Crypto and Chasing the Dragon

Marc and Ben’s midlife crisis and the Crypto Crusades

Do you remember the first time you took MDMA? Or played a concert in front of a decent sized crowd? Or had an epic powder day?

The commonality between all of these is a dopamine surge. And the first is always the best. And it is always better with other people around to share the experience with. Once you feel it, you want it again and again. (Side note: this why $MTN is a decade long hold for me…skiing is a drug). From then on, you are chasing the dragon.

Now, imagine a ~5 year long dopamine hit. Imagine it taking place not at a rave or on a mountain, but at your fucking job. And imagine that an entire geographical area is participating alongside you. That was the tech bubble.

And everyone who participated in the bubble wants it to happen again. Because, damn it felt good.

Marc and Ben’s mid-life crisis

I am a huge fan of both Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz. I have seen Ben speak multiple times. I try to catch every podcast.

But, both definitely peaked in the 1990s and early 2000s. Imagine going from founding Netscape, a foundational company in the adoption of the most transformative technology of the last 100 years, to sitting in pitch meetings for like Notion or a fucking low code SaaS company.

That 90s magic was so damn exciting and intoxicating. Anything was possible, the protocols were open, and the winners weren’t defined (except MSFT). The ideas were BIG. Perhaps most importantly, the nerds were getting rich off of selling the future.

Since the internet bubble there have been two major platform shifts - cloud and mobile. But each is really just an extension of foundational work done in the 1990s. General magic, etc for mobile and the wave of “on-demand” and ASP software companies founded in the late 1990s (including LoudCloud!)

There has not really been a frenzy of excitement since the bubble - an exuberance of technological innovation and consumer demand - more of a methodical march as information technology has been deployed into every aspect of our lives.

It has been kind of boring. Professional, even. Some minor highs, but not that sustained…rush. So, Marc and Ben keep chasing that dragon.

The Bubble Crusaders

Imagine you are a young member of the English nobility. It is the early 1100s. Your uncle, who is a Duke, has regaled you with tales of the First Crusades since you were a wee lad.

The glory of it! The pope called for a pilgrimage to the holy land and the lords and their people rallied to the cry. 100,000 strong they came to the aid of their Christian brethren in Anatolia and smashed the Turks at Dorylaeum (what a fucking comeback that was my nephew!) Then the crusaders took Jérusalem! And massacred the defenders!!

A multi-year dopamine rush for anyone involved (who survived).

The first crusaders came back to their homelands famous and rich. They had simultaneously achieved religious glory and glory on the battlefield.

As a young lord, wouldn’t you want the same? Of course! Crusades were rallied again and again. Each less glorious than the first.

Multiple generations chasing that dragon.

The internet bubble was the First Crusades of “tech” as we know it. The bubble crusaders have regaled younger generations with tales of the era. Who wouldn’t want to recreate that magic?

The Crypto Dragon

This brings me to crypto. What better way to catch that tech bubble dragon than to literally recreate the foundations of the internet? To have another go at it, but this time decentralized.

Crypto is so intoxicating for multiple reasons: the engineering challenges are complex, the economy is created by engineers, the idea is BIG, and nerds are making a fuck ton of money selling the future.

But, to date the product of crypto has been speculation- bitcoin, ICOs, NFTs. Speculation wrapped in smart, futuristic justification ex post facto. There has been almost zero value created by crypto in traditional terms. Crypto has not enhanced productivity. It has not enhanced standards of living.

Perhaps the real value is another dragon to chase for Marc, Ben and their generation. And another crusades for the wee lads who grew up on stories of the First Crusades, the internet bubble. With enough believers maybe we can will our own dragon into existence.