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Parallels
"Tensions with China escalated | "Tensions with China escalated
when Chairman Xi Kuan ordered U.S. | when Chairman Xi Kuan ordered U.S.
embassies closed over..." | embassies closed over..."
|
The voice of the newscaster droned | The voice of the newscaster droned
in the background as John leaned | in the background as John leaned
back in his sofa, put his feet up | back in his sofa, put his feet up
on the coffee table, and took a | on the coffee table, and took a
sip of his brandy. | sip of his brandy.
|
Today had been a good day. John | Today had been a good day. John
had just secured a 100 BTC funding | had just secured a $100 million
round for his startup. His hard | funding round for his startup. His
work and diligence had paid off. | hard work and diligence had paid
The investors were impressed by | off. The investors were impressed
the quality of the product, | by the number of active daily
confident that it solved a real | users, confident that they could
need for the users. Investors were | soon be monetized. Investors
careful with their hard earned | freely spent money to acquire
Bitcoin, only investing in | large userbases, knowing that more
products with demonstrated | funding could always be easily
utility, knowing that once they | raised, until the time that the
parted with their capital, it was | userbase becomes locked in and
gone if the company couldn't | ready to monetize. Because of
deliver. Because of that, John had | that, John had made the decision
made the decision to focus his | to focus his company's efforts on
company's efforts on delivering | marketing, celebrity endorsements,
the best possible value to his | and free giveaways, and that
customers, and that decision was | decision was now paying its
now paying its dividends. | dividends.
|
"Hey dad!" The voice of his son, | "Hey dad!" The voice of his son,
Calvin, interrupted John's | Calvin, interrupted John's
reverie. "Look what I built!" | reverie. "Look what I did!" Calvin
Calvin bounded up to him with | bounded up to him with laptop in
laptop in hand. On the screen, | hand. On the screen, John could
John could see the markings of a | see the markings of a stock
Lightning wallet program. Calvin | trading app. Calvin had recently
had been building a liquidity | gotten interested in trading and
sharing service which would allow | had just booked a 200% profit on a
merchants to easily and | vol arb gamma hedge. John was
automatically borrow Lightning | proud of Calvin. He seemed to
liquidity from each other. John | understand the world, unlike his
was proud of Calvin. Like his | older brother Martin who had
older brother Martin, Calvin liked | insisted on following his passion
to build things that other people | of being a carpenter despite
would use. Although they had very | John's warnings. Predictably,
different interests---Calvin had a | Martin was now struggling, unable
penchant for computers while | to build any savings and
Martin liked working with wood--- | constantly seeing his income
they both understood that they | drained away by rising prices.
should use their skills to bring | John wondered where Martin got his
value to others. Much like their | personality from---it certainly
father. | wasn't from his father!
|
Bzzt, bzzt! John's phone buzzed in | Bzzt, bzzt! John's phone buzzed in
his pants. He picked it up and | his pants. He picked it up and
looked at the caller ID. It was | looked at the caller ID. It was
his wife, Lydia. "Hi honey," he | his ex-wife, Lydia. He put the
answered. Lydia was on her way | phone back in his pocket without
home from work and wanted to know | answering. Lydia had divorced him
if he wanted her to pick anything | because he was spending too much
up from the grocery store. John | time at industry conferences and
answered that they still had some | celebrity networking events.
steaks in the fridge, but that | "You're never home! Your sons need
they were running low on beef | you," she had said. But Lydia
tallow. "I'll pick some up on my | didn't understand what was
way home," Lydia said. John | required to build a company. It
appreciated everything that Lydia | was all about getting to know the
did for the family. She had | right people. When Lydia left, the
supported him through some tough | court left Calvin with John and
times as he worked on building his | Martin with Lydia. She also got
company. But John knew that she | half of all his assets at the
did it because she believed in | time. "Oh well," thought John,
him, and also because she could | "easy come, easy go." Remembering
the see that his proof of work was | that he still hadn't prepared
setting a good example for their | dinner, John punched in his usual
children to follow. | order on DoorDash.
|
It would still be about 40 minutes | It would still be about 40 minutes
until Lydia arrived home. John | until the DoorDash arrived. John
decided to take a short nap. As he | decided to take a short nap. As he
drifted off to sleep on the couch, | drifted off to sleep on the couch,
the voice of the newscaster | the voice of the newscaster
continued to drone in the | continued to drone in the
background. | background.
|
"... not enough BTC in either | "... war bonds approved by
country's treasury to fund | Congress... Federal Reserve Chief
prolonged war... President Harold | supportive... President Chet Cohen
Mooney expected to open | expected to declare war formally
negotiations next week... " | next week... "