Talk Money Weekly - #63
Hey All,
Welcome to Talk Money Weekly - where I cut through the noise and curate the best money-related topics from the web.
Hope everyone had a great holiday! Happy New Year! A new episode of the podcast will air next week.
Let's get started!
Markets & Business
What happened over the holiday break? Lots of drama between Web 3 and Web 2. Twitter is a funny place…you’ll never see this type of natural comedy appear anywhere. Ok so…Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and founder/CEO of Blocks (formerly Square) is a Bitcoin die hard. His company is doing all they can to make bitcoin accessible to everyone and Dorsey only owns and supports Bitcoin…no other cryptocurrency.
He believes that most crypto projects are means for rich people to become more rich…i.e. the VCs. He is specifically going after a16z, the VC firm started by Netscape founder and prolific investor- Marc Andreessen. A16z has already invested billions in crypto/Web 3 companies and is making a big bet on this space.
Hence Dorsey saying, that Web 3 is owned by VCs, and they are the ones who are pushing the hype so they can make a boatload of money. He’s not WRONG. He has a point. But VCs were the same people to back Dorsey when he started Twitter and when he started Square (now block). Are you with me? (TAKES DEEP BREATH). I’m pretty sure this is how the politics in Yellowstone works.
Airbnb and BOX CEO Get Cheeky on Web 3
While that drama was heating up, Web 2 alums Brian Chesky (airbnb) and Aaron Levie (Box) joked about Web 3 on Twitter. Nice little banter here between the two of them. Aaron Levie should try writing for SNL….there’s potential for him there.
The point is…they’re challenging what exactly does Web 3 do? It’s a lot of hype and it’s a lot of unproven stuff. Yes, we have tokens and the ability to create value in these tokens (NFTs included), but it’s a small subset of the population. So are these all just super inflated and are the use cases real?
They have a point. While Web 3 concepts are interesting, the major use cases to the change the world aren’t there YET. Also, these guys have proven what it takes to build a traditional Web 2 internet company. Maybe they don’t like what they see? Maybe they have too many battle scars? Maybe they think everyone is naive? OR maybe they just can’t relate because…why would they? They are Kings of the Web 2 world. So they just poke fun.
Who Owns Web 2
Chris Dixon, one of a16z’s main crypto investing partners snapped back at Dorsey (after Dorsey embarrassed him on another tweet) saying who owns Web 2? In this case, Dixon is responding to Jack Dorsey, Aaron Levie, and Brian Chesky's Web 3 criticisms by saying that their stocks are all essentially owned by institutions. The biggest financial institutions in the world.
And guess what happened next! Do you have your popcorn?! Who needs that Emily in Paris shit, when you have this masterpiece… Jack Dorsey says “show us your LPs!” The inner financial nerd in me just said “WHAT! HE DIDN’T! OH SHIT!! (SHOVES POPCORN DOWN THROAT).
Why is that a badass response? Because the people who invest in all of the a16z funds, are basically all also institutions….endowments and pension funds. I don’t even know whose side I’m on anymore, but everyone has a point and it’s fun to watch rich smart people go at each other.
The Drama Continues
Marc Andreessen, founder of a16z (keep up folks) BLOCKS Jack on Twitter, on the platform he founded. And blocks the guy, who is CEO of the company Block! IS YOUR MIND BLOWN OR WHAT?! This is the definition of meta, am I right?! (I’m seriously asking though, because I get confused on what meta means).
Ask Airbnb, You Shall Receive (Crypto)
The cherry on top. Last year, Airbnb founder Brian Chesky, asks Twitter what they could do better on Airbnb. Whatever the request was, they ended up adding it to the product. They listen to their users. This year, the top request was tokens/accepting crypto, and of course being more transparent about the fees they charge. I mean seriously though, why do they show us the cleaning fee! Just bake it in!
So the fight continues. The people have spoken. This is all heating up and I’m here for it, and I’m here for all of you! Tune into the podcast next week!
That's all the news from this past week!
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