67 - The Altcoin Slayer | Eric Wall
Bankless
Bankless
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2021
⏱️ 122 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eric Wall is a prominent thinker and contrarian in the crypto space. He has an independent mind and is unafraid to bust through groupthink and act as an ideological razor for the crypto community.
In this episode, Eric dives deeply into a variety of profound takes on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and his approach to the community.
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Bankless Podcast #66: The Altcoin Slayer
Guest: Eric Wall
Eric Wall is CIO of Arcane Assets, and a well-known (and often infamous) writer and thinker in the crypto space. He has engaged in arguments with camps and tribes throughout the space, remaining unapologetically independent and committed to his values. Though a Bitcoiner at heart, Eric has come around on Ethereum as the ecosystem has matured.
In this episode, we dive into values and the ethos of crypto that Eric fights for. As a principled believer in trustless systems and decentralization, Eric walks through many of the big-picture obstacles and accomplishments of the crypto space. Viewing this landscape with a digital biologist's lens, we address these projects as digital organisms, following many of the same laws we see in nature. Wherever organisms exist, Darwin is nearby.
Eric brings a refreshing and unfiltered set of takes to the Bankless Podcast, reminiscent of other independent thinkers we've had on like Hasu. Regardless of your opinions on Eric, he represents an important part of the blockchain conversation. He serves as an ideological razor, giving no one the benefit of the doubt and prioritizing accountability and earned legitimacy.
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Topics Covered:
0:00 Intro
4:45 Eric Wall, the Altcoin Slayer
7:45 The Term “Trustless”
16:58 Eric’s Approach to Crypto
22:50 Networks are Organisms
31:50 Survival of the Fittest
41:50 Bitcoin vs Layer 2
59:15 Tribes vs Facts
1:06:30 Eric’s ETH Journey
1:21:43 Thoughts on Proof of Stake
1:31:14 Is ETH Money?
1:40:58 What ETH Gets Wrong
1:53:55 Navigating the Frontier
2:01:00 Closing & Disclaimers
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Resources:
Eric on Twitter
https://twitter.com/ercwl?s=20
Proof of Stake is Less Wasteful
https://ercwl.medium.com/proof-of-stake-is-less-wasteful-b2854a191766#:~:text=Image%20of%20a%20diesel%20generator,ever%20had%20on%20the%20platform.
ETH is Irreplaceable
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/eth-is-irreplaceable
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Bankless, where we explore the front-tier of internet money and internet finance. |
| 0:19.2 | This is how to get started, how to get better, and how to front-run the opportunity. |
| 0:23.3 | I'm Ryan Sean Adams, I'm here with David Hoffman, and we're here to help you become more |
| 0:29.0 | bankless. David, we have the altcoin slayer on the show, Eric Wall. How is that conversation? |
| 0:37.0 | Yeah, this is the first time I've actually gotten able to talk to Eric Wall, and he's somebody |
| 0:40.8 | that's really helped me formulate mental models in this space, and Eric Wall, for those |
| 0:44.7 | that don't know, he's very, very prominent in 2017-2018 as a guy that seemed to go against |
| 0:52.6 | everyone's grain, like not just one particular community's grains, but everyone's grain. |
| 0:58.0 | And so while he's a big Bitcoiner, he's not afraid to tell Bitcoiners when they're wrong, |
| 1:03.5 | and while he was never really convinced by the Ethereum crowd, he has, as of late, talked |
| 1:10.2 | very positively about certain merits of Ethereum's construction, but then we'll also go ahead |
| 1:14.9 | and say that the overall all Ethereum project is a complete mess. So this guy thinks for |
| 1:20.4 | himself, and that's kind of why we got him on, not to go into depth about his mental |
| 1:27.1 | models and the way that he thinks, and his opinions about certain things, but then also |
| 1:31.8 | as an exploration into the way that he puts thoughts together inside of his space, where |
| 1:38.2 | so many people are telling you how and what to think, Eric Wall thinks for himself. |
| 1:43.4 | This is bankless, meat triblas. I really feel like Eric Wall strives as much as possible, |
| 1:49.0 | not to affiliate himself with one particular pattern of thought or one particular tribe. |
| 1:54.6 | In fact, I think early on, he very much associated himself as a big coiner, very much put the |
| 2:02.6 | mantle of that tribe on his shoulders. And we talked about almost his ejection from the |
| 2:09.1 | Bitcoiner's sphere by the so-called high priest and what that felt like. It was almost |
| 2:13.6 | like he was excommunicated. So we went through that. I guess maybe the through line here is we |
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