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An anecdote: a handful engineers I've worked with (and they're all high quality) have resigned from traditional bigtech to work in open source finance within cr

An anecdote: a handful engineers I've worked with (and they're all high quality) have resigned from traditional bigtech to work in open source finance within crypto. It's as though pandemic solitude gave many the mind-time to ponder their authentic values hierarchy. I'm glad more bright minds will be spending less time working directly or indirectly on ads. It's hard to watch.

bronzeage 5y ago
You prefer those minds working on a Ponzi scheme instead?
sokoloff 5y ago
I’m not passionately anti-crypto, but moving some of our best minds from ads to crypto[currencies/tokens] is not an obvious triumph to me.
- elevenoh 5y ago
  > crypto[currencies/tokens] From how I perceive the definition of the 'crypto' domain, it's a lot wider in range than currencies/tokens. These are just one integral primitive of a p2p economy.
- toyg 5y ago
  Money gotta money. At least crypto is a slightly-less-obnoxious industry than ads and tracking...
  - dimgl 5y ago
    And much less useful.
    - elevenoh 5y ago
      Is open finance less useful than ads? I don't think so.
      - jonfw 5y ago
        Open finance sounds cool until you realize it means crypto, which is not very useful
        elevenoh 5y ago
        hmmm, i can loan stablecoins via crypto & receive interest with zero intermediary. or i can sell digital assets (e.g. art or IP) directly as an artist anywhere in the world, uncensorably & without revealing my identity (e.g. if in China). pretty useful.
        dimgl 5y ago
        I have no idea what any of that means.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - asdff 5y ago
        Open finance already exists. My neighbors and I trade tomatoes for lemons occasionally. Bartering is open finance. Shackling yourself to some meme token does not seem very open to me, compared to exchange of goods which has certainly stood the test of time and the rise and fall of countless societies. Can't really say the same for crypto.
    - pcthrowaway 5y ago
      Brave is a really good example of where the two can even meet. It would not have been possible without crypto, and I'd suggest it's much more useful than the entire traditional ad industry.
  - goodpoint 5y ago
    > At least crypto is a slightly-less-obnoxious industry than ads and tracking And way more environmentally destructive than countless other things.
    - notdarkyet 5y ago
      Maybe we quantity the privacy and emotional manipulation/destruction of the ad industry? If we want to talk energy, maybe we look at what mindless streaming services consume?
      - goodpoint 5y ago
        Cherry-picking much?
  - yunohn 5y ago
    > slightly-less-obnoxious industry than ads I almost never see people obnoxiously talking about how ads are great. In fact, it's the opposite - constant ad bashing. Whereas with crypto, while you have the skeptics and the haters, there are way more obnoxious fanatics.
    - toyg 5y ago
      I meant that ads are obnoxious to everybody. Whereas with crypto, you can just ignore the subject entirely if you so wish. You won't be shouted at, when you open your digital newspaper to read stuff, that YOU SHOULD TOTALLY GET MORE DOGECOIN!!!
      - yunohn 5y ago
        Ironically, that’s mainly because all ad exchanges ban crypto ads. Google has actually reversed course on this [1] and soon you’ll start seeing crypto ads too. Sadly, I already see tons of crypto related ads on Instagram already. Also, I’m not sure which digital newspaper you refer to, but I see articles about crypto pretty much on a daily basis on most websites. [1] https://news.bitcoin.com/google-new-policy-cryptocurrency-ads/ https://news.bitcoin.com/google-new-policy-cryptocurrency-ad...
        toyg 5y ago
        You can't have crypto ads without, y'know, ads. QED.
        yunohn 5y ago
        People like to say ads are useless, and then talk about how they listen to others’ recommendations and blogs and videos, conveniently ignoring that they’re also ads.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    I'm happy with crypto investors being bled out of their money... Not so happy with adds and tracking me for useless things as this affects also those companies who buys adds...
- michaelt 5y ago
  What if they were moving from adtech?
  - asdff 5y ago
    From snake oil to snake oil.
- rwha 5y ago
  Open source finance within crypto has the potential to help poor people. Ads are just a way to manipulate.
- slumdev 5y ago
  Could be worse. At least they're not working for hedge funds, defense contractors, or management consultancies.
cube00 5y ago
What's the business model to work within open source crypto as a full time job?
- elevenoh 5y ago
  Crypto organizations hire, give grants & ofc anyone can buy a token [if there's one present] & start writing code / content etc. to make that token more valuable. For many, their wealth is derived more from crypto / token capital gain than traditional income. Its increased risk no doubt. More upside & downside.
- iceIX 5y ago
  Many DAOs have massive (>$1B) treasuries that are used to fund development and marketing. Developers propose OSS projects and these orgs give out grants based on community votes. See https://gitcoin.co https://gitcoin.co or the Uniswap Grants program for examples.
- arbol 5y ago
  You create a decentralised service that crypto companies need, and then add a native token for governance. Governance token ends up having value (more than it should in a lot of cases) and the developers profit. For example, people initially just had crypto tokens. Then came uniswap liquidity pools for exchanges. People could suddenly earn interest on their crypto. Uniswap creators profit.

bronzeage 5y ago

You prefer those minds working on a Ponzi scheme instead?

sokoloff 5y ago

I’m not passionately anti-crypto, but moving some of our best minds from ads to crypto[currencies/tokens] is not an obvious triumph to me.

elevenoh 5y ago
> crypto[currencies/tokens] From how I perceive the definition of the 'crypto' domain, it's a lot wider in range than currencies/tokens. These are just one integral primitive of a p2p economy.
toyg 5y ago
Money gotta money. At least crypto is a slightly-less-obnoxious industry than ads and tracking...
- dimgl 5y ago
  And much less useful.
  - elevenoh 5y ago
    Is open finance less useful than ads? I don't think so.
    - jonfw 5y ago
      Open finance sounds cool until you realize it means crypto, which is not very useful
      - elevenoh 5y ago
        hmmm, i can loan stablecoins via crypto & receive interest with zero intermediary. or i can sell digital assets (e.g. art or IP) directly as an artist anywhere in the world, uncensorably & without revealing my identity (e.g. if in China). pretty useful.
        dimgl 5y ago
        I have no idea what any of that means.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - asdff 5y ago
      Open finance already exists. My neighbors and I trade tomatoes for lemons occasionally. Bartering is open finance. Shackling yourself to some meme token does not seem very open to me, compared to exchange of goods which has certainly stood the test of time and the rise and fall of countless societies. Can't really say the same for crypto.
  - pcthrowaway 5y ago
    Brave is a really good example of where the two can even meet. It would not have been possible without crypto, and I'd suggest it's much more useful than the entire traditional ad industry.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  > At least crypto is a slightly-less-obnoxious industry than ads and tracking And way more environmentally destructive than countless other things.
  - notdarkyet 5y ago
    Maybe we quantity the privacy and emotional manipulation/destruction of the ad industry? If we want to talk energy, maybe we look at what mindless streaming services consume?
    - goodpoint 5y ago
      Cherry-picking much?
- yunohn 5y ago
  > slightly-less-obnoxious industry than ads I almost never see people obnoxiously talking about how ads are great. In fact, it's the opposite - constant ad bashing. Whereas with crypto, while you have the skeptics and the haters, there are way more obnoxious fanatics.
  - toyg 5y ago
    I meant that ads are obnoxious to everybody. Whereas with crypto, you can just ignore the subject entirely if you so wish. You won't be shouted at, when you open your digital newspaper to read stuff, that YOU SHOULD TOTALLY GET MORE DOGECOIN!!!
    - yunohn 5y ago
      Ironically, that’s mainly because all ad exchanges ban crypto ads. Google has actually reversed course on this [1] and soon you’ll start seeing crypto ads too. Sadly, I already see tons of crypto related ads on Instagram already. Also, I’m not sure which digital newspaper you refer to, but I see articles about crypto pretty much on a daily basis on most websites. [1] https://news.bitcoin.com/google-new-policy-cryptocurrency-ads/ https://news.bitcoin.com/google-new-policy-cryptocurrency-ad...
      - toyg 5y ago
        You can't have crypto ads without, y'know, ads. QED.
        yunohn 5y ago
        People like to say ads are useless, and then talk about how they listen to others’ recommendations and blogs and videos, conveniently ignoring that they’re also ads.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  I'm happy with crypto investors being bled out of their money... Not so happy with adds and tracking me for useless things as this affects also those companies who buys adds...
michaelt 5y ago
What if they were moving from adtech?
- asdff 5y ago
  From snake oil to snake oil.
rwha 5y ago
Open source finance within crypto has the potential to help poor people. Ads are just a way to manipulate.
slumdev 5y ago
Could be worse. At least they're not working for hedge funds, defense contractors, or management consultancies.

cube00 5y ago

What's the business model to work within open source crypto as a full time job?

elevenoh 5y ago
Crypto organizations hire, give grants & ofc anyone can buy a token [if there's one present] & start writing code / content etc. to make that token more valuable. For many, their wealth is derived more from crypto / token capital gain than traditional income. Its increased risk no doubt. More upside & downside.
iceIX 5y ago
Many DAOs have massive (>$1B) treasuries that are used to fund development and marketing. Developers propose OSS projects and these orgs give out grants based on community votes. See https://gitcoin.co https://gitcoin.co or the Uniswap Grants program for examples.
arbol 5y ago
You create a decentralised service that crypto companies need, and then add a native token for governance. Governance token ends up having value (more than it should in a lot of cases) and the developers profit. For example, people initially just had crypto tokens. Then came uniswap liquidity pools for exchanges. People could suddenly earn interest on their crypto. Uniswap creators profit.