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The joy of missing out - Jords on Hyperliquid, Solana, and making it in crypto
107 Plays11 days ago
Jords joins the Insilico Terminal Podcast to talk about his path through crypto, from early trading mistakes and Solana NFTs to Hyperliquid, airdrops, logging off, and coming back when the market looked dead again.
We talked about why he avoids perps, how he became early to Solana NFTs, what made Hyperliquid stand out before the airdrop, why he prefers buying depressed assets over chasing leverage, and how logging off changed his relationship with crypto.
Also covered: missing Trump coin, the joy of missing out, buying when everyone thinks it’s over, BTC/HYPE positioning, crypto cycles, and why contributing to the industry can be a better path than gambling your net worth.
00:00 Who is Jords?
06:00 Getting into crypto through COVID markets
17:10 How he became early to Solana NFTs
20:25 Why he logs off when crypto gets euphoric
29:49 Why perps never worked for his trading style
33:01 Discovering Hyperliquid before the airdrop
41:03 What life looks like after “making it”
50:25 The joy of missing out on Trump coin
56:22 Buying when everyone thinks it’s over
59:11 Crypto outlook, BTC/HYPE, and advice for beginners
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to a new episode of the InSilico Terminal podcast. My guest today is called George and ah I usually ask people to introduce themselves and since I also don't know too much about you, what is it like your self introduction that you give to to new people?
00:00:32
Speaker
My self introduction. um i think I'm a man with a broad amount of interest. I think I'm ah very active. I like to surf, snowboard, play
Transition to Writing and Philosophical Conversations
00:00:45
Speaker
tennis. I'm outdoors a lot.
00:00:47
Speaker
I'm fortunate enough to live in a climate where I can go out in the sun many days in the week. um I've recently been super into like language learning and literature. I got very into reading lately. um don't know. I think I can relate to a lot of people in different ways, whether they're very active and very sporty or super nerdy. I can talk chess and literature or I can you know watch sport for 48 hours in a row. um And i I guess I have a Twitter account that allows me to talk to cool people and people generally somehow are interested in what I have to say and I do like to talk. So it's a good ah it's a good relationship.
00:01:32
Speaker
What do you tell people like when you when you meet someone outside of crypto or whatever and they ask you, what do you do? So for the last, like, so I haven't had a job since 2021. So it's been a bit of a lot. I've had many of these interactions. And for the longest time, I kind of would just experiment with it, either just say like, oh, no, I'm not really doing much at the moment, or I i used to trade a bit and now I don't, and i just didn't really have a good answer, but now the last like month or so, I've just been telling people I'm a writer, which is a really fun one, um because I've been doing the sub stack and like, yeah I do put a bit of time into it and I can see it building or whatever.
00:02:14
Speaker
um and it's also just kind of ah it's kind of nice. like i I can share that with people and and things like that. um So now I think I yeah i just say I'm a writer, but I kind of take the piss with it a little bit. you know like i i think People know there's probably a little bit more under the surface going on than that, but that's been my my response recently. i I had many years training on that, but I never got a good solid like, you know oh, I'm in marketing, i do this, because sometimes people will be like, oh, I'm in marketing, and then you have to kind of deal with it. But yeah, now now I say I'm a rider. Why not?
00:02:49
Speaker
what What sort of response do you usually get for that? That's kind of like an unusual thing nowadays, I feel. Yeah, I think like some people, i mean, generally the response is like, oh, what do you write about? You know, and then you have to talk about what you write about. And then i think, ah I think a lot of people are just genuinely interested, you know, because if you say anything in the creative space, like if you're an artist or a musician and things like that, then the natural response is to go, oh, like, I want to listen to your stuff. I want to read your stuff, like even if you said, oh, I run a podcast, oh, OK, I want to listen, you know? So it's it's nice to be able to have something that sparks an interesting conversation because I think so often when you say, oh, what do you do? Oh, you know, I'm a developer. It's like, oh, well, like,
00:03:37
Speaker
I'm in this and then you just talk about how busy you are or your work situation. and It's rare that you get to say, oh, yeah I'm a writer.
Social Interactions and Genuine Conversations
00:03:45
Speaker
And then you start talking about um philosophical topics or how you know my thoughts on attention and our relationship to AI. It kind of leads into actual conversation, not just What do you do? who are you That kind of thing. Because I think so often people get trapped into directly after the what do you do question, they just start talking about their work and it's not in like a interesting way. It's just a how, what box can I put you into? then we can kind of move on.
Journey into Crypto and Initial Experiences
00:04:15
Speaker
um yeah, it's actually been kind of fun because you can say it and it leads to interesting conversations instead of just this kind of very mediocre exchange of what of how we like pass nine to five, you know?
00:04:27
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that. It sounds it sounds a bit more like interesting than than the usual. I also, like, I don't really know. like I haven't been asked for a while like what I actually do, but I also really wouldn't wouldn't know what to exactly describe it as. I kind of like the the period when I just went around and told people I do nothing. It's always like interesting to to see the reactions to that.
00:04:47
Speaker
I went through a period of saying I um was just a trust fund kid. It was actually a really interesting one. was just saying like, oh, what do you do Oh, no, nothing. Like I have a trust fund.
00:04:58
Speaker
And just like kind of watching how people would react to it. um It's also a great kind of... practice of self humility if you can just say that and just complete pride, you know, yeah trust fund, whatever.
00:05:12
Speaker
um Because people are so, you know, depends on where you are. It's very city specific. Like if you're in the city, then it's much more. I live on the coast, so it's not as stressful for me because a lot of people are kind of kicking around.
00:05:23
Speaker
um But yeah, in the city, I think people very much want to go, i have met you. What box can I put you in? And then we can kind of move forward. Or in the worst case, it's like nice to meet you. Can you serve? you serve any purpose for me in my like career progress? And I think that is like, oh, like I need to be i need to live in the antithesis of that.
00:05:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's why that's right the trust fund, the kid answer is pretty nice. So like saying you do nothing or you're writer or whatever. Yeah, well, the writing's great because it's it's just like it's so rare that you get to just immediately kind of not even answer the what do you do question. You just get to pivot into more interesting conversation. Yeah.
00:06:04
Speaker
So what's like your your crypto story? how How did you get in and and what interest interested you in crypto? What did you do? Yeah, yeah. My crypto story, um so I've always like traded things, you know, like I've always had a kind of financial interest. I think I would identify as a bit of a, I don't know, ah grindy dreamer back in the day. i wanted to make a million, all those kind of things. I think the normal up, like capitalist upbringing, um,
00:06:36
Speaker
And I think that's that was always part of my ethos, is like, I'm not going to go to university, I'm going to make it, I'm going to do it in whatever way, you know, like don't know. And I think you actually start to settle into like, oh, okay, you know, I'm 20 now and I'm not a billionaire, like things haven't gone how I thought it would in school. Like, I think i think that's generally how it works. But no so i When I was 15, I had this kind of like trading account um that my dad i just like in my dad's name because I couldn't i was too young to trade. and I was working at the time, so I got to like put a little money in you know and gamble
00:07:14
Speaker
Classic story. ah you know I made a lot and then I lost it all gambling like penny gaming stocks or something ridiculous. And then I did something similar again with like penny gold stocks, basically same thing, but a few years later, but in my own name. So that that was fun. um And then COVID, I was working um in like a kind of corporate job that I actually quite enjoyed. um But COVID hit and then like the office kind of closed down. So i was...
00:07:44
Speaker
I had a lot of time on my hands and I was trading a lot of post-March markets, you know, COVID, everything was going up, so I felt like a genius, which was good. um And then something that the Australian government did, which was, I think, kind of wild, to be honest, is, i mean actually, it's insane, and I would, so many people, forever for every me that, you know, it's the reason that I was able to um generate wealth. There's a lot of people who just have completely fucked themselves. um
00:08:15
Speaker
And they let the... They let Australian citizens before and after COVID of like the tax year take up to $10,000 out of their what we call superannuation. The Americans call it 401k. It's kind of like your forced government savings that you have to pay for your job. Um, and I'd worked since I was like 14, 15. So I had, you know, a reasonable amount in there and they, they let me take 10 K out per tax year. And now this is July. so I could pull like, I think I pulled 15 K out or something like that. And that's an Australian dollars. So 10, 12 K, 10 K euros, you know Um, and I, then I was very much emboldened, you know? I was like, okay, well, I'm a genius trader, I'm making all this money, and now I got like, I just tripled my bag from from my own money.
00:09:05
Speaker
and naturally, my first my first goal with it I think, which is very common, was like, well, I'll pull it out, and I'll self-manage it and I'll... I'll put it in, it'll be a more liquid version of what it already is because the the superannuation fund that I was with I thought was underperforming, you know, they had really bad results and I was like, well, you know, I'll just put it in some index fund and at least it'll be liquid for when I want to buy a house. That was kind of my goal.
00:09:33
Speaker
And then almost immediately, i decided that I would gamble it instead. um And then I found crypto, which was a great intersection. i think I bought my first ETH at like an August, September 2020.
NFT Community and Co-founding Projects
00:09:48
Speaker
So maybe like $200 or something like that. um And I remember trying to digest it. And I was like, well, I'm just not going to...
00:09:57
Speaker
I'm just not going to care about this thing unless I buy it. you know yeah It's just not going to be... I can do the rounds a million times watching YouTube videos, but it's not going to actually matter to me unless I buy it. So I just threw some money in and then I was like, okay, now that I own it, let me understand it. So I had a lot of time and I just started to kind of understand Naturally, I bought like, my first token that I bought was, um... God, can you even remember the name? Etherrisk.
00:10:23
Speaker
It was like a... Chainlink-backed smart contract insurance token for, um... for like Nigerian farmers to hedge their, uh...
00:10:37
Speaker
Hedge flood risk, and oh god, I mean... Yeah, it was so stupid. And like I think about it so often as the first interaction with crypto is usually so stupid. like Mine was not jumping on it ah you know an institutional exchange and like buying Bitcoin. It was like setting up a MetaMask and bridging to some network that doesn't exist anymore and buying this fucking Etherisk token. Yeah.
00:11:06
Speaker
and probably burning you know half my money on slippage by the time it got anywhere near there. um And obviously like that went to zero, of course, but it was... I it was interesting enough for me to be like, well, you know, I've spent so much time on this thing, and like... There is, and I guess...
00:11:23
Speaker
the premise of Etherisk, right, like what was interesting to me, would end up being like the same kind of premise as like any prediction market, you know like Polymarket and Cauchy now, it's the idea of like zero to one conversion of like, okay, well, you know, how likely is it to rain over this, to get this much rainfall and be able to hedge and stuff. so there I mean, I'm not going to justify a previous version of myself investing in that, but anyway, massive sidetrack. And then ah I kind of was doing the crypto thing, like just on the... I mean, obviously I was still working and everything like that. And then... um
00:12:02
Speaker
I, my first NFT I bought was, um, uh, a moon cat. I remember doing the same thing. I was like, well, this sounds absolutely insane. Like I'm going to spend a few thousand dollars on this fucking pixelated cat. And it was the same thesis. I was like, this, this feels amazing. really, really stupid, but the only way I'm going to learn about this thing that I think might not be stupid is to just be financially invested. So I threw some money in and immediately went down. I bought like the top after like the old Twitter accounts made printed a bunch of them out of nowhere. I said they they were historically relevant. Got cooked. um
00:12:44
Speaker
But I held it and it was something that I... like I don't know, I would like tell my friends because it was a stupid story. you know You'd go to the pub, have a few beers, and you'd go, oh, you know, George, tell him ah tell them about that thing you bought. And I would like get it off my phone. It's just funny, you know? like yeah I've always been pretty good at...
00:13:03
Speaker
um like Everything becomes funny with time, and I think the suit the the shorter period of time that needs to pass in order before you find it funny, like the it shows kind of emotional maturity. um And I think, yeah, I've always been good at that. So then anyway, I got down the NFT rabbit hole. um I liked all the Ethereum stuff popping off at the start of 2021. remember, actually,
00:13:31
Speaker
i had a um I had an interview with the gutter cat gang to maybe be their community... I don't even know what the job title was, but like way back in the day, i remember I applied for OpenSea. It just generally started being like an interest of mine. i was like, okay, I'd love to spend more time over here.
00:13:51
Speaker
um And then I think what was maybe one of the bigger points, I had two points. Like one of them was I got into um this like group called Butterfly DAO, which was like just on Ethereum. Some people put it together. You know, it was a classic DAO system. You know, you put money in and everyone tries to invest in whatever.
00:14:13
Speaker
But it was a way for me to get closer to A lot of big, big names were in there, like a lot of big accounts that I really respected and I really wasn't one. So I kind of like put in, i don't know, honestly, it must have been a pretty large percentage of my net worth that I knew was going to go to zero just to kind of be closer to these people, you know, because I was like, well,
00:14:35
Speaker
this is the way forward i need to be closer to these guys you know what the fuck they're doing it worth was it it was absolutely worth it yeah it was absolutely worth it um just to get kind of affiliated and be a dm away from some interesting people the money definitely went zero i think don't know they maybe ended up refunding us like or something i forgot what happened but um But yeah, no, it was absolutely worth it It was really worth it. And I still have some relationships with those guys. You know, being a DM away from Moobers and Shake is is definitely um a big step forward. I think it makes things easier. It makes you, gives you more...
00:15:16
Speaker
I know it gives you more people to bounce ideas off. it It gives you more exposure to interesting people. It gives you more exposure to what the successful people are kind of actually doing instead of just what they post on Twitter as well. um Because a lot of guys are...
00:15:32
Speaker
I think there's both things are true. right A lot of guys do a lot more than their Twitter. like They're building things, they're contributing things, they're constantly trying to contribute in a positive way. and then there's the inverse is also true where you have the Twitter is all of their like their fake persona and the the trader and like all of the things that... Like the oil trader, you know like that's the Twitter, but yeah the the real life is that they're just the DMs are just full of marketing opportunities and that's kind of all they do. um
00:16:07
Speaker
So it was nice to see and obviously, you know, that no group is completely exempt from those kind of people, but it was nice to to get to know the guys have been around for a while.
00:16:17
Speaker
um Wow, I didn't know if you know if you wanted such a longer version of um this story, by the way. I feel like I've got super distracted through it. i don't know how how much so how much this...
00:16:29
Speaker
The thing is I don't really know too much about NFTs and stuff like that. Like I... Okay. In in the last cycle, like i I bought some stuff, I think on Solano or whatever, because I couldn't afford things on ETH. Yeah. um And I thought like NFTs were cool, a DeFi is cool, but like I'm mostly into like perps trading or whatever. I don't really know anything about all the other stuff, to be honest. But like yeah i'm I'm interested to to hear a bit about it.
00:16:52
Speaker
Okay, well, we can kind of speedrun... If you it's like valuable information. Yeah, we can speedrun a little bit to, um I think, one of the biggest kind of inflection points in, I mean, my life, ah my account, the growth of my...
00:17:05
Speaker
um reputation, everything like that on Twitter, was ah essentially what happened was the there was a mint on Solana, which at the time no one really had much respect for and Solana also didn't have any NFTs. And there was a mint on Solana called Fracht which showed a little bit of interest. People were like, oh, you know, it's the art blocks of Solana.
00:17:29
Speaker
And I basically used the chain and I was kind of in and around there and I just decided like, hey, ah this is going to be the next thing and I'm going to basically just go all in and if people want information on this place, this is going to be this is going to be my niche. You know what I mean?
00:17:46
Speaker
And that's what happened. I went super deep on Solana. I started putting out information. i was very into the NFT scene there. you know I was in the SoulPunks Discord, all that kind of nonsense. um I became like the Solana guy in like that Butterfly DAO group. um And I just kind of carved out this niche of um people were trying to find people Solana that were they kind of knew what they were talking about. And that was...
00:18:14
Speaker
pretty much what I was trying to angle for, and I think that's where a lot of the success came. And then through that, I ended up kind of like co-founding and this project called Boogle, which was um like a more boutique NFT project that ended up turning into this really big kind of objectively successful thing, you know, and it's still it's still around. i'm I'm not involved with it actively anymore because we had an agreement with different visions and like naturally it happens, um but it's not like a normal NFT founder not being involved in it. They're still very much doing their thing and it's much easier to operate with the smaller members. and Yeah, I just kind of took ah i took a different approach with
00:19:01
Speaker
the NFT side of things rather than it being 10,000 apes at one price. I wanted it to feel a lot more boutique and white gloves. So it was auction and slow. And um when someone bought one, I remember thinking very much like people are buying a $200,000 bought ape and they're not getting any unique buyer experience. Like you don't go into, you know, you walk into a maze or, you know, I mean, a lot of these, a lot of these high-end retailers are more or less just fast fashion these days. But if you walk into a really nice store,
00:19:39
Speaker
you get really nice service. You get sat down, you buy something from Cartier and you you get sat down, you get a glass of water, or champagne, whatever, you know, you you get the story, like, you get treated with white glove service because you're paying a premium. no And I just thought like we should have that in NFTs, right? like When people spend a lot of money, I would much prefer, instead of just clicking buy on my MetaMask and joining a Discord, there's a bit more of like, hey, you know welcome, like a bit more of an introduction, a bit more love, a bit more care involved in the purchase. um And yeah, I think that was key to it. And anyway, bigger was the whole thing, and then... ah
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah, I did a lot of airdrop farming, I did a lot of trading, I've kind of been involved, and then i logged off for, like, the better part of a year and a half or a year just because I was, I kind of fell out of love with a lot of the stuff and I really find it difficult to enjoy crypto at the top of cycles. Like I just, I really hate it to be honest.
Breaks from Crypto and Personal Reflections
00:20:45
Speaker
yeah um And then I took a few months off last year and then, well, like I think I was completely logged off from like, don't know, September to January or something and then
00:20:55
Speaker
I found a resurgence, I found more love for the space and ah kind of found found a way in my brain that I i like... it It reinforces other positive habits now in a different way than it that it didn't before.
00:21:08
Speaker
um So yeah, i've i've been kind of ah I've been posting lately after a long hiatus But I don't if that's a good story. Is that what made you want to come back to like interact again a bit more and like post? I think you kind of skipped probably like the worst part, like leaving in September and coming back in January.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been historically quite good at... just like deciding when to disengage and deciding when to re-engage. I also think, um i don't know, morally, the not the the the best kind of return on time from an impact point of view is the last few months. Like, you talk about um January, February, March, when giving hope to the hopeless, like people were really trying to
00:22:01
Speaker
find People were trying to kind of reinforce why they should stay in this industry and why their bags aren't like, Quantum isn't going to break Bitcoin and go to zero. like They're just looking for... the There's a certain amount of desperation. And I can relate to that through previous cycles that I've been involved in. And i just think like...
00:22:23
Speaker
that is the highest input impact you can have and reinforce... um just reinforce conviction to people who are really struggling. And I don't think you should be on borrowed conviction, but in my story, there's been a lot of times when I've i've had to kind of lean on borrowed conviction and just be like, well, i don't know what the fuck's going on, but the three smartest people I know are thinking it's good time, so, you know, this is what it is. And I think it's... It's part of having a ah good circle of people around you that when you inevitably lose your mind at some point, you can kind of lean on theirs. um
00:22:58
Speaker
So yeah, i think I think that. And then the other really big thing for me was i just couldn't really find... I think I'm progressively more in the camp that finding balance with technology is basically impossible. like It's just you'll lose, you know? um So it's more about how willing how willing am i and am I to lose that battle on a regular basis?
00:23:21
Speaker
And I think for me, the big change was I started this sub stack which... um Much like the the previous things, you know, i don't I don't usually do things unless I commit and I start and I ah kind of commit to it on a longer time frame.
00:23:35
Speaker
I committed to writing every week for a year and through that i I was like, okay, well, you know, I have this big audience on Twitter, like that will naturally feed into the Substack. Obviously, it's a different topic, so it's not everyone's going to be interested in it. But I think I like was posting on Twitter a lot and there was a week where I got, i don't know, a bunch of Substack followers um that all came from Twitter.
00:24:00
Speaker
So then I was like, oh, okay, you know, for better or for worse, these things are correlated. Like the success of one is the success of other. other And with Substack, I can feel it it's a positive thing in my life. it's I'm spending hours a week writing long-form thoughts about things that are interesting to me. I'm pausing. It gives me a a weekly deadline in a schedule that's very open. it's very healthy for me.
00:24:26
Speaker
so Through that, knowing that the Twitter kind of reinforces at least one positive habit in my life, I've i've found some more love for it, you know? I think without that, um and without money being necessarily my North Star right now, i was just like, well, fuck, you know? I...
00:24:47
Speaker
There's clearly some people who who want to hear from me, and that's really nice, and I've been very fortunate to make some really good friends um through crypto. But the friends I have in crypto, there you know i've I've got them on my WhatsApp now. I've slowly pulled them off and into like my other world. um And i i get to see them, I get to talk to them, I play games with them. like you know it's it's a different It's a different world.
00:25:11
Speaker
um So I think for a while, this cycle i i had in my head that I was basically going to sit out the next crypto cycle. I'd sold at a very good time. um I'd hit numbers that I wanted to hit. And I was like, cool, I understand the kind of method of retirement that I want to go through. I understand the yield that I need to live a good life. like i kind of i went really nerdy with all those numbers. Yeah, I think i saw like one of those ah long-form posts that you did on this ah question that always comes up of like, is 10 million enough to retire or whatever? What what do you actually need to to retire
00:25:48
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I mean, it's a so it's a topic that I think a lot of people absolutely lose their mind on, but it is is ah like anything. You can approach it kind of mathematically and you can go through it.
00:26:00
Speaker
um At the end of the day, it's going to be a personal decision, how much you need and your costs and whatever. But I went through all that, you know, and I and i kind of did rough numbers and I said, hey you know, i've I've probably got enough. to set this up right. Yeah, i you know as it were, I've quote unquote made it um for my version of that. you know like A lot of other people would um have the same amount of wealth and go, well, you know I'm just just getting started. you know I just need one more 5X and then I can make it. um So yeah, I went through that and it was like, okay, you know I think I'll sit out. I'm i'm happy enough.
00:26:38
Speaker
with what I've got, and then prices just started getting a lot more depressed than I thought they would be,
Trading Strategies and Financial Insights
00:26:44
Speaker
to be honest. I thought that um any valuation of 2025 didn't interest me. I was just like, this is not really interesting to me. i don't like where it's at. I also didn't really like where...
00:26:59
Speaker
I just didn't i didn't have a good feeling about where everything was and I also didn't have a lot of love for the industry. I thought it was still very extractive and all those kind of things. Were you still like mostly in the after you, i guess you kind of, when did you discover Solana? Like 2021 before it like blew up?
00:27:15
Speaker
Kind of like it. Yeah, 2021. Before they made NFTs and stuff. And then that's where you stayed mostly until last year or so or? I think I've always been like, chain agnostic in the sense of you know opportunity agnostic, chain agnostic. like i was um you know I was farming all of the stuff of the last cycle, um including hyperliquid, of course.
00:27:40
Speaker
um I think all all of the... like Being super interested in the farming side kind of turned me into chain agnostic regardless. you know um so i i don't think but Solana was definitely where I spent most of my time. you know like I was still very active with Boogle and the community there. We were doing a lot of events and like cool we doing a lot of cool stuff. you know and like i was very I was involved with the art scene on Solana, with a lot of artists in that.
00:28:11
Speaker
And that was kind of where I would say my home was, but I was very willing to take a take a trip, you know? um And then, yeah, recently... Like, i just I just think it was same as last year. i was like, I'm not interested in any prices, but the two things that do interest me are like Bitcoin and Hyperliquid. So if they get to certain levels, then I guess maybe, but in my head, it was just kind of like, I'm not interested in this. Like, this is not...
00:28:38
Speaker
This isn't where I want to spend my time, you know? So that was kind of the decision. not a decision, but that was where that was where I was leaning. um Yeah, last, like, the prices got super depressed. And i think that there was this unique thing, right? Like, I wanted to throw my money into the easy stuff, where just like index funds, S&P, that kind of vibe. I had it all mapped out.
00:29:01
Speaker
yeah And I think there was something in my brain after kind of developing a trader brain for most of my life was like, you know what, actually the opportunity isn't in indexes right now. It's probably back in crypto, you know? And I i think to date, like maybe for my purchases, I think I've outperformed the S&P, but wow, it's been it's been a difficult time to outperform equities. Yeah, for sure. That was my theory. I was like, okay, you know, this is actually, this is what I know best. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing in equities. And I, you know, you you look at two charts together, you look at the Bitcoin chart and you look at the S&P and you go, well,
00:29:38
Speaker
There's probably more upside here if I don't think it's over forever. So I think i I made different decisions. I put different percentages than I would have in the past. Like I put a lot lower percent of my net worth in crypto than I would have in the past. um Which is all about comfort. You know, I'm a big fan of being able to sleep well at night.
00:30:00
Speaker
so what What does your trading look like in general, like apart from ah all the and NFT stuff and Adrop farming and things like that? like what What do you do when you're like trading perps? Honestly, perps, I've never had a healthy relationship with perps. I just cannot, I can't sleep at night. like i could be worth I could be worth a billion dollars and have a thousand dollar perp live and I just i i can't do it. I remember like one of the worst days of my life was like I was on the home i was in the bus home from work um in maybe and i had like a link long,
00:30:39
Speaker
um like a chain link long like ten x is saying on biance on my phone and I was just like staring at it, watching it go down, watching it go down. And I didn't even understand that it was cross. Like I didn't understand it could liquidate my whole account. oh And, um, oh my God. I just like, seriously, you know, some memories you bring back and it it really is visceral. was it death or many? Fuck, yeah. I remember going home, it got liquidated, like, screen, you know, like, the position disappears from the screen, and I was like, what happened, you know? And then I checked my balance, and my balance was all gone, not just the position. And I, I was just... I was so depleted, you know? Like, I was meant to play futsal that night, I, like, cancelled going out, I just remember going back inside. My girlfriend at the time was like, what the fuck's wrong with you? Like, what are you doing? And i was like, I just, I can't, like, i I need to just... sit in a dark room for a while. yeah we So yeah, I don't know. I just like, i don't know if it's maybe early experience, but I mean, I had early experience trading spot assets and it was fine. But I think my success has always looked like buying good assets
00:31:49
Speaker
when they're very depressed, knowing that I'm comfortable holding them for a while until they're likely higher. You know? Like, the recent trades I had of like Bitcoin in the 60s and Hyperliquid in, like, basically between 28 and 32, I was just like I'm going to buy as much as I can, or as much as I'm comfortable with. um And I just scaled into that, and those are positions that I want to have for a while. you know And so far, there they're doing well. I think it's good to... I made them very public as well, which I think is nice to stand by your your actual trades instead of just kind of spamming price tags. um
00:32:27
Speaker
So yeah, my my trading that I know i am, you know, capable of is kind of like mid to long term swing trades and trading much more depressed trends into into positive trends. But now just for like tax purposes and also for um lifestyle comfort, it's much more kind of investments for mid to long time rather than a swing trade. Rather than like, you know, day to day stuff, I think I just, it's not good for my brain and I don't need stuff that's not good for my brain. You know, like you change your north stardom or wealth preservation rather than generation and i think it's it's a little bit different.
00:33:08
Speaker
um Is that still what you did when you started farming Hyperliquid? Yeah, so I i think Hyperliquid was an example of just, I'd farmed a lot of stuff um that was not good. You know, like I remember farming like, I don't know, Parcel and like fucking like Layer Zero and ZK Sync and this stuff. And it's just like, um like Wormhole.
00:33:33
Speaker
And like some of these things were good. Don't remind me of all of these things. Yeah, exactly. And like some of these things were good, right? Like I remember thinking, oh, you know, Wormhole is pretty good. I'd actually like I actually I actually hated wormhole well there you so and I think that's the thing like you could easily use wormhole and be like this sucks but it did a job you know yeah um I remember using zk sync this is terrible like uh same with a lot of stuff um But, like, Hyperliquid was one of these things, okay, it's on the list, like, it's interesting, I didn't know anything about the team. If I knew, of course, like now what I knew then, naturally different things would have been made. But Hyperliquid for me was just like, okay, this is a really good product, I very much enjoy it, um I don't really want to trade perps, I would love a future where I could buy spot here. yeah um
00:34:22
Speaker
So again, you know, I think if Hyperliquid had spot holdings before airdrop, I would be a lot richer, man. um But I was big in like the HLP vault, you know, I was like, I i really liked the HLP vault. I had like six figures in there for 12 months or something um from like start of 2014 to the airdrop. 2024, mean? 2024, yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah, and twenty twenty twenty four years so um yeah and i I was like, okay, this is actually great. you know And it was one of those things that at a very... There was very few protocols that I was trying to farm that I would say to my friends like, oh, you should use this. yeah You should actually use this. But being on Solana, you know, people were trading on um like Drift and there was... ah there was um What was another one? Zeta Markets. Zeta Markets. And then there was... ah
00:35:21
Speaker
I'm trying to think of one, but who cares? like There was infinite amount of shit DEXs that existed on Solana. And when i would you know someone posts a screenshot or like a position or something, I would just go out of my way to say, like what are you doing?
00:35:32
Speaker
Are you insane? like what well Why would you possibly be trading on anything but Ivaliquid? Maybe Binance or Coinbase or something, but if you're if you're on a DEX, you're mental. um And I think in hindsight, i lots of hindsight, but I think lots of hindsight with everyone about the Hyperliquid airdrop. um In hindsight, I should have been throwing my ref code around to everyone, you know what I mean? um Because I think I did bring a lot of people to Hyperliquid, but I was just like, I was like, just use it, you know, it's fucking better, like, you're welcome. um so I think it was rare to have a ah protocol that was just way better than the existing ones. um
00:36:08
Speaker
And that was an example, like, Solana, the whole thing, I remember totally and everyone being like, oh, it's Nasdaq at light speed was his phrase that he kept on using. Yeah, Nasdaq at light speed, Nasdaq at light speed. And I just remember thinking like, oh, they've lost that, you know, like this is it. Like this is what they wanted, but it's on fucking Arbitrum, you know? like what what what made you What made you feel like that Hyperliquid was ah a really good product, even though you weren't ah that much into trading perps?
00:36:39
Speaker
Well, I think I was trading a little bit. like Obviously, it became you know a bit more of a farming thing as well. i was okay, well, it's always nice to lose money knowing that you might get something back in the future. you know um But it was just way smoother. you know like i was trying I did a lot of um trades and especially like spot executed orders you know like because Drift also allowed you to do spot orders. i remember Mango Markets allowed you to do... like I remember buying the Vitalik tweet on Solana in 2022. I've Solana has a lot of great builders, like that kind of tweet, which was like $8, $9, and I was like slamming spot orders on Mango having to sign like fucking 900 transactions to get it through, like the most botched thing. And then, and naturally, all of these things I'm talking about have all got exploited now. you know Mango got exploited, Drift got exploited. like um
00:37:34
Speaker
All of these protocols ah either dead or or got exploited along the way. It's nice that Drift is being bailed out. and i I really like the Drift team. I don't want to shit on them. they They're really good guys. they're They're from Australia. I've never had a bad interaction with them. um But they had an inferior product to Hyperliquid. It's not debatable to me. yeah um So going from those protocols in what was objectively a way better UX um from the chain, you know, I really liked Phantom Wallet. I really liked how Solana operated. i really liked the smoothness of execution on, you know, any...
00:38:13
Speaker
any protocol like you use Jupiter versus you use UniSwap it's just nicer you don't have to pre-approve it was way better to use especially back then I remember like because I really hate doing anything on chain I think all of it is yeah kind of like a very annoying experience but like on ETH it's is like way worse than on Solana on Solana is at least like decent Yeah, 100%. So I was like, okay, well, this is the better chain, but for whatever reason, no one can build a DEX anything like this fucking thing. And it was just smoother. The execution was super fast. um You didn't have to sign things to approve certain things. ah
00:38:49
Speaker
And it was just better, you know, like it was just overall, it felt it felt like it was running on... on something like a Solana, and Solana and all the DEXs elsewhere felt like it was running on like old old school like layer 1 Ethereum, you know what So it was just it was just way better than anything I'd used. um And it was obvious. There was very few times in crypto where you go like, oh, this very obviously better than other things.
00:39:17
Speaker
I couldn't have guessed where it would lead to
Life Balance and Interests Outside Crypto
00:39:20
Speaker
now. I didn't understand the team's vision and all things like that. But it was obviously the best product from like a decentralized exchange point of view.
00:39:29
Speaker
Did you expect the airdrop to be this lucrative? Uh, no. I don't think anyone really did. No, I mean, i I remember getting my points and I would get like, you know, 15 points a week or something. It felt so low, you know, and I was just like, well, this is gonna be like a fucking... It's gonna be like ZK Sync all over again, you know? Like, it was...
00:39:51
Speaker
don't know, I think, and it was very disheartening, like you had the... you had some, like, the Jito airdrop, the Jupiter airdrop, like, maybe Wormhole a bit, like, you had these big airdrops kind of happen in a phase, and then it felt like that was it, all the rest are gonna be trapped. It's like the the the meme graph where it's just like spinning over and over and just, yeah.
00:40:13
Speaker
Exactly, it just felt like... But in hindsight, you know again, to use the word hindsight, think I should be be banned from using it again. But it was more obvious the fact that Averon, a lot of people, I think, gave up on farming it. you know A lot of people were like, well, these points are too low. They're doing seasons now, like blah, blah, blah. So I think ah a lot of the the people that got the tokens were just people who were using the protocol, which I think is the kind of dream. you know um So I didn't expect it. I also...
00:40:43
Speaker
I didn't expect it to keep going. I was also very excited to log off. Like that was that. And then the Magic Eden airdrop, I was kind of like, cool, you know, that's me. I'm happy. i hit my numbers, that kind of thing. And I was very excited to log off. And even though I really believed in Hyperliquid, I still sold too soon because I was just like, I don't to hold anything. You know i don't want to go into 2025 holding stuff. and um But no, i didn' I didn't expect it to be that lucrative, but I'm i'm happy it was.
00:41:14
Speaker
what what What do you do when you log off? You just like leave IRL and don't don't pay any attention to what's happening online at all? Yeah, I mean, look, I haven't had a job since 2021, so I'm pretty good at passing a day kind of at a good middle ground between social, mindful, and and fairly active and productive. So for the last couple of years, um i was learning Portuguese quite aggressively, and then this last year and a bit, I've been learning French. um so And I take quite a, like,
00:41:48
Speaker
serious approach to it, you know, not like, uh, oh, well, you know, I'm i'm learning, I'm on Duolingo or whatever. like um Because I am... My French is quite reasonable right now, you know, after a little over a year. um But it's as a result of me spending like on average, four or five lessons a week, an hour, ah you know, being very absorbed in it. And I am very, very big fan of having a big task to like slowly chip away at. I think a lot of purpose comes from taking on things that take a lot of time. um
00:42:21
Speaker
So language learning is a big one. I love to read. just Honestly, i honest I... It sounds so pretentious, but le you fill your calendar in general, you know? And when you don't have things to do... Like, I can have some days just by... Well, you know, I want to go for a walk for an hour. I want to go to the shops. I want to cook lunch. I want to work out. I want to read a bit. I got this, like... I got an hour of French, and then I might... um and need to nap, you know, might go for a surf. And then it's fucking the day's done, you know? I'm cooking dinner. So, like...
00:42:54
Speaker
you can You can pass a day just by... i have a very active social life here. My friends are quite flexible as well, so I can see them at different times of the day.
00:43:04
Speaker
um i might be going for a walk and run into someone I know and and chat for half an hour. you know It's it's the the delights of having an adjustable schedule that's used well. So i think when i when I log off Twitter, I just...
00:43:20
Speaker
I kind of reinforce the ability to spend more time doing the things I want to do like the reading or being outside or just... you know Even watching like a movie, you know how I really... For the last year, um my my partner is going to move in soon, but for last year I've had um i been kind of living alone and like you don't really get as much in the routines of, like okay, you know we'll have dinner, we'll watch a movie, and like just being able to sit down and go, I'm going to watch Lord of the Rings for three hours and put my phone in the room, like that's that's a privilege that a lot of people don't don't use these days with their attention spans.
00:43:57
Speaker
I feel like it's kind of rare for people to to actually do this because many people always talk about like logging off, like just selling everything, logging off, or like, i reached this number and I made it and whatever. and I mean, some people kind of do it, but then they live like a lavish lifestyle and just like lose all of it or whatever, and then they come back. But like it's it's very rare for people to like really ah have just make their number and then log off and and just enjoy the the benefits of their labor. Do you feel like that that it kind of has a ah helps you to get a more balanced or objective view on the market in general, like when you come back?
00:44:30
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. I mean, like, it changes your North Star for what you're using crypto for, you know what i mean? Like, i I used to, like many people, crypto's sole purpose for me is for me to try and return multiples on my net worth and work towards this, like, very, like, hyper-capitalist goal.
00:44:51
Speaker
And now it's it's a more nuanced relationship. like Crypto for me is a way to improve my life and outperform the market and kind of reinforce the convictions I have. But it's not my entire portfolio, it's not even like you know a majority of my portfolio. And it also allow it it has allowed me to have an audience of people who kind of might care about what I have to say, and that is creates a positive reinforcement that I can write. you know And like this new endeavor that is interesting to me, that writing about whatever I i wish to write about um is a positive thing for my life. like I can feel it being ah a good at having a good impact on my day-to-day.
00:45:38
Speaker
So crypto plays a role in that now. And I don't think for a long time it played a role in much of anything positively apart from you know meeting people that are interesting and making money.
00:45:49
Speaker
So, yeah, i think ah I think it's important for me now. and like If the Jords of five years ago could have understood what it felt like to have a small percentage of of like my net worth in in something moving up or down a lot, but just being comfortable with it, because it's like, oh, well, you know I'm not going to starve. like I don't need to...
00:46:12
Speaker
I don't need a 10x today. i can kind of relax with it. i think it's very positive. And the first time I sold it all and logged off and everything like that, I think it was ah it was a bit soon. And then I bought back and things like that. but The practice of being completely like unexposed to a market that still interests me was extremely healthy. like It was extremely healthy for me to understand, okay, you know I don't hold any coins right now and it's going up and I'm okay. you know It's fine.
00:46:47
Speaker
it's fine
00:46:51
Speaker
It sounds very, I don't know, peaceful kind of. like i um I kind of like being in the market all the time, but it's also, I guess it sometimes gets exhausting because it thought it like the market never stops, especially in crypto because it's 24-7. I hate being in the market all the time. Everything can like happen at at any point in time. like I remember last year when on October tenth I was in Japan and I and was actually like trading, I was like scalping a bit. I traded on on whatever and I i just like opened a position when I saw that the market started to go down.
00:47:21
Speaker
And then it started to like bounce a little bit, but I had to go somewhere. like it It was also like 8pm or something already on the on the weekend maybe, I don't really remember. But like I had to go somewhere to like go out and do something.
00:47:33
Speaker
And I opened this position and it already went down like 5% or something. So I was like, yeah, I'm going to be fine. It's going to be like up when I'm when i'm back. And then i I came back the next day because I went like partying or whatever. And I scrolled Twitter a bit and I i saw that it's like the worst event that's ever happened in like years. And I completely missed all of it. And I wasn't even like present. And obviously I got liquidated on that account where like ah opened the long position, which wasn't really that bad. But it was like...
00:48:00
Speaker
like I couldn't even comprehend the the couple of days after because the prices were already back at where they were before, like almost. or like like They were not down that much, but like I couldn't really comprehend what had actually happened because I wasn't there for it to to to actually happen. so I mean, I remember I, like, turned my phone off and went off tech and just, like, read and stuff for the weekend of, um, like, Trump, like, the Trump coin and Melania coin. Like, that entire week, I was just, like, completely off technology, just fucking...
00:48:35
Speaker
like writing and surfing and just doing, don't know, whatever I wanted to do and just was completely logged off. I didn't look at all. And then I came back and I was like, yo you know, what's up? like To my mates.
00:48:47
Speaker
And they were like, because I also had like a WhatsApp group chat with um two of my good friends who were still very involved in it. And they know, they like kind of knew, like obviously my phone was off so it didn't matter, but they also knew like to not talk crypto in that chat because I was like, nah, I don't want to deal with it. Like, yeah because it it is really like out of sight, out of mind. You know, you log off for a week and then you just kind of forget about it. Like you don't, all these major things, it's like,
00:49:12
Speaker
Um, I'm reading a book at the moment, The Setting Sun, it, like, quotes this poem of, like, uh, nothing happened last year, the year before that nothing also happened, and the year before that nothing happened. And it's, like, the same kind of vibe, you know, like, nothing ever happens.
00:49:27
Speaker
So I completely miss that Trump thing, and... And my mate, Ceylon, was like, oh yeah, you know, um... So Trump launched a coin, and everyone was like, New Paradigm went to, you know, 50 billion or whatever, and then Melania launched a coin, and then it basically topped everything, and everyone was in despair, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and I was like...
00:49:48
Speaker
fuck I got some good waves this week, like I'm so happy that I just- I wasn't involved with that, you know what i mean? Like, how much mental stress- and yeah, maybe I maybe missed some opportunity in Trump, maybe I would have like, I always like to imagine the worst case scenario would have happened if I did something else, you know? Like, what if I- oh, you know, i missed that party, but like, what if I got in my car and died? Like, what as soon as if- if I went there I would have got in my car and like, you know My fucking tie would have gone flat. I would have been had the worst night of my life.
00:50:18
Speaker
So I like to think of that. It's like, well, you know maybe if I was there, i would have like rashly taken a quick position. I would have you know doubled down at the top and then I would have gone all in a Melania.
00:50:30
Speaker
you know i would have I would have probably lost money and I would have been so much more stressed and I had such a lovely week. And wow, I'm so happy I missed that. and The joy of missing out. the joy Yeah, exactly. like The fear of being involved. you know It's like the antithesis of fear of missing out. like The fear of being aware of all of this fucking nonsense is is legitimate.
Market Dynamics and Trading Psychology
00:50:50
Speaker
um And I think that was like you know one of the biggest weeks in crypto like ever, right? like The president launching a coin.
00:50:57
Speaker
And I missed it completely. Like, I had absolutely no touch with it. And it was fucking amazing. And I wouldn't have played my cards differently, and it and it doesn't make me scared of missing, you know, the next one, because...
00:51:11
Speaker
I think we're so like, you hear it all and all the time on Twitter, it's like, oh, you know, the last time ever, like the last chance ever to make it. Permanent underclass, two more weeks, AI is going do everything. This is the last cycle, the everything bubble, like you hear it And I said to, I was just talking to a friend of mine, Rain, as well. He was like, you know, we're talking about like the coins going up last night, things are looking good. Oh, well, you know.
00:51:36
Speaker
Could have couldve bought more, obviously, is always the conversation. It's like, yeah, but, you know, we've still got it. Like, we came back, we we didn't have any coins for ages. We came back, we bought essentially the bottom, and everything's up 30%, 40%. Like, that's that's all it is. It's like, teach a man to fish, and if you can identify opportunity, then you don't need to be sized to the perfect... You don't need to be perfectly sized, you don't need to be, um making it overnight, it's just like, cool, well, this is... I logged off for like the better part of a year and I came back and i I started allocating at the right time. And if that's all, if that's what I can do, then great. Like opportunity isn't just going to vanish. Like these things are going to keep happening. and People are always going to want to gamble and these cycles move on kind of greed and psychology more than anything else. And that's not changing. So, yeah, I was like, okay, cool. Like the much bigger point than the money, the unrealized P&L or the, or the, the fact we could have bought more on leverage or whatever. It's like, we're probably still profitable traders and that's good. like
00:52:41
Speaker
I can definitely like assure you that missing out on the Trump thing, you really didn't like miss that much. I remember back back then, I was like in like... In European time, it was very late. but It was like 4am or something.
00:52:54
Speaker
like 3am. like I was just about to go to sleep and then I saw it. And then I was like... The the obvious question is like, is it is it real? And then you you don't know because there's like conflicting information from everywhere. But it's like, hey, there's enough good information so it might be worth to like put something in it. And then I put like...
00:53:10
Speaker
very little in it and i made like a 10x and then i took it out the next day and then it went like way higher but it i also like saw it already when it was like at five billion market cap or something as already as well so i don't know it was just a very very stupid time i don't think it's it's probably better to have some nice time outside and actually live your life and that was lovely so i remember the stream that came out after of like it's like aiden ross and frank and those guys being like uh They were all explaining how it's just getting started and like Aiden Ross people were like, yeah, but you know, how does it get bigger than the president? Doesn't that mean it's kind of like the biggest it'll get? And they were all like, no, it's just getting started. This is like flywheel, all these buzzwords. And I remember logging on and seeing that and just going, oh, it's still retarded. Like, I'm just going to go back away. You know, like I don't need to, I don't want to own anything.
00:54:01
Speaker
in this industry while Aiden Ross is the the key opinion leader who is correct. like Being reasonable. Yeah. So, and I just, I hate it. I hate when when everything's up and when everything is, when the money is too easy and the extraction campaigns come and and no one really knows who to listen to and you just have these people popping up. I hate it. I just, I really can't find love for the space in that time. Which is really a benefit for my trading because it's generally when I'm like, fuck, I hate everything here. I'm going to sell.
00:54:37
Speaker
And it usually correlates with around the top, you know? That's actually a very, very good good point to make. I kind of hate, like, it's always, like, fun making money. And also, I think the best part emotionally is kind of when it...
00:54:49
Speaker
like Where we are now on on the chart is decent, but like if it went up a little bit more like in in two weeks or something, then it's like kind of like starting again and it feels good. And then like a month or two afterwards, it's really annoying. like the The stupid stuff pops up and people like invent new stupid narratives and all of that. That's when it's like when you're saying you would sell because it's like very annoying to be here. And then nothing happens for a while. and then I also really enjoy, to be honest, like the the days where it's like minus 10% or whatever, and it's just like yeah everyone is screaming and crying and there's blood on the streets. It's a bit sadistic, but it's also like a bit... a I don't know how to say this. It's a cleanse. Because I'm German, I can say the the word Schadenfreude. Okay. It's nice to to see the people that you you think are stupid that made a lot of money like lose it again because they're stupid.
00:55:38
Speaker
Well, feels like it's like kind of a poetic justice, you know what I mean? like It feels like, oh, okay, Mackie scammed all his money and now he's 100x long on ETH again. He's losing it. That's kind of nice. like I don't know. yeah And it's never it's not a good mindset to be in like hoping people lose money, but it's natural. Just on these like couple of days a year, you can enjoy it a bit. like Usually you just don't care, but sometimes.
00:56:01
Speaker
Well, I think the cleanse is a beautiful thing. you know like I remember looking at this and and seeing like that Aiden Roth stream or or whatever, it's like, okay, we' we're a while away. like we need ah yeah We need a big cleanse of these people. like All of these 100 plus meme coins that are in the billions, like this is this is this is not it. you know We're a while away from where I'm interested again. um And I think it it happens naturally. like I really...
00:56:27
Speaker
I don't know, like there's that whole like, what made, i got a DM like yesterday about, you know, what made you want to buy Hyperliquid under $30? Was it like the macro cycle? Did you think the AI bid would leak over? Like all of these like really overthought things and it's just like,
00:56:44
Speaker
It just seemed like people were kind of thinking it's over forever and it's probably not and it's a good token and that's it. You know, like it same with Bitcoin, like people were starting to talk about quantum breaking it and how it's going to go to zero. And like every time people start to talk about sailors liquidation, you just buy. And then when people start to talk about sailors, like, you know, stretch paying mortgages and stuff, then you probably sell like it's It's all just psychology and at the end of the day, apart from Hyperliquid and a select few, pretty much none of this is run on fundamentals. It's just like how far are people's... like how big is the greater fool theory willing to go and how greedy are people? And the answer is like it goes a long way and greed is very, very present. um
00:57:33
Speaker
And I generally, i will... I'm pretty good historically, like obviously, you know, hasn't been a million years and I don't have a massive track record, but I'm pretty good historically at buying near the bottom.
00:57:46
Speaker
And then I will sell at good prices, but I will probably miss the last leg. Or instead of like holding all my spot, I will sell at a good price and then I will just gamble a small portion of it on kind of hot ball of money fever at the end of the cycle.
00:58:02
Speaker
And that feels way better to me, you know. it's just ah It's pretty much how I've played the last few cycles and it felt really nice. And that's how it works in my head and I'm happy to miss that like last crazy legs and things like that because it's just, to me it's not fucking worth it.
Future of Crypto and Advice for Newcomers
00:58:19
Speaker
Sounds like your strategy is just outperforming based on vibes. Yeah, well, pretty much. Pretty much. And I'm also very blessed. like I have some really good people who I talk to regularly and like who i have who I've turned to you know in-person friends. So we just like call, catch up, have a chat, see what's going on, maybe see them somewhere around the world. And I can i can check in with these people about their thoughts on the market quite easily. you know so it's I'm able to reinforce my understanding of the market or or challenge it with some really smart people without needing to doom scroll Twitter and hope someone agrees with me or someone disagrees with me. I think that's a really bad medium to try and check or test your conviction, you know?
00:59:05
Speaker
To ah conclude the the conversation a bit, what are your current thoughts on on the future of of crypto in general? And maybe also, what's some advice that you could give to people that are trying to get like starting out now or like trying to get in a similar position as you?
00:59:23
Speaker
Yeah, so I think my general view is things are good. um I think that the macro is fairly retarded right now. Like it doesn't make sense to me.
00:59:34
Speaker
the The reaction of post-war and how it just keeps like the infinite AI bid is scary. Like my good friend Soft Money made an analogy of he sees like the higher prices go as like a guillotine rising, and you know at some point that guillotine's going to snap and cut your head off, but like you shouldn't view that as euphoric. it's kind of should get scarier as things go up, and I think that's how I'm viewing the the US equity market right now is kind of like a scary guillotine, but I am fortunately positioned well enough that you know I'm happy long-term, whatever.
01:00:11
Speaker
But I think crypto can be a delayed kind of bubble of risk where you have... It's one of the very few markets right now that investors globally are looking at that go, hey, this is a depressed asset that is cheap with a lot of potential upside. If you look at pretty much everywhere else, you look at metals, commodities, you look at equities, you look at pretty much anywhere, even oil.
01:00:38
Speaker
Everything is up a lot. Everything is up at all time highs and difficult to capture upside to. Whereas crypto is a depressed asset with legitimate um motion, as it were. And I think once you've got the bounce of a depressed asset,
01:00:56
Speaker
this is when it becomes really interesting. And that's what we're seeing right now, is like, you've got a discounted asset class that is starting to gain momentum, and that can be a very quick snowball to build. And that's what I am positioned for.
01:01:12
Speaker
My personal positioning is only in Bitcoin and Hyperliquid. i'm I'm not particularly interested in expanding that. I think there are other good bets around, but that's what I'm comfortable with, and that's where I'm at.
01:01:23
Speaker
um I don't know how long that goes for, but i ideally would like to basically log off and not really do much in the summer and come back at the end of the year or sometime next year and sell my coins for higher. So that's what I would like to do and that's and what I'm positioned for. Yeah.
01:01:40
Speaker
And then my advice, I've been meaning to write a bit more about this actually, but my advice more than anything is to make friends that are interesting and can add value to your perspective on crypto and expand that and just be very curious, you know? like be very, very open to explore new ideas, write out business plans that never eventuate, map out things that never happen, talk to people about ideas you have, and try and do wealth wealth generation over time and slowly stack your bag up with kind of smaller returns. you know like you can You can add things up by outperforming over a long period of time, but to be honest, my advice
01:02:28
Speaker
more than anything to to build wealth would be trying to create things. Like be involved in stuff and actually try and contribute to things. Like be a volunteer community lead at some NFT project you like and be a ah Discord moderator at some protocol building on Hyperliquid. Just get involved with teams and try and do things for for free or like, you know, be an intern for one of the accounts that you like offer to help their scheduling or whatever it is. i think yeah just being involved and then getting things returned from... trying to find returns without risk apart from your time is extremely invaluable. Thinking things like airdrops, thinking things like token grants through assistance in like early days of protocols, being involved with teams. like I think Kobe had a similar advice as just find the smartest person you know and offer to do the minimum amount of work that's possible or like yeah whatever small job that is available.
01:03:31
Speaker
and I think it's completely underrated how much opportunity there is in crypto where you don't need to risk your net worth gambling or on leverage to be able to capture significant upside.
01:03:42
Speaker
so my My advice would be to be invested in the industry you care about, but don't think that is your way like the main return is available. you know and Have a contributor mindset, not an extractive mindset, and you actually might end up extracting more.
01:04:01
Speaker
That's some some good wisdom to to close with. Thank you very much for coming on today. That's been a nice conversation. Pleasure. i hope I hope it's interesting. and I'm back in the podcast world, so hopefully I've still got it.
01:04:18
Speaker
I think so, i think that was a good good conversation. Goodbye, everyone. Ciao.