MariaShen

We are transitioning from a broadcast society to a swarm society. This transition is accelerating.

In finance, gated info & institutional control gave way to Reddit swarms (Gamestop) & memecoins.

In politics, centralized campaigns are replaced by individual accounts with distribution (X accounts with ~250K+ followers), podcasts (e.g. Joe Rogan), viral videos, meme flows.

In media, labels & studios lose power to unpredictable TikTok virality (e.g. Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams re-entered charts via a TikTok video).

This shift is will only accelerate with AI.

AI will amplify narratives, allow more people to participate through lowering the barrier for people to create compelling content (e.g. high production value videos), and create more real-time reactions to things as they unfold live because they can react faster than humans.

Crypto will play a key role moving forward.

Crypto isn’t “just money”. Because crypto is programmable, it is a new form of swarm coordination through incentivization & markets.

For example:
- Markets for creator time & attention will democratize access to key nodes in the swarm
- Prediction & opinion markets may determine what is "true" in a post-fact world and shape public opinion.
- Token incentives will drive swarm behavior way past just defi; this will drive information dissemination, coordinated online behaviors, and more.
- AI agents with wallets & their own agendas will incentivize behaviors that suit their goals.

With crypto, swarms become intelligent, goal-seeking, and durable.

It’s nearly impossible to recreate Ethereum’s launch conditions.

That’s why ETH’s decentralization remains so defensible.

Here’s why:

1. Fair launch
- Anyone with internet connection & some BTC could join.
- ~31,000 BTC raised from ~8,900 people across 130+ countries.
- Everyone paid the same price: ~$0.31/ETH.

2. PoW bootstrapped decentralization
- In 2014, mining was still accessible.
- Anyone with a mid-range GPU could mine early ETH solo or in pools.
- Issuance was permissionless; ownership widely distributed.

The window that made this possible has closed.

More assets on Ethereum is good for $ETH

Ethereum is the only safe place for institutions to store trillions of dollars.

1. Ethereum's decentralization is nearly impossible to replicate -- community funded (not VC funded), started as PoW

2. Few systems in the world have the reliability of Ethereum - 100% uptime over 10 years and 16 upgrades

3. Ethereum’s L1+L2 design offers regulatory safety. Institutions can deploy compliant, KYC-enabled L2s without compromising on decentralization or security.

If Ethereum were a country...

it would have the strongest national security,
airtight property rights,
an incorruptible rule of law immune to U.S. or China,
and the most open market on Earth.