BWJ 007: Lightning Strikes Twitter; Classy Bitcoin Rationale; Bitcoin Startup Lens; and more.
This week: Just how big a deal is the integration between Strike and Twitter? Why do we care about communication networks? What tools from the startup playbook can we use to analyse Bitcoin?
Lightning Strikes Twitter
Just how big a deal is the integration between Strike and Twitter?
I couldn’t not lead with this story this week…! Please take a moment to watch the video in the tweet above, it only takes 1 minute, and demonstrates very clearly the product offering. Done it? Good, well done, full newsletter engagement marks for you!
What I see is an extremely exciting young entrepreneur, Jack Mallers, really picking up speed as he hones his craft. Put simply, he understands inside out the potential for Bitcoin, and is going to stop at nothing to enable its success; a wonderful angel investment opportunity for those that were lucky enough to join the seed round of Strike.
Kudos to Jack Dorsey as well, watching a large tech company such as Twitter innovate quickly is impressive, and his obvious passion for Bitcoin is a huge boon for the asset. To me this is a ridiculously exciting sign for the future, with disruptive businesses adding huge value to people’s lives, built on top Bitcoin’s sturdy foundations; do not underestimate the lightning network and other additional layer enabled functionality!
Classy Bitcoin Rationale
Why do we care about communication networks?
I often hear people say “Bitcoin has already won”, but I was never quite sure I knew why that might be the case, until I read this excellent article by Willem Van Den Bergh: “On Schelling points, network effects and Lindy: Inherent properties of communication”. It’s a classy read, leveraging important historical context, clearly written by an intelligent and deep thinker.
Understanding the mechanics of money is critical, both in identifying the problems our current system faces, and in designing solutions appropriate for the future; I am so grateful for articles such as this which help me on this journey. My key takeaway was the emphasis on money as a form of communication network, a seemingly obvious point, the importance of which had eluded me up to now.
Set aside 30 mins this weekend to read this, trust me you wont be disappointed, and for those that prefer audio Guy Swann has some great additional insights here.
Bitcoin Startup Lens
What tools from the startup playbook can we use to analyse Bitcoin?
Shout out to one of the BWJ readers “Tim” for reminding me of “Bitcoin as a Startup” by Hass McCook, which I had read a few months back, and is just the kind of analysis this newsletter is all about; memorable, relevant, and simple. Mapping out Bitcoin’s journey against startup funding rounds is a neat way to visualise its progress so far, against a framework which is familiar, helping decipher further just what we’re dealing with.
To take additional inspiration from the startup space, I love the advice of investing in “lines not dots”, which has been a key tool in deepening my conviction for Bitcoin. Curating data points in order to map the progress of potential investments, both helps analysis, and enables comparison with other opportunities.
To blend both frameworks as an example, when I purchased Bitcoin back in December 2015 I was partaking in the ‘seed round’ (very high risk), becoming my first data point and ‘dot’. In January 2021 the performance of that initial investment was a second data point and ‘dot’, which when joined on a graph clearly showed a ‘line’ with extraordinary growth, justifying following on into the ‘series b’ (medium risk) with an additional investment.
Highly recommend:
Listen: “Bitcoin Risk Assessment” with Lyn Alden & Peter McCormack
Read: “Bitcoiners are the remnant, the masses don’t matter” by Aleks Svetski
Watch: “Episode 10: All Time High” on the Coins Podcast
Top tweets:
Last but not least:
Episode 2 of “We’re so bloody early” is live on Youtube!