Crypto is a Dirty Word
“You don’t seem like a crypto group”.
That was a common comment from new members in the Friends With Benefits Discord server in the first few months.
And I think this type of comment actually gets to the heart of one of the narratives that keeps more people on the crypto sidelines. No matter what the industry is, words matter, and words carry weight, and whether we like it or not, “crypto” has a certain connotation to it.
A politically liberal friend of mine who isn’t involved in crypto framed it to me this way, “Isn’t everyone just a white, cis-gendered, libertarian male?”, she asked.
The answer, at least for FWB, is no.
It’s true that the early Bitcoin community probably veered towards this type of homogenous demographic makeup. And many, if not most, early crypto adopters were primarily motivated by financial speculation, and the overall economic implications.
But what makes Friends With Benefits unique is that financial speculation is not it’s primary ethos, and it’s demographics reflect that. In fact, it’s one of the most diverse communities I’ve ever had a meaningful part in. Much of this was by design, as even in the early days, the manifesto listed out Diversity and Inclusion as two of it’s pillars. But beyond that, I think the sort of diversity that is naturally found in artistic circles and cultural projects is really more the spirit of crypto than most people realize.
As Matthew Leising notes in his terrific book about the origin story of Ethereum called Out of the Ether, “From its inception, Ethereum has been about – and for – the people who use it. To do what, exactly, no one can say.”
That sort of blank canvas naturally draws artists, philosophers, culture shapers, and people comfortable with, if not motivated by, diversity. This is the type of person that makes up the FWB DAO.
Today FWB has grown larger than I ever could have imagined in those early days. And yes, the financial rewards have kept pace with the overall size and scope of the group’s effort, but that’s still not the primary barometer of effectiveness.
Having a front row seat on the FWB rollercoaster has been a dizzying journey. Especially for someone with very little tech industry connections. Previous to FWB, I may have thought that living in a small Texas town was a sort of death knell for any ambitions I may have had to be a part of progressive tech or culture. But as the months progressed in FWB, I saw the group form into much more than an experiment. These random internet strangers became real friends, and the Discord server became a real “place”, with real projects, and an opportunity to contribute to something. The fact that this weird internet experiment continues to catch people’s attention and has garnered attention from prominent investors like Andreesen Horowitz is just surreal to me.
What will FWB’s overall contribution to the world end up being? Who knows? But as it continues to grow into a major player in the crypto space, I love being able to explain this project to non-crypto people, and help them shift how they perceive the word “crypto”.