Magic money beans…

That’s what most people think when they first hear about crypto.

A crazy, ‘scratch-card’ investment that’s made a few people fabulously wealthy because they got in early…

And early adopters have made astonishing returns from crypto. We’re talking insane ‘private-island-with-an-army-of-butlers’ levels of wealth.

Just $100 invested in Bitcoin in 2011 was worth $769k in 2019…

… and $6.87 MILLION in 2021.

Yet despite this massive growth most people still don’t have a clue why cryptos like Bitcoin have been built, or what they are supposed to replace or improve.

And too many people leap into these markets completely blind, treat it as a “numba go up” casino and get burned.

That’s why we started this eletter…

We want to help you separate the nonsense, noise and chocolate teapots from the genuinely world-changing innovation.

Because if you understand the fundamentals behind this technology (what it is and why it’s so ground-breaking) there are incredible opportunities.

So what is Bitcoin and what is crypto?

Most people assume crypto is about ‘digital money’, nothing more.

Currency is a very important part, but it is just ONE of crypto’s many many use cases.

So why does it always get stuck with that label?

It’s really down to the timeline of events.

Bitcoin was the first crypto and was created in 2009 an alternative form of currency.

Since then it’s dominated virtually every headline in the crypto space.

It’s been called a currency for nerds… an currency for use on the dark web… a safe haven for countries with high inflation… an asset like ‘digital gold’.

It is the earliest and largest crypto (in terms of value) and deserves a huge amount of consideration and respect.

Billions of dollars of investment have flooded in from ‘traditional finance’ and will continue to do so.

However, the way it dominates the crypto narrative in the media can be confusing and misleading.

Crypto is about SO much more than ‘digital money’

That’s why we always prefer the term ‘crypto’ to cryptocurrencies.

We’ll go into this in more detail in a future email but for now I want to put Bitcoin and currency aside for a moment and focus on this key message.

(And if you can take away this one thing from this email you will be FAR more educated than the vast majority of the population when it comes to crypto).

Thinking of crypto as just ‘digital money’ is like thinking of the Internet as just ‘domain names’ (without the social media, news, online shopping and everything else).

Crypto is a foundation technology just like these other world-changing technologies:

Electricity – An energy technology
Automobiles – A transportation technology
The Internet – An information transfer technology
Crypto – A transaction technology

So what do I mean by a ‘transaction technology’?

Look at the internet and how that changed things.

The internet has allowed us to transfer information between organisations, companies and individuals from devices anywhere in the world.

It gave rise to email, blogs, news sites, online shopping and social media…

… as well as thousands of apps covering everything from GPS mapping at your fingertips to online banking.

It changed EVERYTHING.

The way we work, travel and socialise. Every single aspect of our lives.

Today 6.6 billion people own a smartphone, a device that gives them access to all the world’s knowledge in milliseconds.

But the system is broken

Currently we rely on a handful of Silicon Valley juggernauts to run the show.

Google (4.3 billion users), Facebook (3 billion users) and others have become the gatekeepers of the internet.

These are individual businesses, driven by profit and shareholder demands…

Yet they control virtually all the flow of information and wealth generated online.

They store our data, sell it to the highest bidder and take a cut of everything we do online.

If you’re an individual trying to surf the web or connect with friends… they sell your personal details.

If you are a business trying to advertise… they act as middlemen.

Everything is designed around this business model. They found a vaccuum early on and filled it (and it was a genius play).

Monitor and monetise people’s every move online… control the flow of information.

Now their machine learning algorhythms patrol the internet to find new ways to maximise attention (at almost any cost) in order to maximise their profits.

Why crypto is such a big deal

Why should a handful of big tech companies manipulate our behaviour, control the flow of information and scrape a profit from everything we do?

They shouldn’t… and a revolution is coming.

Crypto technology enables us to transact information between people without the need for gatekeepers or middlemen.

This makes it a total game changer.

It automates trust.

And it does it in a way which is more secure and more efficient.

Imagine a world where a person, business or government can’t rip you off because it’s physically impossible for them to do so. If there was a giant forcefield to prevent foul play.

Imagine banking without the need for banks (no city slickers gambling with your money or taxpayer bailouts)…

Imagine a Spotify or Netflix where you pay less and artists earn more…

Imagine a Social Media platform where you own your data (no Facebooks or Googles selling it on to the highest bidder)…

Imagine news resources which showed real, fact checked stories (instead of lies designed to outrage and drive more clicks)…

And that’s just the start.

There is so much more in the works.

And there are applications that we cannot even conceive of yet and that’s where it really gets exciting.

We’re going to go into each in more detail in The Vanguard. The big stories, the major innovations and the exciting rabbit holes.

The key takeaway

Crypto is so much more than ‘digital money’.

It’s an entirely new paradigm. The next great technological advance.

A more transparent, secure, efficient, inclusive way of transacting that’s set to impact virtually EVERYTHING we do…

… Art, money, media, legal contracts, healthcare, governance, energy, agriculture and much more besides.

It opens up markets and opportunities. It automates trust and gives ownership to creators and communities, instead of a handful of big tech companies and middlemen.

I hope that’s given you something to think about.

That’s it for today. Again we’re thrilled to have you on this journey with us.