Letter 92: Twenty-Five Thoughts, Musings, and Learnings from 2025

Looking back and reflecting over the past year

As we get to the end of one of the toughest and most complex years in crypto, I am taking the time to reflect.

This is a stream-of-consciousness style post so these are in no particular order:

1) Closing loops and completing tasks will put you ahead of the vast majority of people

Regardless of the domain, most people simply do not have the conviction or stamina to see their ideas through to fruition. In other words: ideas are cheap, execution is not. I’ve seen both sides of this coin. One of the ways I have failed this year is my lack of following through on completing writing my book. I got about 80% done with it back in March/April, and haven’t picked it up again since. A 2026 goal will be to finish that off and close the loop.

2) Lifting heavy weights will improve almost every area of your life

The science and research is pretty ironclad on this, and my personal experience very much matches it. A year ago I had a bad back. It hurt every day. I was popping painkillers all the time. It was chronic, and drained a tremendous amount of energy. Lifting heavy weights (under supervision) fixed my back, improved my sleep, gave me more energy, more mental clarity, and just generally improved every area of my life. Highly recommend. Also, if you have a bad back, read The Back Mechanic.

3) Less is more

If you’re a reader of this Newsletter, you’ve probably heard me repeat those three words at least a dozen times. But it’s been my mantra for the year. Hold fewer tokens, make fewer trades, farm fewer airdrops, just generally choose quality over quantity.

4) Brainrot is real, pervasive, and pernicious

You have to take steps to defend yourself against it. Social media algorithms are designed to rot your brain, and social media influencers, creators, and companies are incentivized to manipulate the algorithms to their advantage (and to your detriment). It’s all about tricking your brain into spending as much time (and money) as possible on their pages. Take regular breaks from social media and the internet. Do a dopamine fast. Do whatever you have to while you still can. A great article on this topic by Ben Roy:

Notes on Internet Addiction

5) The loudest narratives age the fastest

If everyone is talking about it, the bulk of the move is over, and you’re only going to be exit liquidity if you buy. Seen this countless times over the year: REKT, PNKSTR, XPL, ZEC. I’m still very bullish on some of these tokens and think some of them will recover and do well long term, but the time to buy is when nobody is talking about them, not when everyone is.

6) If it’s not a fuck yes, it’s a fuck no

Not sure where I first heard this said but the idea is basically if someone asks you to do something whether it’s hop on a call, attend an event, whatever. Something that requires your time. If your reaction isn’t “omg yes, this sounds great”, then you should probably politely turn them down. Protect your time, it’s the most valuable asset you have, and it’s so easy to waste it away in tiny little chunks.

7) Imposter syndrome is real

Regardless of the success or status you might achieve, there’s always going to be self-doubts that creep in. I’ve got so many tangible and logical reasons to believe that I am not an imposter and that I have put in the reps and work and have some idea about what I am talking about, yet every now and then I still feel like an imposter, wondering if I just lucked and fluked my way into everything I have built.

While there’s obviously a non-insignificant level of luck involved, I am doing myself and my confidence a disservice by discrediting my own work and you would be too if you feel the same way. Back yourself, believe in yourself.

8) The market has never felt more manipulated than it did this year

Between the ETFs, large funds, market makers, whales, DATs, and exchange shenanigans, it has been an incredibly difficult market for the average punter. 10/10 was a shining example of this. Whether or not the market was actually more manipulated this year vs others is something we will probably never know, but don’t beat yourself up too much if you felt like you were always on the back foot this year. You’re not alone.

9) This year was proof that we’re never getting a true alt season again