So, I just read this piece, and it is quite an interesting, but funny one. It is funny because anyone who is financially free can decide to be RIGHT at any time, and not chase money. Truth be told, I got into this space for financial freedom. Interestingly, the space made me become someone with a long-term mindset more than I ever was. Why? I hesitated about getting into Crypto for a long time. I even hated the word CRYPTO, and to an extent, I still do not like it. I detested crypto because everything felt like Gambling, just like he said in this piece. I argued about it for a long time and was cautious about getting in. In the end, I told myself: Only an ignorant person would keep arguing about what he has not experienced. I borrowed money to learn, and I listened to various audios while painting in different locations. As curiosity held me, I began to study more about the structures and development of crypto, its businesses, and the token angle, which eventually led me into token economics and design. I chose a career path, and everything changed. I am not here to share my life story, but why did I talk about this? The things I highlighted from the piece below are: - The system became gamblified. - We built the biggest Casino ever in the world. - He wasted his life building this, but made money. - The space contributed nothing to creating a new financial system. - The get-rich-quick scheme has made the space boring. - The space's zero-sum game and PVP contributed to zero retention of businesses. Some of the things mentioned above are both right and wrong, which is why I started with my story. -------- On Gambling... I joined the space to understand this, and I got locked in on the development and business angle. When you study statistics in school, you are taught to think in probabilities. You learn that outcomes are uncertain, but they are not random if you understand the structure behind them. That is where the line between Gambling and Investment starts. I do not trade futures or leverage, I am not a degenerate, and I do not bet on prediction markets. I am a patient person who likes to see my theories become practical, which is why I focus on research. Research does not remove risk, but it changes the quality of the risk. When you study a system deeply, you stop playing blind odds and start playing informed probabilities, tilting the expected value in your favour. That is what separates investing from pure gambling. I have mentioned several times here that I do not like Prediction Markets, and as much as I love the output of the prediction results from them, I would not trade them. They can be research-driven, and they often give useful signals. But for the most part, the people who bet there behave more like gamblers than researchers. That is why it would have been nicer if they were closer to structured polls, where people still express views, but also share the reasoning and research behind those views. Instead, many trenchers only want to bet on anything that can turn into luck, and that mindset erases what investment should be. So, generally, I do not like Prediction Markets. -------- On Casinos... In every sector, you will find casino-like products beside real businesses. As he mentioned, the real world does not feel as wild as this space, but once you add casinos, you begin to close the gap. The interesting part is that many of these casinos are not hard to notice if you are honest with yourself. You have a choice to make. If your choice is to milk everything you see as an opportunity, you will end up getting frustrated at the so-called casino. However, if you understand the core importance of why this financial system was created, your perspective changes, and your path becomes different. So, I would not waste my life supporting the development of what I would regret in the end. -------- On a get-rich-quick scheme... Anywhere in the world, casinos, degeneracy, and any development involving betting are more attractive than normal businesses. Thus, the majority of people go there to milk opportunities, and many times, as we call it, trenches, people get addicted. A recent piece I read mentioned one of the biggest and most respected Polymarket traders losing his entire balance and going deep red, all from one trade. The Trump insider who made money from the 10/10 Liquidation event also ended up losing it all to leverage. There are many examples. Degenerates joke about how much they get ruined, but they cannot resist going back. I am not saying being different makes you immune, but it makes you more reserved than losing it all to the addiction of making more. -------- On zero-sum and PvP... In many markets, especially short-term trading and leverage, the game feels close to zero-sum. One person’s win is another person’s loss, after fees. That is why it feels so PVP. But the wider economy is not fully zero-sum. When you build something useful, and people pay for it, both sides can gain. Users get value, and you get revenue. It is still PVP in the sense that not everyone wins equally, and some people end up as exit liquidity for others, but value is also being created. The moment you build something for the public, and they like it, you extract your revenue from them, even though they get a benefit. So, we are all playing in a competitive game, but sometimes the game expands as well. It is a matter of choice to remain a pawn, become the highest-paid pawn, or become the king of the game. This all goes back to knowledge in all forms, which is currently lost to greed. Thank you for reading.