the big thing
I’ve got a secret to tell you that I’ve been sitting on for a few months and am thrilled to share.
Later this month, I’ll be sending out the first edition of Chain Reaction, my new TechCrunch newsletter focused on crypto, web3 and the metaverse, with all of its opportunities, hype, scams and controversy. The extra-exciting part about this weekly newsletter is that there will be a weekly podcast attached to it, co-hosted by me and my fellow TechCrunch crypto enthusiast Anita Ramaswamy. We’ll discuss the hot news, trends and crypto drama while interviewing high-profile investors, entrepreneurs and skeptics.
You can pre-subscribe to Chain Reaction on our TechCrunch newsletter page.
Now, the sad part.
A couple weeks after the newsletter launches I will be stepping aside from writing Week in Review and I’ll be handing the reins over to my more than capable colleague Greg Kumparak, who has done a killer job taking over this newsletter when I’ve been out over the years. I’ve loved sending out this newsletter every weekend; it’s always given me a chance to clear my brain, reflect on the state of the tech industry and voice my opinions on where it’s headed.
I increasingly feel like the future of the tech industry will be embracing an internet with more complex economics attached to its platforms, ones which can do good and bad things for consumers but should ultimately open up the web and give users more agency in how big platforms operate. The future, as cleanly imagined by tech’s founders and investors, is rarely the one we find ourselves living in, but that future is also infrequently what tech’s naysayers predict.
The backlash to crypto over the past year has been interesting to witness. Viral YouTube videos and tweets paint a crushing portrait of tokens and NFTs with phrases like Ponzi schemes, money laundering, fraud and scams, and there is certainly much of that to be found. But the reality is that many consumers are simply discovering through NFTs and crypto that high finance and the concept of economic value are not the wholly rational institutions they had once imagined them to be.
The idea of spending millions of dollars to own a link to an image file in a distributed database should appear wholly non-sensical to most, but if that prospect seems reasonable to enough buyers, then its value is a product of the owners’ collective delusions — but much of the modern economy is built around these same delusions. Getting access to this uncomfortable realization is a gift in and of itself, but there are constructive and destructive places to take it.
The criticism I find perhaps the most philosophically concerning is that tokens and NFTs rein in the possibilities of a boundless and unfettered web. Gamers are particularly pissed about the idea of digital scarcity and hyper-capitalism finding its way into fantasy. No one can have it all on an internet where some element of the experience is gated from users based on their economic class in the real world. It’s a conversation that’s particularly concerning as massive companies like Meta begin talking about the idea of the metaverse so earnestly.
The crypto space has a couple trillion dollars tied up in it at this point, but the remarkable thing is just how transitory it all feels. It’s part of the reason that highlighting informed criticism is so worthwhile right now, because the industry can still change.
The informed middle ground is a space where there’s not much critical discourse happening on a regular basis. Most existing newsletters or podcasts are from institutional players or retail investors with projects to sell and disclosures to ignore. Meanwhile, the bulk of tech media critiques seem to be from folks who cover several things and are frankly less incentivized to spend the time tirelessly dissecting a confusing industry.
I’ve been at TechCrunch for nearly seven years. During that time I’ve worn many hats, having been the go-to reporter for topics like gaming, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Over the past year, I’ve devoted the bulk of my time to understanding what’s going on in the crypto world. I’ve dialed up investors, chatted with founders, played around with the platforms myself and spent an awful lot of time on Twitter and Discord. What I’ve found is a multi-faceted industry with a high barrier to even understanding the basics. I want Chain Reaction to serve as a place where readers and listeners can dial in and learn alongside me as I talk with stakeholders and skeptics and try to get to the heart of where this all is headed.
All that to say, please subscribe!
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