Good evening to those in the present and good morning to those in the future. Here it is, the first letter of many; I promise to never include wasteful bullshit in your inbox--just give me this chance at your attention and I bet it will be worth your time!
Just in case you already forgot, these Counter Nature Letters will live around the crossroads of Web3, inspiration, investing, motivation, markets, education, and most importantly--the future. However, at the end of the day, this will go where my focus and attention goes--for better or worse.
These letters will be delivered to your inbox every Sunday. My goal is to provide you with some of the best content that I've digested over the past week along with some of my own insight and perspective on the current state of affairs. Everything will taste of my bias--also for better or worse lol.
Favorite content from the week:
🎶 Music to work to [Drum & bass]: Dom Whiting - ROLLING RAVE - SCOTLAND SHUTDOWN
Earlier in 2021, I started searching for YouTube videos of DJ sets that were filmed in-person. I really enjoyed being able to switch from my work tabs on the computer and see a real person performing the music (it also makes for great content to throw up on the TV and chill with).
In comes Dom Whiting, who is definitely the most innovative DJ that I have found on this new search of mine. He schedules meet-ups around the U.K. and everyone attends on their bike (including him, the DJ). The massive crowd then drives around the city while Dom Whiting blasts drum and bass music to his followers in-person and online.
You don't need to watch the video while you're working, as it will probably distract you, but it's worth giving a quick look before you get into things.
🎥 Long-form video to learn from [1+ hour]: Gary Gensler teaches Blockchain at MIT
Gary Gensler is one of the most intelligent minds in all of blockchain, and he also holds one of the most senior positions in the entire world when it comes to economics and financial doings. He is the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which regulates our financial markets and ensures integrity. This is what makes his course presentations at MIT so fascinating; You are listening to someone who has the keys to the car and is helping us navigate to the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency's regulation. When you watch his presentations, you feel at peace knowing that someone like him has a large amount of influence in the space.
A lot of people think the government is behind the times with what's happening in crypto--and that's just complete ignorance. The U.S. government is well informed and working on their strategy and perspective behind the scenes. Don't get it twisted.
Another reason that I choose this video is because I think now is a good time to get back to the basics of blockchain. If you are educated and understand a lot of the layer 0 material (the basics) of web3, this video is great for you. Jump into the series and learn some things you may have forgotten or never knew before--I learned many, many, many new things.
While the world is advancing faster than ever into the metaverse, you must remember the basics in order to have the best perspective and understanding of its possibilities.
If you are not well versed in blockchain, this video might be a bit complicated--but if you have an engineering background, this is probably great for you. If you need something a little more basic, I've got something for you in the short-form video.
🎥 Short-form video to learn from [7 minutes]: Coffeezilla's laymen explanation of Tornado Cash
Tornado.cash is the most popular (and effective) way to launder cryptocurrency and eventually be able to turn it into fiat.
For months, I honestly thought that the complications of this money laundering application were actually simple, and that people simply didn't want to take the time to distinguish different addresses. To say the least, I was wrong. Check out this video for the low-down.
🐦 Tweeta from @vhmth, Vinay Hiremath (Co-founder & CTO of Loom):
This was pretty interesting to read, especially since coming back in town after Art Basel had just finished up in my Wynwood neighborhood. I didn't look into the details of this, but if it's true--make your own assumptions for how NFTs can play a role in this.
Because, yes, NFTs are taxable--I'm sure I'll cover more of that soon :)
🐦 Tweeta from @Cooopahtroopa, Cooper Turley (Venture Partner at Variant Fund)
Music NFTs are coming more and more into the spotlight as of late. They've been around since the beginning of this year, but there really hadn't been much progress made on the infrastructure. Now, there seems to be lots of effort going towards bringing them forward with the basic jpegs *right-click saves*
I'm not super well-versed in the music NFT area, but this tweet gives you great reference points if you want to educate yourself some.
Market adjustments:
The market has been plummeting this December--are you having fun yet? I've got two NFT updates for my portfolio and a couple of buys in the OG market.
🖼 NFTz [Purchase]: While I didn't make any actual moves this December, I did make some in November.
I finally pulled the trigger on a piece from the artist who was the reason for me pulling the trigger on my very first NFT purchase, JDOTCOLOMBO. He released the MANIFESTIAN collection this year, and I finally found a piece that really stood out to me. The below image is of the NFT and it links to its page on Opensea, where you can find the artist, the collection, and my own collection.
🖼 NFTz [Airdrop]: The only other activity that I've been a part of lately was the KidEight airdrop for G'EVOLs holders. For every G'EVOL you hold in your wallet, you received one of these airdrops (free NFT(s)).
This airdrop kinda relates to my comments on music NFTs above, because the collection consists of like 20,000 NFTs and all of them are split across different verses of a song. My favorite one came with verse #2, kinda cool--but nothing too special on this one. This airdrop is also the first one that I received on the Polygon Network, which I keep seeing pop-up more (viva Ethereum!). Check it out here.
I'm listing my favorite G'EVOL that I own below, for more context into the project.
📊 TradFi [Purchase]: I will list my purchases for the month of December, as of today (the 12th). The percentage buy will be out of the total amount I've invested for the month of December. For example, if I invested $1000 in between December 1st and 12th, a $100 investment in Google would = "10% buy into GOOGLE @ $40".
- 7.92% buy into PLTR @ $19.20
- 2.71% buy into WE @ $8.50
- 22.90% buy into TWTR @ $45.26
- 7.23% buy into MJ @ $11.44
- 60.37% buy into SWPPX @ $72.25
The end of my year is still very uncertain, and the coming week's letters may have a bunch of changes coming but... I haven't made my mind up yet.
If you made it this far in the letter, damn son THANK YOU
Please respond to the mail and let me know what you think! Was it too long? Do you wish it was longer? Is there something you wish I included that I didn't? Should I shut the hell up about something? I promise to include the inspiration and motivation that I promised in next week's article!
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https://counternature.net/letters
I hope you have an amazing week, Christmas is right around the corner! Get in the spirit! Buy those gifts! PEAAAAAACE!