1 / New experiment! As crypto becomes more mainstream, let's explore what that means. Each week I’ll be larping as Head of Strategy for X company.

How would I be thinking about crypto sitting in that seat?

First up: @Shopify X Crypto

2 / To start, what is Shopify’s core business? Enabling eCommerce. Today they do this with four key lines of business:

OS for merchants
Merchant services
Ecosystem for devs
Shop for buyers

3 / From the beginning, @tobi has said, Shopify’s mission has been to “arm the rebels.” Today, of course, Shopify arms nearly everyone.

A few stats:
- 1.7M merchants
- 42K ecosystem partners
- 6K apps
- 8.6% of U.S. Retail eCommerce Sales in 2020

4 / So should Shopify consider a crypto strategy? yep

Is Tobi thinking about it? yep https://twitter.com/tobi/status/1378116793370349569

5 / What’s the lens with to consider new revenue streams?

- existing: does this solve a need for our customers? Does it enable new services relevant to our core business

- future: does it introduce a new segment of high-growth customers?

6 / Crypto for crypto's sake doesn't make sense. How can Shopify expand its offerings to service a growing subsector of the digital economy?

7 / I’ll break a few ideas down by customer segment

- Merchants
- Developers
- Users
- and something extra of course - Digital Creators

8 / MERCHANTS

Shopify’s promise is to offer the most comprehensive OS for merchants. One angle is to offer new crypto merchant services.

Shopify payments and capital can lean into the efficiencies of DeFi and stablecoins more broadly.

9 / A few ideas:

USDC payments are already an option for merchants. Stablecoins may be a way to enhance international payments

DeFi - merchant earnings can go into high yield products, working capital (micro) loans can be offered via DeFi lending platforms

10 / A bit further away but real-time finance integrations

This could include streaming payments, crowdfunding pre-launch and making future revenue streams tradeable

11 / What does this offer merchants?

- Faster, cheaper payment options via stablecoins
- Access to higher yield products, micro loans
- Real time financial products/services

12 / DEVELOPERs

Enable a developer toolkit that enables them to connect Shopify merchants with Web3 products/services. This includes:

- NFT airdrop functionality / minting
- Wallets
- Stablecoin integrations
- web3 infrastructure

13 / What does this offer developers?

- Access to web3 products which may lower costs, increase functionality + speed
- access to Shopify's dev ecosystem while building in web3

14 / USERS

It's early days for Shop but one could:
- earn crypto via products like @trylolli
- offer native stablecoin functionality
- engage with their favorite merchants beyond the storefront

hopefully, this leads to higher engagement + a better product experience

15 / CREATORS

SMBs are the OG creators.

If eCommerce x digital creators become increasingly intertwined with digital assets - Shopify will want to enable this.

What does the OS for digital creators look like? NFT issuance, experiences, and beyond?

16 / A big question here will be whether Shopify should build, buy or partner.

Partnership as the first step allows Shopify to:

- Prioritize time to market
- Enable functionality without dedicating an inordinate amount of resources
- leverage talent & establish relationships

17 / Over time, building some in-house capabilities may make sense.

This really depends on:
- The acceleration of web3 infrastructure in eCommerce
- The growth of digital goods being sold via creators
- Regulation

18 / There's a lot more to unpack here but I'll pause. If you're still with me, thank you!!

What else would you want Shopify to explore in crypto?