Also the title of I took the liberty to borrow. It tries to answer the question of why tech often benefits the elites and what can be done about that. More people in crypto and AI should read it and ask themselves, are we navigating ourselves into treacherous waters? 🌊

It sure seems we're at a point of no return. 

Story One

Power

No one is considered as powerful a political figure as the president of the United States. That's why who is elected matters to all of us, and by that, I mean people whose wealth is largely stored in funny money. Just a few weeks ago, the creme de la creme of Silicon Valley investors and crypto companies still rallied around Trump, Now, attention has moved on to Kamala Harris's TikTok Campaigns. 

Maybe that's the reason why all of Trump's male offspring have started flirting with memecoins. So far, they've not launched one, but this hasn't kept others from implying they did. 

The first to appear was endorsed by the chair of the Students for Trump club and called Restore the Republic. Machiavelli would have been proud of the ambition, less so of the ensuing endorsement from crypto influencers, including the Solana co-founder who all forgot to do their due diligence. DJT coin was met with a similar fate, thanks to Martin Shkreli, another amour fou of the crypto industry, who sold 20% of the supply. 

Most recently, to go after the banking world. 

Takeaway: Once again, it appears the ones in power instrumentalize the tech to gain mindshare and bolster their ego. Actions speak louder than words and, so far, are thoroughly lacking. 

Story Two

Memes of Production 

A long time before crypto, a bearded man said that people should control the means of production to facilitate human thriving. This is pretty close to the crypto vision if you think about how a decentralized chain runs. 

An attractive vision, even for the meme proletariat. How else can we explain that Pepe Unchained, a Pepe frog-themed Layer 2 project, just raised $8.2 million despite memecoins otherwise collapsing like the yen-carry trade? 

Jokes aside, a first glance at their website clarifies that a Collective Commons isn't what they are after. Instead, investors get to stake their tokens and earn insane rewards. Apart from that, the frog L2 promises the same thing any other generic L2s offers: fast transactions, low fees, and scalability. Of course, the actual sequencer is owned by the team, and holders have little say in development. They can comfort themselves with 300% APY. 

Takeaway: This much money going into yet another idiocy is probably the reason why there is more widespread questioning of crypto's value prop, . 

Story Three

Progress

Doomers 🤝 Ripple Lawsuit 

"The end is near" 

Remember Ripple, the coin created by ex-bankers in suits that was supposed to become the backbone of interbank settlements? It never took off for its intended purpose, but it still succeeded in growing a cultish following, the Ripple army, and fighting a years-long lawsuit. 

In a sense, they burned millions on legal fees for all of us. After the court already declared last year that XRP being sold via exchanges to retail users didn't constitute illegal unregistered security sales, the final piece of the trial came to its conclusion last week. 

Latter was concerned with Ripple's institutional sales and ended with a $125 million penalty. 

Takeaway: Overall, a positive for the industry. Now, we might actually find out what Ripple is good for. 

Fact of the week: There is no more fitting fact than one that combines Pepe and Ripple for this edition. Did you know that a large group of frogs is called an army? The Ripply Army might get green competition. 🐸

Naomi for CoinJar

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