In crypto, there's been a persistent overemphasis on financial capital (tokens, yields, and direct monetization) often at the expense of social capital: influence, community trust, and cultural relevance. But history shows that social capital is the true catalyst for sustainable value. Platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud, and TikTok didn’t scale by paying creators upfront, they built tools for reach, recognition, and status. Once those networks were in place, monetization followed.

The most transformative consumer revolutions rarely begin with industry leaders. They erupt when people reject entrenched systems and get a taste of something better: we don’t want to pay $20 for a CD, compete for a taxi, wait three days for a bank transfer. These acts of refusal trigger not just destruction, but rebirth. Napster didn’t just break music, it led to Spotify. Uber didn’t just disrupt taxis, it redefined mobility. Coinbase is in the midst of seriously challenging the banking stack. These weren’t just new tools but rather rewrites of what consumers value; convenience, agency, affordability.

Optimizing for users — not bots, vanity metrics, or protocol worship — is the only way this works.

I’ve been building and investing in the consumer lane of crypto for nearly a decade. From product roadmap to go to market strategy, I've helped founders navigate constant obstacles, but the most recurring issue stems from where to start - prioritizing an existing market or leveraging crypto to catalyze new behaviors and create new markets.

Saw this tweet the other day laying out how Zuck thinks about launching products at Meta. He simplifies it in a way that makes sense:

People underestimate the desire for consumers to buy into products & experiences that are unpredictable. A lot of it has to do with a craving to be entertained. You don’t want to know the ending to a movie and you fucking hate spoilers. When you see a concert, you don’t want to know the set list beforehand. You chase songs that are rare (real g’s know), and you’re lucky if another artist sits in at your show. When you see your team play, you hope they win. Sometimes they lose. You get that feeling. It’s still worth it.

the crypto space has been talking about decentralized social (DeSo) for a while now. for an industry that challenges skeuomorphism, i think WE (myself included) have been too literal in envisioning & developing what this looks like. crypto is inherently transactional. crypto is meant to be interoperable. the mechanisms of web2 social platforms are the exact opposite-- most are free and most will do anything to keep you locked inside. and while we’ve seen attempts from social networks to incorporate crypto (libra to diem), it doesn’t work if the decision is made by the platform itself but rather the participants who decide what should be valued from the outside in.

there will be many hot takes on what is going on in crypto land. people love it. people hate it. like everything in today’s world there is no middle. but regardless of how you are observing the memecoin markets (valued now at > $60Billy), you know about it through media-- the tweets, the memes, the namesakes and soon, the Sphere.

the internet has become boring. we spend more time than ever before on it, but our ability to seek or be surprised or get excited feels less and less. it’s almost as if we’ve gone from a place of wonder (what new shit could be built on the internet?) to a place of expectation (i use this because i have to.). Maybe it was meant to be boring all along, and as it became more critical to our every day lives it lost that new car smell. Still, that kinda sucks.