Chasing pavements? Let them eat black cod!
I saw Ex-Sub-Prime Minister Liz Truss in London this week, sitting near me at the Ivy restaurant in Victoria with her two-person security team in even closer proximity.
I noted that she had the black cod and, while I hoped there would be lettuce with that, she dined without that particular leaf vegetable.
For many, they would know just where to put that lettuce leaving only a small part visible… let’s just call it the tip of an iceberg.
I managed to refrain from shouting or screaming, just mouthed a couple of words at her, knowing that it was all so pointless in getting angry. The damage has been done, she’s set for life, not least with her ex officio security team while this country goes on a wartime footing to regain Lost Trust.
No, not Sub-Prime’s nickname, but our whole financial reputation.
So, budgets in the traditional finance and catastrophe in the crypto world, where can the hard-working citizen turn? Religion? Christianity? Maybe.
I’ve just been reading Piers Plowman, a 12th Century morality tale by the everyman William Langland who spat allegorical rhymes about that religion with especial reference to the Seven Deadly Sins.
As a man of seasoned vintage and reflection in a post-pandemic world, I noted that I have, and am still, guilty of all of those sins. Then I thought about the Ten Commandments and realised I had infringed all of them as well.
This, naturally, led to thoughts of regulation and changing my wicked ways because at some time in life, everybody needs regulations.
I then thought of my professed love of The Road and the dangers of enjoying such a life, be that travelling, riding, driving or doing stupid things. Then I thought that if it wasn’t for the regulation (and safety) of the pavement then I would never have been able to live like that.
So, maybe it’s time for crypto to be regulated before it’s too late, rather like the current state of my soul. We all know of recent events and how the real and fantastic work being done in the blockchain world is being undone by the perception of this world.
What the likes of Sequoia and other OldFi VCs were thinking about when they gushed about Sam Bankman-Fried (that has to be a made-up name) and ran headlong into FTX will probably never be known, but I do note that microdosing is very popular in Silicon Valley and it’s easy to take too much acid.
Either way, something has to be done. Reputations are shredded in the UK and the crypto worlds and the latter needs to start chasing pavements as soon as possible or all the good work will go to waste.
In February we will finally see EU lawmakers vote on the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA), the first slab of the pavement in the landmark regulation regime for crypto companies within the bloc, after its planned December plenary was shelved due to the complexity.
This may prove to be as seminal for crypto as the collapse of any billion dollar exchange or large-scale hack. It can’t come soon enough.
It’s now time to drive down a road with secure pavements in sensible cars such as non-garish VW Golfs or Skoda Octavias instead of this previous Lambo nonsense… or eschew flashy London Victoria restaurants for more sensible fare.
As for the Sub-Primes and the conmen, let them eat black cod in flashy London restaurants; I’m cool now with takeaway fish and chips mending my ways and saving my soul.
Or as Piers Plowman might say, lettuce pray.
Monty Munford is a tech journalist and an advisor for the DeFi privacy organisation Sienna Network and in the past decade his consultancy has helped more than 40 companies raise money/exit for a total of £1.4 billion.
He is also a keynote speaker/MC/moderator/interviewer and has spoken at more than 200 global events interviewing figures such as Tim Draper, the late John McAfee, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak (twice in Beirut and Vienna), Kim Kardashian (once in Armenia), Amitabh Bachchan, Ghostface Killah, ZZ Top, Guns N’ Roses and many others.
He was previously a weekly tech columnist for Forbes in New York, the Telegraph in the UK and continues to write regularly for the BBC, The Economist and… City PM.