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I would only note, are we now calling them portfolios, instead of wallets? And does this reflect a shift in the understanding of and narrative around crypto as

I would only note, are we now calling them portfolios, instead of wallets? And does this reflect a shift in the understanding of and narrative around crypto as less utility based, as a way of buying ice cream and quickly sending cash to faraway places (without exorbitant fees) and as more speculative, a kind of post-internet version of pokemon, where the utility value (playing the game) can be eclipsed by the notional value of some of the more rare cards / successful coins? Just thinking out loud here.

cadillion 5y ago
Why not both? While Bitcoin was initially envisioned as a pure currency with some basic scripting features, the advent of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) transformed cryptocurrency into an easy way to bootstrap speculative research projects in distributed compute, while simultaneously enabling new forms of scams. So the speculation is part and parcel to making the network something worth using! We use portfolios to describe collections of wallets because it's difficult to tell whether Ethereum or Cardano is going to be the winner-take-all shared VM in 20 years. If you want your compute cycles to hold value, you better choose the right one. Our philosophy is to choose the One Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for each cryptocurrency, and then allocate into each currency based on the relative performance of currencies that share that KPI. For example, as a social network investor in 2004, it maybe wasn't obvious whether you should invest in Facebook, Myspace, or Friendster. But if you got a daily active user report every 10 minutes (like you do with Bitcoin), then maybe you could have moved your funds into Facebook as the users skyrocketed. So that's why we talk about portfolios, and see them as an important part of being a cryptocurrency user.
keiferski 5y ago
I think it indicates more that the financial set has become dominant in the crypto space and coins are now increasingly seen as securities to hold and profit from as investments, rather than as a form of payment. A bit disappointing to me, honestly. I want a digital currency that is spendable. I’m hoping the next wave of crypto innovation will address this, instead of just endlessly catering to the finance market.
vmception 5y ago
It’s just a context. If you are self custodying you can do or call it whatever you want If you are not self custodying then you are limited to the functions provided by the custodian. If they want you to just invest and watch numbers move around, then its a portfolio

cadillion 5y ago

Why not both? While Bitcoin was initially envisioned as a pure currency with some basic scripting features, the advent of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) transformed cryptocurrency into an easy way to bootstrap speculative research projects in distributed compute, while simultaneously enabling new forms of scams. So the speculation is part and parcel to making the network something worth using! We use portfolios to describe collections of wallets because it's difficult to tell whether Ethereum or Cardano is going to be the winner-take-all shared VM in 20 years. If you want your compute cycles to hold value, you better choose the right one. Our philosophy is to choose the One Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for each cryptocurrency, and then allocate into each currency based on the relative performance of currencies that share that KPI. For example, as a social network investor in 2004, it maybe wasn't obvious whether you should invest in Facebook, Myspace, or Friendster. But if you got a daily active user report every 10 minutes (like you do with Bitcoin), then maybe you could have moved your funds into Facebook as the users skyrocketed. So that's why we talk about portfolios, and see them as an important part of being a cryptocurrency user.

keiferski 5y ago

I think it indicates more that the financial set has become dominant in the crypto space and coins are now increasingly seen as securities to hold and profit from as investments, rather than as a form of payment. A bit disappointing to me, honestly. I want a digital currency that is spendable. I’m hoping the next wave of crypto innovation will address this, instead of just endlessly catering to the finance market.

vmception 5y ago

It’s just a context. If you are self custodying you can do or call it whatever you want If you are not self custodying then you are limited to the functions provided by the custodian. If they want you to just invest and watch numbers move around, then its a portfolio