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I'm at Bitcoin Las Vegas this week with our friends from Block. I’m nearing my 10 year anniversary of working in this industry, and so I was in my feelings yesterday after walking the conference floor. Some things felt like they were maturing in a fun, creative and accessible way. Like Cash App and co., exhibit A:

And then some things felt really bad. Like, some of the more fringe elements of Bitcoin which are comical at best (dumb Pepe art) and dangerous at worst (a man yelling about an impending World War 3 on stage, a booth telling people to stop paying federal taxes, etc.)

I love Bitcoin, I truly believe it’s transformational technology, and I do not recognize what it’s come to often represent.

I was tweeting through this feeling, not sure that I belonged, and not sure what the future has in store for a movement that can’t shake the bad bits off.

Then, I went to dinner and the conversation turned to Lena Dunham. (As it can amongst women of a certain age, disposition and media diet.)

If you’re unfamiliar, Lena Dunham is the polarizing writer of the canonical HBO series Girls. Lena’s on a press tour rn for her book Famesick, which just hit #1 on the NY Times bestseller list and her appearances are being clipped to filth, causing some to come around on her, and others to dig in on their hatred.

We had the classic love-her-or-hate-her debate over dinner, which is where the conversation always lands when she’s brought up. The implicit prompt is, pick a side.

Which, I realized later that night, is the same for Bitcoin.

The maxi instinct, in crypto and in culture, is that taste is a loyalty test. You either ride or you don't. The WW3 guy and Cash App are both part of the Bitcoiner package, and either you're in or you're out.

On reflection I think this is the dumbest possible way to engage with anything. Cash App and its approach to reaching normal people with a new form of money is interesting. Freedom Law School barking about dodging federal taxes is not. The same conference contains both. I can hold this in my head.

Lena is the same shape. You can think Girls did something real and think her press-tour persona is exhausting. Two things can be true!

Rule for life: you can like some of a thing without liking the whole thing.

The reason this keeps needing reminding is that the people most invested in any given thing (Bitcoiners, Lena defenders, Lena detractors, anyone with a brand built on a take) need you to pick a side, because their side gets bigger when you commit. Partial endorsement is bad for the maxi business model.

Anyway, I loved some of Bitcoin Vegas. The Block crew is shipping at an insane pace and their creativity is second to none. I still believe Bitcoin is transformative technology. The Freedom Law School guys were absolutely not for me. I'm allowed to say all of that. So are you!

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