First of all — I'm Maxi. It means I'm a deep crypto believer and highly confident that crypto will turn the world around. However, every significant change starts with drama: the French Revolution, the Civil War in the USA, financial crises, etc. Eventually, all will be well. Our mission is to get through the dark times as we pursue this happy ending by doing everything we can to fix the current scenario for the public good.
We've been working in crypto, providing professional services in the strategy and marketing niche since 2017. We’ve been through all of the crypto's ups and downs. Considering our long-time history with more than 80 projects we've worked on, including several major exchanges, I'm confident that the previous week's FTX show will have the most critical impact on the industry since the Ethereum launch.
And that's why it is good.
The crypto space started its novel with the main point being "anonymity" or "privacy". I've always been suspicious of that narrative in the CEX Era. Your anonymity disappears when you send even one transaction to the service where you passed KYC. Even if you were anonymous enough and didn't pass any KYC procedure, you can complete payments to another person who could have been less careful. At that point, you immediately lose your "privacy," even if you do everything to avoid that risk, just because you've connected with the deanonymized agent: You can ask the Chainanalysis guys how it works.
If not anonymity, then what?
The main point of crypto is not about privacy. The current irony is that crypto is about extreme transparency.
Yes, you can still enjoy some semblance of privacy and all related perks when transacting as an individual. However, it's insane if you're trying to do so as a business related to the crypto space. Crypto was built on the main principle of TRUST. It's an extraordinarily meaningful abstraction in the crypto space. You can become a billionaire based on trust in one day (like in Aptos & Sue stories) only. And you can lose everything, down to zero, in one day when you lose trust (like in the SBF drama). No other industry in the world raises this principle to such an absolute.
The only way to build trust is complete transparency and openness
It's hard to be an open person or business in this world. You always feel you can be trapped and suffer attacks just because you're transparent. It's complicated from a psychological point of view and challenging from the corporate traditions point of view. You will always feel that risk.
But is there another way to change the legacy? My answer is NO.
There is no way to achieve honesty other than simply being honest. There is no alternative to transparency other than to share everything. One must be without any skeletons in the closet. Not because legal has requested all these terms. Not because you have no option to avoid it. It's because we are all responsible for this chance to change everything.
And I mean everything.
I have worked in the b2b and marketing sphere for the last 15 years. I understand a lot about how business works sometimes. I'm not blind. Every business or entrepreneur has an unsightly part in their story. None of the business books tell us about it (except the ex-wife's story). Marketing and PR could do a lot to fix it. But not forever. And there is always a chance to change for everybody. Changing the business culture in crypto means much more than before. And it is already starting this week, mainly for those in the crypto space, not because of money.
The real impact is made by enthusiasts, not money-makers or VCs. I assume several top exchanges will fall till the end of the year. It will crash many things then, but why is it good? It gives us a chance to transform. It might be a tiny chance. But we can't miss it.
Don't think about regulators, don't think about risks. Let's build a culture of complete transparency and openness that will shake the rest of the world.
CZ's initiative with proof-of-reserve is a good start. But it's not enough. Willingness to abide by the transparency principles similar to publicly traded companies but without any regulatory requirements can have an extreme impact and skyrocket the trust in the crypto world, fixing its reputation and providing actual gates to adoption.
As for us, we are not an on-chain related business, and even though we're small compared to the current crypto stars, we're preparing our consolidated annual report making the next step to the culture and the world I've been dreaming about.
I'm not a tech guy. I'm not calling on you to build your product. I'm calling on you to transform your business culture. Transform it, adding transparency, openness, and trust to all the crypto space. And in the happy end to all over the world society.