Among crypto enthusiasts, John Perry Barlow is known for more than just his lyrical contributions to the Grateful Dead.
It wasn’t until a meeting in late 2021, during my time at Copper where I was generating institutional-grade MPC cold wallets and distributing private key shards to another crypto VC and its trusted third party, that I learned about JPB’s philosophical contentions regarding the internet. His arguments — admittedly radical and at times adversarial — have links to blockchain technology at its inception and the digital assets we know today.
When JPB rejected government censorship of the internet in his 1996 Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, he instead conceptualized the technology as a borderless yet self-governing ecosystem and advocated for freedom to transmit communications (i.e. ideas, thoughts, expressions) across the web. A similar countercultural attitude was present at the inception of blockchain and cryptocurrency in the form of Bitcoin. Created so that peers could exchange value outside the reach, restriction or control of financial intermediaries, Bitcoin has emerged from an early blockchain architecture to become the incumbent cryptocurrency.
To be honest, I don’t know whether or not JPB ever directly addressed blockchain or cryptocurrency. It is clear to me, though, that the 1960s countercultural ideas and his beliefs in particular are alive in crypto today. The counterculture of the 1960s that colored the Grateful Dead’s music challenged societal norms — advocating for civil rights, free speech, and alternative lifestyles. Blockchain and cryptocurrency similarly propose solutions that innovate outdated, established systems by favoring personal freedom and privacy. Second, a tenet of blockchain technology is decentralization, which further challenges traditional centralized structures. This aligns well with the countercultural spirit of rejecting established hierarchies. JPB understood the decentralized nature of the internet when he wrote:
Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.
Lastly, both seek to create a more equitable and inclusive world. Here too apply the words of JPB:
We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.
Those wallet generation and private key shard distribution meetings back at Copper were always unique. As the moderator of the call, I had consistent objectives and information to share with clients and trusted third parties. Outside of that I might expect to meet some new client team members or discuss the market and current trends in crypto. I never expected to be discussing the social and cultural implications of blockchain technology in terms of my favorite band’s lyricist’s later work. But once I connected these two themes, it reaffirmed my conviction in the space and reminded me that I was a part of something completely transformative if not revolutionary. It also reminded me that I was part of a community of like-minded individuals. It is true: Weir everywhere–even in crypto I realized.
Helium, the decentralized wireless network, was one of the first blockchains that I discovered, and turned out to be an effective case study for learning many blockchain concepts. For example, establishing a validator node required a minimum HNT stake, and the process and timing for unstaking was itself unique. I learned that, in blockchain, time is not necessarily measured by hours, days, or weeks, but rather by blocks and epochs. Helium as a Layer 1 blockchain also had its own block explorer. These were all important lessons for someone new to crypto, and I quickly realized that these concepts applied to other ecosystems I followed at the time like Solana, Cosmos, Injective, and others.
One theme that has emerged in the recent crypto cycle is the market for decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), an investment thesis evident in CoinFund’s portfolio via DIMO, GEODNET and its recent investment into Raad Labs. It is exciting to see that my earliest curiosities in blockchain are still alive and well five years later in the form of new projects. I am fortunate to be part of a firm whose investment objectives align with my personal interests.
As a KPMG auditor, I was trained to substantiate the completeness and accuracy of data sets and learned how to navigate relevant data elements, process them into digestible reports, and communicate findings. In fact, I first heard about Bitcoin in a KPMG audit room when I was an intern in the summer of 2017 — admiring its recent historic gains and lamenting not being earlier adopters. It makes sense, though, that a group of auditors were discussing a public, transparent, and immutable record of transactions. Little did we know that distributed ledger technology would continue to grow in popularity. It makes me wonder what the winter interns were saying that year…
At Copper, I managed institutional client relationships and use of products including custody, staking, DeFi, OTC trading, settlements, and NFTs. I consider myself lucky that I was working with some of the best minds in blockchain as my clients included founders, hedge fund managers, and various executives from OTC desks, venture capital firms, exchanges and more. I had a lot of fun working on some internal data analytics projects and implemented an automated monitoring and reporting tool using Power BI for middle office operations.
In this Financial Operations role at CoinFund, I saw a three-way match between my skillset and experience, the expectations for the role, and most importantly the kind of place where I wanted to dedicate my career. CoinFund’s deep roots, in an industry where change is the only constant, are special. As one of the world’s first cryptonative investment firms, it practices what it preaches: its commitment to championing the leaders of the new internet is an example of the community of togetherness that exists in crypto; its liquid and venture investment strategies make it as durable as the technology itself; and its remote-first approach to work echoes the principle of decentralization. I look forward to streamlining CoinFund’s Finance Operations processes and adding automations where we can.
I’d argue, in light of today’s sentiment, that JPB’s call to exclude governments from the internet has very little to no place in crypto at all. Rather, what the industry needs is cooperation and bipartisan support. Nevertheless, it makes me wonder if Satoshi was listening to Weir sing Barlow when he wrote his whitepaper. I like to think that he was.
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