Crypto Decrypted

11A Primer on Technological Innovation

Technological innovation drives long‐term economic cycles, and if you can see the opportunity at the beginning of the cycle, you will do well to invest early. This chapter will show how innovation is one of the most impactful ways to invest and to realize capital appreciation, especially when an investor has conviction, and is in the early stages of a technology adoption cycle.

When we talk about “crypto,” it's easy to focus on cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, which is the financial construct that gets bought and sold. For example, when we focus on bitcoin, a lot of the time we focus on the “little b” bitcoin, not the “big B” Bitcoin. We focus on the currency, not the blockchain and technology. But that's where the innovation is. We're all here because of the technological innovation of the blockchain.

I'm involved with a men's group called METal International. The group started in LA, but when COVID hit, it went online. In LA, we'd meet every Saturday at one of those old theaters that are sprinkled through LA in Westwood and Hollywood. You go into these big, old, restored theaters from the golden age of film and you can feel the history from the building.

METal stands for media, entertainment, and technology, so the group is comprised of entrepreneurs and execs from all over those sectors.  There are famous actors, entrepreneurs who run venture‐backed startups, and people from all through the media industry. Makes sense for a group ...