⚖️ Earning Money & Creating Equity
A lot of people know what it means to earn money. Very few people understand how powerful it is to create equity. That is changing inside the Ethereum ecosystem and everyone is welcome.
Currency : Company
Dollars : Shares
Money : Equity
Cash : Stock
$USD : $SHOP
Watching money create equity that eventually results in liquidity in the form of more money is a wild ride.
It takes many years to see it take place.
Investing your limited time and money to create valuable equity is how you can escape the drudgery of a salary.
However, it is a game that very people get to play.
It is most blocked off to normal people.
That is changing. Forever.
Today, America only focuses founding entrepreneurs. If you are starting a company, this country is optimised for you. However, if you are not capable of being a founder, it is a lot more complicated.
You are blocked from investing in startups until you are rich. This is ridiculous because the best way to get rich with very little money is to risk some of it on new technologies.
You are taxed like crazy on your equity when you do not have any money. If you leave a company with huge paper gains, the IRS comes for you even when the company has not paid you enough cash to cover the bill. This is the joy of stock options. This is ridiculous because it forces people to stay at startups longer than they want.
Snakes & Ladders
In the game of capitalism, there are so many unregulated snakes and so many regulated ladders.
If you are trying to spend money, America is easy.
If you are trying to make money, America is hard.
There are lots of ways to lose everything. There are very few ways to make everything, unless you start a company.
That has to change.
Lots of people can spot great founders. Not everyone can be one.
If you are a busy single mother trying to make ends meet, how the hell do you have the capacity to start a company? It is insanely hard.
However, can you spot a new product or service that makes your life easier? Absolutely. Could you invest some of your savings in it? Definitely. Can you do some research online and learn more about the founding team and their ethics? Totally. Is there any reason you should be blocked from investing? No.
The regulations that are put in place to stop people betting on equity were put in place before we had the telephone.
Just think about that.
We now have the Internet, Reddit, Twitter, Discord, LegalZoom, Credit Scoring, and tons of other resources that can help the regular person do great due diligence on high-risk investments.
What is stopping them? Regulation and access.
In Silicon Valley, it is an open secret that if you want to get ahead as a non-founder, you need to start angel investing. People will pull cash out of credit cards to invest in high-risk ventures. Everyone here does it. Everyone is breaking the law.
No one here cares.
America is a country that is built on risk. Immigrants have come here for centuries to risk everything and build something. Blocking off Americans from investing in the future is why we are where we are today.
That has to change.
Ethereum Sets Standards
Ethereum has completely smashed through all the regulatory bullshit. It just refuses to comply with any of this crap.
People can risk capital, lose everything, rebuild their stack, and make a fortune. They can learn the game of capitalism at hyper-speed because they are entering a new age of internet-enabled, protocol-based, token-fuelled experimentation.
That is how it should be.
You cannot learn about how equity works until you experience liquidity. When you see money converted to equity and back to money, everything clicks together.
The American Dream has been liquified by the Etherean Dream because we only ask a few things:
Find an internet connection
Download a wallet
Pay the gas fee
We do not care where a transaction comes from. If you are willing to participate in our digital system in the sky, you are welcome.
That is the power of the Ethereum ecosystem: totally global capitalism being fuelled by incredible amounts of open source innovation.
Are you earning any equity?
Everyone is used to earning money. Very few people get to earn equity. Thanks to Ethereum, millions of people are getting a taste of what that is like—and they love it.
Large technology companies are owned by millions of people and used by billions of people. The tensions between shareholders and users is palpable.
The protocols and projects we create on top of Ethereum are owned by millions of people and used by far fewer. We need to improve that.
Eventually, I predict that there will be a project on top of Ethereum that will be part-owned by a billion people and used by a similar number.
That will be beautiful.
That will be balanced.
This is the way.
⚖️
Our crowdfunding is 33% complete with <3 weeks left
If you want to participate, I suggest you do so before ETHDenver, which starts in a week:
https://ricburton.mirror.xyz/crowdfunds/0x9500b696F00AE82CA97d06379CF0A2b60B467040
Excellent and clear, thanks for writing this!
Enjoying these emails Ric