In this article I explore…what the Metaverse is, the differences between a closed vs. open metaverse, key principles for an open metaverse, and where crypto (DAOs, NFT, DeFi) fits in
In this article to start off the year, I cover how this crypto bull run is different from the ICO boom in 2017, what I would tell myself if I was entering the market for the first time, and predictions for 2021 (with emphasis on Ethereum, NFTs, and DeFi).
I wrote the bulk of this retrospective and then fell into the limbo that are the days between Christmas and New Years Eve before I could hit publish. It usually doesn’t take long for these reviews to reach the 10000+ word range because involves turning the microscope on all the major aspects of my life: noting the highlights, lowlights, and lessons learned. This year was no different. On the other hand, the year was pivotal in such a holistic way that I can anticipate looking back on my life years from now and referring to things as being pre- and post- 2020.
In 1999, David Bowie saw the internet as an “alien life form”. He saw that humanity was on the cusp of something both exhilarating and terrifying: it was a breakdown of the barriers between creators and their communities. Instead of a piece of art or information being broadcasted one-way to an audience, it was becoming more of a dialogue, where the thing that originates from a creator isn't finished until the audience comes in and add their own interpretation. From there the piece evolves, gets sampled and remixed in ways that the creator couldn't have possibly imagined. Bowie called this area where creators and their communities meet "the gray space in the middle": a powerful new area of engagement where the most interesting things happen, and he predicted that this space is what the 21st century was going to be all about…
The recent Twitter hack is the latest reminder that even top companies with the best security teams are not immune against bad actors and data breaches, so why let them handle our sensitive data when we don’t need to? In this article I introduce concept of operational security and how you might begin to identify the information that is out there about you, analyze the risk of this exposure, and deny adversaries from exploiting this data.
The coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed public health systems and economies around the globe. I dove into the emergence of zoonotic diseases and share some learnings about how individuals and leaders can help mitigate the risk of the next epidemic by looking at our relationship with the natural world and identifying the imbalances.
The blockchain is often heralded as a technology that removes the need for trust. Yet hundreds of thousands, if not the majority of cryptocurrency traders today still need to place so much trust in exchanges to operate in a responsible, secure manner. For my first post that dives into a specific use case of the blockchain, I'm excited to be writing about decentralised exchanges addressing these problems, and the projects currently being implemented. I'll do a quick overview of centralised/decentralised exchanges and then dive into the 0x project - a decentralised exchange protocol that will serve as the public dex infrastructure.
I went to bed with a half-finished post on record collecting and thought it would be nice if somehow, non-collectors can explore someone's collection in a simple, interactive way. While Discogs is packed with information about each release, there isn't a way for someone to peruse the records without being bombarded with details they might not care about. In addition, there may be some records that collectors forgot they even had or have not listened to in a while. Though the tactility of crate digging is part of the allure to vinyl in the first place, I thought it'd be fun to also have a tool to pick something for you at random. So I decided to do something about it...
Since my move to Thailand, everything has been moving full speed ahead - so much so that I have neglected on a reflective post until now. The central theme has been self-adjustment (still ongoing), blockchain, writing, and my job. So, some thoughts on these time occupiers of mine over the past few months...
