0/ When something is fringe tech and my buddy @ShaanVP tells me about it, I'm all ears.

This week it was: Bitclout.

1st Reaction: What the heck is this?
2nd Reaction: Holy S*** this is the future

Here's why I think Bitclout or something like it is absolutely here to stay:

1/ First off - this is a classic case of “Buyer Beware.”

There is a lot of risk in early stage projects like this, a higher likelihood of failure than success and an open forum for grifters - be wary, do your own research and don’t take undue risk. Ok with that out of the way…

2/ To understand BitClout and why its potential is so powerful, we need to break down 2 concepts:

(1) “decentralization” and (2) “atomic unit of value”

3/ Decentralization

Today, the Internet is run by a handful of companies

- Apple decides what makes it into the App Store
- Google decides what makes it in Search
- Facebook decides who shows up on Newsfeed

Decentralization places power in the hands of the community.

4/ Atomic Unit of Value

Every era has a raw “resource” (oil, data, etc.) that when captured catalyzes an immense wave of innovation within a sector.

These are obvious and highly contested in hindsight but are largely non-obvious at the time of discovery.

h/t @arjunsethi

5/ Let’s apply this to Twitter as an example

1. Twitter has an algorithm that surfaces certain people

2. People are surfaced via specific pieces of content they produce

3. These pieces of content are “liked” & “retweeted”

6/ But what if instead of a centralized body (Twitter) promoting people via proxy signals (likes and retweets)....

.....you had a bottoms up community (decentralized) that allowed you to ascribe value to content creator (atomic unit of value)

This at its core is BitClout.

7/ BitClout is a new type of social network that lets you speculate on people and posts. It's built from the ground up as its own custom blockchain

BitClout opens up a world where you can monetize, transact and generate value from a person’s reputation.

Here's how it works:

8/ The BitClout blockchain has its own native cryptocurrency, called BitClout.

BitClout allows you to buy “creator coins.”

Every profile gets its own creator coin - an asset that is tied directly to the reputation of an individual.

9/ The price of the coin goes up when people buy and down when people sell.

So theoretically if someone's:

- Reputation > their coin value, the coin should go up

- Reputation < their coin value, the coin should go down

10/ The use cases are powerful.

Here are some that are most interesting to me:

- Premium Content: content available for superfans

- Alignment: select participation in comments section (reduces spam/negativity)

- Message Prioritization - coin holders rise to top of inbox

11/ At a meta level, you can move your “clout” (followers, posts, creator coin balance) to any app that’s built on top of the BitClout blockchain.

In the same way Bitcoin is building a decentralized financial system, BitClout is building decentralized social media.

12/ That said - there’s a lot of hurdles BitClout faces:

- You can’t get money out of the platform today

- There’s no fiat onramp

- Creators face reputational risk bringing their followers onto an unproven platform

- Feature parity is very subpar

13/ BitClout has raised capital from many of the best ( @sequoia, @a16z, @chamath, etc.) to give itself credibility.

In 10 years, whether BitClout specifically works or not, I have a feeling we'll credit them for starting a movement in what feels like an inevitable direction.

14/ I tweeted earlier this year the '20s are going to be a renaissance decade - the themes I was most excited about were: (a) capital markets, (b) fractional ownership and (c) creators.

BitClout is (A + B + C) * 1000.

This isn’t a new chapter. It’s a new book.

15/ If you’re looking to explore the Wild West, head over to BitClout.

I’m at https://bitclout.com/u/RomeenSheth