The Danger of Crypto Fundamentalism
and what we should pursue instead
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Summary (TL;DR)
I define Fundamentalism as “I’m right and fuck you.” It’s unhelpful and ineffective at best and dangerous at worst. Truly efficacious change-making is anti-fragile and welcomes challenge, difference, nuance, and fosters the people, relationships, and structures to make it so. We call this “Steeling”.
Last year I went to an NBA game with three friends. One of those friends who came with (let’s call them Freddie) is really into the Crypto space. However, less like me, they spend a lot of their time in the Altcoin space. Ethereum, Decentralized Apps, DeFi, NFT’s, Web3, etc.
So there we are, watching the game in a packed stadium, the music pumping, the players playing, the crowd roaring, and we are eating our stadium cheeseburgers (*chef’s kiss*).
Naturally (and as we are want to do), in the middle of the third quarter, we start chit-chatting about Ethereum and Solana. (For those unaware, those are two, what we call, Layer 1 [L1] Blockchains.)
Towards the end of the (generally jovial and half-yelling-to-raise-our-voices-above-the-roaring-crowd) conversation, I said, “I mean I could totally see Ethereum becoming the main Decentralized App Layer 1 in 5 years or so. I could also see Solana doing the same. Or some other L1 that’s going to come along. What’s most concerning to me though, is the governance centralization in both of them.”
And then jovial Freddie turned into angry Freddie.
“Well what the hell do you think is better than Ethereum?! Solana is trash. They’re garbage. How can you even think that?”
Me:
I told him, “Hey, so I don’t actually have allegiances to any Decentralized App Layer 1 blockchain. I feel like you’re getting really heated right now, and I don’t really want to engage with that energy.”
And so we sat silently and awkwardly watching the game, monching our snacks.
When I was in my late teens and early 20’s I got really into Religion. Specifically US Christian Evangelicalism. (I am not there anymore, everyone calm down 😏.) One of the reasons I left that world was my growing love and pursuit of nuance, different perspectives, and (at the core) people. I felt an embrace and appreciation of these things was lacking (and in fact had perceived violent repression and rejection of those notions).
In this context (the context of US Christian Evangelicalism), I define Fundamentalism as:
“I’m right and fuck you.”
Harsh right? But that’s basically what it is. “I’m right, and you’re going to hell.” “I’m right and I hate anyone who disagrees with me.” “I’m right and there’s no way I could be wrong, so go fuck off.”
You see the pattern.
Sometimes people are nicer about it. But that’s essentially “the vibe” (as the kids say).
It’s easy to judge that in Religion terms (ironically). However, we have that in the Bitcoin and Crypto space too.
“If you don’t agree that my coin is the best, you’re a(n) ____.” (insert pejorative) “If you disagree with the coin I love then you’re an idiot!” “Have fun staying poor.” “You’re NGMI (not going to make it).” etc.
The similarity, to me, between my experience in the US Christian Evangelical world and the Bitcoin and Crypto world, regarding Fundamentalism (as I’ve defined above) feel really similar.
And it doesn’t stop there. Once you start looking for Fundamentalism like this, you’ll see it in lots of places, structures, and people.
When I was a High School teacher in an inner city school, for example, I saw it all the time. And it’s hard, because if you put together a lot of really (I genuinely mean this) caring adults into a school building that all have slightly (sometimes drastically) different ideas about what students and children need and how to do it, and then you add in scarce resources, power dynamic imbalances, and the existential fear and responsibility of nurturing and caring for the next generation and… well… you’ve got yourself quite a ripe powderkeg there.
What I mean to say in all this is:
Any level of Fundamentalism, anywhere, is worrisome to me.
I honestly don’t really trust leaders who haven’t been broken of their allegiance to any kind of Fundamentalism. Don’t get me wrong, I love visionaries and leaders who are pursuing the next thing and new idea. Leaders who see broken or less ideal systems and want to change them. But if they haven’t been broken of something they thought was an “I’m right and fuck you,” vibe, I’m less interested.
If a leader hasn’t been really wrong at least once in their journey, (and learned from it) I trust them less.
Sustained revolution and change I’m most interested in comes, I believe, from those who know what it’s like to have what they thought was going to change the world in their timeline and the way they imagined… not have it happen that way. These leaders that persist after an experience like this, go so much farther than the ones who haven’t because they, through leaving their Fundamentalism, move towards what I call “truly efficacious change”
Truly efficacious change-making is anti-fragile and welcomes challenge, difference, nuance, and fosters the people, relationships, and structures to make it so.
Now some leaders (many) experience a break in Fundamentalism and give up for a while. They might even despair and become the opposite of their Fundamentalism (often becoming just as strong proponents of the opposite of what they used to support). That’s quite normal, unremarkable, and honestly a little boring to me.
But if leaders have a breaking of their Fundamentalism, and they persist (not all do), and they change, and adapt, and learn how to actually change systems… watch out.
To get to a point where they can exact truly efficacious change, leaders often discover a tool along the way to help them.
Which is…
The opposite of Fundamentalism here, is something that Lyn Alden calls “Steeling”. (Via le Bible, they would call it “Iron sharpens Iron.”)
Basically, it’s an opposite version of Fundamentalism.
Steeling isn’t just open to different opinions, invalidation criteria, and people that disagree with them, it actively and consistently pursues, welcomes, and nourishes them.
Now Steeling isn’t “everyone is right”.
Nope.
Steeling validates and acknowledges our own set positions, opinions, and ideas as ours. And. Steeling pursues other ideas and tries to make those other ideas stronger. As a new friend and wise-as-fuck-sage of mine says, “Difference holds possibility.”
“If the opposite of my idea, or another idea was right, how could I make it better?” “If those people over there are right, what could I gain from them?” “If I don’t believe that the other side is fully right, what aspects of truth do they have that I might value and share?” “What could I learn from them?” “I don’t understand your position or why you hold it, could you explain more to me please?”
It’s holding our own position, and being open to it being nourished, grown, changed, and challenged by others.
Because if we truly are right, we shouldn’t be afraid of the opinions of others. And if we aren’t fully right, wouldn’t we want to know where the cracks are in our position, or how it could be strengthened?
It requires humility. Openness. Transparency. Bravery.
It’s not easy to exist in a space of Steeling.
It’s very easy to stay in Fundamentalism.
It’s easier to say “I’m right and fuck you,” than it is to say “I might be wrong here in some aspects, ways, or even the full spectrum. Please tell me more.”
In the Bitcoin and Crypto space, I would love to see more of this. In Education. In Politics. In whatever spaces exist in the world. (Reminds me a little of this TED talk as well.)
It seems so simple when we say it out loud.
Have an opinion, but don’t just be open to being wrong: pursue and invite it in. Make friends with the potential to be wrong. Serve it dinner. Invite it to parties.
In practice, this is anything but simple or easy.
In the crypto space anyways, I think one of the reasons it’s so hard to hold this positions, is actually also quite simple.
We are less prone to Steel positions we have that are tied up with money.
Owning any asset (digital or not) makes us inherently biased about it and requires quite a bit more effort to get to neutral.
So if you held a bag of (owned) LUNA before the LUNA crash when people were warning about it, odds of you listening were less than if you didn’t have a bag of LUNA. If you own ETH it’s probably harder for you to Steel your positions and opinions about ETH. If you own BTC it’s probably harder for you to list the actual reasons Bitcoin might fail.
It’s natural I suppose on some level. But unhelpful, nonetheless.
So where do I stand, personally, in the Bitcoin and Crypto ecosystem?
I’m definitely more Bitcoin Maxi than not. I think it’s the only truly Decentralized protocol and has the potential to change the world. Governance centralization within Altcoin Layer 1’s concerns me (I mean look at this recent example on Solana where a DAO essentially seized control of someone else’s funds. The wealthy and powerful getting to control other people’s money… where have we seen that before? 😏).
I also see some (not all yet 😉) of the ways that those positions I just listed could be wrong. And I’m open, ready, and watching to be invalidated.
And, I still hold the positions I have.
Additionally I try to Steel as much as I can.
For example, I’ve pursued new relationships and people that I find really smart that lean Ethereum-Maxi and I ask them questions. I bring up my concerns (in genuine curiosity) and ask what they think of them, and maybe why those aren’t concerns for them. I find and listen to people who have great concerns and critiques of Bitcoin. I try to define and list all the ways that my Bitcoin position could be wrong or invalidated (and I watch to see if those come true).
When I post charts, I love feedback, especially when someone points something out I missed or ways what I made could be better or improved. (Shoutout to CryptoViz for engaging with me recently on this for an Eval tool I built!).
So am I still growing in this? Hell yes. Are there still opinions and beliefs I hold (inside and outside of the digital asset world) that are in desperate need of some Steeling? Some I’m aware of and some I’m not?
Double hell yes.
And.
Am I hopeful in this space? Am I hopeful in and for the smart, talented, driven, and kind folks in this space?
Double absolutely.
Back at the NBA game, Freddie and I eventually calmed down and he apologized for getting so heated. I re-engaged after this and we had a great discussion about Layer 1’s and the potential for them vs. the potential for Bitcoin to become a dApp Layer 1 potentially down the road. It was our first real “fight” as friends and I think we handled it beautifully. I was proud of us 🙃.
We didn’t agree, but eventually we saw each other. We were able to give the space to understand each other.
That’s it. That’s what we need.
Ok, one final story to close:
When I was in High School I went on two US Christian Evangelical Mission Trips to help repair damage done to New Orleans and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. All in all, it was an amazing experience (except when I opened the church van door too hard and dinged a BMW 🤦🏼♂️).
We went to church there one Sunday, and the pastor asked “How do we know what’s True? What do we need? Do we need other teachers? Do we need other religious books? Do we need the Da Vinci Code? (that was a hot button topic at the time)”
I raised my hand and said, “No! We only need the Bible.”
“Yes! This boy gets it!” the pastor said. And we went on with our lives.
How delighted and unhelpful we were.
We need to hold our opinions and positions yes, but we don’t only need “one thing”.
We need each other. We need different perspectives. We need challenge.
Cheers to the pursuit of Steeling ourselves, our opinions and beliefs, our behaviors, and ultimately, our world.
Links and References
Data Provider: Glassnode (free on-chain charts, paid tiers available, I have T3).
My Twitter: @mattrowsboats (often provides on-chain analysis)
Crypto Learning Twitter Lists: On-Chain, Macro-Econ, and TA.
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