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Let me tell you a crypto story that many of you don’t know, the very reason why it exists today! Everything you need to know: the community, where it started, where we are now, and where we’re headed
Where It All Started
In 2004, a small group of people developed a network called Tor. It allowed users to browse the internet without worrying about being spied on. It was primarily designed for important journalists and whistleblowers to share sensitive information with the outside world, without the risk of being tracked, silenced, or even killed for holding and sharing valuable truths
Why Tor works so well
Tor is based on Onion Routing. It uses a global network of relays, hosted by volunteers, to bounce internet traffic across different countries. This makes it extremely difficult to trace where a message originated, especially after several hops
The Double Edged Sword
Tor empowered good actors but also criminals. When it became more publicly known, criminals started using it to sell drugs, weapons, malware, and things you don't even knew existed. Hence the rise of the Dark Web on Tor, where the majority of the data is illegal content
At some point both parties shared one major issue. No private way to handle payments, until Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin in 2009
To be clear: we still don’t know if Satoshi was a black hat, white hat, or grey hat. Nor if Bitcoin was explicitly made for the Tor community
But when Bitcoin arrived, for the first time, people could pay each other privately over the internet
Suddenly, .onion shops exploded across Tor. It was chaotic. You needed to know the right IRC channels and community websites like 4chan; otherwise, you'd be lost for days trying to find the right webshop
Back then bitcoin was valued at all sort of prices depening on which network of people you knew
The Rise of Bitcoin
As time passed, Bitcoin became the currency on Tor. But users complained they didn't know how to buy. So in 2010, BitcoinMarket.com became the first crypto exchange. Bitcoin was priced at $0.003. Soon after, the infamous Mt. Gox launched
Exchanges made Bitcoin more accessible, drawing more users to Tor, but also scammers. You’d buy something and just hope it will be delivered
Then came Silk Road, built by @RealRossU mainly. It was like eBay for the Dark Web, complete with reviews and categories. High ratings meant you’d likely get your order delivered
The Rise of Other Cryptocurrencies
Satoshi not only brought us Bitcoin. He also inspired others to copy Bitcoin's code, which led to the emergence of:
- 2011: Namecoin, Litecoin
- 2012: Ripple, Peercoin
- 2013: Dogecoin
- 2014: Monero (private-by-default via Ring Signatures)
And finally, in 2015, @VitalikButerin introduced a more innovative approach, something with a real use case: a cryptocurrency called Ethereum and its ERC-20 network powered by smart contracts
Around the same time, more and more exchanges started popping up
A Hetch Against Banks Called Store of Value
Before crypto was even recognized as a store of value, early investors went through multiple bull runs. At some point, crypto hit the mainstream (mainly due to COVID-19 and stimies), and it became more common to describe cryptocurrency as a store of value or a stock-like investment. As of today, this is even widely accepted around the world
From Decentralization to Centralization
The COVID bull cycle was great, but the state we're currently in is far more centralized than you might think
Instead of using wallets, 70% of all crypto users now rely on CEXs (centralized exchanges). Interactive wallets like @MetaMask have made it easier for users to buy and sell crypto on dApps, but this only accounts for about 30% of users
We even have ETFs now and crypto reserves held by countries
The most overlooked problem is that CEXs can alter the circulating supply within their own exchanges. The bids and asks you see are just magic numbers in a database, making it much easier to manipulate the price whenever they want
The Centralization Problem
To make this easier to understand for the average crypto user, I’m going to try explain it in a way everyone can grasp
Imagine all current blockchains as banks. Let’s take the most well-known in crypto, it’s called the Bank of Ethereum
Bank of Ethereum sits between companies and other banks (like XRP, XMR, HYPE, SOL, etc.), all offering different kinds of services, much like what you see in a real-life city
Most of these banks have walls made of titanium. When you enter, everything must follow strict protocol, mostly private and secure. Everything that enters has to go through high-level encryption and obey certain rules
But the nicest part is that anyone can walk around it, peek inside, and even try to break it. It’s all allowed, fully digital and open-source
On the flip side, because it’s open-source, hackers are constantly looking for exploits to drain tokens. Most of the time, when a token drops -90% in a single day, this is the reason
The Bank Problem
Every day, developers are working to improve everything inside their "bank" to make it more secure and robust. What’s wrong with that? Well, all eyes are focused on what’s happening inside the bank. The inside is secure, but what about outside? What about the streets and the community?
The Streets and Its People
When you walk from building to building, you’ll encounter:
- People (fellow degens)
- Surveillance cameras (your ISP)
- Scammers (hackers)
- Known banks (CEXs mainly KYC)
- Less-known banks (DEXs)
- Hookers offering you free blowjobs (KOLs)
- Police officers (government)
- A lot of shit piles (meme coins and useless projects)
- Gems (meaningful projects building for the community on the streets)
You
Just like how your wallet holds different cards in the real world, used for ID, gym access, or opening doors via RFID, your crypto wallets are similar. Whether it’s MetaMask, Phantom, Trust Wallet, or a desktop Bitcoin wallet, these are (d)apps to access different chains
Of course, you can choose to stay "safu" in a CEX and just peek through the one-way mirror (closed source) at the streets
The Worst People in the Streets
The hookers (KOLs) are the best deceivers. They lure you into buildings promising free blowjobs. 90% of the time, your pants get pulled down and you get f***ed from behind, sometimes without lube. And worst of all? You already paid
That’s not even the worst case. In 8% of cases, you get a blowjob for a few seconds. Just as you're about to cum (your bag just did a 10x and you think it’ll go higher), they bite your dick off. The lucky 2% actually cum. pump.fun? Just a strip tent where you paid your favorite hooker
Then there are the scammers, clever deceivers mimicking buildings and luring you in (mostly through @X ads [still can't believe this is not fixed yet]) with promises of airdrops. You sign a contract to receive the reward, but in small print, it says it’ll drain your wallet. Full of greed, thinking you’re getting free money, you sign... then boom you’re outside, drained (that feeling is the worse I experienced in crypto)
And it gets worse. Some high-IQ scammers replicate entire banks (chains). One day you walk into what you think is your usual bank and bam, you signed the wrong contract. Wallet drained
The Known Banks Start to Stink
I think centralization peaked this year. It’s gotten so bad that when people try to leave their known bank and explore the streets, CEXs are freezing accounts out of nowhere. People can't even withdraw their money
Binance used to be a highly respected CEX. But most of the 30% of users who actually live in the streets now see Binance as a scammer. It used to support solid projects, sometimes early gems. People from the streets respected that. But greed took over. Billions in fees weren’t enough. Billions on their own BNB chain weren’t enough. Now they walk out the bank, decorate a pile of shit, walk back in, and everyone inside (the 70%) starts buying it, while Binance is selling in the background. Sick and corrupt if you ask me
That’s why listings dump 90% within weeks. Binance lost a lot of street cred. Hence, #BoycottBinance became a thing for a short moment
That Recent Gem in the Streets
DEXs are maturing. One that finally made it is @HyperliquidX
Now there's a real way to compete with CEXs, without KYC, without magic numbers in a database. Everything is transparent. This is decentralization making a comeback, and if you graphed it, you'd see decentralization dominance is starting to outperform centralization again
Thanks, @chameleon_jeff
Of course, CEXs are scared. It’s known that Coinbase and Binance are trying to exploit Hyperliquid. Recently, Binance even added perps and spot for $HYPE because the open interest is skyrocketing on Hyperliquid
This is a bad sign if you understand magic numbers and arbitrage bots
But lets stay optimistic, finally, migration is happening, from known banks (CEXs) to unknown banks (DEXs, especially Hyperliquid). I believe in a few years, we’ll see a complete reversal: 70% on DEXs, 30% on CEXs
Fun fact: most projects must give a portion of their circulating supply to big CEXs like Binance to get listed. That was protocol. Hyperliquid didn’t care. Did none of that and still got listed. If you’re really someone from the streets, you highly respect that move from Hyperliquid
The Next Big Problem in the Streets (we are currently here)
Hookers, scammers, and known banks are always going to exist. But the real problem? Users think everything is safu. Especially newcomers
They don’t realize they’re walking through shitty streets, distracted by scammers, hookers, and banks offering degen services. Meanwhile, surveillance cameras are logging their every move
Every police officer (government) can review those logs at any time. That’s why Tor was made in the first place!
Note this: People will run into serious problems in the coming years because they’re doing and did everything centralized
Think a centralized VPN is enough? That's just a hoodie. A cop can pull it off your head. Centralized VPNs log your data, and they’ll hand it over when requested
Worst part? 70% of all users are already known by CEXs due to KYC
Forgotten Privacy, Where TF Did It Go?
Remember Tor? The network that brought Bitcoin to live in the early days? It disappeared into the background
Why? Old Tor is scary and slow. Scary because it’s associated with the dark web. Slow because websites used to be 100KB around the time Tor was released, now they’re 3MB on average. That’s a 30x increase in load, and Tor never scaled with it
The Scaling Problem
There has been a debate in the (remaining) Tor community for years now
One side wants to monetize to support relay hosts. The other side fears it’ll lead to centralization
I'm on the side of monetizing it. Why? Imagine mining Tor tokens like Bitcoin miners mine BTC. That would incentivize people to join the network with new relays, leading to rapid scaling. Bitcoin already proved this works
Cleaning and Securing the Streets, One of the Last Gems
To protect our identities, we need a bigger and better Tor network, open-source, modern, using tech like AI to filter out the nasty stuff
We can already see @AnyoneFDN laying a decentralized foundation to protect people through Onion Routing. Call it Tor V2.0. It’s like everyone is getting Iron Man suits instead of hoodies
Essentials For The Crypto Ecosystem
From the beginning until now, these are the tokens I consider foundational:
- Bitcoin: digital store of value
- XMR: private digital store of value
- ETH: utilizing digital value
- LINK: solved the oracle problem
- HYPE: solving the CEX problem
These five make decentralized store of value, trading, and utility possible
And if all goes well with Anyone Protocol:
- ANYONE: solving the privacy problem
Privacy Is No Joke
You made a million? Thinking of cashing out? There's literally one country where you can go fully off-grid and keep it all: the Central African Republic
Anywhere else? Get ready for:
- Getting blacklisted by your bank
- Getting taxed
- Waiting months or even years
- A nice invite from your government or bank to explain every detail
The more "anon" route (considered fraud):
- Pay rent or expenses with crypto without reporting it
- Use multiple banks
- Cash out in small amounts over time and avoid reporting
I believe soon all data stored by the surveillance camera's, centralized VPNs and police officers will be sorted by AI to make everyone easy targets
And yes, there are still a few big problems unsolved:
- Seamless crypto use in the real world for everyone in a fair way
- RWA (though I think Hyperliquid will catch this one)
- A platform to truly support good projects (Binance abandoned this long ago, I hope Hyperliquid takes that torch)
But none above can harm current crypto users. Stay safuh frens!
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