Two New VC Smart Contract Chains (Aptos and Sui)
As we are all too painfully aware, it is waaaaayyyyy too early to pick any winners in the crypto and blockchain space... and given the nature of the beast, it may be quite likely that there are no single winners anyway. However, one would also be foolish to think that there won't be new contenders for leadership positions, or that the current leaders will always be the current leaders.
So, with all that in mind, we have two new contenders for the smart contracts throne in Aptos and Sui. Let us just set out some ground-work first... the clear leader in the smart contracts space is Ethereum (and its associated sidechains and layer-2s), the oldest and trusted chain of all the current crop. However, given that it was the first, there are also some serious issues that will need to be addressed... but the roadmap is there, with the Merge coming on fast and later improvements coming down the pipeline. Plus, it is a chain that has most real usage and is most critically a public and permissionless blockchain. If anyone still cares about that sort of thing, the permissionless and public part was part of the original idealistic vision to replace the existing digital infrastructure and upend the existing economic and power structures at the same time.
Ethereum has evolved since its inception... however, like all evolution, it can be haphazard and can keep and bake in old inefficiencies... exactly like biological systems, which are a huge array of inefficiencies that work despite all the wasted effort. Most critically, Ethereum was a public launch, and not a closed and private VC funded effort. Remember that we are trying to move away from closed and shielded elite money... for better and worse. That is how DeFi survived, and CeFi went to crap.
Enter Aptos and Sui... two new contenders that have been born from the ashes of the failed Diem project by Facebook (Meta). Well, as far as I understand, Diem was shut down when the governments and central banks panicked about a company issued monetary system... and in this case, I would have to agree with them. There is something worse than a government issued fiat, and that would be one that was owned and run by a corporation... and even worse, a corporation like Facebook! So bullet dodged...
... but from the ashes of that project, comes these two teams that are building upon the technology that was developed during that time. However, despite the impressive promises and the threat to our beloved Ethereum... I am more than a little bit concerned, as these are two launches that are directly backed by private and VC funding... making them quite potentially at odds with our idealistic vision of an open, public, and permission-less future of digital infrastructure.
There has been talk about how the programming language (Move) is much better than Solidity, and the transactions per second metrics, and a whole swathe of the Solana ecosystem jumping ship... but the nagging thought is still there. VCs are there to make money, and not to re-envisage the future. Lets not kid ourselves, they don't have anyone else in mind but their own profit.
I am a bit worried about the amount of solid capital that is lining up behind Aptos and Sui, but other challengers to Ethereum have risen and fallen before. In many ways, I think that the open and public nature of Ethereum is the real holy grail that will keep it on top... TPS and all of that are only meaningless metrics that will fade, but one cannot kill idealism and ideas.
That said, if these coins came up for a CoinList or a FTX crowdsale, I would be on it in an instant. I'm idealistic, but I'm also a pragmatist. If there is money to be made, then so be it... but I don't want them to win.
I did listen to an interesting idea recently... that the thing to look out for in this coming market cycle is "protocol fees". There are many Ethereum based protocols that are raking in fees that surpass or are comparable to the entire network fees of Bitcoin or Ethereum mainnet. This is really a huge deal, as it is a clear fundamental investment positive. Especially when those protocol fees are being redistributed back to token holders/stakers. Crypto has long been awash with promises and short on fundamentals... this could be a turning point that will be interesting to those who normally look at these things in traditional investments.
I can also be found cross-posting at: Hive Steem Publish0x
Handy Crypto Tools
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!
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