2008年初比特幣的出現(xiàn)，并非偶然。在2008年9月份雷曼兄弟破產(chǎn)，美國(guó)股市崩盤的前兩個(gè)星期，bitcoin.org悄無聲息注冊(cè)上線。圈子里神神叨叨的專家動(dòng)不動(dòng)就大談信仰，卻很少人普及常識(shí)。經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)發(fā)展的大周期和趨勢(shì)是重要的常識(shí)，這里說下我們看到的三個(gè)不可逆的趨勢(shì)。

三個(gè)不可逆的趨勢(shì)

第一個(gè)是貧富差距日益增長(zhǎng)的趨勢(shì)。二戰(zhàn)后的世界基尼系數(shù)日漸走高，單單在韓國(guó)，65歲以上老人的貧困率高達(dá)49.6%。退休就等于破產(chǎn)，貧窮成了繼續(xù)工作唯一理由。未來的中國(guó)社會(huì)與韓國(guó)類似，富三代出現(xiàn)后產(chǎn)生的精英與貴族階層，可以在很長(zhǎng)的一段時(shí)間內(nèi)享有財(cái)務(wù)積累帶來的社會(huì)資源與特權(quán)。資本驅(qū)動(dòng)的社會(huì)需要強(qiáng)大的社會(huì)流動(dòng)性 (social dynamism) 來維系整個(gè)社會(huì)的魯棒性，可是隨著資本主義的深入，社會(huì)流動(dòng)性日漸下行，階級(jí)日益板結(jié)。

第二個(gè)是全球化趨勢(shì)與國(guó)粹主義的沖突。經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化有利于各個(gè)生產(chǎn)要素在全球范圍內(nèi)的最佳配置，但要求我們能夠有人類整體命運(yùn)的高度和跨越民族的格局。在經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展下行趨勢(shì)下，原本更加應(yīng)該擁抱全球化的我們，看到了與“中國(guó)民族的偉大復(fù)興”如出一轍且正面沖突的“Make America Great Again”，看到了世界范圍的貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)、匯率戰(zhàn)升級(jí)，以及川普各項(xiàng)令人扼腕嘆息的反移民草案。政客在當(dāng)今政治環(huán)境下的大旋律就是 “不達(dá)成共識(shí)”，全球化在民粹主義的強(qiáng)勢(shì)下舉步維艱。

第三個(gè)是持續(xù)個(gè)人主義化的大浪潮。隨著消費(fèi)主義的發(fā)展給消費(fèi)者帶來極大的選擇空間，人們對(duì)”表達(dá)自我“的需求也成為在溫飽后的第一消費(fèi)要素。Instagram大當(dāng)其道，人人都是媒體，網(wǎng)紅代替品牌，抖音火過明星。隨著社會(huì)朝極度個(gè)人主義發(fā)展，個(gè)人需要直面作為生存主體的孤獨(dú)，這就要求真正意義上的財(cái)產(chǎn)所有權(quán)，以及數(shù)據(jù)擁有權(quán)，這才是“人生而平等”的基本條件。

在三個(gè)不可逆的大趨勢(shì)下，個(gè)體的力量似乎只不過是滄海一粟，歷史的車輪總會(huì)悄無聲息地碾過。

Primitive 是什么 

Eric Meltzer與我相識(shí)于對(duì)Zcash社區(qū)的建設(shè)，成為了彼此最好的朋友。作為一個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的假老外，我們共同作為Zcash的董事會(huì)選舉人，經(jīng)歷了一個(gè)也許是比特幣之后最優(yōu)秀的cryto community從無到有的發(fā)展過程。他一口京腔中帶著洋味兒的普通話，和我不是特別標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的廣普，常常給我們?nèi)粘５膶?duì)話添了不少笑料。我們倆一起是Zcash，Dfinity, Sia, KyberNetwork, 0x, Cosmos, StarkWare, Chia Network, Mobilecoin, Handshake, Celer, Spacemesh 等項(xiàng)目最早的投資人。

我們清晰地認(rèn)識(shí)到一個(gè)好的區(qū)塊鏈項(xiàng)目，需要的不僅僅是優(yōu)秀的加密學(xué)家和程序員，更需要有創(chuàng)造性的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，跨界的設(shè)計(jì)師，以及具有政治領(lǐng)袖氣質(zhì)的社區(qū)領(lǐng)袖。

我們經(jīng)?；ハ嚅_玩笑說 ”我們不僅僅要穿越熊牛，我們要一起穿越熊群和牛群“ 。我們熟諳”流動(dòng)性溢價(jià)“的套路與致命性，我們?cè)趦r(jià)值判斷時(shí)保持著極高的批判性。我們都喜歡問創(chuàng)業(yè)者一個(gè)問題“你這輩子做過什么最叛逆的事情”，我們都有快速區(qū)別投機(jī)者和founder的眼睛。

無數(shù)個(gè)夜晚我們會(huì)就對(duì)未來世界的憧憬聊到天空泛白，無數(shù)個(gè)項(xiàng)目討論我們會(huì)在對(duì)方還沒說完就知道對(duì)方的判斷邏輯。無數(shù)通宵討論后，我們決定一起聯(lián)手，篤定未來，創(chuàng)辦Primitive Ventures。

Primitive在英文的意思有個(gè)特別簡(jiǎn)單優(yōu)雅的定義—— "First of its kind"。經(jīng)常用在計(jì)算機(jī)學(xué)科里表示基本的數(shù)據(jù)類別和基本的計(jì)算操作，或者用在加密學(xué)里表示以構(gòu)建加密協(xié)議的底層加密算法，或者在生物學(xué)里面表示進(jìn)化早期的物種。 我們正處在這個(gè)行業(yè)的前三分鐘，We are in a primitive stage of the industry. 

在文章下面，我附上了我們倆的簡(jiǎn)歷和我們的英文的公開信: The Primitive Manifesto.

Satoshi在第一篇公開的論壇帖子里有一句極其值得玩味的話 "It(Bitcoin) takes advantage of the nature of information being easy to spread but hard to stifle" [比特幣利用了信息“極易傳播，難以被壓制”的特性]。我們過去幾年的對(duì)加密事業(yè)的探索過程中，看到了個(gè)體之間達(dá)成的分布式共識(shí)力量之強(qiáng)大，與信息會(huì)"持續(xù)消散“的特點(diǎn)，讓crypto asset擁有了極強(qiáng)的生命力。正是來自于個(gè)體對(duì)自由和平等，以及對(duì)資產(chǎn)和數(shù)據(jù)確定性最根本的渴望，讓我們看到了”熵永增，crypto 永生" 的可能。

我們堅(jiān)信個(gè)體在貧富差距拉大環(huán)境下，經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展下行趨勢(shì)下，民粹主義升級(jí)中以及個(gè)人主義化的大潮下，更加需要另一種選擇的可能，一個(gè)創(chuàng)造平行世界的機(jī)會(huì)，一個(gè)對(duì)沖現(xiàn)實(shí)世界系統(tǒng)性風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的保險(xiǎn)。區(qū)塊鏈?zhǔn)窃谌祟愒谧穼ぷ杂珊推降鹊牡缆飞?，一個(gè)偉大的嘗試。

人生最幸運(yùn)的事情，莫過于和最鐵的哥們一起，銀鞍白馬，快意江湖。

Hello World, Primitive Ventures.

THE PRIMITIVE MANIFESTO

10 years before Satoshi set Bitcoin in motion, John Perry Barlow of the EFF wrote regarding governments in his “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” that:

“[They] have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did they create the wealth of our marketplaces. They do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society with more order than could be obtained by any of their impositions.”

The same could be said of the majority of investors in the cryptocurrency space. A venture investor’s job ends once a company’s stock becomes liquid, but a crypto investors work has just begun. A hedge fund manager only starts paying attention to opportunities when they hit public markets, but a crypto asset investor should have the tools and network (and indeed, the passion and excitement for new things being built!) to help early-stage startups expand and thrive from day one.

Many firms in the space have rigid theses in which they expound on how people ought to be using crypto assets. We chose the name Primitive to emphasize that we’re still in the Precambrian days of cryptoasset networks. Writing a thesis about something so nascent is an exercise in futility—after a few months, it will only serve as a reminder that no one really knows where the space is going. As William Gibson put it: “The street finds its own uses for things” and indeed, the use cases that real people find for crypto networks are inevitably more innovative and incredible than the ones investors can imagine. At Primitive, we’re proudly thesis-free, and instead, spend all of our waking hours finding and supporting the people building truly valuable things.

We start at the earliest stage and provide founders with capital, support, advice, and the best network in the game. We then continue to support companies and cryptoasset networks as they grow with capital, community, media, and hiring support. We see a viable crypto project as built not only by cryptographers or engineers, but also creative economists, interdisciplinary designers, and charismatic community leaders. Most are fixed-issuance, which means that getting undilutable early stakes in the best projects can create outsized returns.

We’re long-term holders and market cycle agnostic. We've held Bitcoin since the days when most people bought it on an exchange that was intended for trading collectible cards, through two massive bear markets, and rarely trade. We understand crypto economics and human psychology well in a fast liquidity cycle, but don't expect our portfolio to rush for premature liquidity, as it can be fundamentally harmful. There is no compression algorithm for the growth of any community, nor to any form of consensus.

We aim to be a global firm from day one because crypto will be one of the first sectors where Silicon Valley and the US don't have an unfair advantage, unlike the last few major tech cycles. Two of our co-founders speak English and Chinese equally well, and have been fully immersed in those two major investment ecosystems; We are equally well-connected with the exchanges and mining powerhouses in China/Asia, the long-term investors in the Bay Area, hacker houses in Buenos Aires, academic labs in Tel Aviv, and trading communities in Tokyo and Korea.

As we execute this simple but effective strategy, we’re stoked to be backed by some of the most experienced and resourceful investors in the space, about whom we will share more in our following press releases. The list includes top crypto strategies, Asian conglomerates, wall-street powerhouses, the most successful angel investors in the world, and founders we invested before who now choose to reinvest in us.