Taking a Sharp Turn into the World of Digital Chaos
Some big recent changes in my career and what's next
It’s been a little more than a month since I left the corporate world to dive into the world of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi). It was a shock to everyone in my professional and personal circles. It was always challenging describing my various roles and companies in renewable energy, so trying explain that I’m joining the digital economy and blockchain revolution is less of a question about ‘what,’ and more of a question about ‘why.’ This has been one of the biggest (and easiest) decisions of my life, so I am sharing why I left a safe, steady job for the self-sovereign life and digital chaos of DeFi.
Falling down the cryptocurrency rabbit hole
I found cryptocurrency in 2016 when browsing articles on Seeking Alpha; Bitcoin had spiked to $700 in response to currency inflation in India. At the time, investing outside my 401k was hard while climbing the corporate ladder, living in NYC, and paying for my MBA. However, I had just closed a really big deal while working in sales and had a bonus check burning a hole in my pocket.
“Bitcoin is still around?” Apparently the peer-to-peer cash computer science experiment had survived for 6 years and was now worth hundreds of dollars. I Googled how to buy some because my Schwab brokerage account didn’t have a ‘btc’ ticker. I found Coinbase and dipped my toe in. During the next several months I rode the dopamine-inducing crypto-coaster up ahead of a rumored Bitcoin ETF, then felt the dread of a plummeting bitcoin price when the SEC rejected the ETF application, learned what the “HODL!” meme meant, and learned about blockchain technology. The censorship resistant, self-custody of assets, and transparency of a decentralized and distributed ledger really resonated with me. During my many hours spent reading Reddit, I stumbled upon another cryptocurrency called Ethereum.
When I saw Ethereum was only $7, I naively thought it would some day be $700 like Bitcoin. This is before I understood key fundamental metrics like supply, token inflation, and market capitalization all contribute to price. I navigated the Ethereum.org website to learn what it was and discovered something called a smart contract. The Ethereum blockchain created the concept of programmable money. Digital assets on the blockchain could be sent, received, and stored without any 3rd party intermediary involvement (permissionlessly), and trustlessly because of the way each user’s wallet uniquely interacts with the smart contracts. A safe, fast, and cheap way to store and move money using the power of the Internet made the most crypto zealots believe banks were soon going to be obsolete.
This concept of programmable money struck me as incredibly disruptive in 2016-17, but there were very few useful applications on Ethereum. We were in the throngs of a speculative mania, and a crypto bull market that took Bitcoin to $20,000 in early 2018. Ethereum also peaked around $1,400 and then everything came crashing down. Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, famously tweeted the following after ETH had crossed $600 on nothing but promises of future projects:
Get rich quick speculators sold and left the market, but us believers kept learning, interacting, building, and investing through a crypto winter bear market that lasted until late 2019/early 2020.
During the bear market, I absorbed a plethora of content about the Ethereum blockchain through Reddit message boards and podcasts, interacted with new decentralized applications, became familiar with navigating Web3 and smart contracts, made friends with anonymous posters on Discord, learned the power of the meme, and even dusted off my Linux skills to run staking nodes for various crypto projects. This hobby was consuming a tremendous amount of my time, and I had to find a way to contribute more time to this captivating ecosystem. I was becoming convinced that blockchain technology could solve a lot of problems with antiquated global financial, governance, and inequality, and Ethereum was the most versatile, decentralized, credibly neutral, and valuable chain. I frequently analogized it to the Internet land rush as Ethereum blockspace was becoming more scarce as new projects launched and powerful network effects increased adoption at light speed.
Ethereum’s DeFi explosion
The Ethereum ecosystem was blossoming while the price continued to sink in 2019-2020. Decentralized crypto banks started to pop up that allowed users to deposit their digital assets and receive interest. MakerDAO is a decentralized bank that allows users to mint DAI, a stable crypto pegged to the dollar and backed by ETH, and was offering 8% interest on decentralized savings in 2019. I could watch my investment interest accrue in real-time. This was mind blowing when banks were offering under 1%. As crypto familiar investors saw the attractive yields, they began to lock up more and more capital in these DeFi banks.
In turn, these DeFi protocols began to collect significant fees from loans and demonstrated fundamental value could be achieved in crypto! By early 2020, over $1 billion of capital was locked in Ethereum’s explosive DeFi protocols. The flywheel effect continued in summer 2020 when protocols began attracting additional liquidity and capital by giving away voting rights and future ownership in the form of a governance token. This incentivization technique quickly grew Ethereum’s DeFi space by 45X to where we sit today ($45 billion). The visions about the future of finance discussed on message boards in 2017 are coming to reality, and it’s happening at a blindingly fast pace.
Finding my tribe
There are very few communities as passionate, inclusive, helpful, and smart as the people I have met through cryptocurrency, and specifically Ethereum. I’ve met anonymous computer programmers, teachers, investment bankers, lawyers, and high schoolers who all contribute to the ecosystem and are willing to devote their time to ensuring Ethereum’s success. One of the most wonderful things about cryptocurrency is there is no barrier to entry. Anyone with an Internet connection can contribute to open source code, deploy their own smart contracts, invest in markets that never sleep, and govern the direction of a DeFi protocol if they have a good idea. The accessibility of Ethereum is a revolutionary idea contrasted against a traditionally closed financial system created by and for the most privileged.
In mid-2020, I boldly reached out to the one person on my Facebook friends list, Boz, that was as passionate as me about cryptocurrency. Boz and I connected on a Google Hangout after not speaking since a college party in 2008 and rekindled a fleeting friendship after talking about the possibilities of cryptocurrency. He was already working in the blockchain space and introduced the idea about starting a DeFi fund. I remember thinking how that would be a dream job, and humbly offered my advice as a DeFi expert, but did not think anything more of it at the time.
Over the following 6 months, we became closer and I was fortunate to be introduced to more crypto natives who shared the same level of passion. I was having the time of my life on Zoom calls with people that I’d never met sharing ideas about Ethereum and other emerging blockchain projects. The vision of starting a DeFi fund was materializing into something real, and I was asked to contribute some of my time. I have seen the power of DeFi, know how nascent the space is, how much it has and will improve, and how significant the upside prospect is, so I jumped at the opportunity. Initially, I was expected to put a few hours a week in to help with capital allocation strategy. However, as capital commitments kept climbing, and the pace of change in the DeFi space becomes more dynamic every day, I realized this was going to be a lot more work than any of us planned for.
Making my exit for the self-sovereign life
My excitement and anticipation for a DeFi fund was dampened by a new, prestigious job at a startup that really wasn’t a good fit. Over five months in my role, I just couldn’t get comfortable, my hours were taking away from spending time with my wife and kids, and I wasn’t getting any meaningful payoff or satisfaction. I went against all of the advice from parents, mentors, and friends about having another job lined up before leaving and abruptly gave notice. I have a tremendous amount of respect and gratitude for the team that trusted me with such a huge opportunity, but it took stress, anxiety, and real happiness outside of work to give me the perspective I needed to make my exit for the self-sovereign life provided by Ethereum.
Perhaps it’s taken 13 years working for companies and managers to really learn about what my strengths are and what I want in my professional life. Through my diverse career experiences working in teams, engaging with customers, and strategizing how to solve problems, several themes have emerged.
1) I will never stop learning about things I am passionate about
2) I value and practice personal responsibility and take accountability for my actions
3) I prefer working with open-minded people who are also accountable for their actions
4) I need to trust my instincts
5) I need to be willing to seek and give advice
6) Taking measured risks has worked out favorably
7) Your coworkers can, and should be your friends
Combining these themes into a career is possible with my newfound tribe in the cryptocurrency space. People have told me “When you do what you love, you’ll never work another day in your life” and so far this is spot on.
The skills and knowledge I’ve acquired over 5 years of Ethereum have value, but what excites me the most about this nascent industry is bringing it to the masses so others can learn and contribute to the future of finance.
Gratitude and support
I am truly privileged to be surrounded by family and friends who have been supportive and believed in my vision thus far. My personality and life experiences have taught me that making my own decisions, learning how to put a plan in motion, and executing is the most rewarding way to making permanent changes. However, it would be impossible to find my way without the advice, difficult questions, and encouragement from those close to me.
I am extremely grateful for my wife, parents, in-laws, and siblings who aren’t just believers in me, but who are now convinced that cryptocurrency and decentralized finance are sustainable asset classes. I am so lucky to be surrounded by inquisitive minds, successful business owners, risk averse investors, and resourceful friends. I want to give special thanks to Boz for bringing me into his inner circle, introducing me to Ash and Jason (co-managers of our DeFi fund - more on that below), and pushed me to do what I love by embracing a career in crypto.
2021 and beyond
I will be launching a DeFi fund with 3 close friends in the next several weeks, and acting as Chief Investment Officer to help with creating productive strategies and efficiently allocating the fund’s capital. Our goal is to take advantage of the dynamic DeFi opportunity by contributing investor capital, our breadth of experience, leveraging our extensive crypto networks, and germinating new ideas to the growth of various projects. I’d be happy to chat about this in more detail should you be interested.
I also launched this blog and Ethropy to build a personal brand and share insights about the ever-interesting Ethereum ecosystem. I would be very appreciative if you followed me on Substack, Twitter, asked questions (adam@ethropy.finance), and educated yourself on the potential of Web3. If I end up pushing some of you down the Ethereum rabbit hole, I will consider my endeavor a success!