Jonah Roberts

web3 and identity: one of the most important, yet until recently, understated aspects of the new internet revolution. a thread 🧵

@ErikVoorhees Having a functional, non-authoritarian government AND fewer killing machines in peoples' hands is a reasonable goal. It turns out that the Leftist parties, in most places, are the ones advocating for this goal. Pretty simple actually.

It is curious that those on the left—the alleged advocates of democracy—are not the more ardent supporters of gun ownership and the Second Amendment. The pro-social, pro-civilizational purpose of guns is, after all, equality. Guns' most distinct virtue is not the ability to go hunting on the weekends, nor even for use in home defense. Rather, their most distinct virtue is in the egalitarian expression of power, arguably *the* foundational prerequisite for democracy. Tyranny or fascism of any kind is most difficult among a well-armed populace. This point is indisputable. Thus, any group that advocates highly centralized, hierarchical power, should oppose broad gun ownership. And any group that advocates highly decentralized, democratic power, should so sanctify it. What are we to make of the modern Left, then? Where is their advocacy of egalitarianism on the very policy which most enables it?

@Bankless @TThompson @iampaulgrewal @Polymarket @Kalshi Prediction markets don't represent what people want - they represent what people think will happen, usually whether they like it or not. Let's not conflate objective with subjective views / opinions.

“These platforms are becoming disruptors to the CNN the Fox News the BBC the Al-Jazeera's.” - NBA Star @TThompson in his episode with @iampaulgrewal Prediction markets like @Polymarket & @Kalshi are a way to challenge the mainstream media. Communities come together with much better predictions than your usual sports analyst.

The EU Is Building a Digital Wallet That Ignores Crypto 🇪🇺🪙 written for @bankless bankless.com/read/the-eu-is…

@rtcgpt @sama Yes! I agree 100% - this would be a meaningful upgrade

@sama can you add a button for memory in the chat input similar to web search and deep research? would make it a much better experience toggling memory on and off

if you are not skillsmaxxing with o3 at minimum 3 hours every day, ngmi

We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year. Some of this has already been executed on and made public, and some is still in progress. What we're trying to achieve is primarily the following goals: * Improve level of technical expertise within EF leadership * Improve two-way communications and ties between EF leadership and the ecosystem actors, old and new, that it is our role to support: users (individual and institutional), app devs, wallets, L2s * Bring in fresh talent, improve execution ability and speed * Become more actively supportive of app builders, and make sure important values and inalienable rights (esp privacy, open source, censorship resistance) are a reality for users including at the app layer * Continue to increase our use of decentralized and privacy tech and the Ethereum chain, including for payments and treasury management Explicit *non-goals* are: * Execute some kind of ideological / vibez pivot from feminized wef soyboy mentality to bronze age mindset * Start aggressively lobbying regulators and powerful political figures (esp in USA, but really anywhere, especially large powerful countries), and risking compromising Ethereum's position as a global neutral platform * Become an arena for vested interests * Become a highly centralized org, or even more of a "main character" within Ethereum These things aren't what EF does and this isn't going to change. People seeking a different vision are welcome to start their own orgs.

Just read @amixajlo's Next Billion fellowship brief for bringing @worldscouting onto @ethereum . Such a wonderful project! Check it out below

@DevMoore @econoar There is a growing cultural divide in crypto. Glad there are others who see things a similar way as I do

this ain't it king: this is exactly why crypto/web3 is embarrassing to the greater public. crypto's obsession with focusing purely on money will lead it to networked land full of nothing but racist people who rock monkey JPEGs outscamming each other. ethereum will never be more important than bitcoin if chooses not to invest in real culture. @VitalikButerin also agrees with this in a more public good-focused manner. not to say this summitshare is lit or not, but that's essentially the #1 reason why people don't take the space seriously. just a bunch of white boys parading geometrics and laughing at african diasporic-based art

OK guys, getting mad at the Bankless dudes is stupid. It's like getting mad at CNBC hosts. They run a media business—they make their money by being broadly accessible and making stories easy to understand. If you're a crypto insider, it's not meant for you. Of course they will get stuff wrong, they're podcasters. And of course they seem like they're selling something. They literally are. It's a business. But I know so many normal people who were onboarded into crypto through Bankless. IME it's probably the most common podcast that got a normal person into on-chain antics in the 2020-2022 period. Bankless has done a huge service for the industry writ large in just getting people on-chain and socializing these concepts. And yes, there are other podcasts out there that are also great. But they didn't get all these people to start their on-chain journey, and Bankless did, so respect where respect is due. Bankless doesn't speak for Ethereum, anymore than @Lightspeedpodhq speaks for Solana, or CNBC speaks for the stock market. They speak for themselves and own media business. So relax. It's a big tent, and there's room for a lot of voices.

@joshkale @aave @StaniKulechov Nice

For non-crypto people who don't care for speculation, the way I've been onboarding them is through @aave Deposit USDC onto ETH mainnet for a maximally secure experience and earn what is currently 16% APY, nearly 4x that of most HYSA's It's a beautiful protocol @StaniKulechov

@CardanoHumpback @brian_armstrong Yes right. So long as CB doesn’t force users exclusively onto Base, and ETH Mainnet is accessible then it’s less of a concern

@jonahrobrts @brian_armstrong Not talking of Coinbase, but of the USDC, base, ENS which pretend to be decentralized

The Internet of Money is happening. The lego pieces are ready to be assembled for consumer utility. 1. Base -> helping blockchains scale 2. ENS -> identity 3. USDC -> stable medium of exchange 4. Smart Wallets -> reduce onboarding friction etc

@CardanoHumpback @brian_armstrong CB as a neo-bank is inevitable should crypto succeed

@brian_armstrong 5. Realising it's just another bank, but brandized as crypto (pretending to be decentralised). Can you freeze the accounts? Then you're not decentralized. (can you stop p2p sharing as torrent or emule?)

Why Crypto Matters in Developed Economies 🤨🌎👀 written for @bankless bankless.com/read/crypto-in…

@nelsonmckey @lex_node @pumpdotfun I don’t think it holds any water, honestly

@lex_node @pumpdotfun Does pumpfun devs collecting fees from this activity imply any liability, or do you think the argument that it’s permissionless holds water?

keep in mind obscenity is not protected by the first amendment & the U.S. federal govt has zero tolerance for kids' stuff congrats, we've added FTC and FCC to the list of regulatory agencies that will likely be adverse to crypto @pumpdotfun please get your shit together

@dazhengzhang @econoar You’re right. And it ain’t pretty AT ALL

@econoar Not limited to Solana, this is the inevitable outcome of hyper financialization

@AndrewYang The term ‘tax’ is used outside of its true meaning sometimes. I think you guys are aware of this. Still, this tweet should have been framed better.

You know what’s become another ‘tax’ on Americans? Online sports betting.

Hi Fox. In Canada, provinces and municipalities handle policing. In fact, the riot was over as the Swift concert started. It's fine that you want to lie to the American people. I'm not fine with you lying to Canadians.

@SJRichmond89 Insightful. Thanks

Two questions: 1. How does Canada afford a basic income, let alone a UBI, that sits above the poverty line? 2. How do we ensure sybil-resistance (assuming digital payments), while also accounting for those without sufficient access to banking? 👀🇨🇦💸

@scottsantens I remember hearing during COVID that stimulus checks weren't reaching some of the most needy, which is why I bring up point #2.

@jonahrobrts Pretty easily actually once you understand that phaseouts are taxes. As for sybil stuff, provide it to citizens only. The government already has a register for that. scottsantens.com/negative-incom…