox, every Monday.
Crypto burst on to the scene in 2008 with the Bitcoin Whitepaper. Bitcoin was a response to the 2008 banking crisis. The system is broken, and Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever he or she is, realized this.
Bitcoin was meant to be a way to exit the traditional financial system and conduct business on a peer-to-peer basis.
It has succeeded and become the best performing asset over the past decade.
Other people saw the success of Bitcoin, using this new new technology called blockchain, and decided to innovate themselves. Other cryptocurrencies sprung up, and now, we have thousands upon thousands of coins.
Crypto is basically a parallel version of the financial system/internet, rolled into one, that operates on a peer-to-peer basis.
However… are the developers out there building the right stuff?
🌟 Infrastructure
In order to build a parallel financial system, but this time peer-to-peer, you need infrastructure. In this case, you need blockchains. Blockchains are the powerhouses behind crypto that process the transactions
Want to send some BTC to a friend? You transaction is sent, recieved, and processed on the Bitcoin blockchain.
There are other blockchains too, each operating like their own private island. developers can build apps on top these blockchains, and when a user interacts with the app, the blockchain does the heavy lifting and record keeping behind the scenes.
Blockchains meant for launching apps are called Layer-1 blockchains. Some examples include:
Ethereum
Solana
Avalanche
Fantom
Near
Manta
Base
Binance Chain
Ton
Cardano
Aptos
Sei
Sui
Injective
Algorand
Saga
There are also Layer-2 chains - basically the same thing, but instead, they improve an existing layer-1 (usually Ethereum or bitcoin)
They also function like a decentralized app store.
Layer-2s include
Stacks
Polygon
Mantle
Optimism
Arbitrum
Starknet
Skale
Metis
Loopring
Lisk
Cartesi
Immutable
There are also Appchains - allowing for an app to launch on their own native blockchain, instead of using an existing chain.
These include:
Osmosis
Stargaze
dYdX
Akash
Sentinel
Archway
Chihuahua
FetchAI
Neutron
Passage
Secret
Quasar
Stride
UX
There are also modular ecosystem projects - allowing anyone to launch a blockchain in a simple, no code way.
These projects include
Celestia
Dymension
Avail
Altlayer
EclipseFND
And many, many more.
Confused yet? That’s okay. Basically what we have here, is dozens of individual, decentralized app stores.
Here’s ther problem: Normal people don’t give a flying f**k what underlying infrastructure their favorite app is running on.
When you go on your phone to play Angry Birds… do you care, or even think about what’s happening behind the scenes? No - you’re focused on slinging some birds and having fun.
SO WHERE ARE THE APPS?
I’ll say it now - we have enough blockchains. We have enough blockspace. We have enough infrastructure.
Dear builders: please, PLEASE, build something fun that people will use.
These apps can be anything - games, social media, finance, etc.
The problem is this: Why would builders build an app, when they can launch another L1 and raise millions of dollars from VC firms?
The VCs then dump their profits on unsuspecting retail investors, and BOOM! We’re left with 100s of infrastructure tokens that bleed out over the long run. The VCs have already made their profits, and retail investors are left holding the bag.
What’s the solution? We, retail, should stop buying every shiny new L1 or L2 that comes out. At the end of the day, there will only be a few of these that succeed. The ones that do will have the most established and cult like communities (Ethereum, Solana, etc.), or institutional adoption (Avalanche, etc.)
🌟 Your next steps
Want to avoid this massive problem? Follow these rules to make sure you’re investing in the right projects:
Do your own research
Ignore shiny new coins
Avoid coins with a low market cap compared to its fully diluted value
Find undervalued gems
Don’t marry your bags
Take profits
If you can’t explain in 10 seconds to your normie friends what the project does, ignore it.
What sounds like a better idea to a no-coiner?
A Decentralized, Modular Layer-2 scaling solution with data availability sampling and ZK proofs
or
A silly, fun game where you play with birds and earn money.
Keep it simple, people.
Your Takeaway
If you can’t explain a crypto project to your grandmother, it’s unlikely to garner mass public adoption. Keep it simple this cycle, and look for projects that regular folks can understand. Why do you think $WIF has had so much success?
It’s easy to explain. What is $WIF, you ask?
It’s a dog wif a hat.
The hat stays on.
🚨 Action Items 🚨
Bitcoin is a hedge against government manipulation of currency.
I guarantee that many of you reading this have all of your assets in the current system. You need to get some money outside. Hedge your bets.
If you’re at all concerned about inflation and government control of currency, you need to:
Dont hesitate any longer. Money is changing… and you do not want to be late.
Reply to this email with a question about crypto! I read and answer every single message.
Thank you for reading Make Crypto Simple.
Sincerely,
Chris Schawel
The content provided in this newsletter is for entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. All information, including but not limited to market analysis, price predictions, and investment strategies, is purely speculative in nature. We strongly recommend conducting your own research and consulting with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. We are not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the information presented in this newsletter.