Read on Twitter
I& #39;ve gotten a fair number of new followers from the crypto space, so figured I& #39;d re-introduce myself. 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Waving hand" aria-label="Emoji: Waving hand">
Here& #39;s a thread:
(this might get long)
Here& #39;s a thread:
(this might get long)
I& #39;m first and foremost a musician and that is my life& #39;s work. In fact, it& #39;s the only job I& #39;ve ever had. I became a working pro in college (2007) and the rest is history. I& #39;ve written for TV, film, ads, remixes, originals, even a ballet. Every size artist and label.
Through that I& #39;ve experienced the worst case of parasitic middleware type of behavior. Little did I know what I was getting into when I graduated in 2008. Try to think of a more toxic industry, I challenge you.
Things are improving but we have much further to go.
Things are improving but we have much further to go.
Skipping ahead to late 2016, I stumbled on a video of @VitalikButerin talking about this idea.
An idea of a programmable general purpose blockchain.
On the surface it just sounds like jargon, but underneath the hood, it symbolized freedom.
An idea of a programmable general purpose blockchain.
On the surface it just sounds like jargon, but underneath the hood, it symbolized freedom.
We could build a more equitable system.
The possibility of cutting out all of that entrenched middleware that plagued my industry was too hard to ignore. I became obsessed and absorbed as much information as I could. There had to be a better way.
The possibility of cutting out all of that entrenched middleware that plagued my industry was too hard to ignore. I became obsessed and absorbed as much information as I could. There had to be a better way.
Soon after I had the pleasure of meeting @UjoMusic ( @JesseGrushack @JackSpallone @simondlr & team) & lots of @Consensys folks, @ethereumJoseph.
I had seen the work they had done with @imogenheap and wanted to work with them on releasing an album through this platform.
I had seen the work they had done with @imogenheap and wanted to work with them on releasing an album through this platform.
Downloadable MP3/WAV files hosted on @IPFS that could be purchased with ETH through a smart contract.
On the surface, kind of antiquated, even in 2017. However, it was more about the idea. Again, freedom. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nevzbz/this-dj-has-released-the-first-full-length-album-using-the-ethereum-blockchain">https://www.vice.com/en_us/art...
On the surface, kind of antiquated, even in 2017. However, it was more about the idea. Again, freedom. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nevzbz/this-dj-has-released-the-first-full-length-album-using-the-ethereum-blockchain">https://www.vice.com/en_us/art...
A direct transaction with my fans. It& #39;s such a simple idea but completely non-existent in the current system. Despite the 27 steps to convert fiat into ETH and get it into metamask, we had a fairly successful release and I felt welcomed by the ETH community.
We even issued a $EGO (name of the album) token to people that purchased it.
Bear market did the bear market thing and a lot of exciting projects died or fizzled out, ujo included.
The ideas persisted though.
Bear market did the bear market thing and a lot of exciting projects died or fizzled out, ujo included.
The ideas persisted though.
It became painfully obvious that we were so early and it& #39;s gonna take a few years for the infrastructure to evolve before we can build consumer level dapps.
Even in 2020, a lot of the dapps with real users require a fair amount of know-how.
Even in 2020, a lot of the dapps with real users require a fair amount of know-how.
I continued to follow the space during the crypto winter and despite @CryptoHayes celebrating sub-100 ETH, the devs continued to dev.
I saw projects evolve like @MakerDAO @compoundfinance and @AudiusProject on the music side (which I just joined as an advisor).
I saw projects evolve like @MakerDAO @compoundfinance and @AudiusProject on the music side (which I just joined as an advisor).
All the garbage ICO crowd moved out, probably into 420 stonks.
I got busy with writing another album but I kept playing with what we now call DeFi. I had one of the early CDPs, I was an early LP for the LINK/ETH @UniswapProtocol pool (and got rekt with IL lol)
I got busy with writing another album but I kept playing with what we now call DeFi. I had one of the early CDPs, I was an early LP for the LINK/ETH @UniswapProtocol pool (and got rekt with IL lol)
Earlier this year I was introduced to @js_horne from @ourZORA through @JackSpallone.
Back in the Ujo days we had talked about tokenizing physical products but Zora successfully solved this. It& #39;s quite elegant really.
The solution, a redemption button that burns the token.
Back in the Ujo days we had talked about tokenizing physical products but Zora successfully solved this. It& #39;s quite elegant really.
The solution, a redemption button that burns the token.
So then we released $TAPE and you all went a bit crazy with it lol.
https://ourzora.com/rac/tape
At">https://ourzora.com/rac/tape&... one point in time, it was one of the most expensive cassette tapes of all time. A modest MC of 60 thousand dollars for a cassette tape in 2020.
Turns out music does have value.https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Thumbs up" aria-label="Emoji: Thumbs up">
https://ourzora.com/rac/tape
At">https://ourzora.com/rac/tape&... one point in time, it was one of the most expensive cassette tapes of all time. A modest MC of 60 thousand dollars for a cassette tape in 2020.
Turns out music does have value.
And here we are in 2020, throwing yield generating stablecoins into unaudited staking pools named after food groups. Caution aside, I absolutely love it. It reminds me of the early internet. Open source has bite now.
I& #39;m having more fun now than I did in 2017.
I& #39;m having more fun now than I did in 2017.
Of course there are problems, but we have the smartest people I& #39;ve ever met working on solving them. One of the main promises of ethereum was the metcalfe& #39;s network effect and I& #39;m seeing it unfold.
DeFi is just the start.
DeFi is just the start.
Modern agriculture for millenials, aka yield farming, probably isn& #39;t sustainable over the long term, but this is the fun part where we get to experiment with governance systems and iterate quickly. @YamFinance was better than any rollercoaster I& #39;ve been on.
@AndreCronjeTech @iearnfinance @CurveFinance @BalancerLabs @AaveAave @synthetix_io @NexusMutual @xdaichain @akropolisio @renprotocol @UMAprotocol @mstable_ @raiden_network @KyberNetwork @maticnetwork to name a few.
I likely differ from a lot of the crypto crowd on this, but I don& #39;t think most people should invest in this. It& #39;s far too volatile and it& #39;s likely unhealthy.
Perhaps after some maturity the FI crowd can park their USD for some 6/7% compounding interest and live the van life.
Perhaps after some maturity the FI crowd can park their USD for some 6/7% compounding interest and live the van life.
There& #39;s no shortage of risk hungry dumb money flowing into the space and VCs are ready to dump their 100x gains on you. Not sure we need more of that.
I loved @ErikVoorhees analogy of crypto being an organism. ( @BanklessHQ podcast) There& #39;s good and bad. Things come and go. Ideas are born and eventually die, and re-born again.
It& #39;s freedom and I can& #39;t wait to see what comes next.
It& #39;s freedom and I can& #39;t wait to see what comes next.
