Airdrop #06: Fight crypto misinformation with me.

Welcome to Arry's Airdrop #06! 
Hi All,

The recent headlines of the past week plus the flurry of back-to-school activities across the country remind us of how important the human-to-human community relationships are in each of our lives. Life in a pandemic hasn't been a cake ride either, no matter what side of the line you're on or state you live in. There's a lot of misinformation everywhere, and that misinformation is driving policies that affect all of us - whether you are a crypto HODL-er or not.

Let's get back to basics, old school, follow the politicians that represent us in local, state, and federal government. Let's talk to each other using the telephone. Let's learn each other's names and get to know our neighbors. Let's even know the name of our friendly neighborhood mailman. Watch the drafts of legislation being drafted and proposed. Talk about what we hear with our neighbors, other parents in our children's schools, and acquaintances in our communities. This is the only way we'll combat misinformation and policies created from misinformation. Let's say no to politics or malevolent advertisers.

Real people talking to real people.

Coinbase versus the SEC
The biggest news with the biggest potential impact to the overall industry happened last week with headlines, "The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don't know why." Coinbase has been working on launching its latest lending product, "Lend" and was proactively working with the SEC to iron out any potential issues ahead of its launch. Seemingly looking like "all in a good day's work", when they were surprised by the SEC's threat.

Why you should care: Many reasons why you should care - here are a few.

1. First of all, this is a continuation of the increasingly negative stance, from Elizabeth Warren (Senator) to Janet Yellen (Treasury) to Gary Gensler (SEC), the U.S. federal government overall has taken recently on its approach to blockchain/crypto regulation in the United States. In terms of global competition and innovation, America is faced with real risks in falling significantly behind in the emerging digital economy if clear regulation isn't created, ASAP. The US to date has been using the approach of regulation via enforcement - which has created the opposite of regulatory clarity across the country and the states.
2. We're looking at the future of financial services versus the last gasps to live longer from the dying dinosaur, the Banks. And to date in this country, the definitions and the laws of what define a security, particularly lending as a security, have a big old exception, for the banks. So, as with the approach of regulation via enforcement, the industry will have to wait and see to understand what the regulation really is.
3. The SEC has also requested that Coinbase handover the customer data in Lend's waitlist. But why? Is it for taxes? Is this an invasion of privacy? What's going on here? Exactly. There continues to be NO regulatory clarity in this regime, and regulation via enforcement is NOT regulatory clarify. 

Walmart Litecoin fake news
Tsk Tsk. The news reported a fake partnership between Walmart and Litecoin. Walmart later confirmed that no partnership exists. And as happens with fake news, again, crypto prices soared, then crashed back to reality. The fake press release was the result of an overly eager social media member who tweeted about the partnership, then a fraudulent user account created a press release on GlobalNewswire. 

As with anything in the media and especially online, approach everything you hear, see or read with a bit of cynicism and disbelief, sprinkled with a little paranoia. Information (and misinformation) moves very quickly in the digital world, and often resources we assume are reliable, can easily be fooled too. 

WIth the recent El Salvador news and the kickoff of a cohort on Monday the 13th for my course, I'm reminded again and again that everything in this space all starts with the fundamentals, and that means understanding the grandpa of the whole space (the cryptocurrency, the network, the protocol): Bitcoin.

It is now also known as "boomer-coin" as a joke from some of the more jaded participants.

• One of my most personal favorite interviews on Bitcoin is one with Michael Saylor and Ross Stevens. It's an about an hour long and packed full of knowledge that you don't want to miss if you haven't seen it yet. This is especially an important one for executives of companies. Recorded February 3, 2021.
• Vijay Boyapati is one of our local Pacific Northwest residents who is a global thought leader on Bitcoin.  He wrote an essay that is highly regarded and now published as a book. Please support his book (with a forward by Michael Saylor) and/or read his essay on Medium, Bullish Case for Bitcoin. 
• Parker Lewis' series of essays, Gradually Then Suddenly, is also a classic that you have to read (or visit again). It's one of my go-to resources that I strongly recommend for newcomers into the space.

​Whether you’re into blockchain for technological innovation or looking to trade crypto, it all starts with the fundamentals. Waitlist has already been filling up quickly for my next "Blockchains & Cryptos Fundamentals" course. Get on the waitlist and get in-the-know. I'll also be releasing a THREE-DAY version of this course for those that need an even more synthesized course.

Coming Up:

• AMA with Okcoin's CEO, Hong Fang is coming up THIS Friday, September 17th, 2021, 12-1pm PST
• AMA with TaxBit, Coinme, and all about Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) coming up --- stay tuned! 

Join my weekly AMA every Friday, 12-1pm PSTBlockchain is a game changer as a powerful alternative technology to what most businesses use today.

Cryptocurrencies and other kinds of digital tokens are fascinating. We have seen their meteoric rise over the past couple of years. This meetup is all about focusing our time on global impactful topics, not just crypto-fluffery.

Join us if you want to get into real authentic discussions about what really matters in the blockchain space and have some actual FUN while we're at it, via the Blockchain Underground.

See you next week!
– Arry (@ArryinSeattle)

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