(1/2) an ode to phoenixes: 

the charts are red again.

not the soft kind of red. not the “buy the dip” kind.
this is the red that whispers that maybe you were wrong.
maybe this was all a fantasy. maybe you should’ve sold.
you stare at the screen. not blinking.

a number that once meant possibility
now just feels like a joke you don’t get anymore.
you scroll. you cope.
you pretend the pain is funny.
you tweet through it.
but deep down, beneath the irony,

beneath the memes and market caps and telegram pings,
you feel it.
that flicker.
that stubborn, idiotic, beautiful flicker: 
conviction.

not in a token.

not in a protocol.
not even in a bull market.
in something older.
something quieter.
a belief that the world can be restructured.

lore @optimism | ex: @coinbase | views are my own | what if it all worked out? 

(2/2)

that systems can be rebuilt.
that truth can be encoded and run forever.
permissionless. borderless. unbreakable.
a place where we aren’t just consumers.
but co-authors.
and yes, it looks like ashes now.

but you’ve read this chapter before.
you know how it ends.

just believe in the work.
believe in each other.
believe in the version of you
that stayed when it stopped being easy.
because when this cycle returns,
and it will return,
they’ll ask how you survived.
and you’ll smile and say:

“i didn’t.

i was reborn.”