Crypto Investment Club #2 (evolved)

Posted on June 1, 2017. Filed under: Uncategorized |

Last month I organized a small and informal “crypto investment club” gathering in washington sq park. About 10 people showed up to talk about investing in the blockchain and cryptocoin space. My hope was that I could share some of my theses around coins like Bitcoin and Etherium as well as more emergent “altcoins” like Augur, Zcash, and hopefully some that hadn’t even become “public” via initial coin offerings yet (“pre-ICO”). I think the first meeting was pretty successful insofar as high quality vcs, wall st people, developers, and founders all came together to share their interest and ideas in the space. I wasn’t sure that the “crypto investment club” would have more than one gathering, but I find myself continuing to seek community and depth of thought in this area, where many of the folks I know and tend to think with are either no so interested or interested but really only at the surface level.

In thinking about how to create a productive gathering, I want to evolve from “show up and jam on whatever” to something a bit more like a white paper reading group. Most blockchain projects that are planning to or that have already ICO’d write a pretty meaty paper that outlines the nature and details of the protocol they are building, and to date it’s one of the only substantive inputs available into an investment decision on a coin. So my thought is for the next and maybe all meetings going forward, we will start reading these papers together, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of new coins with a specific project and paper anchoring the conversation. I’ve found that reading these papers thoroughly sheds light on broader concepts and key learning that is relevant to an understanding of the space in general, and I think questions and discussion around the blockchain/crypto space as a whole will naturally emanate from focussed discussion on a specific project each meeting. A complete reading of the white paper at hand feels like a reasonable requirement for attendance and meaningful participation, and I think it’s also the only way people can leave with an actionable perspective on whether or not to invest in a coin or project.

I feel a little hesitant to evolve the structure in this way because it adds some friction to interested but less technical or experienced folks, but I assure you getting through these papers is a matter of focus and effort that I think is accessible to more folks than you would think. Coming with questions is as valuable as coming with answers around these papers.

So, if you want to attend the second “crypto investment club” brown bag lunch or others going forward, we’re gonna do it again at Washington Sq Park next Thursday, 6/8, 12:30-1:30PM. Email me to join the list: jordan.cooper@gmail.com.

There’s no requirement to put capital to work, and I don’t see that becoming a structural component of the group…just fyi