First, we experienced the erosion of shared values.
Next, we lived the destruction of shared truth.
Now, we are witnessing the decimation of shared VALUE.*
We’re seeing everything turning into a financial asset from emojis to memes to social media accounts. What is valuable and valueless is now obfuscated because the world has unconsciously lost faith in the foundational global unit of account, the USD.
There are two articles in the Markets section of What I’m Reading today that on the surface may seem to discuss different trends, but are really both a piece of this much larger phenomena. I’ll try to tie them together for you.
One describes the speculative mania in NFTs, SPACs, and “valueless” meme stonks (also known as stocks).
The other explores a multi billion dollar hedge fund’s entry into the venture capital space. This fund is changing the venture game by accelerating the pace of deals while pushing valuations much higher.
In my opinion, all of this is related to the accelerating destruction of our shared system of value - the USD. As this fundammental unit of account is eroded, more speculative investments become more attractive.
The more unclear the value of the asset, the better.
The further out the cash flows, the better.
In the first instance, one only need rely on a shared narrative for another buyer, the greater fool, to arrive.
In the second instance, you need to try to beat inflation (which is accelerating), and the only way to do so is to buy growth. The value that people are willing to pay for that growth is seemingly directly tied to the perceived value destruction of the unit of account.
As the cost of holding dollars rises towards double digits, this trend will accelerate.
This may end in a digital barter system supported by new and existing infrastructure for p2p transfer of digital assets. In this world, individuals will have the opportunity to recalbirate what they value. Otherwise, we may see the emergence of a new global unit of account to replace the current one.
Not sure the time horizon and am also not rooting for this.
*The order might actually be reversed, I’m not quite sure which was chicken and which was egg.
Throwback Episode: Web3 and NFTs with Jake Brukhman, Partner @ CoinFund
There are some great snippets on NFTs from early adopter and CoinFund’s Managing Partner, Jake Brukhman, in this episode which was recorded in February 2020 (pre-pandemic!).
What I’m Reading
Ideas
The Effects of Black Lives Matter Protests, Vox
Thiel Blasts Silicon Valley’s ‘Useful Idiots’ for Selling Out to China, FreeBeacon
Markets
There’s Nothing to Do Except Gamble, the New Yorker
Playing Different Games, Everett Randle
Bidenomics Explained, Noahpinion
Metaverse, NFTs, and Digital Collectibles
iNFTs: Chat with Darth Vader, The Defiant
Are NFTs a Hyped Scam or the Future of Art, Pairagraph (why not both?)
Why I’m Excited About NFTs, Paris Hilton
NSYE Launches NFTs (lol)
Crypto
Big Brain Crypto Club, UpOnly Podcast
Challenges in the DAO Space, Kerman Kohli
Nic Carter: Bitcoin Core Values, Layered Scaling, and Blocksize Debates, Lex Fridman Podcast
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