Depending on who you talk to, our industry growing up is either doom or glory. We are finally globally relevant and that necessarily means we are less insular. Because this industry was created by the stubborn resolute and unwavering conviction of contrarians, misfits, and fringe actors, we relished in the pirate mindset. We loved our insularity. (Tbh, I miss it too at times). The “web3” thesis where programmable blockchains are supposed to be decentralized computing infrastructure for many apps ultimately incinerated billions of dollars of venture capital because it led tech minded builders and their investors to prioritize app sovereignty over unified liquidity. This was wrong on first principles. As it turns out, blockchain has and always will be financial infrastructure. Finance superpowered by tech and programmability. Decentralization, neutrality, and censorship resistance have never been more important. Whether this excites you going forward depends on whether you’re more west coast or east coast; San Francisco or New York; more tech or finance minded. From the west coast crowd, I often hear disappointment (“oh in the end blockchain is only about finance?! That’s it?”) I couldn’t be more excited, and I think the mandate has never been more clear and also attainable. Capital formation isn’t an abstract thing that bankers do when you are ready to IPO. Capital formation enables innovation. It allows us to take big bets on the future. Liquid markets enable capital formation. Over the long term, there can not be a larger global capital market than the internet capital market. The biggest market to possibly unify is that of people on the internet who use money. Like all things the internet has ever touched, the online/onchain experience is never the same as the pre internet experience. Just as we needed network engineers to imagine and build blockchain networks, we need consumer tech minds to complement finance minds to deliver new ways of accessing finance. This is not and has never been a small vision for blockchain. In fact, I would argue that it’s a core intent of a “peer to peer electronic cash network.” We welcome those who want to double down on finance for the internet to come join the Solana ecosystem and make good on this mission. I think it’s fine and even great that the risk-on talent from blockchain is now expanding new frontiers away from blockchain. New frontiers are only ever explored by those with stubborn resolute unwavering conviction.

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