I read 16 years of crypto explainers so you never have to
An opinionated, annotated canon for all the rabbit hole denizens
This isn’t really an essay that’s meant to be read in full. It’s more of a skimmable resource, an archive.
It’s hard to start conversations with strangers. Parties are hard. Bars are hard.
But for crypto converts among other crypto converts, it’s easier. At Bitcoin Meetups/crypto conferences/Burning Man, all it takes when you meet a stranger is to ask: “So, when did this whole blockchain thing click for you?”
You’ll get a wry, slight smile, some wistfulness. Usually they will tell you a story about an experience that they had that showed them something that didn’t work about money as we know it today. Usually it’s something personal, like: “I was doing volunteer work around South America and it was clear to me how money just didn’t work for normal people.”
Or: “I was trying to build this mobile gaming startup and the friction on credit card payments just killed adoption.”
You nod. You can see how that wo…