Legally Not Evil • CEO Letter #63

Taylor Culbertson -

I love it when a plan comes together. What plan, you ask? Silly question. I'm obviously referring to my plan to merge this email into your inbox. I think it worked!

This is Taylor, the CEO of Hedgehog, the all-in-one crypto portfolio dashboard. My company's priorities are summed up by our tagline: Learn. Track. Trade. In other words, we want to help you 1) know what you're doing, 2) understand how all your crypto assets are doing, 3) decide what to do next.

Giveaway reminder: Every week one lucky reader wins a Ledger Nano S hardware wallet to keep their crypto extra secure. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is answer my question at the end of the newsletter!

As I write, the ETH Merge is about to, well, merge. (Side note, the word "merge" has started looking so weird to me.) By the time you receive this email, I'm pretty sure it will have happened! w00t w00t!

While we are all certainly mourning the loss of our go-to ETH Merge jokes, that minor disappointment is far outweighed by elation and pride that ethereum, my "first love" in crypto, is taking this big next step. It's awe-inspiring to think of how many people cooperated to make this happen, across many time zones, and dealing with a zillion interpersonal conflicts and technical obstacles over the past several years. What an accomplishment!

"Previously, a single transaction consumed enough energy to power an average US household for a whole week. Post-merge, it will be closer to boiling a kettle," according to Junnu Salovaara, an executive at environmentalist crypto company Likvidi. While that statement seems… wildly over-exaggerated… the point is roughly right. Go ETH!

Tldr: The Merge is like the digital equivalent of a space shuttle launch. And that crazy thing where one plane refuels another plane while both are flying in midair. Plus the Doritos Locos Taco from TacoBell. All rolled into one!

Cool move from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz: the equivalent of Creative Commons licenses, but designed especially for NFTs, called the CantBeEvil license. This license is free for anyone to use on their crypto project. A16Z obviously hopes to establish common IP standards that will shape the NFT ecosystem as it grows.

There are six CantBeEvil options. The rights granted to NFT holders vary from "do whatever you want" to "do whatever you want except hate speech," plus provisions regarding who is allowed to develop the IP into products (like merch or video games).

A16Z general counsel Miles Jennings and partner Chris Dixon pointed out that "many NFT projects omit licenses altogether, or draft licenses that create more ambiguity than they resolve. Some copyright vulnerabilities have led to significant confusion around NFT licenses, and a number of other legal problems."

By contrast, CantBeEvil brings clarity:

Standardized NFT-specific licenses should ideally be tracked and enforced on the blockchain to provide more certainty for users. Better licensing frameworks have the potential to make high quality licenses more readily available, clear up ambiguity around ownership, and save creators some of the burden (and expense) of creating their own licensing regimes.

These CantBeEvil licenses seem like a great contribution to the overall crypto community, especially since no one is forced to use them unless they want to. This high-quality resource is available but optional — that's the crypto spirit!

Tldr: All of that said… there's something suspicious about a legal document labeled "can't be evil." Also, is evil a legally defined term? Is it a sliding scale? What's the minimum amount of evil needed to trigger legal action (asking for my dog. He's curious)?

The Hedgeblog is chugging along and you better not miss out! Luckily I'm here to give you links:

Investing in Crypto and Stocks at the Same Time
Balance your risk and reward by owning both cryptocurrencies and traditional assets like stocks.
HedgeBlogHedgehog Admin

Tldr: Believe it or not, you don't have to choose just one.

I Used Brave Browser for a Month, and Here’s My Review.
Some of our regular readers will remember that I wrote an overview of the Brave Browser and its BAT token. On the back of that, I felt Brave Browser sounded pretty cool, so I I decided to use it for a month and give you guys my full review. I’ve
HedgeBlogRyan S. Gladwin

Tldr: Ryan is a fan, hbu? He earned three figures in BAT rewards (if you ignore the decimal point) and that doesn’t even include all the Hidden Figures discovered by NASA 😉

How to set up your first crypto wallet: A guide
The *key* information you need to set up and use some of the most popular crypto wallets.
HedgeBlogLipsa Das

Tldr: Actually using crypto for the first time can be super-duper overwhelming. Let Lipsa walk you through it.

Giveaway question of the week: You know what Merge is also on my mind? The merge of flavors, awwww yeah. What two flavors go together like heaven?

For example:

  • Ketchup and mustard is a valid, classic answer.
  • BBQ sauce and mayonnaise.
  • Something weird like honey and pickle juice, or La Croix and any dairy product. I don't know your life!

Bonus points for telling me what food would be the condiment vehicle. (Note: Peanut butter and jelly is strictly forbidden. As my mom always says, "Peanuts are poison.")

My answer? Pretzels and milk baby! Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. And don't add La Croix.

Reply to this email with your answer for the chance to win a Ledger Nano S hardware wallet.

LegallyNotEvil,
— Taylor

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