Siddharth Ramakrishnan

Writing

Topic Guide Ā· 9 essays

Crypto and Internet Infrastructure

Censorship resistance, global rails, aggregation, identity, and market structure.

Crypto is most interesting when it is treated as infrastructure rather than vibes. These essays focus on what survives after the hype: censorship resistance, financial rails, identity primitives, and the persistent tendency of open systems to aggregate.

There is a recurring tension in this cluster: crypto promises openness and disintermediation, but open systems still create new chokepoints. That tension is where most of the real analysis lives.

Title card for "Crypto is Dead" about Mainstream adoption arrived, but mostly as financial infrastructure rather than political disruption.

Crypto is Dead

December 30, 2025

Stablecoins and crypto rails are finally going mainstream, but the movement's original censorship-resistant vision may already be dead.

Title card for "Crypto's Real Use Case" about Stablecoins are useful, but the deepest reason crypto matters is that it removes gatekeepers.

Crypto's Real Use Case

November 25, 2024

An essay arguing that censorship resistance, not speculation or faster payments, is the core and enduring use case for crypto.

Title card for "Canā€™t Escape Aggregation Theory" about The internet and crypto both remove gatekeepers at one layer only to create new chokepoints at another.

Can't Escape Aggregation Theory

June 16, 2025

Why decentralization often produces new chokepoints, from internet platforms to crypto exchanges and liquidity pools.

Title card for "Global Apps" about The internet is balkanizing, and crypto offers the only viable solution to keep it global and censorship-resistant.

Global Apps

November 22, 2024

The internet is balkanizing, and crypto offers the only viable solution to keep it global and censorship-resistant.

Title card for "DePIN šŸ¤ AI" about Exploring the role of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) in AI, from datacenters to inference and data.

Depin šŸ¤ AI

November 19, 2024

Exploring the role of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) in AI, from datacenters to inference and data.

Title card for "Proof of Humanity" about Why synthetic media and identity fraud make human verification more urgent online.

Proof of Humanity

June 9, 2024

An essay on proof of humanity, AI-generated fraud, and what it could take to verify real people online without breaking privacy.

Title card for "Proof of Humanity Pt. 2" about Worldcoin solves part of the problem, but friction and privacy concerns may keep it from becoming the default.

Proof of Humanity Pt. 2

September 10, 2024

A follow-up on proof of humanity arguing that Worldcoin's privacy tradeoffs and adoption friction may keep it from winning.

Title card for "DeFi Summer and WBTC" about Discover how CoinList capitalized on DeFi summer by offering streamlined WBTC trading. Learn how rapid scaling and innovative strategies turned a simpleā€¦.

DeFi Summer and WBTC Trading

August 9, 2023

Discover how CoinList capitalized on DeFi summer by offering streamlined WBTC trading. Learn how rapid scaling and innovative strategies turned a simpleā€¦

Title card for "Dropshipping Tokens" about A comparison of GPT wrapper businesses with mid-2010s dropshipping, exploring how companies can profit by combining AI with great marketing and UX withoutā€¦.

Dropshipping Tokens

October 22, 2024

A comparison of GPT wrapper businesses with mid-2010s dropshipping, exploring how companies can profit by combining AI with great marketing and UX withoutā€¦