Location: New York Date: Tuesday 6th December Company: Messari Role: Founder & CEO

Bitcoin’s architecture uses decentralisation to achieve censorship-resistance and permissionless access to a revolutionary monetary protocol. And despite thousands of altcoins that claimed to be better or faster over the years, Bitcoin reigns as the non-sovereign store of value in the digital world.

However, what is not yet clear is if the wider world of ‘crypto’ can achieve similarly permissionless innovation outside of money, or if they are instead ‘decentralised in name only’.

Can these protocols resist influence by powerful actors? What is ‘enough’ decentralisation? Will the fundraising-via-token model survive the SEC? Will they adapt to increasing pressure? Is there real innovation, or is it all just a house of cards of venture capital and marketing? Many questions remain.

As Bitcoiners it is important to engage those with broader outlooks, even if we have seemingly incompatible ideologies.  The battle of ideas involves free, open, and respectful discussion.

In this interview, I talk to the founder and CEO of the research and data firm Messari, Ryan Selkis. We discuss Messari’s industry-leading opus on the state of the ecosystem, Bitcoin and gold, regulation, both sides of the Web3 debate and the differentiation of Bitcoin and ‘crypto’.