Sinan Mellaart 🔺

This belongs to all of us.

Here is my problem with this piece — It casts human civilization as a helpless victim of a mechanism that is beyond our control. It’s an implicit surrender to a form of determinate pessimism that leaves humanity impotent in the face of new challenges. The truth is that the future will be determined by human choices—how we govern ourselves, what we build, and the cultural values that we choose to fight for. We are only condemned to blindly repeat the patterns of the past, if we believe that we are helpless. The way out is to own our future.

THE GOLDEN AGE The fiat crisis has begun. So what wins in the end: gold, digital gold, or some other kind of precious metal or cryptocurrency? Only time will tell, and different assets have different failure modes, but here are some thoughts. (1) First: remember that Bitcoin's value proposition is seizure resistance. Not your keys, not your coins. (2) To explain what that means, think through the mechanics of physical gold. It's great...if you can buy it, transport it, secure it, and sell it safely. But it's much easier to do that when you live in a highly organized state, like China. However, such a state can also track you to your doorstep to seize the gold, once it runs up in price. That's what FDR did in the 1930s and what China is fully capable of doing in the 2020s: (3) So when you think through the game theory, as the price of gold rises, the cries to tax (or seize!) the physical gold will also rise. Note: we need not even mention paper gold here. In a true crisis, such claims are not worth the paper they're printed on. That's why many countries are repatriating their gold. Not your bricks, not your gold! (4) By contrast to physical gold, digital gold (and cryptocurrency more generally) can be securely bought, sold, sent, and received at any time, in any amount, and in any location. It is invisible, international, instantaneous, and internet-native. And it is transportable, programmable, and easily verifiable in a way gold bricks simply aren't. (5) In particular, digital gold is seizure-resistant in a way that physical gold is not. The same holds true for cryptocurrency as a class. Go back to the fundamentals: seizure resistance is part of why cryptocurrency was invented as an alternative to precious metals. (6) This is not to say that physical gold won't have its day. If you live in a safe, small country like the United Arab Emirates, you may be able to buy your gold and eat it too. They probably won't expropriate property there. (7) Moreover, it is quite likely that many countries (particularly in the East) will soon re-standardize their currencies on gold, or digital gold, or some mixture of precious metals and digital assets. As I've been noting for years, BRICs has been stacking gold bricks: (8) However, don't overreact towards gold. The successors to the American Empire are China and the Internet. You should think of this as the past and the future replacing the present. China will replace the dollar with gold, along with physical commodities that it can touch, feel, and control. Meanwhile, the Internet will replace the dollar with digital gold, along with digital assets that it can encrypt, script, and verify. (9) So: feel free to hedge as you see fit between the physical past and the digital future, with just one caveat: namely, you may not want to buy physical precious metals unless you're in a financially and physically secure region of the world. That probably means being outside North America and Western Europe. Because those countries are in the midst of sovereign debt crisis. And as that crisis deepens, both their failing states and their angry mobs are going to be hunting for whatever they can steal. (10) In other words, what's much more important than allocation is location. Ray Dalio expressed this obliquely in one of his earlier interviews, where he said that "location" is a risk: What Ray actually meant is: if you live in a jurisdiction that heavily depends on the dollar (which includes the entire G7), you want to get out. Because the total pauperization that follows the end of the dollar may mean that angry mobs (or government agents, or both) may come to your home, steal your assets, and perhaps rip you limb-from-limb in the process. A cheery thought...yet also historically precedented. That's what came to Eastern Europe and Asia in the 20th century during the rise of communism. And that's what may come to North America and Western Europe after the end of Keynesianism. Prior to such a situation, you really do not want to buy gold bricks, which you can't transport through an airport. You want to hit the bricks. You want to move faster, escape things. Get as far away from the dollar zone as you can...but physically first, rather than financially. After all, "staying and fighting" a sovereign debt crisis caused by decades of money printing is like staying and fighting a volcanic eruption caused by decades of earth moving. You didn't cause it, and you can't stop it, but you can easily be wrecked by it. So emigrate just as the early Americans emigrated from Europe. Unless you believe the Irish Americans "betrayed" Ireland by leaving, unless you really want to spend the rest of your life paying down welfare and warfare debts you didn't incur, you should change your location out of the G7. And then do whatever allocation you like. Or just ignore this analysis and do what you see fit. Your call, of course. If so, I really do hope my MAGA friends are right that "The Golden Age of America Begins Right Now." Because I also think we are on the verge of a type of Golden Age, and a Bitcoin Age...but in a very different way.

High love and high structure. I grew up in a home that was high structure but low love. My father's rules were absolute, enforced by the threat of conflict, but there wasn't warmth underneath. When I started building teams, I instinctively swung the other way: high love, low structure. I wanted everyone to feel supported. I avoided setting hard expectations because I didn't want to be my dad. It didn't work. People didn't know where they stood. Standards were fuzzy. The team drifted. What I eventually learned is that the optimal isn't one or the other — it's both. Genuine care for people combined with clear expectations and real accountability. Most people need structure to thrive. They want to know what's expected, how they're doing, and where the boundaries are. That's not mean. That's respectful. High love without high structure is actually a form of neglect.

Avalanche is growing in the Middle East. Today the Avalanche DLT Foundation was incorporated within @ADGlobalMarket, Abu Dhabi's International Financial Centre, giving Avalanche an advantage in the region. Another day. Another W.

Incredible innovation, @stripe is charging 1.5% to transfer USDC. I recently sent $200 of USDC on @base and my transaction fee was 0.00009% , or $0.000193. The tx fee would have been the same for $1 or $100M USDC Charging 1.5% simply to send USDC is ludicrously unreasonable

@Rrazvan1 @iJaack The details: github.com/avalanche-foun…

I want to hear what cool stuff people are building, whether it be an app, movement, community etc on Avalanche. I mentioned the @chikn_nft game yesterday and how that brought new users and fun to Avalanche. The @AvaxHusky team did a great job persistently working in the community and has the best merch imo. @TheArena also did a great job giving people a fun app to play around with and build. Nothing moves in a straight line and sometimes projects need some air to be discovered. This thread can be a good place to point newcomers to what’s being built on Avalanche.

Tokenized equities is the coolest real use case of crypto for me. Allowing anyone globally to invest in the best companies and projects is a dream come true for someone who loves investing. Get the best teardown on tokenized equity wars 👇

I’ve been part of the new AVAX economics working group that is tasked with putting proposals together to identify any shortcomings with the AVAX tokenomics and to propose solutions. Next week I’ll be hosting a Stage exclusively in The Arena with @ijaack94 and others to discuss the findings so far and the new proposals coming out. This will likely be the biggest Arena Stage yet besides the one with @el33th4xor from last year. Tune in to learn something new. There will be a brief Q+A session at the end, make sure to have your voice heard.

A $9 billion market goes onchain. CruTrade is using Avalanche to tokenize fine wine, bringing transparency, liquidity, and global access to a traditionally closed market. This is yet another example of how Avalanche is transforming the future of onchain finance. avax.network/about/blog/tok…

After 3.5 incredible years building Hidden Road from 27 people to a 180 person global multi-asset firm to be acquired by Ripple for 1.25B, I decided to move to the cheering section in September. I am thrilled to announce that also in September I had the opportunity to join @gbartsmith in creating @avat_co as the COO. Along with @0xBudd , we are excited to build a new capital vehicle to provide investors and institutions exposure to the growth of the incredible @avax blockchain ecosystem.

GM. Extreme volatile market so pls stay safe out there. Spend time away from screen this weekend, touch grass, and check on people around you who might be affected by this. For many, the emotional support goes a long way more than you realize. On the brighter side - resilience, financial discipline and next biggest opportunities are born out of these events. As crypto industry matures and gets quickly integrated with main stream financial market, we will have less and less volatility in our market, but that also means fewer and fewer systematic scale mispriced opportunities as well. So treat these as a chance to learn, reflect and move higher. As for AVAX One, we have not yet deployed any cash from the PIPE raised. Timing is key and this gives us a great entry opportunity. Subject to all relevant approvals and disclosures, you should see us in the market 🔜 Have a good weekend everyone! 🔺

For the first time, crypto and U.S. equities share one index. Today we launch the S&P Digital Markets 50 with S&P Dow Jones Indices (@SPDJIndices): an index that unites digital assets and tokenized equities, directly investible onchain.

@OmerBabaoglu @EvanLuthra congratss!!!

@EvanLuthra just invested and started earning 20% yield on a stable asset-backed token. Tokenization is here and you can be at the forefront of this technology too. 🚢 We’re just getting started!

With DATs (Digital Asset Treasuries) getting a lot of attention lately, I wanted to share why I think they’re an important catalyst for the evolution of crypto ecosystems like Avalanche. Even in traditional capital markets, ALTs (alternative assets) as an asset class struggle to invite institutional capital. They generally have boom / bust cycles and invite short-term capital allocators looking to take advantage of low liquidity profiles and higher volatility regimes. In these traditional markets, at least there are vehicles institutions can use. In crypto, access is limited — and even when institutions can get exposure, those assets often aren’t put to work efficiently. This is where DATs come in. DATs create vehicles that institutional capital can access, with mandates to actively manage treasuries, raise funds, and support ecosystem growth. They bring a for-profit mindset, aligned incentives, and the potential for smarter, more transparent capital allocation. Yes, premiums to mNAVs in early DATs will fluctuate over time. Many will trade at a discount. But as the market matures, I expect the strongest DATs to rise to the top — the ones that manage capital actively, communicate clearly, and build trust in their strategies. Winners will emerge. One benefit that gets less attention: DATs can complement the role of Foundations. Today, Foundations are often asked to act as liquidity providers, lending their support to promising new projects and, on occasion, providing liquidity. But they’re not built to scale that forever. DATs can fill that role, introducing competition and market-driven capital allocation into the ecosystem. Some ask why Foundations would sell discounted tokens to DATs. The answer is simple: to help them raise external capital and use those funds to acquire tokens such as AVAX on the open market. That means cleaning up weak-handed sellers, telling a stronger story to capital allocators, and ultimately building deeper, more resilient AVAX treasuries. None of the current AVAX DATs have yet acquired tokens on the open market. But AGRI and AVAT have announced fundraising rounds and collectively stated goals to own $1.7B of AVAX or 13% of the circulating supply, and both intend to complete deals and begin purchasing in the near future. It’s early, but how this plays out could reshape how ecosystems scale capital — and how networks like Avalanche tell their story to the world. 🔺

Congrats to @avat_co and @gbartsmith for launching AVAT with 670M! I was a seed investor in @avax 7 years ago, and we've been investing along the way ever since at Dragonfly, including into AVAT. Proud of the team in pulling this together—no easy feat, especially in this market. Onward and 🔺ward

Big news: AVAX One, backed by @HivemindCap, is a first-of-its-kind public company dedicated to building a crypto treasury focused on @AVAX. Proud to serve as Advisory Chair and see real-world assets, fintech and insure-tech brought on-chain. The future of finance is programmable, transparent and digital. via @WSJ

I’m beyond excited to share that @HivemindCap is leading the strategic raise for @agriforcegs, to be renamed AVAX One, the first NASDAQ-listed company dedicated to maximizing ownership of @avax 🧵 1/ wsj.com/finance/curren…

Five years. Five years of growth. Innovation. Community. Thanks to you. And it's only just begun.