Messari’s Crypto Theses For 2023

Section 1. Top 10 Narratives & Investment Themes0.0 Welcome — 0:001.0 What Happened in 2022 — 4:481.1 Winter Is Here, It’s Time to Build — 6:211.2 Crypto Is (Still) Inevitable — 10:391.3 Surviving Winter, Redux — 13:181.4 How Low Can We Go? — 16:051.5 Bear Market Building — 23:491.6 Decoupling of Cryptos: Back to the Basics — 26:361.7 VC: There’s (Still) Money in the Banana Stand — 28:141.8 The Macro Rebound vs. The Dumpening — 30:551.9 Buyouts vs. Bankruptcies — 33:46

Section 2. Top 10 People to Watch2.0 Intro — 0:002.1 Changpeng Zhao & Brian Armstrong — 1:032.2 Rep. Patrick McHenry — 3:022.3 Sheila Warren — 5:292.4 Citizen Journalists: From Molly White to Autism Capital — 7:262.5 Anatoly Yakovenko — 9:592.6 Barry Silbert & The Winklevii — 11:382.7 Stani Kulechov — 13:012.8 Alexey Pertsev & Tornado Cash Devs — 15:062.9 DAO Members — 17:052.10 IRS Agent Smith — 18:51

Section 3. Top 10 Trends In CeFi3.0 Intro — 0:003.1 The Exchanges — 1:123.2 The Institutions Are Coming — 5:28 3.3 Anatomy of a Crypto Credit Crisis — 6:523.4 DCG & Genesis Contagion Risk — 13:023.5 Grayscale: Reflexivity up. Reflexivity down. — 19:503.6 Custody, Security, Stability — 23:043.7 Cloud Infrastructure and Developer Tools — 25:113.8 On-Chain Forensics — 27:213.9 Tax & Compliance — 29:413.10 Research & Data Upgrades — 31:05

Section 4. Top 10 Trends In Crypto Policy4.0 Intro — 0:004.1 How a Bill Almost Became a Law — 1:284.2 How a Bill Becomes a Law — 18:574.3 The SEC vs. CFTC Proxy War — 31:544.4 MiCA Pros & Cons — 37:184.5 Everybody Hates Gary — 42:524.6 Ooki vs. CFTC (DAO Governance) — 45:594.7 Tornado Cash vs. OFAC (Personal Wallets) — 48:35 4.8 Protecting Crypto Banking — 51:004.9 State vs. Federal (Stablecoins) — 55:354.10 The Ground Game — 57:32

Section 5. Top 10 Cryptocurrency Trends5.0 Intro — 0:005.1 Bitcoin is “Outside Money” — 1:595.2 Global Regulatory Challenges — 4:405.3 Bitcoin Mining — 8:005.4 Bitcoin Yield — 13:135.5 Memes & Ripples — 15:065.6 Privacy Coins & Private Transactions — 15:265.7 Stablecoins Should Be Our Leading Export — 17:26 5.8 The Stablecoin Trinity — 20:315.9 Algo-Stables: Crypto’s WMDs — 24:345.10 CBDCs & Dystopia — 30:14

Section 6. Top 10 Ethereum & L1 Trends6.0 Intro — 0:006.1 The New Ethereum Roadmap — 1:426.2 Merge Economics — 4:196.3 MEV & Censorship — 6:156.4 What Vitalik’s Excited About — 11:256.5 Exploding Bridges — 13:006.6 Rollups and Modularity — 15:586.7 Too Close to the Solana — 21:246.8 Cosmos & Appchains — 26:326.9 Other L1s — 29:476.10 Other, Other L1s — 33:55

Section 7. Top 10 Trends In DeFi7.0 Intro — 0:007.1 Revenge of the dApps — 1:317.2 Uniswap, the Final DeFi Unicorn — 3:377.3 Real-World Collateralized DeFi — 7:167.4 Undercollateralized DeFi Lending — 9:387.5 Superfluid Collateral & Synthetic Stakes — 11:567.6 The Perp Walk: dYdX as an Appchain — 14:587.7 On-Chain Asset Managers — 16:337.8 New Novel Markets: Two Truths & A Lie — 18:367.9 DeFi Censorship — 21:417.10 Bullish Unlocks → Down Bad — 24:17

Section 8. Top 10 Trends In NFTs & DeSoc8.0 Intro — 0:008.1 “Blue Chip” Pixelated Art — 2:068.2 Generative Art — 4:558.3 The Institutions Are Here, Just Not the Ones We Expected — 6:488.4 GameFi — 8:408.5 The Cryptoverse — 12:428.6 Decentralized Social (DeSo) — 13:598.7 ENS & Identity — 17:528.8 Creator Royalties vs. Monopolist Taxes — 20:368.9 OpenSea’s Down Bad Yarrrr. — 23:178.10 OpenAI & ChatGPT — 27:03

Section 9. Top 10 Trends In DAOs & Web39.0 Intro — 0:009.1 Wallets & Browsers — 1:569.2 DePIN — 4:489.3 Data Integrity — 8:569.4 Actually Useful DAOs — 11:509.5 DAO Management — 16:269.6 The DAO Legal Liabilities are SpOoki — 20:059.7 DAO “Corporate Actions” — 24.599.8 DAO Treasury Management — 27:559.9 Crypto Talent Marketplaces — 30:579.10 Media DAOs — 32:52

Section 10. Bonus: Yo Dre, I Got Somethin' To Say10.0 Intro — 0:0010.1 Why You Must Write — 0:1510.2 No Idols — 1:2410.3 Must Read — 1:4710.4 Tips & Productivity Tricks — 2:3310.5 Life Advice — 4:2710.6 Disclaimers — 5:11