Less Foolish

People use Crypto, Blockchain and Web3 interchangeably. While in the majority of cases this heuristic is simple and true enough, it makes people say some hilarious and technically impossible things, like NFTs are boiling the ocean, Blockchain tech is mostly a scam, and on and on. So a more precise way to talk about these things is to think about them along three axes, Tech, Finance and Product.

Why these three?

For the simple reason that progress along one axis is independent of progress along another. Values and Ethos also change when working along an axis.

Tech

Product

Finance

Currently 

Using this framework 

Crypto is like early tech

PoW uses Energy therefore NFTs are a scam

Cracks in this framework

Comparing L1s

The purist in me wants to place different blockchains at the origin of this graph. Simply because even though they might differ in value captured, decentralization and other technical parameters, they are still different base systems. 

This framework is great for comparing blockchain enabled products. It works less well for comparing Layer 1s (blockchains to blockchains) or atleast to compare L1s you would need to add an additional axis of value created vs captured. As far as this framework is concerned, All L1s are at the origin and each L1 

Cross Chain Apps

Value Created vs Captured

All models are wrong, but some are useful.

No framework maps 100% to reality, this one solves my need to distinguish bullshit from work, financialization from technological improvement and helps me keep my sanity when I read blockchain pitches. 

So next time you hear a claim made about blockchains, you can break it down along each of these axes to think for yourself if that claim is true, useful or marketing.