Gwart
is
the
funniest
person
on
Crypto
Twitter.
That
is
a
statement
made
by
several
of
crypto’s
leading
voices.
And
like
many
funny
people,
he
is
also
a
truth-teller.
The
things
Gwart
says
—
covering
incredibly
dry
topics
ranging
from
Ethereum
alignment
to
the
rapid
rise
of
ZKsnarks
—
are
funny
because
they
are
true.
This
is
an
excerpt
from The
Node
newsletter,
a
daily
roundup
of
the
most
pivotal
crypto
news
on
CoinDesk
and
beyond.
You
can
subscribe
to
get
the
full newsletter
here.
For
years,
Gwart’s
voice
was
lost
in
the
sea
of
innumerable
crypto
“anons,”
or
the
pseudonymous
blockchain
users
who
live
and
breathe
on-chain
tech,
post
on
X
and
often
seem
to
know
the
inner
workings
of
both
better
than
any
of
the
industry’s
talking
heads.
He
created
this
specific
“alt”
in
2021
and
languished
in
obscurity
for
most
of
the
time
since.
This
year,
he’s
gotten
his
due.
“You
can
call
me
the
funniest
person
on
Twitter.
I
accept
this,”
Gwart,
not
his
real
name,
said
in
an
interview.
I
mentioned
this
point
when
asking
why
he
thinks
he’s
gotten
so
much
attention
recently.
“I
probably
tweet
a
bit
differently
than
most
people,
I
don’t
take
much
of
this
stuff
very
seriously,”
he
said.
In
other
words:
he
has
the
bravery
of
a
clown.
And
like
jokesters
of
yore,
he’s
willing
to
make
a
mockery
of
the
king’s
court.
His
performance
helps
expose
the
things
everyone
thinks,
but
dares
not
say.
Take
one
of
his
favorite
posts:
Gwart,
who
took
his
memorable
profile
pic
from
a
mute
character
in
the
TV
show
“Silicon
Valley,”
has
an
uncanny
ability
to
condense
down
the
ovehanging
problems
of
the
contemporary
crypto
scene
into
280
characters.
It’s
not
that
others
haven’t
pointed
out
that
crypto,
after
nearly
a
decade
and
a
half
(about
as
long
as
Uber
has
existed),
hasn’t
yet
found
a
use
case,
it’s
that
he
covers
the
bitter
truth
with
a
little
sweetness.
“I
troll
in
a
way
that
even
when
I’m
being
pretty
sarcastic
about
something
that
maybe
people
feel
very
ideological
about
I
do
in
a
way
that
is,
like,
sort
of
endearing,”
he
said.
You
may
not
think
that
crypto,
which
has
spent
much
of
the
past
year
in
the
doldrums,
being
criticized
by
the
media
and
avoided
by
the
greater
public,
doesn’t
need
to
be
mocked
any
more.
But
Gwart’s
commentary
and
criticism
is
often
seen
as
valuable.
“I
think
I’ll
say
things
in
a
way
that
people
are
kind
of
like
‘yeah,
that’s
sort
of
undeniable,’”
he
said,
adding,
“but
maybe
I
might
give
myself
too
much
credit.”
Gwart
can
disarm
while
also
getting
people
to
engage.
That’s
part
of
the
reason
the
Hayden
Adams
and
Paradigms
of
the
world
interact
with
and
respond
to
him.
The
other
part
is,
as
a
super
heavy
DeFi
user,
his
concerns
are
valid.
He
said
he
“went
so
far
down
the
rabbit
hole”
of
DeFi
and
emerged
thinking
“this
stuff
is
ridiculous.”
See
also:
Defiant
by
Default;
Why
Regulators
Must
Understand,
Not
Police,
DeFi
|
Consensus@Consensus
It
doesn’t
take
an
econ
degree
from
a
good
school,
which
Gwart
has,
to
know
that
circular
tokenomics
and
trading
systems
where
“frontrunning”
is
an
expected
(and
maybe
necessary)
part
of
the
market
structure
to
know
something
is
amiss.
But
unlike
his
fanbase,
the
kings
and
queens
of
DeFi,
Gwart
is
losing
hope
solutions
will
be
found.
While
his
biggest
audience
hails
from
Ethereum,
Gwart
is
a
Bitcoiner.
“To
the
extent
that
I’m
dogmatic
about
anything,
it’s
probably
bitcoin,”
he
said.
“I’ve
sort
of
drunk
the
Kool
Aid.”
Although
he
is
not
a
“laser-eyed
maxi”
(i.e.
the
stereotypical
Bitcoin
maximalist
is
carnivorous,
hates
the
Fed
and
prays
to
Satoshi
before
sleeping),
he
does
think
bitcoin
has
more
“durability”
than
crypto
and
potentially
the
U.S.
dollar.
“With
crypto,
it’s
like,
‘move
fast,
break
things,’”
Gwart
said.
“A
lot
of
times
we
don’t
even
really
know
what
we’re
attempting
to
accomplish.”
There
could
be
future
use
cases
for
blockchains,
but
that
whole
side
of
crypto
is
basically
just
tech,
he
said.
It
can
iteratively
improve,
but
doesn’t
really
have
an
“end
goal.”
Bitcoin,
on
the
other
hand,
is
a
movement
with
a
destination.
“I’m
here
for
the
revolution,”
he
said.
Crypto,
especially
DeFi,
or
the
subsector
working
to
replace
actual
financial
operations
like
credit
extension,
banking
and
exchanges
with
intermediary-less,
self-executing
smart
contracts,
might
beg
to
differ.
Gwart
hesitates
to
dismiss
the
wider
world
of
crypto
entirely,
he
admits
that
there’s
likely
something
to
the
core
idea
behind
NFTs
(he
likes
CryptoPunks
and
Miladys,
in
particular)
and
that
U.S.
dollar
stablecoins
have
found
“product-market-fit.”
But
the
fact
that
the
biggest
use
for
blockchain
today
are
things
like
USDT
and
USDC
is
sort
of
an
affront
to
the
founding
vision
that
inspired
this
industry.
See
also:
Paolo
Ardoino:
The
Hardest
Working
Man
in
Crypto
|
Most
Influential
Many
Gwart
supporters
may
not
like
hearing
all
this,
but
it’s
hard
to
imagine
Gwart
caring.
Gwart
apparently
did
well
for
himself
during
DeFi
Summer
(2020),
and
is
currently
unemployed
and
in
no
rush
to
go
back
to
work.
He
owns
a
small
real-estate
company
and,
for
a
time,
chose
to
work
part-time
on
a
farm
to
fulfill
a
longtime
dream.
That
is
to
say,
Gwart
enjoys
spending
his
days
busting
chops
on
Twitter
and
stirring
up
trouble
using
his
various
pseudonymous
accounts
(Gwart
is
his
biggest).
“I’m
sort
of
the
black
sheep,”
Gwart
said,
when
asked
about
his
family.
He
said
his
parents
know
he
sometimes
calls
himself
Gwart
online,
which
makes
a
handful
of
people,
including
a
few
in
crypto,
who
know
both
the
man
and
alias.
“They
are
generally
very
supportive
of
whatever
I
do.
They
just
assume
I’ll
figure
it
out,”
he
said,
laughing.
So
what’s
next
for
Gwart?
He
said
he
would
consider
working
at
a
Bitcoin
company,
one
that
he’s
ideologically-aligned
with.
And
someone
recently
approached
him
about
doing
a
podcast…
