There’s so much about sports that I find beautiful. For one thing, it’s the ultimate meritocracy. In sports you are judged by your overall skill or contribution to the team and nothing else.
Sports are objective. The ball was either in or out. One team either has more points or less. You’re either faster or slower. In that sense, sports follows the rules of physics, not the opinions of the crowd.
Sports are about sportsmanship. You play sports to compete with others. To be the best individual or team by being better at the task at hand, not by being better at lobbying, or politicking, or cheating others. Try playing dirty or get caught cheating and see what happens.
Sports are about passion. Obviously there’s an economic incentive to be the best, but I doubt that incentive alone will make you the best. You need to be passionate about the endeavor, whether it’s football, rock climbing, or distance running. If you want to outcompete everyone else, it better be more than just about the money. You have to have passion.
Passion is defined as a “strong and barely controllable emotion”. If you’ve ever had a passion for anything, you understand what this means. It’s why you see athletes break down in tears after a match, no matter if they won or lost. Grown men weeping into their jerseys because they can’t help themselves, because they’ve worked so hard, for so long, to accomplish something they are passionate about.
I want to see more people passionate about crypto. People who believe in crypto, have faith in crypto, not in its ability to make them rich, but in its ability to change the world for the better. Yes, becoming wealthy is great, as would having the capital to do the things you want. After all, crypto is only able to exist through the power of economic incentives. But like sports, I don’t think that making money can be the only thing that drives us.
Speaking for myself, if I was only interested in number go up I’d be spending all my time searching for more alpha, not writing more articles.
Looking at the state of crypto today, I can’t help but ask where’s the passion? I’ve been consuming a lot of crypto content lately and every video I come across seems to be about trading. These videos amass tens of thousands of views, so it’s clear people are hungry for crypto-related information. And while there’s nothing wrong with people who trade, or look for an edge, I don’t know that beating the market or making more money is something you can truly be passionate about.
Because for me money shouldn’t be the ultimate goal. Money is merely a tool. Money buys you what you really want, which is freedom. Because money without freedom is meaningless.
The problem is that the money most of us use is in and of itself not free. Our current financial system is under the control of despots and cabals who are more interested in serving their own interests rather than the people. This is why the people need to take back control of their money by taking that control out of the hands of the few and into the hands of the many. A money that isn’t controlled but decentralized. A money that isn’t controlled by corrupt politicians but through code and consensus. That is the mission.
But in order to achieve this what’s needed isn’t number go up but the passion and the hard work required to build a better alternative. What’s needed are more builders, not more traders, because to me crypto wasn’t meant to be a zero sum game. The goal of crypto is to improve everyone’s lives, not just those who buy low and sell high.
This is why I believe the current state of crypto needs to change if it’s going to accomplish anything ,and I believe that starts by changing the culture.
Let me leave you with a quote from a story I read about the current drama surrounding Aaron Rodgers, the famous quarterback of the Green Bay Packers and reigning MVP of the NFL:
“With my situation, look it’s never been about the draft pick, picking Jordan. I love Jordan; he’s a great kid. [We’ve had] a lot of fun to work together. Love the coaching staff, love my teammates, love the fan base in Green Bay. An incredible 16 years. It’s just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”