Boneless Wings #28

**NOTHING HERE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED INVESTMENT ADVICE**

Good morning to all my wingmen and wingwomen out there. Here are a few noteworthy and tasty bites worth digesting. Enjoy!

Despite what you may read, the world continues to accept the role of blockchain technologies. In one small example, TIME Magazine is releasing their first-ever full issue as an NFT. Fitting is the fact that the cover story is on Vitalik Buterin…..the 28-year-old creator and co-founder of Ethereum. Ethereum was founded in 2013 by a handful of co-founders, including a 19-year-old Vitalik.

(For those who have been distracted the last several years+ and maybe unaware, Ethereum is a decentralized open-sourced blockchain with smart contract functionality. We’ve discussed the power of the blockchain on prior issues, including Boneless Wings #XX, and the power that it will prove to have in the world as acceptance gains.)

Naturally, Vitalik has become one of the leading and most influential people in the crypto space. So I thought it was worthwhile to show another perspective on the crypto industry as a whole….from none other than one of the most bullish people in the space.

Buterin is generally concerned about Crypto’s future. He was recently quoted saying “Crypto itself has a lot of dystopian potential if implemented wrong.” This isn’t too far-fetched given most crypto antagonist point to a handful of issues, including:

• Currently a very few people creating enormous wealth off of it

• Its ties to money laundering

• Being used to mitigate taxes

• And general ESG concerns

But rather, Buterin hopes for this technology to be used to help change the world in a much better way, including:

• Fairer voting systems

• Urban planning

• Universal basic income

• Public-works projects

• And he wants to combat centralized power’s (i.e. authoritarian governments and Silicon Valley) death grip on the digital world.

Given we’re still in early innings for crypto, the question comes down to balance. Balancing the early stages of a gold rush (….people going after low hanging fruit to profit off of) with the long term benefit this technology can bring to people all over the world……regardless of status, power, traditional access or net worth.

The challenge will ultimately be with how the decentralized technology was created to begin with. A decentralized platform isn’t at the mercy or the will of any one person/entity…..that would be more a more centralized platform. It’s at the mercy and will of its ever-growing list of builders, investors and overall community of users.

From another lens, it’s like a massive social experiment (….or a prisoner’s dilemma) to see if the larger community, and world, will ensure it’s a force for good. Or go after the low hanging fruit of money and power it can bring a select few individuals.

In the end, one thing is for sure. TIME will tell!

If you want to dig deeper into this topic, the history of Ethereum and the psyche of Vitalik Buterin himself…..you can read the full article HERE (I enjoy people that are different...... so he certainly fits.)

I’m a strong believer that everyone needs more unabashed free-style dancing in their life. And it seems Elon agrees with me.

As a follow up to yesterday’s mention about the Tesla German Gigafactory opening today in Berlin, the market seemed to have a very favorable reaction to the event with the stock almost up 8%. Sure there’s some small and obvious things everyone should be concerned about right now (i.e…. a war that’s in process in Europe, interest rate hikes in the US that will have ripple effects in global markets, and supply chain constraints/woes that haven’t been fixed.) but the Tesla Gigafactory cut their ribbon today!!! (…I’m being facetious)

Ok, so there are a few headwinds to worry about, but here are a few reasons why the market may be high on Tesla’s $5.5 billion Berlin investment…..

• An estimated 500,000 vehicles per year are expected to roll out of this factory once ramped up and running.

• Tesla can ease dependence on their Shanghai plant…..which was recently shut down due to the latest COVID outbreak in China.

• They’ve had to export cars from China to Europe to date…..so this plant will help ease some pricing pressures for European customers.

• Europe is a high demand market for EV vehicles so this is a great opportunity for the current EV market leader to jump in and fill the demand.

Those all seem like positive facts, especially, if proven true in the face of the real challenges that the world is currently facing! Until is proven or not, I support Elon bustin a move. 🕺

As the Russia-invoked war in Ukraine continues, the world prepares for Putin’s next move. This week, the White House warned of the real threat of Russian cyberattacks targeting American companies.

Specifically, President Biden stated, “the magnitude of Russia’s cyber capacity is fairly consequential……and it’s coming.” Biden told the Business Roundtable (a group of the nation’s largest companies.). The administration has apparently been warning US companies to ensure they are properly ready by safeguarding through….

• Multi-factor authentication

• Patching known vulnerabilities

• Running through drills and emergency plans

• Encrypting and backing up of all data

And for those that may see this as fear mongering, the threats are real. Here are some recent examples that have taken place. Some of these companies are cyber security companies…..meaning, if they get hacked then there’s high likelihood that their customers data is breached as well.

Here are some bigger names that have experienced cyber security threats, hacks and data breaches.

• HubSpot (the CRM company) hack leads to data breaches at Blockfi, Swan Bitcoin, NYDIG and Circle.

• 3rd Party Okta Hack leaves customers scrambling.

• Massachusetts-based background check company Creative Services faces multiple lawsuits over data breach.

It’s unfortunate for all companies that are involved in these attacks. But especially so for both Hubspot and Okta as I’ve been quite bullish on both these companies as of late.

The role of a CISO (chief information and security officer) these days are certainly in demand and for good reason!

Deuces. ✌️