Starting a new newsletter

Hi everyone,

It’s been too long! I wanted to reach out to everyone on this list and let you know that I’ll be discontinuing this newsletter and starting a new Defi newsletter from scratch.

I was doing some reflecting a few weeks ago and realized that I was kinda disappointed with my approach and execution of this weekly newsletter.

When I started writing - it was never meant to be a newsletter. It was really just a plain-text email I would send to a small circle of friends to get them more comfortable with Defi terms.

Each week, friends of friends would ask to be added to the list and it quickly got to the size where I couldn’t just BCC everyone on the email, so I had to move to Beehiiv.

What started as just an email, turned into a “weekly newsletter” that I had never really planned on writing, and looking back on the ~40 weekly emails I sent, I’m not that proud of the quality.

It was unstructured, unorganized, and something I looked at as even less than a hobby.

I talked about way too many different topics. Defi, NFTs, DAOs, web3 gaming, smart contract dev, crypto policy, etc. I also got lazy and wrote at a level that many subscribers of the newsletter couldn't understand.

So a few weeks ago, I soft-launched a brand new newsletter. This time, my intention is to actually write a newsletter and teach as many people as possible about important concepts within Defi.

You can subscribe here:

What to expect?
Essentially the opposite of this newsletter. More structure. More quality. More focus. More explanations.

LearningDefi is a twice-per-week newsletter.

Every Thursday will be an ELI5 (explain like I'm 5) or a Deep Dive piece.

Every Sunday will be a This Past Week in Defi piece.

I'm doing this combo because I think it's the most effective way to teach Defi. Go over the basics while also simultaneously talking about current events.

Who is the newsletter for?
Hopefully all of the people who had initially subscribed to this newsletter. This newsletter is strictly for those who are curious about Defi and want to use it to create a more inclusive financial system.

Why this new newsletter?
banking crisis, hyperinflation, rate hikes, etc

There are a lot of eyeballs looking at financial news right now.

I feel as a more advanced Defi user, I have a responsibility to help onboard and welcome the next wave of on-chain participants and make sure they understand basic Defi concepts.

My goal each week will be to explain things in a way that my dad would understand.

This past week I wrote about decentralized exchanges and how they work at a very foundational level.

And - I had some fun creating a few stick figure illustrations.

You can read some of my prior posts here:

Learning Defi - Weekly News (3/12 - 3/19)
Explain like I'm Five - Decentralized Exchanges
Learning Defi - Weekly News (3/19 - 3/26)

This Thursday I’ll be publishing an Explain Like I’m Five piece about Impermanent Loss. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

That’s all I’ve got for today! Thanks again to all of those who have read over the past year - hope to see you on the other side!

Stay safe out there and as always, stay yielding! 🌾