ju1ian
Investment Partner at Polychain Capital, former intramural referee
bio ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You could probably call me a slew of things, but I will claim to
be a Riverian. I've never had a "real job," the closest thing
being the front desk at a law firm when I was 18 or 19. Even then,
I spent most of my hours trying to understand SBF's lovechild
known as "Solana." As time progressed, I felt pressured to join
the path that many of my peers were taking, whether that was
consulting or banking. However, luckily for me, I couldn't shake
my infatuation with magic internet money and what some may call
the internet financial system. I find myself to be quite lucky in
that regard, ending up on a path facing a bit more variance.
Anyways, below you will find a bit about me and my interests.
I was introduced to crypto via poker, and soon became interested
in both the idea and concept of money. From there, I would spend
hours on the internet both reading and listening to people waffle
about the future and sovereignty. Oddly enough, I started trading
offshore perps rather than accumulating spot, speculating on MEXC,
KuCoin, and Bybit, where they knew me as a Palau resident. Over
time, I worked to move my entire financial stack onchain.
I spend most of my time reading and researching. Given I spent
much of my childhood moving around, I spent an unreasonable amount
of time on the internet. From reading things like The Network
State and The Sovereign Individual, to spending hours listening to
Cobie dunk on Ledger on UpOnly. As my interest in things like
economics and markets progressed, I "matured" into consuming more
"refined" content, reading the writings of Buffett, Marks, Munger,
and Bernstein. And while I love my old and wise folks, my soul
yearned for volatility, and the animal spirits pointed me towards
Livermore, Baruch, and Soros. To them, I credit my appreciation of
behavioral economics. From there, I grew interested in game
theory, where I learned from a variety of great thinkers,
including Keynes, Bernoulli, Thorp, Shiller, and Robin Hanson.
Thanks to Hanson, I fell down a futarchy rabbit hole, which
eventually led me to participate in the first MetaDAO ICO for
mtnCapital. Unfortunately, that ICO didn't retire me, but it
showed me the importance of corporate governance within internet
capital markets. The ICO was lackluster, but my principal
investment stayed intact.
Nowadays, I spend most of my time in public markets, investing and
speculating across equities and tokens. Oddly enough, most of my
investments to date have been in equities, however I firmly
believe that most of my edge remains in tokens. Given how nascent
tokens are, I view most of them as speculative vehicles, which
isn't a knock, however it's hard to sit in assets with negative
drift. Regardless, due to the nature of the token market, I spend
a lot of time researching emerging and raw markets, where the
games that were being played resemble the ones currently being
played in the crypto markets. Whether that's the Tulip Mania, the
South Sea Bubble, Taiwan in the 1980s, or the 2021 crypto boom. As
King Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun." Sometimes
it isn't about the assets themselves, but rather the people who
trade them.
When I am not speculating, I take long-term views on what I
believe are real paradigm shifts (though this time it isn't
different). Unfortunately, I find that many crypto participants
play speculative games, and speculative games are finite games.
The infinite game is allocating capital to productive assets, and
that is where most of the time within this space should be spent.
If you are building financial products onchain, CeFi, DeFi, or a
mixture of the two, reach out. The Internet Financial System wins
sooner or later, and I plan to help steward it there.
Protocols and Companies I admire: ────────────────────────────────
buffers ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
nfa ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Nothing here is financial advice. Views are mine and not my
employer's. Assume I hold positions in anything mentioned.
ju1ian
Investment Partner at Polychain
Capital, former intramural referee
bio ──────────────────────────────────
You could probably call me a slew of
things, but I will claim to be a
Riverian. I've never had a "real job,"
the closest thing being the front desk
at a law firm when I was 18 or 19.
Even then, I spent most of my hours
trying to understand SBF's lovechild
known as "Solana." As time progressed,
I felt pressured to join the path that
many of my peers were taking, whether
that was consulting or banking.
However, luckily for me, I couldn't
shake my infatuation with magic
internet money and what some may call
the internet financial system. I find
myself to be quite lucky in that
regard, ending up on a path facing a
bit more variance. Anyways, below you
will find a bit about me and my
interests.
I was introduced to crypto via poker,
and soon became interested in both the
idea and concept of money. From there,
I would spend hours on the internet
both reading and listening to people
waffle about the future and
sovereignty. Oddly enough, I started
trading offshore perps rather than
accumulating spot, speculating on
MEXC, KuCoin, and Bybit, where they
knew me as a Palau resident. Over
time, I worked to move my entire
financial stack onchain.
I spend most of my time reading and
researching. Given I spent much of my
childhood moving around, I spent an
unreasonable amount of time on the
internet. From reading things like The
Network State and The Sovereign
Individual, to spending hours
listening to Cobie dunk on Ledger on
UpOnly. As my interest in things like
economics and markets progressed, I
"matured" into consuming more
"refined" content, reading the
writings of Buffett, Marks, Munger,
and Bernstein. And while I love my old
and wise folks, my soul yearned for
volatility, and the animal spirits
pointed me towards Livermore, Baruch,
and Soros. To them, I credit my
appreciation of behavioral economics.
From there, I grew interested in game
theory, where I learned from a variety
of great thinkers, including Keynes,
Bernoulli, Thorp, Shiller, and Robin
Hanson. Thanks to Hanson, I fell down
a futarchy rabbit hole, which
eventually led me to participate in
the first MetaDAO ICO for mtnCapital.
Unfortunately, that ICO didn't retire
me, but it showed me the importance of
corporate governance within internet
capital markets. The ICO was
lackluster, but my principal
investment stayed intact.
Nowadays, I spend most of my time in
public markets, investing and
speculating across equities and
tokens. Oddly enough, most of my
investments to date have been in
equities, however I firmly believe
that most of my edge remains in
tokens. Given how nascent tokens are,
I view most of them as speculative
vehicles, which isn't a knock, however
it's hard to sit in assets with
negative drift. Regardless, due to the
nature of the token market, I spend a
lot of time researching emerging and
raw markets, where the games that were
being played resemble the ones
currently being played in the crypto
markets. Whether that's the Tulip
Mania, the South Sea Bubble, Taiwan in
the 1980s, or the 2021 crypto boom. As
King Solomon said, "There is nothing
new under the sun." Sometimes it isn't
about the assets themselves, but
rather the people who trade them.
When I am not speculating, I take
long-term views on what I believe are
real paradigm shifts (though this time
it isn't different). Unfortunately, I
find that many crypto participants
play speculative games, and
speculative games are finite games.
The infinite game is allocating
capital to productive assets, and that
is where most of the time within this
space should be spent. If you are
building financial products onchain,
CeFi, DeFi, or a mixture of the two,
reach out. The Internet Financial
System wins sooner or later, and I
plan to help steward it there.
Protocols and Companies I admire: ────
buffers ──────────────────────────────
nfa ──────────────────────────────────
Nothing here is financial advice.
Views are mine and not my employer's.
Assume I hold positions in anything
mentioned.