Sep 11, 2021My 9/11 RemembranceEvery five years, I re-post what I wrote on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, which I witnessed first-hand in Lower Manhattan. Five Years September 11, 2006 I still remember what I thought that moment, as I stood on the roofdeck, watching the towers crumble, wondering whether my wife was still alive: The…5 min read
Aug 15, 2021China is a MirrorThe latest case against Xi Jinping’s China comes from legendary investor and philanthropist George Soros in the Wall Street Journal. He makes a strong argument against the authoritarian, cult of personality state that is now being reasserted in China. Soros speaks from deep experience, in China as well as in…3 min read
Aug 7, 2021Technology isn’t Neutral. Even Decentralized Cryptocurrencies.The cryptocurrency community has been in a tizzy over tax reporting language in the Biden Administration’s infrastructure bill. There are important matters at stake. As I’ve pointed out, though, the ultimate issue isn’t what most of advocates are focusing on. It’s the regulatory challenge of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). (For those…4 min read
May 15, 2021Regulating Cryptocurrency Markets: First, Do SomethingCoinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a long tweetstorm about his visit to Washington DC to meet with policy-makers. He linked a video of the Clinton Administration’s 1997 E-Commerce policy rollout as a model the US should use today, based on Al Gore’s statement, “first, do no harm.” …Cryptocurrency5 min read
Nov 27, 2019China, Cyber-Containment, and the New Cold WarShortly after World War II, U.S. State Department official George Kennan wrote an anonymous article in Foreign Affairs advocating a strategy of “containment” of the Soviet Union. It became the foundation of U.S. Cold War foreign policy. We seem poised for a new era of containment. Only this time, the…China5 min read
Jun 30, 2019The Economics Blockchain Design: A Real-Time CommentaryA really important paper (or technically extended abstract) by Christian Catalini, Ravi Jagadeesan, and Scott Duke Kominers was posted last week. It goes to the heart of the choices facing the blockchain community today. It’s short (6 pages) and equation-free, so it’s more accessible than most technical or economics papers. …Blockchain6 min read
Jul 30, 2018Disruptive ChinaPeople in the technology world love the word, “disruption.” Though widely mis-used, the concept draws valuable attention to the fact that change is sometimes discontinuous. Nassim Taleb’s idea of the black swan similarly resonated because it emphasized that the present is not always a good guide to the future. The…China9 min read
Jun 18, 2018Blockchain Isn’t a RevolutionIt’s two big innovations and one promising idea — These days it’s hard to avoid pronouncements about how cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology could change everything (or at least, create massive wealth). Yet there’s an equally loud chorus labeling them a massive scam, useless, and dangerous. And a surprisingly large audience still doesn’t understand what’s going on. One big reason…Bitcoin8 min read
Jun 12, 2018The History of Bitcoin in One Chart (And it Says Nothing About Prices!)(Originally published June 8, 2018 on LinkedIn) An amazing chart from Morgan Stanley, cited by the Financial Times, sheds new light on the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency phenomenon. As is usually the case, good data and good stories are mutually reinforcing. The chart alone doesn’t tell us why things are happening…Bitcoin7 min read
Jan 24, 2018Bitcoin and the Missing SpiderThere is a comment attributed (almost certainly incorrectly) to Albert Einstein, in which the great physicist was asked to explain how radio works: You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los…Bitcoin1 min read