Dear Bankless Nation,
Happy Labor Day!
I still haven’t quite figured out what Labor Day is or what it’s for, but hey—a day off is a day off. Banks are closed. The stock market is closed. Our financial system is taking the day off.
Do you know what doesn’t take a day off?
Ethereum.
Ethereum publishes blocks every ~12 seconds, and it’s never skipped a day at work, ever. Every 12 seconds, updates happen to the ledger, and the state of the network progresses just a little bit more into the future.
The 24/7/365 nature of the crypto world makes the traditional stock exchanges look antiquated and slow. “Markets” aren’t something you turn on or off, yet the NYSE is only operational for ~20% of the time. Markets want to express themselves, so naturally, all markets are going to become expressed using crypto rails like Ethereum.
But that’s not the point. Today, I’m not writing about how awesome crypto and Ethereum are and how this industry is the future, etc.
Instead, I’d like everyone to take a moment on this Labor Day holiday and reflect upon how the “always on” nature of crypto changes how we interact with markets and the things that are going on inside them.
The NYSE is open from 9:30am to 4pm. It’s closed on weekends and holidays. This draws a very clear line for market participants as to when there’s actually something to pay attention to. After 4pm, you can check out.
In crypto, something is always happening. There’s always some alpha that’s out there. There’s always yield somewhere. There’s always some mispriced NFT you can snag.
Especially inside an industry that has work, socialization, and entertainment all intertwined with each other, it can be hard to take a step back.
Now that we are on the periphery of the metaverse, it seems that Ethereum isn’t going to stop growing until it consumes all of our attention. If Ethereum doesn’t interest you yet, just wait. It’ll find a way. Something cool on Ethereum will be built, and that thing will be the subject matter of your homies’ group chat, or your family’s dinner table conversation.
Ethereum will accept everything that you put into it, and it will still have room for more.
The more attention you put towards Ethereum, the more financial rewards you tend to find, which makes “taking a break” have a significant amount of opportunity cost, and hence why this industry is generally a one-way street.
Those who enter do not leave.
As Ethereum grows to absorb more of humanity, we’ll need to discover new ways to step back and catch a break. Different parts of Ethereum will likely be for different things. The DeFi sector of Ethereum is the new ‘work zone’. NFTs and gaming sectors are the new ‘play arenas’.
Ethereum is going to grow a civilization around us. Just like how Reddit is a platform for coordinating thousands of like-minded people into organized communities, Etherum is going to build something for everyone, for every part of the day, and for every mood.
While this happening, though, make sure to take a step back and smell the roses along the way.
Hope you have a lovely Labor Day.
- David
Actions
- Execute any good market opportunities you saw
- Listen to The Digital Commodity Explosion | Brian Quintez