basil (recession arc) pfp
basil (recession arc)
@itsbasil
in true basil fashion, here’s my max-character, grammatically incorrect wall of text & then i will never talk about it again 1) i’m still trying to process this; i don’t know that i can. i can’t imagine what the team is feeling; truly gut wrenching news. there’s not really much else to say: it’s fucked. in terms of the eco, its quite possibly the worst thing to hear when already dealing with a 4-day compounding hangover: instant sweats & a pounding headache to say the least 2) i yapped with “alex” through it all. as he came out of degendao; into openventures, into his dao/swap, into clanker. i never once got the feeling that he may be a bad actor & the dao supported him from day one. personally, we talked a lot about his past struggles; wanting to provide for his family; wanting to build better open systems—we shared a lot of that. it makes me question everything i thought i knew. it’s hard not to consider pathological angles
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basil (recession arc) pfp
basil (recession arc)
@itsbasil
3) trust is all we have & that is now broken. from what we know, this was team comp runway stolen to cover gambling debts. immediately my mind hoped that it was for health or family-related expenses, but from his own mouth, it was not. it was greed… it wasn’t open market action; it wasn’t a coordinated insider rouse; this was black & white theft from the very team he helped build. forgiveness in this context is beyond difficult
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basil (recession arc) pfp
basil (recession arc)
@itsbasil
4) without proxy we are NOT here today. we likely would have arrived at a similar place via an alternative path, but we owe proxy A LOT for where this eco is today. he was undeniably instrumental. just like degen, clanker & proxy bootstrapped so much of what we currently have. he showed up when this platform was churning aggressively post-degen. for months, the outlook was bleak (and truly there was only 37 of us here), but he kept tinkering & building when others had already left. post-clanker, and even before that, he was a man of the people. he talked to everyone, was happy to bridge financing for folks where he could; lending money, etc,; in some cases straight up giving it away, usually no questions asked. by all measures, he was here for this eco during some of its toughest times & we owe him recognition for that, if nothing else
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basil (recession arc) pfp
basil (recession arc)
@itsbasil
5) he is NOT dumb. he understood the risk of showing up irl, especially given the vc sponsorship & backdrop. i believe the guilt was eating him & he knew his time was limited (at least thats what i want to believe). reality is, team was legitimatizing; there was a cb listing pending; the chickens were coming home to roost one way or another. he could've very easily stayed fully anon, even with cb at his back (see: racer). he chose to face the music. that is what i chose to believe, ignorant or not. i do not think he is fundamentally a bad person. lord, knows i have my demons too. i think his consciousness was heavy & letting it blow up was his the only escape he could see
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basil (recession arc) pfp
basil (recession arc)
@itsbasil
6) the community response is INSANE. once again, something we can fight ourselves on regarding how much of that we actually owe to him. he might be a BD savant (tbh), but if nothing else, he was a powerful work horse of a leader, a great researcher, and was a good friend to many of us. if we look at the origins of clanker, we can maybe start to see some true colors, but i just assumed he was a ruthless biz mind, which is something i genuinely respected about him. after all, ideas are worthless without killer instincts & execution. i digress. he was a bd wiz, and the team he (helped) build is one of the best in the business. the rallying support speaks for itself; i have no doubts & there is nothing more to be said about where this project will go from here (its up)
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basil (recession arc) pfp
basil (recession arc)
@itsbasil
7) i need a day or two but i will be speaking with him. many a time, i told him he was one of a select few folks in the space id go to war for, no questions asked (silly in hindsight innit). he knew that. we didn’t always see eye to eye, but it’s been years of communication at this point (which is crazy in its own right), and i will always have a soft spot in my heart for him, whoever he really is. that does not mean i will forgive & i certainly will not forgot, but his side of the story deserves to be heard & i will make sure that comes to light
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