a16z’s Chris Dixon is everywhere again. I’m not complaining, mind you – I’m very happy about it in fact. The Silicon Valley super-investor seized the opportunity provided by the latest crypto winter to cozy up to his writing desk with a hot cup of tea (I imagine (picturing a Colin Firth in Love Actually type vibe)) and pen his excellent new book, Read Write Own, and now he’s back in the limelight to share his work.

Among his many recent appearances are (1) a reading and book signing that this writer is still kicking himself for missing at ETH Denver and (2) a conversation on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast. In the latter, Dixon waxes poetic on a dichotomy between “two kinds of culture that are interested in blockchains, and I call them the casino and the computer. The casino are people that speculate on token prices… essentially a kind of a gambling culture. And then there's another culture, which I see myself as part of … who have a very different view of what blockchains are.” 

This may be an unpopular opinion, but it seems to me that the SEC is attacking the casino and the computer will no doubt suffer as a result – and it’s bold to say but I think Chris Dixon would agree. Read on for more on the subject from Chevy below.

Rowan Spencer | Editor-in-Chief

Crypto Has Truly Entered Its “Then They Fight You” Era

I wrote about this today in Web3 Daily, and after chatting with Rowan, we felt it was important to talk about it on as many platforms as humanly possible…

We’ll start by ripping the bandaid of:

Yesterday, the SEC informed Uniswap that it intends to bring an enforcement action against the company.

Which may end up being the greatest pressure test ever made on the decentralized economy — but will inevitably end in failure for the SEC and (sadly) for the US as a whole.

Cause here’s the thing…

There’s “Uniswap, the decentralized trading platform” — where users can trade/lend between themselves without the need for a middle man.

And there’s “Uniswap, the open protocol” — the coded rule set that powers trading (which anyone can build on top of).

Which sounds confusing (and it is)…

But take a look at what you’re doing right now (reading email) — it’s pretty much the same thing, except we’re trading information instead of crypto…

There’s “Email, the platform.”

Say you’re reading this on Gmail — what would happen if the SEC were to sue Google into oblivion, taking Gmail with it?

Would that be the end of email? Hell no! You’d just bounce to Apple Mail, or Outlook, or Proton Mail, or one of the hundreds of other platforms that use:

“Email, the protocol.”

Aka: the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) — a protocol which is open and permissionless (aka: owned by NO ONE).

And just like SMTP, Uniswap’s open protocol isn’t owned by them — they simply plug in to it, alongside a range of other decentralized exchange platforms (the same way email platforms plug into SMTP).

Here’s why the SEC’s failure is inevitable:

Sure, the Commission may be able to rinse Uniswap (the platform) of a few million/billion in settlement fees, and parade it around as a win…but when it comes to suing an open protocol, well — they can’t.

It’s a thing, not an entity.

(It’d be like trying to sue your bed stand after you stubbed your toe on it for the hundredth time).

And sure, they can order Uniswap to shut the protocol down all they want…but again — it ain’t going to work! Because Uniswap (the company) doesn’t own/control the protocol anymore.

Now, here’s where the US is going to get stiffed:

If the SEC succeeds in shuttering the Uniswap platform, it will only result in other (offshore) platforms popping up to replace it.

Pushing Violently shoving innovation and growth out of the country in the process.

@GaryGensler: two emphatic thumbs down.

Quick Bites

• BTC, ETH & SOL All “Take a Dive”

• There’s a 50% Chance of Ethereum ETF Approval Next Month: JP Morgan

• FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Fraud Conviction

• Yeesh! Can We Get a Little Privacy, Please?

• AI Video Startup Raises $8 Million to Animate Social Media Characters

That's it. That's all we got! Talk next week.
The Netcetera team 👋

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