The Bitcoin VC Who Just Infuriated The Bitcoin World

Joe Weisenthal (0:10)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Weisenthal.

Tracy Alloway (0:15)

And I'm Tracy Alloway.

Joe Weisenthal (0:16)

Tracy, I have a question. Have you ever had negative encounters?

Have you ever had negative encounters on Twitter with people with laser eyes in their profile picture? I'm just curious, have you ever had that? Have you ever experienced that?

Tracy Alloway (0:34)

This reminds me of that scene from Mean Girls where they say, have you been personally victimized by Regina George and everyone raises their hand? Yes, yes, Joe. I have been personally victimized by laser eyes on Twitter and toxic Bitcoin maximalists.

Actually, it got really bad last year. I was tweeting a lot about Bitcoin. And I actually stopped tweeting a lot about Bitcoin because of this, which I think is terrible.

But last year, I tweeted a chart of Bitcoin falling immediately after the CPI data was released and it came in hotter than expected. And people went absolutely nuts. And I mean, I could go through some of the insults because I saved them for posterity, but they would not be suitable for the classy program that is Odd Lots.

Joe Weisenthal (1:20)

Well, as you pointed out, lots of people have experienced this. There is certainly at a very minimum, there's a lot of people in the broader crypto space who really resent the media and how it's portrayed and all this stuff. But there is certainly also a sub-faction most notably the Bitcoin maxis, the maximalists, the laser eyes, people who only eat steak, people like that, we've written about them. But to your point, the inflation narrative is kind of totally blown up, like you were right.

And we have high inflation now and Bitcoin has not held up well.

Tracy Alloway (1:57)

So we can just talk about how terrible Bitcoin maxis are for an hour, I would love that. But I think this gets to a really important point about Bitcoin, which is like, is it a cultural movement about creating a new type of currency that is outside the power or authority of traditional figures like governments and central banks?

Or is it about the underlying technology actually enabling you to do something different? And I think at the moment, you really see crypto split between those two camps.

Joe Weisenthal (2:31)

Yeah, is it a technology? Is it a money? Is it a culture?

I think it's hard to separate. There is a Bitcoin culture, and maybe that's the reason this thing that's sort of just made up is worth so much. But anyway, we all know these questions, the Bitcoin maxes, what it's like to talk about them on Twitter, all that stuff. That being said, today, we're gonna be speaking with a longtime Bitcoiner who has now earned the irer of many of the same laserized plebs that you have.

Tracy Alloway (3:05)

Hey, welcome to the club is all I can say.

Joe Weisenthal (3:07)

All right, let's just kick it off. We're gonna be speaking with Nic Carter. He's a general partner in Castle Island Ventures.

And Nic, thank you so much for coming on Odd Lots.

Nic Carter (3:19)

Hello, Joe and Tracy. I'm honored to be here. This is my favorite podcast.

I wish it was under more auspicious circumstances.

Joe Weisenthal (3:27)

So Gavin Anderson, Mike Hearn and now Nic Carter, why did you rage quit Bitcoin?

Nic Carter (3:36)

I didn't quit.

To be clear, I don't think I deserve that comparison because I didn't try and change Bitcoin in any way. But yeah.

Joe Weisenthal (3:46)

Well, let's back up. Cause you are, I think, one of the most prominent Bitcoin investors, Bitcoin advocates.

I think at one point you yourself may have had laser eyes on your Twitter profile, long time investor in Bitcoin related companies. And now a bunch of them hate you. So what do you back up? Like what do you do and why are they mad at you?

Nic Carter (4:08)

Yeah, sure. So, I mean, so I, you know, for context, I co-founded a venture firm that invests in, all across the crypto industry. This is actually becomes part of the story later. You know, I identify as a Bitcoiner. I think Bitcoin is important and good. And my work over the last five years is focused on really advocating for Bitcoin. And, you know, putting my resources to work, wherever they were, in support of Bitcoin specifically. And then my fund, there was maybe a bit of a contradiction there in the eyes of some, because my fund, which I started with, Matt Walsh in 2018, invests all across the crypto industry, primarily sort of crypto financial infrastructure we call it, which is pretty, you know, boring stuff for the most part, basically making this sort of underlying plumbing work better and connecting crypto to sort of the fiat system and so on. And then that tension finally sort of broke in the last couple of weeks when the Bitcoiners, I guess, realized, I don't know, had they never looked at my fund's website or what, but they kind of realized that I don't exclusively invest in Bitcoin stuff.