This year, I also watched <thenetworkstate.com> Conference online. Similar to last year, the conference introduced some experiments around parallel societies and parallel institutions in finance, media, and health...

The most noteworthy part was Balaji’s closing address, where he reiterated a concept he also mentioned at Token2049: Technodemocracy.

Technodemocracy tackles low participation, transparency, and inefficiency in traditional democracies. Using Farcaster to build a DAO governance client, it transcends geographical limits, fosters communities, and enables self-governance. It supports crypto fundraising and leverages blockchain and smart contracts for instant registration and onchain transparent voting, promoting more open, inclusive, and efficient governance.

The Technodemocracy experiment will soon begin at the Network School.

Interestingly, while their approaches differ, both Balaji's The Network State and Glen Weyl’s ⿻ <plurality.net> emphasize using blockchain to achieve transparent democracy.

just finished watching <ethereumfilm.xyz>. It tells some of Vitalik’s personal story, a brief history of Ethereum, and its positive impact on the world. it touches the cypherpunk and decentralized ethos, the usual “the computer vs. the casino” narrative, crypto's role in Ukraine and Argentina, and the environmental impact of the shift from PoW to PoS.

but I’m unsure if it resonates with those outside the crypto space. even for insiders, some may also feel too shallow, while others probably just wish Vitalik really had a dog named $MISHA.

For me, it was a revisit of familiar things, though there were a few stories I hadn’t heard before. like Vitalik once living in an anarchist cooperative near Barcelona. It’s easy to see why he later focused on collective action and public goods.

Personally, I’m optimistic about Ethereum’s future and have the patience to see its long-term positive impact. I like Vitalik’s closing line:

“We know what the roadmap is, let’s keep calm and keep building”.

A highly professional and data-rich review of Consumer Crypto for Q2.

Two trends I'm interested in are: social protocols rising, socialfi apps declining.

Social protocols like Farcaster and Lens have seen increased active users this year, driven by the crypto-native community, Frames/open actions for onchain interactions, and various “social utility tokens”, boosting user engagement.

Conversely, socialfi apps have seen significant declines in trading values and active users after initial growth. Besides <fantasy.top>, <friend.tech>, and wildcard, other socialfi apps on the Farcaster eco have faced similar issues. Attention is shifting to direct "PVP socialfi" games like <pump.fun>.

This trend suggests that while the development and growth of crypto-native social protocols are settling into a more regular pattern, there's still much to explore in designing upper-layer applications and introducing "Fi". finding sustainable token models and effective incentives for creators remains an ongoing challenge.

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