Hello, winter!

I love winter.

It’s not just winter seasonally…

It’s very much winter in the markets today.

Many things die in winter…

This winter killed most volatile asset speculation. It killed moonboi strategies for those who wish to flip for quick profits on frenetic or inflated floors. It killed a huge amount of transactional activity. It brought floor prices of most assets way, way down.

Many of these things will never recover to their former states.

And this is not a bad thing.

Volatile speculation is a natural phenomenon in emerging mediums. ‘Moonboi’ strategies have existed for a long time in many markets, and don’t work out for most people or for very long. And the transactional game musical chairs where nobody wants to be the one “holding the bag” is an unhealthy game worthy of its winter correction, as is the inflated figures that fuels it.

So what remains, standing among all the death and destruction?

Winter didn’t kill innovation, such as the continued blockchain developments which remain a marvel from both an ‘open database’ perspective and a ‘social layer for transactions’ perspective.

Winter didn’t kill the ability to build meaningful brands, as this has been something creators have done for countless years through many other winters. From the Great Depression to the dot com bubble burst, brands have grown in the cold.

Winter didn’t kill the ability for good people to come together and build. Strong communities aren’t necessarily the biggest, loudest, or even the most committed. Strong communities are ones that meet for each other as well as for themselves, inviting only the right types of people one at a time, finding a natural and sustainable place for that community to fit into their lives.

Things that grow quickly in nature tend to die quickly too.

Even weeds — fast-growing and pervasive as they are — die in the winter.

Yet we decorate fir trees every winter with tinsel and lights, an icon of coming together in good spirits even when it’s cold outside.

The weather outside may be frightful… but it’s never a bad time to invest in building something delightful.

Enjoy the winter!