Recently, I’ve also realized that I can be dragged along by the attention economy: once a hot topic floods the feeds, I get an itch to adjust my positions—then two days later, when the winds shift, I regret it. Plainly put, going back and forth and getting “emotional transaction fees” skimmed from me costs far more than on-chain transaction fees.

So I’ve set a dumb rule for myself: if I haven’t figured out how the incentives close the loop, who’s actually paying for security, and whether decentralization is anything more than a slogan—then I’ll treat it as if I didn’t see it. Especially those contentious debates around compliance boundary issues, like privacy coins and coin mixing. The louder the arguments get, the easier it is to push people into making impulsive decisions. But if you’ve spent enough time in node-related circles, you know this: when the rules change, the first ones to get hurt are often those who follow the hype.

Anyway, I’d rather miss out than keep living on “just barely managing to catch the wave.” Only things that make sense in the long run are worth me putting my attention behind. That’s it for now.