1/15

While some of these companies would genuinely need the cash for employees (like media companies) its gross to see well funded protocols get funded.

What's atrocious as all hell is how Consensys got $5m-$10M & VC funds like Polychain got possibly as much as $1M back. https://twitter.com/CoinDesk/status/1280208034422296578

2/15

You're a successful VC fund with a dozen or so people and needed to take bailout money?

That's almost as bad as Consensys, the anti-traditional finance company, getting between $5M-$10M in PPP when the average American got the equivalent of a kick in the teeth.

3/15

Consensys is and always has been a poorly run consulting and venture studio.

The brilliant teams within ConsenSys have brought us some great tooling like MetaMask and Gnosis, but most of Consensys has been bad decisions and flopped projects.

4/15

Consider in October of 2018 when they bought out an asteroid mining company https://www.planetaryresources.com/2018/10/consensys-acquires-planetary-resources/ (yeah, I know wtf!) and then a month later during the Christmas season they laid off 13% of their staff.

5/15

It's one thing to pay out of government programs to protect jobs.

It's another to prop-up poorly run companies that have said for years they are trying to build the future of financial systems and that the old systems are terrible and need to be torn down.

6/15

Like the US tax payer has indirectly just financed the purchase of an asteroid mining company two-years ago, because that deal could have easily covered the costs of employees.

7/15

I get the need and desire for some of these companies to protect their employees jobs during trying times in the face of declining revenue.

But many of these companies are ones that don't have revenue models, don't need the money or are spending it poorly.

8/15

More over, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

If you are some anti-welfare crypto-punk that believes there can be 0 government and it should be all on-chain, then don't have the audacity to take millions from tax payers.

9/15

How many of these companies cut their exec payroll before taking the PPP, or cut lavish perks? I'd bet not many.

10/15

In blockchain we're building a system of trustlessness, that doesn't mean that trust isn't a good thing - it just means we shouldn't ever *need* it.

So when companies are willing to tell you one story to your face, but, another behind your back,

11/15

Or when they encourage you to tear down, or not use a system that they themselves benefit from, then its time for you to vote with your wallet.

12/15

Companies like Token Tax, My Crypto, MyEtherWallet, Blockfolio, Ledger, Messari and The Block are all examples of businesses run on human capital that would have taken revenue hits. It makes total sense for them to need PPP.

13/15

But highly profitable exchanges like Abra, Circle, Bittrex and BitFlyer?

VCs like Polychain Capital and Consensys? Or protocols like Algorand who just raised big rounds last year?

Get lost.

14/15

Personally, I think it should be a cold day in hell before you consider working with, buying from, taking investment from or investing in any of these companies who can't transparently prove that 100% of PPP funds went to retaining non-exec employees.

15/15

We as a community have the obligation to uphold industry values with our wallets and our patronage, and its pretty damn clear many of these companies have failed to reach the bar of integrity we should expect in this industry.