Today has been awful.

It’s been discouraging, disorienting and tremendously sad. Amidst the current state of the market, we saw a giant in our space publicly fall, while we, the spectators, acted as both judge and executioner.

I cannot place any blame, I cannot place any fault, as we - the still very small community that gathers around and shows up every day thanks to a shared sense of hope and possibility - are merely human. In my opinion, oversights were made by a founder that I both looked up to and believed in and that I shall now find very difficult to trust. That is all I’m going to say about that. What I would like to comment on, is us.

We are pioneers. We are the ones bold enough to pause our lives and rush to California during a gold rush. Or perhaps we are the dreamers. We preach about community and decentralization. We take issue with centralized banks and governments and with the outrageous power corporations have over our lives, and from what I’ve seen, we have the audacity to believe there is another way. We are the renegades and revolutionaries. We show up despite the scams and the bad actors in the space, and I’d like to think that it’s about more than making a bag or two on a quick flip, because on its good days- I have seen the soul of Web3 and it is unstoppable.

But on days like today where toxicity runs rampant, where grenades are thrown in the shape of memes and callous insults and these strangers on the internet who have become my dear friends are brought to their knees in fear, I wonder if my idealism has bested me.

Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.

I came into this space with a vision of a cinematic universe that could benefit its holders and bridge the gap between creator and audience, something I could never do with my work in Hollywood. What I found instead, has changed the way this former cynic views the world. The people in the space, many of whom I now consider family -- their ambition, their camaraderie, their almost child-like ability to follow wonder… hell, I’m speaking to all of you -- the fact that you are here, that ability you have to look left of center and take the path less travelled by that brought you to this strange new place that I now consider home -- it is fucking miracle. Seriously. It is a goddamn miracle to find community and acceptance in our lonely, divided world. To find a place where you can dream and build without fear of judgement.

What we have built in Web3 is special. It is likely the only time we will be involved in something like this in our lifetime. It is an immense opportunity. And as we’ve seen today, it’s fragile. If we get the next couple years right, we will all be a part of paving a new path forward that benefits people rather than behemoths. We are, or we possibly are, building the companies of the future. It is a vision that is going to take all of us getting our shit together and realizing that we are all on the same side, because I promise you, eventually there will be much bigger enemies that are going to come after us, and if we are not ready and united in the collective that is Web3… I don’t know if they’ll ever truly see our power.

But I do.

Or maybe that’s just the idealist in me.