I recently wrote for Blockworks that the future of the blockchain is one in which the next billion crypto users (the first billion, as today blockchain has only been used by about 100 million people) won’t hold bitcoin, ethereum or any other fungible tokens. Consumers will have no reason to have a Coinbase account, nor a MetaMask wallet. Any tokens in their “wallet” will be accessed by signing into an account with their email address. They’ll use fiat to purchase these tokens, and that fiat will be exchanged for the tokens somewhere on the back end. As we embrace abstraction in blockchain, I’d argue that any consumer application that has “Connect Wallet” as its primary CTA isn’t venture backable and is probably DOA.

The reports of crypto’s death are greatly exaggerated. You wouldn’t know that though from the condolences I’ve received. Thoughtful friends have sent me notes like “sorry about crypto” and “what’s next?” while some others are getting their ‘I told you so’s in.