When the Web3 narrative got very popular in 2021, I was still in college and had only recently been introduced to blockchain technology, smart contracts, and decentralized applications. Like many at the time, I imagined that Ethereum or another highly performant smart contract blockchain would grow to become the base layer of the Internet. The other outcome in my mind was a “multi-chain” future where the Internet ran on multiple smart contract L1s. And Bitcoin, being a boring chain devoid of Turing completeness, had no role in Web3.
A few facts could have easily set the record straight if I were only aware of them at the time. Luckily, I was more cautious with my money than with my thoughts, so I never lost anything investing in Web3 ERC-20 tokens.
Today I am actively betting against the “read, write, own” Internet touted by Web3 VCs while betting on a what I call a “read, write, work” Internet which will be selected and enjoyed by users. Both bets are expressed by owning bitcoin. Rather than a hopeless attempt to “own” data, bitcoin is well placed to be the currency that powers the new web as a medium of exchange. The fundamental concept behind this thesis is a subset of…
