These past months one thing has become abundantly apparent, DeFi is plagued with actors of questionable intent. We’ve witnessed rug pulls, NFT founders allegedly dieing the same day of release, only to rise again, as if god himself gifted them with new life. We’ve seen DAO’s display dubious acts of ill intent with users funds, women harassed at conferences, and founders avoid reasonable questions of concern with cursory demeanor. What once was an ecosystem founded on the principles of freedom and privacy, is now afflicted with malicious actors who continue to thrive on extracting value from you.

All the while, those we rely on to impose law and order are all too preoccupied with elections, regulation and reneging on the same laws they introduced only hours prior. Who is left to pass judgement in such turbulent times? With whom can we entrust filtering the good from the bad, the signal from the noise? Who will be our savior, delivering us from these devilish thugs that wish to extract value from us at every turn?

I do feel concern for those who venture into these waters without a twitter account, for all it’s faults, it serves as a platform through much of the malicious acts that plague us are revealed. However, twitter is not a perfect beacon for honesty and hope, haunted with its own dubious dominion of bots and bad actors, who eagerly await the innocent to click on a link leading to malevolent media motivated to extract your value in its entirety. Lest we divulge into a doomspiral of depressing discourse, let us reflect on some of the happenings this past week.

As is quite evident, it was an eventful week in the realm of crypto and the greater community as a whole, to say the very least. Yet this is but a taste, a small glimpse into the shadows that house the dubious actors who continue to thrive in this environment. An environment of our own making. Where is our beacon? Where are the protections promised through regulation some 4 years ago? And more importantly, who will deliver us from this devilry?

The answer is you

While social media has served as a sentinel for identifying such dark acts, it is certainly not perfect. Clearly, some people on social media wish to inform us of this malice, but in finding these stewards of justice we must also dodge and duck from those accounts that wish to do us harm. The point is clear, a social service can be used for good, but equivocally so, is also leveraged for bad. What then, if we could create an ecosystem in which we leverage the positive impact of collectives to provide a service for social signalling, absent of antipathy?

The answer to our woes does not lie in some singular government entity, nor does it lie amongst the litter of posts on twitter. For the nature of Web3 does not easily interface with the motifs of Web2; one built on the tenets of extractive capitalism. If we wish to deliver ourselves to the promised land of a circular economy, one that sustains itself, we must work in harmony to see its fruition. We have all been wronged in some way, witnessed something awry, or subjected to ill intent, but few speak up for various and valid concerns, chief of which are privacy and anonymity. For it is these faculties which provide us the assurity of avoiding judgement. So let us build on that.

In fact, that is exactly what we have built.

Social Signals

When the tide runs low a product will be released that provides a service for decentralized social signalling, whilst maintaining anonymity and privacy for its users. A beacon through which we may warn the dishonest, Identify the malevolent, and signal others so they may avoid arriving at the same affliction we once faced. Who will save us from the plights infected in DeFi? The answer is you.

While we wait for this platform to come to port, you may be a benefactor in its fruition. Use the form linked below to become a steward, list any and all injustices, grifts, thieves or pastas that you have witnessed over the course of your DeFi adventures, so we may build a ledger for the betterment of the ecosystem. Submissions of value will not go unrewarded, as we affirm those who have done good service.

I look forward to unveiling this new public good at our next juncture, until then, stay safe, stay together, and join the flotilla.

Yours aye,
Capt. Hornigold.

The Grift Gallery Form awaits your submission.