Airdrop #07: Evergrande panicked the market today.

Welcome to Arry's Airdrop #07! 
​Hi All,

One key theme I keep hearing over and over again, especially this past week is the need for more educational content. There's a lot of amazing content out there (along with a lot of bad misinformation, too). What I aim to do a better job of, is to not just find these great resources, but to also SHARE with others all of the knowledge that I am learning every, single day. 

That's why I'm doing all that I can to help share the knowledge that I've been lucky enough to have acquired all these years, with you. I'm sharing the highlights with you. I hope you'll pass it on, and share with others too. That's how we can build a better future, together.

Evergrande panicked the market today.
​Today, the China Evergrande news crisis sent shockwaves throughout both the crypto and stock markets - it was a bloody Monday. Some would say perhaps quite a few cryptos and equities were on sale. What's going on with the Evergrande story? 

China Evergrande Group is the world’s most indebted property real estate developer, whose financial woes have quickly become everyone's business. They have monumental debt that they cannot repay to the order of over $300 billion. Evergrande is also on the hook for 1.6 million apartments and tens of thousands owed to their own employees. Evergrande is a grand catastrophe. Failure is right round the corner whether it be through a complete restructuring or total liquidation of the company. And this one company, the China Evergrande Group may become today's Lehman Brothers cascading into causing a global credit crunch, and demolishing any confidence in Chinese investments. In the end, it may leave us with even greater global catastrophic effects.

Remember the Lehman Brothers? The Lehman bankruptcy filing was the largest in U.S. history. It is believed that their bankruptcy was the first critical domino to fall that led to global markets crashing in the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Why you should care about the significance of Evergrande: Couple big reasons why you should care - here are a few.

1. We're looking at the potential "Lehman" in the markets today. Evergrande could be that "contagion" of counter-party failure in the market. History has a way of rhyming. 
2. Again, the world is seeing at a global scale, how broken the system really is on the trust front. Satoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin white paper author) said once, "The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust."  These financial institutions (Evergrande, Lehman) collapse REPEATEDLY in the course of a person's adult life. And then, the banks get bailed out by government. We're in a system of socialized losses, and privatized profits.

Let's look in contrast at Bitcoin: 

• Bitcoin has no debt.
• Bitcoin has no CEO.
• Bitcoin has no Board of Directors.
• Bitcoin has no intermediaries.
• Bitcoin has no trusted third party security holes.

Bitcoin is a bearer instrument held by HODLers and made up with cold-hearted code. It's a protocol for money. Yes, in theory, Bitcoin companies could also get into financial trouble if they too over-leverage or mishandle their finances (like Evergrande, and the banks). Bitcoin's uptime as a network and protocol is one of the best, if not THE BEST uptime in history. 

• Bitcoin is truly decentralized.
• Bitcoin is truly peer-to-peer.
• Bitcoin is secure.

There's absolutely nothing like it as an asset class, a network, a protocol, and technology. Bitcoin is a huge contrast to Evergrande and the Lehman Brothers stories of our world.

I've been immersed in the blockchain and crypto space for about 5 years now, and I still feel like I'm just a beginner in so many ways. I learn every day from the content creators that share regularly. I learn from talking to others in the meetups, AMA recordings for the podcast, and even talking to my husband who's in the space. 

If you aren't already, there are a few human gems of knowledge I've discovered recently, that are very worth following:

• Michael Nadeau on LinkedIn. Not everyone is on crypto-Twitter, so for folks in the LinkedIn world, check out Michael's posts for some amazing insights into the Defi (Decentralized Finance) world which has quickly taken the world by storm especially over the past year. Follow his posts.
• Travis Kling on Twitter. He's the Chief Investment Officer for Ikigai Asset Management. Full disclosure, I am an LP with the fund. We've done our research, visited the offices, met with the founders, religiously read the monthly updates and attended the LP monthly calls. Travis has an uncanny way of building narratives from huge swaths of data and sources. It's his unfair advantage in the marketplace, along with his pedigree training with the absolute best in the industry. 
• Lyn Alden on Twitter or through her own newsletter. She's got the finance and engineering background. She's got incredible investing strategies with a global macro overlay that's a killer in the marketplace. 

​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. Standby, I'll be releasing a THREE-DAY version of this course for those that need an even more synthesized course.

COMING UP:

• AMA with an OG Bitcoiner, Jerry David Chan is coming up THIS Friday, September 24th, 2021, 12-1pm PST
• Crypto Tax AMA with TaxBit's SME team on October 1, 2021, 12-1pm PST
• AMA with decentralized health insurance Decent's CEO, Nick Soman on October 8th, 12-1pm PST
• AMA with Coinme, Jesse Proudman of Makara, the head of CA's Blockchain Advocacy Council, the Blockchain Association, and more coming up --- stay tuned! 

In case you didn't know, all AMAs with guests are recorded and posted on our podcast and YouTube show, Windshield Time. Recent AMA's with Jennifer Mace (Crypto Tax), and Hong Fang (CEO of Okcoin) will soon be posted! 

Join my weekly AMA every Friday, 12-1pm PST
Blockchain is a game changer as a powerful alternative technology to what most businesses use today. Cryptocurrencies and other kinds of digital tokens are fascinating. 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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