Reformed ‘altcoin slayer’ Eric Wall on shitposting and scaling Ethereum

"There's aggregate cryptocurrency communities who person maine arsenic their favouite hatred entity basically," says crypto expert Eric Wall, formerly known arsenic the 'altcoin slayer.'

Although he’s had a assortment of jobs successful the industry, including a stint arsenic Arcane Asset’s main concern officer, Eric Wall is astir apt champion known for shitposting and arguing with radical connected Crypto Twitter.

“Just similar immoderate different person, I’m scrolling my Twitter feed, and past you spot radical saying dumb crap that is incorrect, and that is based connected a lie. And past I conscionable reason with that person, and past those arguments pb to long-form Medium articles,” helium says with conscionable a faint hint of a Swedish accent.

“I’m conscionable trying to close ‘incorrectness’ successful the space.”

He’s been moving connected a super-secret task ever since helium near Arcane aboriginal past year, truthful helium doesn’t person an authoritative rubric isolated from “blockchain researcher” and committee subordinate for Ethereum scaling solution the StarkNet Foundation.

After arguing with radical for years for free, much recently, Wall has been attempting to marque wealth from challenging antagonists to a stake and has besides (semi-literally) begun collecting the skulls of his enemies. “That has been paying disconnected successful tungsten cubes and existent money,” helium says.

“There’s aggregate cryptocurrency communities who person maine arsenic their favourite hatred entity basically. They privation to enactment you successful your place. And they person each sorts of idiotic ideas.”

Eric is the “prime antagonist” for Richard Heart and Hex. Source: Twitter

Wall precocious moved to Portugal from Sweden, attracted by the crypto-friendly regularisation and the manner — and for information reasons, aft the adjacent astir salient crypto aboriginal successful Sweden was physically attacked successful an effort to bargain his crypto. He explains the taxation strategy determination is truthful transparent that anyone tin look up your nett wealth. “If you harvester that with the information you cognize they’re into crypto, and it’s precise casual to prime retired targets successful Sweden,” helium says.

Wall says helium paid for the rent connected his caller level done the hatred of HEXicans. He’s been astatine loggerheads with the HEX assemblage since 2019 erstwhile laminitis Richard Heart explained the strategy to him. In February past year, helium made a stake with HEXican Dixon Piper that HEX — past trading astatine $0.18 — wouldn’t scope a caller all-time precocious by February 2023.

While helium hasn’t won yet (but astir surely will, fixed HEX’s existent price), aft HEX plunged to $0.04, helium was capable to hedge the stake and fastener successful a nett of $16,000 to wage for his flat successful Lisbon.

“I person this spot present with conscionable the astir astonishing presumption that I’ve ever seen successful my life. I spot the full Portuguese seashore from that window, from that balcony. I tin person these HEXicans telling maine however anserine I americium portion looking astatine that view.”

Similarly, helium stake Blockstream CEO Adam Back that PlanB’s “floor model” was going to beryllium incorrect — which it was. “So, Adam had to wage up a tungsten cube with his look engraved into the cube,” helium says. He won different stake against Bitcoin Magazine’s CK Snarks that the Ethereum Merge truly would hap successful 2022.

His program is to physique up a postulation of 20 tungsten cubes with the faces of his vanquished foes truthful that radical deliberation doubly astir arguing. “You’re going to beryllium beauteous intimidated,” helium says. “Do you privation to beryllium the adjacent look successful this collection?”

2021 I won a tungsten cube from Adam Back implicit S2F/PlanB.

2022 I won a tungsten cube from Christian Keroles (Managing Director astatine Bitcoin Magazine) implicit the Merge.

2023 I program to triumph against @bitcoinerrrrr implicit ETH withdrawals. pic.twitter.com/T2sIy2qolp

— Eric Wall (@ercwl) January 9, 2023

Bitcoin maxi to mini

Wall is simply a recovering Bitcoin maximalist who was erstwhile known arsenic the “altcoin slayer” for his brutal takedowns of altcoins during the epoch of ICOs. One of the astir qualified critics successful the abstraction — helium virtually wrote his Master’s thesis astir blockchain — helium tin zero successful connected technological issues and pass those problems efficaciously to little method members of the crypto community.

Back erstwhile helium was pointing retired that astir ICO altcoins were centralized shitcoins with myriad information issues, helium was a leader to Bitcoiners. But ever since helium started busting myths astir Ethereum and suggesting that Bitcoin was being near down by astute contracts, scaling and NFTs, they’ve liked him overmuch less.

As you person nary uncertainty gathered, Wall goes to large lengths to beryllium helium is close and erstwhile spent a period downloading an Ethereum node purely to bust the Bitcoiner story that it took 8 terabytes of information to afloat validate transactions.

“It was highly difficult, but it was possible, and it didn’t instrumentality 8 terabytes of abstraction connected the hard drive.”

One of the large reasons for the displacement from maxi to mini (he’s inactive a proponent of Bitcoin) is that Wall has been fascinated for years with gathering decentralized concern connected an unfastened and permissionless colony layer. That was the indispensable taxable of his thesis, and the request for decentralization to bring it astir was lone reinforced by seeing the limitations of permissioned blockchain platforms portion moving for Cinnober and Nasdaq. So, helium was people drawn to the DeFi assemblage connected Ethereum erstwhile it began to look successful 2019.

That aforesaid year, it became wide that Ethereum and different blockchains could standard utilizing zk-Rollups oregon optimistic fraud proofs, whereas Bitcoin had “almost wholly abandoned” the thought of doing thing with DeFi. So, helium got down DeFi connected Ethereum.

“That made maine autumn retired of favour with Bitcoin maximalists due to the fact that I was their aureate kid: the 1 that was expected to slay the altcoins, not 1 that was expected to accidental actually, determination is simply a usage lawsuit present though, and this strategy really does scale, and it’s not arsenic atrocious arsenic you think.”

Eric Wall. Source: LinkedIn

“So, past I had to alteration Bitcoiners’ knowing of the Ethereum strategy due to the fact that they were present the ones that were spreading mendacious facts astir however the strategy works.”

He concedes his erstwhile Bitcoiner friends deliberation he’s go a “shitcoiner for fiscal motives.” But Wall besides wants to standard Bitcoin, too, and is progressive successful a probe task with StarkNet and the Human Rights Foundation to analyse however to use zk-Rollup scaling to Bitcoin, pondering “what the benefits of that would beryllium and however feasible it is.”

“So, I americium moving connected that, connected trying to present that strategy and those technological benefits to Bitcoin.”

What’s down the Wall?

Wall was calved successful 1991 successful the Swedish metropolis of Linköping and spent a spread twelvemonth aft precocious schoolhouse traveling done Australia and Norway, moving unusual jobs from a deckhand connected a luxury yacht to a “chugger” (charity mugger).

He studied machine engineering astatine Lund University, and his clip determination was notable for his organizational efforts arsenic the “funmaker” of “Sweden Silent Party,” a bid of soundless disco events inspired by 1 the champion nights of his beingness successful Byron Bay. He besides became 1 of the archetypal Scandinavian engineers to constitute a Master’s thesis astir utilizing blockchain to tally a securities speech successful conjunction with section fintech Cinnober.

Eric Wall organized soundless discos portion astatine university. Source: Lund University

He was introduced to Bitcoin successful his archetypal twelvemonth of assemblage successful 2011 by a classmate who showed him an nonfiction astir darknet marketplace Silk Road. Buying Bitcoin astatine the clip for $4 was a week-long process that required wiring wealth to Mt. Gox successful Japan, truthful helium gave up. A twelvemonth later, Bitcoin had doubled to $8, and helium thought he’d “missed the boat.” “But I became funny successful this plus that accrued 100% successful 1 year” and saw an accidental to “get an edge” successful a wholly caller plus class. He mislaid everything successful Mt. Gox but gained a caller vocation arsenic a blockchain researcher and, later, blockchain pb astatine Cinnober.

During his clip there, and aboriginal astatine Nasdaq, helium realized that companies oregon adjacent countries weren’t going to hold to make the benignant of infrastructure required to physique a genuinely decentralized, cross-jurisdictional strategy for the colony of securities.

“It needs to beryllium thing that the Chinese and the Japanese and the U.S. tin usage arsenic a communal system,” helium says. “But that was a gargantuan task. That’s ne'er going to hap from the inside. I understood that later. It has to beryllium a strategy that comes from the extracurricular and keeps growing.” The lone apt candidates were Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

He told his bosses to enactment a clasp connected the endeavor blockchain worldly and to alternatively merchantability their incredibly accelerated matching motor tech to the large crypto exchanges. His colleagues thought crypto was a crippled oregon a gag — until Bitstamp turned up successful a backstage jet.

“Even large banal speech teams didn’t walk that benignant of wealth connected a gathering with Cinnober,” helium says. “Then they really did instrumentality it seriously, and we did present a solution to them.” 

Media crypto commentator

During this time, helium besides became the Swedish media’s go-to feline for crypto commentary. He was determined to prehend the accidental but hated the stressful, anxiety-inducing process of appearing connected unrecorded TV, truthful he’d load up connected valium to get done it. 

“Then everything was fine. It didn’t substance similar getting a large camera successful my face. I was wholly zoned out,” helium says.

Eric sometimes adopts the persona of the somewhat nicer Erica Wall online. Source: Twitter

“But due to the fact that I was truthful into crypto, I was doing crypto 17 hours a day. Even successful that state, I could inactive articulate and explicate everything astir Bitcoin and what was going connected adjacent if I was lone fractional conscious.”

It was a akin communicative astatine crypto conferences, wherever Wall’s ingrained Swedish standoffishness made the hundreds of little interactions helium had arsenic a well-known fig rather stressful.

“I person realized that now, astatine this point, like, I’m gonna conscionable beryllium natural. I deliberation I consciousness comfortable. I’ve flooded my Swedishness eventually.”

Nasdaq takeover

Cinnober was yet taken implicit by Nasdaq successful aboriginal 2019 for $190 million, and Wall recovered himself successful a monolithic bureaucratic enactment with small bureau and tons of rules.

“After Nasdaq acquired, they told us, well, ‘The large happening astir Nasdaq is you’re ne'er gonna person much than six bosses above…’ It’s a precise level organization,” helium says with adust humor. “Every tweet that I wrote had to spell done the Nasdaq support department.”

At the time, Wall was warring with aggregate token projects online astir their hyped claims. “I thought that I was doing thing precise important,” helium explains. One notable conflict, inactive moving today, was with the Iota founders aft helium argued successful a 2017 Medium station saying the protocol does not supply immoderate censorship absorption and is centralized astir the Iota foundation’s coordinator node.

This feline stake maine 1 BTC that IOTA would disable the Coordinator successful 2018 based connected a exertion I had debunked successful item however it was fraudulent (it was admitted years aboriginal and the CTO was fired and the task wholly redesigned)—yet helium is upset maine with *me* for wasting his time. https://t.co/MufJ6E0b0U

— Eric Wall (@ercwl) November 25, 2022

Unfortunately, Iota was besides being considered by the Swedish Central Bank to assistance make a cardinal slope integer currency, truthful Wall’s online antics were not considered politically helpful.

“People were lying astir what their exertion could do, and you inactive had to dainty them arsenic respected manufacture participants, which I wasn’t going to do. So, I didn’t inquire for support from Nasdaq to tweet, and it ended up with america going our abstracted ways.”

Arcane Assets

Wall past decided the champion mode to enactment successful the blockchain gyration was to enactment successful the economy, “So, I changed strategy and became a hedge money manager,” helium says.

It’s rather the leap from technologist to trader, and Wall tried and abandoned a assortment of approaches. Initially, helium learned method analysis, utilizing rules-based trading astir indicators similar Bollinger Bands and moving mean convergence/divergence. But aft penning an algorithm to backtest the rules, helium realized they performed nary amended than random chance. Similarly, helium thinks astir charts and models are ludicrous, which is wherefore helium perpetually jokes astir the superiority of the Rainbow Chart (“has emoji”).

1/15 Today, I'm comparing the 2 presently astir fashionable bitcoin terms models: Rainbow illustration vs S2F!

Rainbow chart:
✅ Tried & tested log regression (2014)
✅ Never changed
✅ Has emoji 🌈

S2F:
❌ New & analyzable (2019)
❌ Changes often
❌ Sounds similar a enactment position

A thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/1Td6pZXPM4

— Eric Wall (@ercwl) April 15, 2020

Then helium moved connected to investigating the technological fundamentals of projects to usher concern decisions, lone to spot his returns wholly dwarfed by radical who invested based connected what the logo looked like. He’s since settled connected a caller attack to trading: Work retired what unsophisticated investors volition bargain successful the aboriginal and bargain it first.

“The terms is driven by conscionable societal factors. Basically, there’s nary fundamentals,” helium explains. “When I spell retired and I constitute immoderate articles astir a peculiar exertion constituent successful immoderate cryptocurrency that undermines the full worth proposition, that’s a wholly antithetic thought process than the concern process. The concern process is conscionable about, well, are radical going to bargain it?”

But having to explicate to his superior hedge money bosses that helium was buying tokens due to the fact that helium thought the masses would bargain immoderate aged token with a canine connected it, was tricky.

“That was 1 of the things that I didn’t similar truthful much. These are regulated, accepted ‘we tally a beauteous posh hedge money that took superior from organization level investors’ and they don’t privation to hear: ‘Well, radical similar the canine picture.’ But that’s however the marketplace works.”

He recalls investigating whether investing based connected the viral maturation of crypto hashtags connected TikTok could beryllium a way to riches, but the money wouldn’t springiness the strategy the go-ahead. Instead, Arcane insisted helium put based connected rules and a checklist “to marque it an institutional-grade crypto money that avoided each the bullshit.”

“Problem is if you debar each the bullshit, you debar astir of the profit.”

So, again, Wall recovered himself chafing astatine the requirements of moving for a large organization.

“I deliberation I’m similar a degen successful my blood. I deliberation that the cryptocurrency abstraction moves highly fast, and you person to beryllium arsenic nimble arsenic the abstraction is. If the marketplace 1 time says ‘Okay, but screw each the exertion — we’re trading pictures of monkeys now,’ you person to marque the determination highly accelerated that monkeys is what it is each about.”

“So, if I’m going to bash thing else, present it’s going to beryllium determination wherever the mandate is wholly open.”

He handed successful his resignation successful the archetypal 4th of 2022 to enactment connected a super-secret task that he’s yet to uncover adjacent a twelvemonth on.

“I’m present successful the process of doing thing other that hasn’t been announced yet,” is each he’ll reveal.