So you can be bullish on cryptoвЂ™s future without being bullish on current crypto prices. Interestingly, cryptoвЂ™s radical ability to disintermediate, if extended to its logical conclusion, could bring about a radical equalization of power that would lower the prices and values of the currently well-established crypto assets, companies and platforms. But in my view this is the best-case scenario - and the most technologically ambitious. I donвЂ™t know if people are up to all this work (or is it fun?). And in the same way that people share their playlists, crypto users could issue their own tokens (currencies) if they wanted, or serve as their own banks in the sense of making their own lending decisions and executing them autonomously. Thus most of the gains from competition accrue to the users.Д¬ustomers would use or own or invest in crypto in a variety of ways, just as they listen to music on LPs, CDs, MP3s and streaming services. Yet another scenario: What if the attention of consumers were focused on the crypto innovators, who in this case would be analogous to better-known musical artists? One person may think вЂњI like the DeFi options at Uniswap,' while another may say, вЂњI am going to use the prediction markets over at Hedgehog.' In this scenario there is relatively little intermediation and heavy competition for consumer attention. If you are long current crypto assets, you may be hoping for this kind of scenario to extend itself, because those assets will accumulate much of the value from higher crypto demand. Much of todayвЂ™s crypto world looks like this, though it may not last as crypto broadens in applications and use. Intermediaries (e.g., Coinbase) can earn a return, but the real brand name value would be held by the crypto asset itself. That kind of user focus would mean many of the gains of crypto accrue to the early crypto asset holders. They might not give you ready access to a crypto-reformulated version of Twitter, for example, where writings are recorded on the blockchain and posters cannot be censored.ДЄnother very different scenario: Users focus their attention on the crypto assets themselves, such as Bitcoin, Ether or Dogecoin. Furthermore, problems of censorship would reemerge, because these reputation-conscious intermediaries will not want to offer all possible crypto products. Many of its advantages would be captured by these well-capitalized intermediaries. They probably would offer lower-risk, well-established products.Д¬onsumers might be better off - but the crypto world would be boring. Those mainstream brokers would enjoy economies of scale, due to their reputations and ability to exploit network effects. Significant parts of the crypto world would be relatively centralized. The intermediary would deliver a вЂњcrypto package,' tailored to the needs of a broad swath of customers. Imagine entering into a crypto contract with a company you have an established relationship with, such as a social media company, your bank or perhaps your labor union. Rather than choosing their favorite crypto assets, DeFi investments and NFT providers, they will outsource their decisions to well-known intermediaries.

One scenario is that ordinary Americans will simply find crypto too confusing to deal with directly.

Lps see you again song