24 Comments
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Max Baurzhan's avatar

Writing truth Warrior

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Dan Held's avatar

Thank you

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jammasterlee's avatar

dan is totally a warrior. my boy packs some fire under all that earth. he a volcano.

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Trojan's avatar

Excellent article when focused on corporates’ investment policies, trust and implications for Bitcoin . But whilst it is hard to see Big Tech firms as anything other than MegaCorps this is not a benign development (eg abuse of monopoly power to put Parler out of business ). The British Government stripped East India Company of its powers and US broke up Standard Oil . Political pressure building against Big Tech which is also being disrupted by blockchain - they make money from free data but if we each own our data the game changes and this is the direction. Of travel .

Whilst I concede Big Tech provides useful services any overconcentration of power is bad for the polity and the dynamism of the economy . You do not need to be a cheerleader for MegaCorporations to support the Bitcoin investment thesis .

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Dan Held's avatar

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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jammasterlee's avatar

free markets can be cruel, probably in any genre. there maybe needs to be some kind regulating agreed upon force. but, then, i think what dan is saying is that there would be some competition for loyalty. and that might keep total abuse in check. but that would probably only happen in a situation of equalish players. if one dominates, or if only a few dominate, there might be some oligarcich (is that a word) type behavior. bring on the dystopia!

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LesBro's avatar

Great article Dan. My father always said remember when you are pointing a finger at others there are three fingers pointing back at you. The Banksters are the most corrupt entities and we are supposed to trust them! Time and again they have broken that trust. To freedom of choice. Long live Bitcoin!

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Dan Held's avatar

Yes!

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Jane Weintraub's avatar

What is built in "oppression/danger" of rise of megacorp? How is this system more or less resonant w/ Bitcoin vs. Church or State? I do agree that state is a dead man walking, but notice real reservation internally in trusting "megacorp" (vis a vis Twitter's censorship actions of late...) who do we trust in this new epoch? Does trust or faith in system cease to be a shared value and rather move entirely "localized/P2P"?

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Dan Held's avatar

Consumer engagements with corporations are voluntary exercises unlike governments and formerly the church's power (ex: blasphemy laws)

Would corporations censor as much as they do if there wasn't pressure from politicans/government? Probably not, but hard to know.

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Jane Weintraub's avatar

I appreciate the distinction. I wonder how "voluntary" participation w/ megacorps will become given network effects. We will certainly learn!

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jammasterlee's avatar

i still have a hard time wrapping my head around the death of the state. my friend said maybe it would happen first through corporate manipulation of states. a slow harnessing of the powers that be and then slowly becoming that power.

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Jane Weintraub's avatar

IMHO it is already happening... We are, metaphorically, those frogs boiling in water who aren't aware of it yet. I see a total decay in public trust and good will that has been replaced with suspicion, disregard, paranoia. I see a nation that has difficulty building a website to disseminate information and resources. Just two examples in a larger sea. And all the while I remain hopeful. We human beings are fundamentally resilient and creative. Just wish for safe passage as we transition.

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Wazoomann's avatar

I’m interested to learn more of ark investments valuation analysis...10 x is big.

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Dan Held's avatar

What specifically?

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Wazoomann's avatar

I haven't done any further research to understand its basis. Listening to her, she's obviously a great analyst. Assume the valuation is based on rapidly expanding adoption of BTC as a store of value but at what capital inflows and by whom? Sorry, just haven't done my own research on her POV other than hearing her say 10x. I just read a piece (WSJ?) that most corporate CFOs aren't planning on buying BTC (slow movers/risk averse?) - doesn't make sense to me given inflationary pressures for multinationals.

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jammasterlee's avatar

they are so fly.

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Andre's avatar

Hi Dan. I love your newsletter and am a paying subscriber. I'm confused as to where this Sunday's Q&A on ETH v Bitcoin is being held? You indicated it would be here on Substack? Thank u.

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Dan Held's avatar

Hey Andre! Apologies but I missed today as I was doing Valentine's day plans. Will be rescheduling for tomorrow at the same time. Expect an email soon.

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Andre's avatar

Thank you Dan! Really appreciate you and your work!

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jammasterlee's avatar

dan, what do you think "sovereignism" could look like? don't we still need police n' shit? what is the optimal role of gov't?

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jammasterlee's avatar

dan, what's the best way to task you questions? i mean the genie kind of out of the bottle right. now anyone can make their own currency - AMZN making their own, Facebook doing their own.. so if you extrapolate 30 year, 100 years into future, what will that mean? what will nation states look like then?

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Dan Held's avatar

Here works! I don't see corporations issuing their own currency as we then resort to a weird form of barter.

In 100 years I don't think we have government issued money :) we would just have Bitcoin!

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jammasterlee's avatar

really. wild!

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