Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6285486c715ef" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>Blockworks Research will first focus on DeFi and seeks to expand its coverage to other sectors</li>
                <li>Web application’s offerings to include project and tokenomics analysis, daily briefs with market updates, and protocol and project models</li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p>Blockworks has launched a research offering designed for a range of investors and industry watchers seeking to learn more about DeFi and other crypto sectors.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The media company’s co-founders, Jason Yanowitz and Michael Ippolito, unveiled <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the new web application</a> Wednesday during the Permissionless event in Palm Beach, which Blockworks is co-hosting.</p>



<p>Founded in 2018, Blockworks has spent the past few years building out its events and conferences, as well as its podcast network, editorial brand and newsletter.</p>



<p>“We’ve been building this huge community of investors who are investing into crypto with this core thesis that crypto will eventually become one of the largest asset classes in the world,” Yanowitz said. “Now, it’s time to go deeper.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Blockworks Research will focus on DeFi (decentralized finance) and seeks to expand its coverage to other sectors. The company will publish research on segments such as layer-1s, layer-2s, DAOs, gaming and NFTs — starting at the product and protocol level.</p>



<p>The company has a 10-person research team and plans to scale the unit over time, Yanowitz said.</p>



<p>The offering was designed for crypto executives seeking to keep up with industry development, as well as builders, investors and retail traders.</p>



<p>In addition to data, Blockworks Research will offer project and tokenomics analysis, daily briefs with market updates, protocol and project models, corporate access calls, governance updates and access to analysts.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The launch comes after the crash of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin, UST, and the blockchain’s other native token, LUNA. Though the timing wasn’t planned, Ippolito said, the recent events are a good reminder of the need for better data and analysis.</p>



<p>“There’s definitely a lot of…following people and not doing their own research,” he said. “So one of the things we feel we can give back to the community is providing good primary research, and hopefully that can advance the space.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p><strong>Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.</strong></p>


Blockworks Unveils New Research Offering


<p>In the latest episode of &#8220;<a href="https://youtu.be/Ic1IAlppWNs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Empire</a>,&#8221; Weekly Roundup, Blockworks&#8217; Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Gmoney to discuss CryptoPunks, intellectual property rights and the creator space in the wake of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/apecoin-in-for-a-volatile-ride-as-exchanges-list-bored-ape-yacht-club-linked-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent news</a>. Weighing in on the nascent NFT space&#8217;s tricky relationship between IP and creative commons rights, Gmoney discusses his own journey with self-branding in the space and outside of it.</p>



<p>Jason and Santiago also talk about:</p>



<ul><li>APE and the ApeCoin DAO</li><li>the voting results of last week&#8217;s Anchor discussion</li><li>Yuga Labs and Disney</li></ul>



<p>Check out what they had to say in the video below. 👇</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Gmoney on the BAYC x CryptoPunk Acquisition | Weekly Roundup" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ic1IAlppWNs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>About the show</strong></h3>



<p>&#8220;Empire&#8221; is a twice-a-week show. On Thursdays, Jason interviews crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Friday&#8217;s weekly roundup episodes feature <meta charset="utf-8">co-host Santiago Roel Santos and cover the top news from the past week.</p>



<p>For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of &#8220;Empire&#8221; as a &#8220;How I Built This&#8221; for the bitcoin and crypto industry.</p>



<p>Subscribe to &#8220;Empire&#8221; today on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/empire/id1554930038" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify</a>. Watch episodes on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvER9nHSRN3wPkrDGTT5_8VC4Hjcq0f9U" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube</a>.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p><strong><strong>Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.</strong></strong></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>


Podcast: Gmoney on the BAYC x CryptoPunk Acquisition | Weekly Roundup


<p>In the latest episode of &#8220;<a href="https://youtu.be/U-FS_Jff8nQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Empire</a>,&#8221; Weekly Roundup, Blockworks&#8217; Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Simon Taylor for a deep dive into the very relevant topic of SWIFT.</p>



<p>With recent sanctions placed on Russia, Simon explains what this means for the Russian economy going forward. Simon, Jason and Santiago dispel some misnomers and create a concrete definition of everybody&#8217;s current question: What is SWIFT?</p>



<p>Jason and Santiago also talk about:</p>



<ul><li>Stablecoins as a geopolitical weapon</li><li>Nostro vs. Vostro accounts</li><li>How SWIFT works</li><li>And so much more</li></ul>



<p>Check out what they had to say in the video below. 👇</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What is SWIFT &amp; How It Impacts Russia | Weekly Roundup" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U-FS_Jff8nQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>About the show</strong></h3>



<p>&#8220;Empire&#8221; is a twice-a-week show. On Thursdays, Jason interviews crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Friday&#8217;s weekly roundup episodes feature <meta charset="utf-8">co-host Santiago Roel Santos and cover the top news from the past week.</p>



<p>For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of &#8220;Empire&#8221; as a &#8220;How I Built This&#8221; for the bitcoin and crypto industry.</p>



<p>Subscribe to &#8220;Empire&#8221; today on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/empire/id1554930038" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify</a>. Watch episodes on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvER9nHSRN3wPkrDGTT5_8VC4Hjcq0f9U" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube</a>.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p><strong><strong>Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.</strong></strong></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>


Podcast: What Is SWIFT and How It Impacts Russia | Weekly Roundup

Michael Ippolito

<div id="highlights-block_61c48f67148c8" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>Jack Dorsey has unleashed a barrage of anti-Ethereum tweets, and is particularly derisive of Web3</li>
                <li>NFTs have emerged as a particularly polarising aspect of the Web3 phenomenon</li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p class="has-text-align-right"><em>This essay first appeared as &#8220;Everyone Hates Web3</em>&#8220;<em> in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks&#8217; daily newsletter</a> on December 22.</em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong>“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”</strong> <em>— Upton Sinclair</em></p></blockquote>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Monetarists vs the Technologists</strong></h2>



<p>Ever since I have been in crypto, the industry has divided itself into two groups: the monetary crowd, and the technology crowd.</p>



<p>Back in 2017 there were events in New York based on this idea. “The Future of Crypto: Wall Street vs Silicon Valley.”</p>



<p>I’ve always thought crypto was a bit like the <a href="https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Mirror_of_Erised" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mirror of Erised</a>. What you see when you look at it largely depends on your pre-existing world view. If you are monomaniacally focused on the Fed, money printing and moral hazard, chances are you see crypto as a monetary revolution. Jeff Booth does a great job of explaining this point of view.</p>



<p>For most of crypto’s 12-year existence, the monetary crowd represented the dominant point of view. Bitcoin was, after all, a direct response to irresponsible monetary policy. For years, it was the only successful undertaking in crypto, and it is still (in my humble opinion) the king.</p>



<p>But there is another idea that is beginning to take hold of the popular narrative around crypto that has nothing to do with monetary revolution. This narrative, which falls under the umbrella of “Web3” began around the time Ethereum was created in 2014. The idea is that crypto is the next evolution of the internet, and has more to do with digital property rights than hedging inflation.</p>



<p>For the record, I don’t see these ideas as being mutually exclusive. In fact, I think they’re both correct and don’t understand why we feel the need to argue about them. But we are. And I think I am starting to understand why.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Jack Dorsey Hates Web3</strong></h3>



<p>If you work full time in crypto, you are no stranger to criticism. For some reason in crypto, criticism (on both sides!) comes with a strong emotional flavor and a side of ad hominem attacks: Bitcoin is not just going to fail, it&#8217;s rat poison squared. Gary Gensler is not just misinformed, he is a liar and a fraud — that kind of thing.</p>



<p>Personally, I wish it wasn’t like this, but it’s always interested me and helped convince me that this space was real. After all, large groups of people rarely get riled up about ideas that turn out to be nothing burgers.</p>



<p>But in the four years I’ve been in this space, I have never seen the level of pure emotional venom that Web3 has inspired.</p>



<p>Enter the newly ex-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. I’ve seen Jack tweet and speak positively about Bitcoin, so I always just…kind of assumed he was onboard with the whole space?&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>Turns out, that is not the case!</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You don’t own “web3.”<br><br>The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. <br><br>Know what you’re getting into…</p>&mdash; jack⚡️ (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1473139010197508098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>It’s not just one or two of these tweets. There are 20+ tweets in the last two days alone dedicated to expressing just how much he hates Web3 and the VCs that are funding it.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">💯 <a href="https://t.co/YaEO5tLlWl">https://t.co/YaEO5tLlWl</a></p>&mdash; jack⚡️ (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1473380683896737813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>Jack’s criticisms focus on VC’s here, but I think a discussion of “Are VC’s bad?” is missing the point.</p>



<p>For me, it is more useful to look at Jack’s tweets as part of a larger trend. Elon Musk, for instance, looks like he’s on the same page but for different reasons.</p>



<p>NFTs have inspired their own unique brand of hatred. For a minute in November it looked like <a href="https://discord.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Discord</a> was going to integrate Ethereum into their platform before the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/discord-ceo-hints-at-crypto-wallet-integration-some-users-boycott/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CEO got pushback from thousands of its members</a>.</p>



<p>Ubisoft got similarly virulent feedback from their users when they announced the launch of NFTs, which have also suffered from <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ubisoft-nft-efforts-are-off-to-a-rocky-start/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poor adoption</a>.</p>



<p>Each set of dissenters here (Jack, Elon, Discord users, and Ubisoft users) have a different set of criticisms for Web3. The similarity that’s worth pointing out is the extreme level of emotion that’s showed up in all cases. And if you’re wondering what I mean by that, just take a look at the responses to <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1472942470719803403?s=20">this t</a><a href="https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1472942470719803403?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">w</a><a href="https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1472942470719803403?s=20">eet</a> from Jason.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NFTs = digital status 🧵<br><br>Until now, it’s been impossible to show off status online.<br><br>NFTs changed that by bringing scarcity online. <a href="https://t.co/ySV3bJvyXt">pic.twitter.com/ySV3bJvyXt</a></p>&mdash; Yano (@JasonYanowitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1472942470719803403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>Seriously, click into the quote tweets to see what people are saying. It is pure, unadulterated, vitriol.</p>



<p>The question is, why?</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Blockchains Destroy Revenues</strong></h3>



<p>There’s a phrase that I heard in my early days of crypto that has always stuck with me: “blockchains don’t create revenues, they destroy them.”</p>



<p>In one sense, this is good! Take a look at something like Uniswap, which is essentially 30 people and 8 lines of code that does almost as much trading volume as Coinbase. From the perspective of progress, this is great. Uniswap has eliminated unnecessary overhead and given consumers more for less. But if you’re looking at Uniswap from the perspective of NYSE…suddenly it doesn’t look so great.&nbsp; In fact, it looks pretty bad.</p>



<p>If you look at crypto from the perspective of disruption, suddenly these reactions begin to make more sense. For a long time, when crypto was only viewed through a monetary lens, the ones getting disrupted were central and commercial banks. Bankers have long pushed back on Bitcoin, but there hasn’t been a public outcry because let’s be honest…no one’s going to shed any tears for Jamie Dimon or Jerome Powell.</p>



<p>Web3 is different though because it represents disruption for companies that people love. It’s one thing to root for Bank of America to get disrupted, but quite another for Twitter or your favorite video game. These are beloved products! People don’t want to see them go away.</p>



<p>But for the leaders of these companies, the conflict goes even one layer deeper. Remember, Jack Dorsey not only built his career and legacy on Web2, but he helped pioneer the principles of the whole industry.</p>



<p>If decentralization and transparency are the foundation of Web3, then centralization and efficiency were the religion of Web2. So not only does Web3 represent a threat to the legacy of Web2, but it invalidates many views that they (consciously or not) held as sacred.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Methinks the Lady Doth Protest too Much</strong></h3>



<p>At the end of the day, this is just me speculating. I don’t mean to belittle the criticisms from Jack or the Discord or Ubisoft communities. Especially in Jack’s case, I think he makes some valid points.</p>



<p>But I also believe that people tell you a lot based on how they react to things. It’s the emotional component of the dialogue that makes this interesting to me.</p>



<p>I have learned from <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/author/tyler/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tyler Neville</a>: Whenever there is a big divergence in public opinion, it’s time to sit up and take notice — especially when that divergence involved a spike in emotion.</p>



<p>When I look around today, the biggest divergences I see are in three areas: China, Elon Musk, and Web3.</p>



<p>I’m not here to tell you how to feel about any of them. What I am here to tell you is that if you’re interested in outsize returns, these are good places to start forming an opinion.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
<p><strong>Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.</strong></p>
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