META: learning to reason on first principles and overcoming dogma

Authority

So much of what we believe is based on some authority figure telling us that something is true. As children, we learn to stop questioning when we’re told “Because I said so.” (More on this later.) As adults, we learn to stop questioning when people say “Because that’s how it works.” The implicit message is “understanding be damned — shut up and stop bothering me.” It’s not intentional or personal. OK, sometimes it’s personal, but most of the time, it’s not.

If you outright reject dogma, you often become a problem: a student who is always pestering the teacher. A kid who is always asking questions and never allowing you to cook dinner in peace. An employee who is always slowing things down by asking why.

When you can’t change your mind, though, you die. Sears was once thought indestructible before Wal-Mart took over. Sears failed to see the world change. Adapting to change is an incredibly hard thing to do when it comes into conflict with the very thing that caused so much success. As Upton Sinclair aptly pointed out, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Wal-Mart failed to see the world change and is now under assault from Amazon.

If we never learn to take something apart, test the assumptions, and reconstruct it, we end up trapped in what other people tell us — trapped in the way things have always been done. When the environment changes, we just continue as if things were the same.

First-principles reasoning cuts through dogma and removes the blinders. We can see the world as it is and see what is possible.

When it comes down to it, everything that is not a law of nature is just a shared belief. Money is a shared belief. So is a border. So are bitcoins. The list goes on.

Some of us are naturally skeptical of what we’re told. Maybe it doesn’t match up to our experiences. Maybe it’s something that used to be true but isn’t true anymore. And maybe we just think very differently about something.

- https://fs.blog/first-principles/

​

This has never been more clear in my life than now, in the middle of this perceived pandemic. Leaning on the consensus of other's conclusions as those with expertise instead of allowing yourself to consider the evidence and draw your own conclusion. People are so wrapped up in their day to day distractions that they don't want to toil with complex ideas, even if it means their wellbeing.

The article I linked above is a great overview of this not-new idea of learning with first principles. When considering suspicious events that produce many conspiracy theories about what the truth really is, it would serve us all very well to improve our critical thinking. Don't let those who are so certain for or against an idea stop you from assessing the evidence yourself, no matter how seemingly complex.

Remember that all current human understanding is the result of ordinary humans just like yourself going through the mundane process of observation and reflection. No one is superior to you in this regard. Don't kneel to your peers who pretend to be your master.

Being open minded doesn't mean leaving your keys in the car; it means being willing to give someone a ride. Be the guardian of your mind, not the prisoner of other's.

TL:DR First principles is a tool that will help us be more informed and productive human beings.

Big Crypto Tax Changes: How 1099s, Wash Sales, and Donations Might Change Your Tax Reporting

Hey all, I interviewed the crypto tax lawyer Andrew Gordon last week about the new legislation that is likely to affect crypto - plus we talked about wash sales, tax loss harvesting, donations, loans, and how some crypto events could actually be taxable, even if they don't feel like they should be. There's a lot of great stuff packed into this episode, so I hope you enjoy it!

​

Page Link: Big Crypto Tax Changes: How 1099s, Wash Sales, and Donations Might Change Your Tax Reporting
Audio-Only Link: Big Crypto Tax Changes: How 1099s, Wash Sales, and Donations Might Change Your Tax Reporting

Spotify; Apple Podcasts

Episode Highlights

00:55: The Infrastructure Bill and Build Back Better BIG Crypto Changes

06:45: Are Wash Sales Going To Apply To Crypto Now?

19:07: Blockchain Swaps Could Definitely Be Taxable

Episode Quote:

> On Blockchain Swaps: “I can tell you that the more conservative position is to treat it like a taxable event, like an actual conversion – a disposition of one asset and purchase of another.”

Life event forces biggest financial advice-perspective, and I hope this is valuable if you are going through something similar.

I hope this post can provide a point of view for people in a similar situation. My choice is anxiety producing but necessary. I am not the type to avoid things.

I think that many people who have been in bitcoin can "wait it out" and will say "Never sell, hodl". While this is probably the best advice long term, we all don't have that luxury. For example, someone who has no kids and 40 btc can literally just wait until the next 5 years...and especially if they have an income that exceeds their bills so they can add to their position.

So here is my choice: An event has happened where I need money. I own 2 rental properties. I either sell my bitcoin (and some other crypto) or I sell my real estate. I am 38, no kids. This will be the most important financial decision of my life to this point.

This could apply to you if you are deciding to sell, hold, or add. After all, these are only assets. You are deciding which ones you want at the time.

If I sell my bitcoin and keep my properties, I think I guarantee myself an above average middle class lifestyle. My property area is in a growing city, the neighborhood has a lot of rich people moving in, and the real estate commands a premium on their specs. They are prime real estate holdings. I have had shit real estate holdings. I know the difference. I lose potential appreciation of bitcoin.

If I sell my real estate, I put myself in a much higher risk/reward category. If bitcoin fails, or let's say goes to 20k and stays there for a long time, my financial worth is crushed. If I sell my real estate, I essentially am placing a bet on bitcoin and crypto going mainstream. One of the things that bugs me is that crypto could succeed and it's success could pull a lot of money from bitcoin. I have this as a real possibility.

I've wrestled with this idea for the last couple weeks. I've been thinking about it in general for months. I am trying to be honest with myself: This is a big decision. If I was advising my friend, what would I say?

I'd say I've learned that betting against technology has been a horrible, horrible bet. Tesla, amazon, netflix, google-these are the public companies-the real wealth is in the private companies that then go public. Betting against tech almost always loses. Most people lose because they want things to go what makes them comfortable-their bets = their comfort zone.

I've also learned that most people misunderstand risk. I have two social circles, and the one where I am the poorest-well, I can confidently say I know people that have embraced bitcoin and have sold real estate. I have also seen that most people are scared out of their mind because they did big bets, and they have families. They need a quick bet-they cannot wait five, let alone 10 years.

Bitcoin is the starting point of a new tech. A tech that is independently verified. It is facing very similar attacks to other technologies-it's called a scam, it's called emperor's new clothes, the old establishments hate it, and young people embrace it.

My view point is that all the people saying bitcoin to 100-150k year end have been wrong, and those saying it will be 10k are wrong. I believe that bitcoin and crypto will NOT go away. There is simply too much adoption. I like the idea of having a capped supply-everything I've seen with a capped supply goes up in price. I don't think the governments can ever make rates real -too much debt for that-and I think every time they've stopped printing they say sorry and print more. I don't think they can allow a major recession. I do believe that bitcoin is a risk asset and will sell off in the next financial turndown. I don't want to trade it because I am not good at that and the risk of selling to buy back lower is much bigger than adding. I saw multiple people say sell at 19k, etc.

After wrestling with this idea, I came up with a question that led to two other questions. If you are in a similar position, you could ask yourself the same:

1. What do I want?
2. What choice enables me to get what I want?
3. Do I understand the risks I am taking, and I am willing to go forward taking those risks?
4. If I decide to take what I perceive as the less risky choice, am I going to be happy with the results I predict?

Here are my answers.

1. I want to be wealthy enough to make work a choice. This doesn't mean rolls royce. This means making work a choice in a first world country. I love to travel, but this is what I want for my own peace of mind.
2. Selling real estate and buying bitcoin. The only way real estate enables this is if rates go way lower (which I expect)-but bitcoin then goes nuts.
3. Yes. I am okay taking those risks. I am 38. I do not want to make a choice at 50.
4. No, I will be free at 50 most likely. Health issues I have mean I might not make it even to 40. I do not accept the less risky/upper middle class lifestyle choice.

Is the Narrative about Bitcoin’s 4-Year Halving Cycle Diminishing?

https://Blockchain.News/analysis/is-the-narrative-about-bitcoin-4-year-halving-cycle-diminishing

With Bitcoin’s current return of approximately 456% since the third halving event in May 2020, this is a notable underachievement compared to the two previous cycles, which had recorded 1,355% and 4,974% respectively at this point in time. (Read More)

bitcoin #bitcoin #cryptocurrencies #halving #investment #market #analysis #blockchain

Celebrities who rode the crypto wave in 2021


As the adoption of crypto progresses rapidly, the world’s rich and famous are paying attention and getting involved in the growing industry.

The crypto ecosystem eclipsed its fame in previous years, managing to stay in the limelight for a full year throughout 2021. Key catalysts include the widespread adoption of Bitcoin (BTC), the fuel meme-coin frenzy at a Shiva Inu. (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE), and active participation of celebrities and well-known authorities.

The year 2021 has seen the arrival of many more influential and celebrities than ever before. From presidents and mainstream tech entrepreneurs to rappers and reality TV stars, celebrities have delved into cryptocurrencies in their own way. While some decided to create their own versions of crypto ecosystems and tokens, others helped raise awareness for various projects.

As a tribute to everyone who has shown up in our crypto world, let’s take a look at some of the most influential celebrities who have shaped the crypto ecosystem in no particular order.

Sniffer dog

Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg has always been an early adopter and promoter of technology and lifestyle products. Although it was a bit late, the musician entered the crypto room through an NFT collaboration called “Decentralized Dogg”.

Snoop’s popularity in the mainstream has also prompted many token makers to trade cryptocurrencies under the Snoop Dogg brand for the past few years, but the musician has warned investors not to get involved in such projects.

Nayib Bukele

As President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele was the torchbearer of the acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender. In addition to playing a key role in legalizing Bitcoin and building relevant infrastructure to support the Bitcoin economy, Buckle has been active on Twitter announcing various Bitcoin-driven initiatives of his government.

Despite strong initial resistance to Bitcoin use, Bukele now sources on Bitcoin whenever its market value falls. In addition to this measure, the Salvadoran government has reinvested the unrealistic gains of bitcoin to accelerate the development of the Central American country.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, shaped cryptocurrencies when he began publicly supporting Dogecoin (DOGE) in 2020. However, Musk continues to support Meme coin by committing to accept payments on DOGE for various companies it offers.

Due to Musk’s support, the market price of the DOGE token has risen many times over, despite being created to poke fun at the crypto ecosystem. The popularity of DOGE has also spawned dog-based meme tokens, one of the most famous being Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka, one of Japan’s top professional tennis players, announced her entry into the crypto space after diversifying her portfolio into cryptocurrencies and realizing the hype surrounding Dogecoin.

Osaka’s acquaintance with crypto was driven by the crypto community on Twitter. Athletes have launched and promoted various NFT initiatives, setting a record for the most expensive NFT sold by a professional tennis player.

Lionel Messi

International soccer legend Lionel Messi was one of the highest-profile players associated with the crypto ecosystem in 2021. When Messi signed the contract to join the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club, part of the salary package was the payment on the token. fan of the club.

Fan Tokens are part of a growing sub-ecosystem that aims to increase fan engagement by allowing them to participate in certain club decisions. Other popular soccer clubs that have introduced fan chips are Manchester City and AC Milan, to name a few.

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg’s entry into cryptocurrency had been expected since Facebook published the Libra cryptocurrency whitepaper in 2019. Despite federal pressure to finish the crypto test, Zuckerberg has changed the name of his social media company Facebook Meta. on October 28, positioning himself as a pioneer of the burgeoning Metaverse ecosystem.

Meta plans to develop a centralized Metaverse world that can serve as a source of income for online creators. Following in Zuckerberg’s footsteps, major technology companies such as Microsoft, Epic Games and Alibaba have begun exploring business opportunities within the Metaverse ecosystem.

Kim Kardashian

This year’s crypto craze also caught up with Kim Kardashian. The reality TV superstar has marked his entry into the cryptocurrency by promoting an untested cryptocurrency token, Ethereum Max (EMAX), on his official Instagram account.

While launching (or rather, accomplice) of a cryptocurrency has become common practice for influencers across all demographics, Kardashian’s involvement in promoting EMAX failed as the UK Financial Conduct Authority accused her of being a partisan by promoting deceptive speculative tokens. The FCA has also found that scammers pay influencers to get rich quick and typically run away with investors’ money.

Kim Kardashian also previously used her Instagram account to promote physical bitcoin tokens on a charity poker night.

Soulja Boy

American rapper Soulja Boy was one of the loudest celebrities on Crypto Twitter in 2021. From supporting cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin through Twitter to selling NFT’s of the brand “Crank That”, Soulja Boy made sure it was felt its presence in the crypto community.

The hip-hop star has publicly announced that he owns Binance Coin (BNB), Tron (TRX), and Altcoins. In 2018, Soulja Boy released a song called “Bitcoin” and even provided the lyrics: “I made a hundred racks with Bitcoin.”

While the rapper’s input was well received by the community, he soon sparked controversy after allegedly revealing that he was being paid to promote a yet-to-be-established crypto project.

Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton entered the NFT wave in 2021. Despite her seemingly late entry, Hilton claims to have invested in Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) when BTC was still valued below $ 1,000.

The American personality also took to Twitter to introduce his two new pets named “Crypto Hilton” and “Ether Reum.”

Magnus Carlsen

Through various chess-centered events and initiatives, chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is one of the youngest celebrities to lead a crypto adoption campaign. In partnership with Chess Champ, an NFT marketplace, Carlsen and other professional chess players competed for NFT trophies and cash prizes in bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Initiatives to introduce the chess community to cryptocurrencies were primarily driven by FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. The Norwegian chess player is also the world’s first bitcoin chess master and won more than 0.6 BTC in addition to a cash prize in a tournament hosted by FTX.

Special mentions

Unlike previous years, when cryptocurrency owners and enthusiasts did most of the work, mainstream celebrities took over the promotion of cryptocurrencies by minting and selling NFTs: attending events held in the Metaverse, promoting token deals or they simply showed their support by buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

With that in mind, let’s also remember some of the other popular personalities involved in cryptocurrencies. Special mentions are:

Randi Zuckerberg

If you think the name sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s sister Randi entered cryptocurrency in November by joining cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin as a brand advisory board.

Randi also posted a YouTube video titled “What are Meme Coins and Tokens in Crypto?” where she discusses the growth of DOGE and SHIB and guides her viewers on sound investments in crypto.

Indian film actors

For India, 2021 was a notable year for massive exposure to cryptocurrencies, as major players participated in numerous ad campaigns and initiatives promoting cryptocurrencies.

The search for greater crypto penetration into the market of over 1.3 billion people has been driven by local crypto exchanges such as CoinDCX, WazirX and ZebPay. Businesses have teamed up with influential celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan to promote cryptocurrency trading and buying.

On the other hand, members of the Indian government proposed an anti-crypto law that sought to ban all private cryptocurrencies across the board without clarifying the meaning of the word “private”. India still holds a gray area in terms of cryptocurrency legitimacy.

Formula One

In the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship races, participation from the crypto community increased as companies such as Crypto.com, FuturoCoin, Bitci.com, Socios.com and Tezos sponsored teams and supported their environmental and wellness initiatives.

Previously, the crypto community successfully hosted numerous crowdfunding events to help NASCAR racers get back on track and compete in professional races.

Read More

1.25M+ People Now Have Direct Access To EGLD In The Exodus Mobile & Desktop Wallets

Exodus is one of the most popular non-custodial crypto wallets, with more than 1.25M+ users worldwide.

It is available on both mobile and desktop, and has recently integrated with the Elrond Network to provide its users direct access to native EGLD.

​

elrond | EXODUS

To mark the event, Exodus has published a video on their YouTube channel where Layah Heilpern does a great job covering the most important aspects of the Elrond blockchain.

Make sure to watch it here:

youtube.com/watch

What is Elrond?

​

You can the right version of the Exodus wallet for your device from exodus.com/download/

About Elrond

Elrond is a new blockchain architecture, designed from scratch to bring a 1,000-fold cumulative improvement in throughput and execution speed. To achieve this, Elrond introduces two key innovations: a novel Adaptive State Sharding mechanism, and a Secure Proof of Stake (PoS) algorithm, enabling linear scalability with a fast, efficient, and secure consensus mechanism. Thus, Elrond can process upwards of 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), with 5-second latency, and negligible cost, attempting to become the backbone of a permissionless, borderless, globally accessible internet economy.

About Exodus

Exodus is on a mission to empower half the world to exit the traditional finance system by 2030. Founded in 2015, Exodus is a multi-asset software wallet that removes the geek requirement and keeps design a priority to make cryptocurrency and digital assets easy for everyone. Available for desktop and mobile, Exodus allows users to secure, manage and exchange cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more across an industry-leading 10,000+ asset pairs from a beautiful, easy-to-use wallet. The non-custodial functionality is encrypted locally on users' own devices, ensuring privacy, security and complete control over their wealth.

exodus.com

​

Source: Elrond /Blog/elrond-egld-exodus-wallet/

For more information, please visit us:

• Whitepaper
• Elrond Github
• Twitter
• Elrond Documentation

Join the CandyVerse Discord Server!

Join the CandyVerse now and try to win a Tesla Model 3, $10,000 in Bitcoin and much more.

Mint event takes place January 14th 2022 at 10:00 PM EST.

https://discord.gg/keQ9SGDs

https://reddit.com/link/rklato/video/42rjzi2goo681/player

Dataverse with Loop: Expand your vision on Web 3

NFT，A Socialization Property

Ever since the birth of Bitcoin, the variety of different types of applications in blockchain has clear the vision of development in web3 thanks to all original users and participants. They have been putting their efforts into discovering the potential forms of the new internet system.

The nature of the internet is the connection. Hence, the fundamental logic behind its evolution is the progression of connection. Early blockchain applications, including Defi, actually shared very few active players. NFT has brought the public attention to blockchain and the actual reason is its element of connection. It is noticeable that NFT is a type of property that shares significant social and collection elements, which the value is visible only by the transaction between people.

​

What Caused The “Weak Ties” Between On-chain Information

The current ecology of the Blockchain internet is still ill-informed. Its elements of connecting are still at a relatively weak stage which does not fit the nature of decentralization of blockchain. The reasons behind this can be complicated.

One of the typical reasons is due to the quickness of refreshment of blockchain pieces of information, such as how one hot spot has been replaced by another without being noticed in the first place. Too many sources of information are also causing users to follow multiple media, such as websites, Twitter, telegram, discord while even following various channels within those platforms.

Another reason is that experienced players tend not to voluntarily share information, therefore the information is not circulating ideally and would cause slow responding.

Thus, we would hope to have a product that could polymerize information, allowing users to self-follow experienced players and their connections so that they can follow those information streams. The product shall also allow users to share their moments without visiting multiple platforms, or have the one-click function for visiting all channels, simply by following the wallet address to access all trends of one web3 participant.

​

As filter and Bridge of Information

Web3 network is the connection of service, contents, relationships, and values. Application platforms will provide service and creators can produce content. Platform and creators together will produce massive contents which are beyond human's limited focus. Therefore, relationship networks are how users to filter information, meanwhile, it is also the propagation. Minimum frictions between value networks and other forms of networks are the most distinguishing feature of web 3, which gains the most attention among web 3 participants.

We built our product system based on such theory of web 3 due to our desire to consummate the connection between the network of service, contents, relationships, and values to accelerate the information streams in Web 3.

​

Loop: Your Web3 Data Stream

Loop is a content aggregator for tracking the latest events in the open web, including NFTs, Mirrors articles, or POAP badges.

It allows users to personalize their activity feed and filter out spam via community discovery.

Like Twitter, Loop can automatically integrate on-chain and off-chain dynamics of multiple wallets into a real-time information stream and present it in user personal spaces. With LOOP, users can follow other people's wallet addresses, in which case, they can track their friends, KOLs, whales, and watch their on-chain and off-chain dynamics, and even the NFT transactions of CryptoPunks holders; at the same time, users can also view many high-quality articles on Mirror.

​

https://preview.redd.it/5hn8k0pdxn681.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=f45481d9d44c9f05fb4a81d0ec198da8c0d5d242

NFT, Media for Information-Based Socialization

Loop is a big attempt on the NFT social network of information streams. As a user, you can put your friends, KOLs, or articles on Mirror as nodes of your relationship networks to access NFT content that is possibly beneficial for you.

You can also put your followed NFT collections into Dataverse —— a personal space that allows you to host your NFT collection. You can perform more content management operations in your space. We will integrate a variety of gadgets to facilitate exploration and social interaction in it as well. You can also collect NFTs from other platforms because we have provided our SDK to those platforms, therefore your collections can still appear in Dataverse space.

​

https://preview.redd.it/9e7cw9wkxn681.jpg?width=2542&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f4edabffc2ca6d4cba55b2fcd408d178646bfd3

​

You can download Dataverse for a taste from https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dataverse/kcigpjcafekokoclamfendmaapcljead?hl=en.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DataverseArt

Official website: https://dataverse.art/

Discord: https://discord.gg/sxNhzg5a

Telegram: https://t.me/OwnershipLabs

Medium: https://medium.com/@OwnershipLabs

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/OwnershipLabs