Balaji Srinivasan's "Network School" on a private island – let's be honest, it sounds like the opening scene of a dystopian novel. Or perhaps a very dystopian one, if you’re on the other side of that equation. His central premise, a physical manifestation of his proposed “Network State,” is absolutely...
We stand at a fascinating crossroads. The metaverse, a concept that was at one time sci-fi fantasy, is quickly becoming an inescapable reality. Solaverse, The Sandbox, and Decentraland are known as “metaverse coins.” Unlike many others, I don’t think they’re just speculative assets. More than a crisis to overcome, they...
I had first met Sarah at the FO Music Fest. She’s a working-class single mom from Ohio. Dreaming of scoring big, she traveled all the way from Los Angeles to Hong Kong for the festival. Not as a musician, of course, but as a FoAngel. She told me, eyes shining...
Web3 marketing. The buzzword is everywhere. We’ve been led to believe that it's the future, a complete shift in paradigms from the controlling, wicked ways of Web2. Decentralization, transparency, and community – those are the buzzwords. I'm here to tell you that the relentless, almost religious, focus on community is...
To the outside world, the crypto space sometimes looks like a digital wild west or a gold rush. But perhaps the real revolution isn’t in advancing the technology, but rather, in who gets to participate. We've been so focused on the mechanics – the blockchain, the wallets, the DAOs –...
Now meet Sarah, a freelance graphic designer from Ohio. She’s been one of the first adopters of crypto, accepting Bitcoin for her legal services. It enables her to serve clients from all over the world without worrying about paying large international transaction fees. Tax season? A nightmare. Juggling multiple wallets,...
The aroma of rebellion used to surround Bitcoin. Recall the cypherpunk manifestos of the 90s? In their pursuit for a financial system independent of government oversight, they opened the gates to a new digital Wild West. Today’s reality could not be more different than those days. Coinbase’s acquisition of Liquifi...
The NimDoor attack? And no, this is not another scary headline detailing the exploits of North Korean hackers. It's a glaring spotlight on Web3's biggest lie: that it's inherently more secure. And it is us, the builders, the innovators, that are failing the very people we purport to empower. We’re...
That’s the Web3 dream – a decentralized utopia liberated from the oppressive grip of centralized powers. Let’s be brutally honest, the NimDoor malware attack on macOS is a wake-up call. It’s a blaring siren screaming that our decentralized, homeland-security-esque castles are built on disturbingly shaky ground. We've been so busy...
We can’t blame them for all the shiny new skyscrapers downtown, all the hustle of the Magnificent Mile, the ceaseless flow of capital. What about the other Chicago? The latter, where hope is a commodity and opportunity an afterthought? I’m not just referring to these beautiful, mostly Black South and...
The user empowerment promise of this new AI age is intoxicating. The ChatGPT Data Collective with its utopian vision of data ownership and compensation through $GPT tokens seems pretty great. Finally, we, the users, get a slice of the AI pie! Before we all rush to upload our chat histories...