Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth)

Sorry Circle, I love you but it’s time.

Marketcap the same as total USDC supply is simply insanity, and that short squeeze won’t last for ever.

Will flip long eventually, but for now I’ve got to start building a short, because even with your network live, the upside simply isn’t there near term.

People are valuing you by your competitor when you’ve got an entirely different approach, revenue structure and strategy.

Hope some early employees got some money off the table here though! God speed! 🫡

At this price CRCL should just do at the money offerings, and use proceeds to buy back USDC.

Mcap is $50b~

USDC in circulation is $61b.

For each $1 of USDC they get like $0.03 of revenue, half of which basically ends up at Coinbase, then another 38%~ in operating costs.

So they earn about $0.004~ per circulating dollar, even with overnight rates at a historically high 4%~

Buying back USDC with equity sells, could substantially expand that margin.

Even $1B in at the money offerings, means they could bump that to $0.0046~ per USDC, and increase profitability by around 15%~

Made the decision today that I’ll be exiting my Coinbase positions (stocks/bonds) and keeping my assets elsewhere for the time being.

I’ve been a Coinbase customer for over a decade now, and appreciate the early work they did in the space.

And while I don’t agree with being political silent (obviously) I can justify a business choosing to remain politically neutral and cause focused. That’s fair.

But sponsoring a military parade, in a divided country, with already split views of crypto isn’t true to this policy; and even if it wasn’t weird and gross, it’s just bad marketing that hurts this industries adoption.

And it comes on the heels of a lack of care and responsibility with user data. Treating users like line items.

If Base continues to decentralize in a credibly neutral way, maybe I’ll still use that.

If Coinbase corrects the ship maybe I’ll be back.

But as a long time customer, large share holder and long time advocate - this just isn’t the Coinbase I once knew, that stood for the values of this space.

I know so many great and well intentioned people at Coinbase, and I hope their voices and hard work gets heard and Coinbase can right the ship.

But for now, it’s time for me to vote with my wallet and use alternatives that either align with my values or that can actually keep their “credibly neutral” stance, instead of only applying it conveniently.

I’d encourage those of you who do care about this industry, and the values of decentralized, transparent systems, to consider how you’re voting with your wallet - and make a choice that’s right for you.

And I’d encourage Coinbase to figure out where they’ve lost their way, and how they can come back home.

Any crypto folks know how teams get a campaign added to the Kaito Earn page?

Portfolio company looking to get listed but not sure who to connect with.

By the way, every crypto “libertarian” or self sovereignty nut, who shouted about federal tyranny over health mandates, or de-banking, but is silent when the federal government activates the national guard against American’s has no values.

They didn’t care about rights, sovereignty or freedom.

They played it up because it was convenient for their own greedy agenda.

I’m absolutely against illegal immigration.

I think you should come here legally.

But if you are here illegally, the process by which we remove you should be done in line with the law.

And part of that law, gives every damn American the right to protest.

It gives every American the right to see accountability in the actions of law enforcement.

And it gives every state the right, to operate without federal overreach beyond the constitution.

When someone cares about your rights when it helps their wallet or aligns with their personal beliefs - then they don’t care about you.

Hell they don’t even care about this industry.

They care about their own wealth and power and will sell out anything to get it.

They may seem like allies now.

But remember one day your interests may not be aligned - and they’ve shown you exactly the kind of characters they are.

They couldn't have said this shit during market hours?

So sudden market spike at 2pm to now was based on insiders front running this it seems.

Now the news drops and market is like "meh"

Come on guys, don’t make me have to short Circle… I love them but this price action on listing is crazy! 😅

One of my portfolio companies is launching on @AbstractChain in a few weeks.

It’s a $Pengu lotto system that lets LP earn yield on their pengu by providing the pot at house odds.

If you are a pengu, pudgy or lil pudgy holder and want to be whitelisted for LPing, drop your AGW address and favorite pudgy penguins gif below, and I’ll make sure you’re on the whitelist for staking!

(LP spots are limited for the first few weeks, and provide both yield and token farming, so you’ll want to be whitelisted!)

Spent the last few weekends learning to build zero knowledge proof circuits.

Built a Rust SDK that can prove device uniqueness without revealing device info, working with multiple OS wrappers.

But that’s ONE circuit, doing one type of pre-known operation.

Makes me appreciate the insanity it was for @gluk64 to build the first version of Zksync.

Also reminds me how crazy under utilized and under explored zero-knowledge proofs are in our modern tech stack.

Hope ZKSync continues to find its footing in gaining traction, because it’s easily one of the most innovative projects from the perspective of actually pushing forward novel tech.

If you’re a crypto project currently looking for audits please let me know.

Know of a good quality audit firm starting up that’s taking referrals and offering a discount making it cheaper than most alternatives including contests.

Currently has capacity for:

-Solidity
-Cadence (@flow_blockchain)
-Solidity with Cadence/Flow calls (@flow_blockchain)
-Vyper (only one more slot left the next two months)
-Move (@SuiNetwork)
-Security monitoring
-Liquidity risk monitoring
-Session key audits (@AbstractChain)

Their Solidity audits start off as the most affordable in the space and:

-Provides fixed quote that you won’t pay more than.
-If they find fixes, they will review your implementation of those fixes one time for free.
-Has a 30% discount for my referrals.
-If you are launching on @AbstractChain they’ll let you let you pay up to half of your bill in your token/NFT
-Additional discounts (or premiums) based on turn around time.
-Can turn around simple audits in 1-3 business days.

So if you or anyone you know is eager to get a good audit, and doesn’t want to pay tens of thousands and wait 3-6+ months for a big firm, let me know!

The best part about these trade talks is knowing that some foolish bears are getting absolutely carried out on their ETH shorts for hating on the king of decentralization! 🫡

ETH holders on the way to get that extra guac on the burrito tonight!

If you follow me for my political or economic takes, but not crypto, I’m curious:

“What do you know about crypto?”

Blockchains have had a bad wrap as the space has been co-opted by scammers and snake oil salesmen.

So the real interesting technology gets lost under all that messaging.

Including technology that can help prevent people getting scammed, make access more fair, and improve our society.

But it seems there has never been a bigger knowledge gap between people in the space and public perception, and so I’m curious - where is your perception at?

And, what would you need to see from the space to give it another look instead of assuming it’s all scams?

If you're a young dev looking to get your foot in the door in crypto on @AbstractChain drop a github in my DMs.

Got a project that is looking for 2 junior-mid level roles:

-1 Solidity/testing
-1 frontend

Both are contract to start, with full-time potential and a cut of upside.

If you are the right kind of candidate, these gigs will define your career - and could even retire you within a few years.

If anything, this Trump administration has made a huge argument in favor of non-state currencies, and diverse currency baskets!

The undisputed era of USD being the de facto choice is over.