On this holiday weekend in the USA, and consumer holiday in terms of how many companies look at the end of the year with an eye towards filling gaps in sales and profits. Of note on today is the concentration to digital goods. This year, it seems as if cryptocurrencies run near the top of the list for many. Part of this has to do with the challenges in economics for some due to several global factors. Part of this contains a fervor around control mechanisms of transactions, communications, and developer tooling - many looking for “what comes after feeds, notifications, and untenable content moderation.” But what should anyone consider about crypto?

For those interested in the communicative aspects of crypto, it’s good to pay attention to transactions and technologies. But it’s probably more important to pay attention to the softer elements, such as the regulatory environment, what is and isn’t traceable for those communication tech technologies (web3 or otherwise). It may be helpful for you to take a look at what it means to have moderation services as part of the behavior, or part of the technology stack, or both. And it’s not an easy solution. When thinking about crypto and communication, it’s very easy to move into conversations about Telegram, Signal, Nostr, etc and float past characteristics folks ask for but are a technical and/or legal quagmire.

Avanceé has stayed on the edge of artifacts like Bitcoin, Lightning, Etherium, wallets, etc. In fact, as part of one of our ongoing research, Liberapay for a tip jar, Unstoppable Domains for plain language wallets, and even receiving Lightning payments (via this code) has spawned some valuable lessons. Where we don’t see as much traction is within audiences who aren’t as concerned right now about the state of their monies. If you will, folks who care about the economic parts of crypto might have more invested in regaining agency which isn’t as accessible in dominant economies. And this is fine, globally and economically, things are shifting such that these challenges to agency might be more honest than the communicative aspects.

Of smaller, but no less important, are aspects crypto pushes lessons towards decentralized governance and federated infrastructure components. These are lower level, but probably the best cases for “crypto as an example of what different pipes can do.” There’s an energy here which isn’t too much different than HTML before CSS broke through, or energies similar to mobile design and features by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and DoMoCo. Do you have to understand these parts to understand crypto? Actually you do. The financial and communicative aspects are built on top of these. It’s more than server-lessened plays, or new ways to build DevOps tooling (certainly part of this). Decentralized governance asks of community participants to take a more action-oriented role before and after scaling. Federated components need to not only be performant, but secure and regionally malleable in the midst of uncertain platform and regulatory constraints.

All of this is reallly fun to keep up with, can’t you tell.

So where should your company focus? Or, where does your innovation team mind the right things about crypto and not the noise?

Small projects should focus on whatever is accessible. If you are in the financial space, you should already be playing with Level 2 tech in a small degree. Minding the USA regulatory process is one thing, but pay attention to the Central and South American countries who are pushing forward without the legacy financial infrastructure baggage (or pressing on despite it). Building financial instruments which go beyond exchanges, wallets, and contracts is where opportunities arise. Level-set what you wish to see in 2-5 years, then work backwards from what you will support to what you will build, to whom you will train or hire to get there.

Larger projects should have a pin next to items like Molly White’s Web3 Is Going Just Great, Lyn Alden’s book and Nostr feeds, @Rabble’s insights and builds, and many others. Am of the opinion that experiments in this group need to lean to actionable insights faster than they become new platform products and services. There’s a different perspective worth exploring before striking one’s shovel everywhere. Am also of the opinion that much about crypto infrastructure is too unsettled - other than Bitcoin and Etherium. Ledgers and that’s it. Everything is being proposed and questioned on top of those it seems.

All of this to say, on this Cyber Monday, that your approach to crypto needs to be more mindful than dismissive. Whether is communications, economics, infrastructure, regulations, or products, the “fad” is in the noise of meme coins, the source is “why does a coin matter?” The yelling about money laundering and CASM aren’t to be quieted, nor should anyone hush the proposal Nostr’s SIP notes offer to content types and relay services. Find a space to listen, ask, and move your awareness forward. Then, shape your response accordingly.

As for Avanceé, well, we are going to keep learning… and maybe something else in time.