i'm feeling 22
reflections and projections for the future, from a 22 year old
Well — as of December 4th I’m 22 now, and it’s been a great 21.
I really wanted to get this piece out on my birthday, however I felt the piece provided no views or value to you, the reader, so I redid it, and hope you enjoy!
When I first started out the year I was freshly 21 and still working in the family office space, a space I had been working in for awhile since my first boss ever led a commercial office space REIT that actually leased out spaces to WeWork (never tokenized WeWork properties).
Tokenization in 2016 was actually pretty difficult to do though,
You essentially had to form this structure
Building → SPV (special purpose LLC / company) → Tokens representing shares/claims on SPV
Frankly this structure still applies, but far easier as you don’t have to make it up from scratch anymore.
Flashback to Fall of 2024, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF was printing billions at this time, and all crypto related entities were in their boom cycle. I got an email from a fellow family office friend telling me that he had seen news about Bitcoin hitting new highs and wanted to know if he should buy some for himself/his firm, and I explained how great of an investment crypto is, and how in my opinion its far better than real estate, but more so on how real estate and crypto can converge via tokenization.
But at large, what it also enabled me to realize is that there are no real people discussing crypto beyond the layer of price speculation, and I think that sours the broader persons attitude towards crypto.
Randomly stumbling upon this video on YouTube actually gave me the idea of starting to actually “use” X and other platforms such as Substack. X claims it’s the place where you can “see what’s happening”, and that’s a very useful tool, because for years I’ve lurked around seeing the new trends as its frankly the Palantiri stone for what’s happening in all things crypto.
For the longest I only had about 3 followers and never paid for verified, but July this year I decided to actually start posting and grew to an OK 1,450 followers, people have definitely garnered more reach in that time.
For the overall duration I’ve been posting, we’ve been in the “fear” side of the fear and greed index, and as of posting we are definitely in the fear section.
I’ve definitely not regretted that decision, and if anything I’ve found that I deeply enjoy writing, and even more so doing video (video takes a bit more time though!)
As of late, I came across "The future of social looks like intimacy at scale" where author Rachel Karten states authenticity and humanity are winning in social media, even (especially) at scale. Interesting read as I deeply enjoy the subject.
Frühwarnzeichen
I always think of the saying “canary in the coal mine”, and my former boss used to primarily use german phrases, such as “Frühwarnzeichen” meaning an early warning sign. I think of the statement because in reality, I’m not a nihilist, but I believe one would be unwise to not acknowledge the canary’s chirps but still party, no?
The biggest issue I’ve seen over 2025 (and previously) is the rise of Gen Z’s penchant and normalization of grifting.
Now, I feel I am possibly VERY jaded by seeing people in crypto come and go, but I would say post pandemic we are in a griftoverse or something. As I eluded to in “Zihilism”, Gen Z faces an interesting job market and financial time. Frankly, grifting has been around for a long time, one of many is named Dale Carnegie.
“Coffeezilla”, a great investigative journalist I’ve followed for years who utilizes YouTube as a medium to report on scams has definitely called out the scammers of late.
Obviously the Hawk Tuah coin was a scam, but I think we’ll see more of scamming in the future.
The combination of financial pressure, digital fluency, and normalized hustle culture creates a perfect storm for Gen Z scamming. This generation grew up watching influencers monetize everything, seeing crypto rugpulls treated as business lessons rather than crimes, and absorbing the message that “getting the bag” matters more than how you get it.
Not a reference to the companies listed, the guest has a great narrative around the subject.
They’re native to platforms where anonymity is easy and enforcement is nearly impossible, while facing worse economic prospects than their parents: higher education costs, unaffordable housing, and gig economy precarity. When you’re told the system is rigged against you anyway, and you have the technical skills to exploit information asymmetries at scale, the psychological barriers to “finessing” people erode. The same tools that let you build a legitimate business let you run a sophisticated scam from your bedroom, and the cultural scripts now frame both as entrepreneurship.
We’re seeing the early stages of this with pump-and-dump Discord groups, fake course sellers, and catfishing schemes. But this is fundamentally a coordination problem, not a moral one. The platforms that enabled this can also solve it through better reputation systems, transparent on-chain histories, and communities that actually reward long-term trust over short-term extraction.
The question is whether we build infrastructure that makes scamming expensive and trust cheap, or keep pretending moderation alone will fix incentive structures.
Projection
I’ll definitely be moving this year from New England. Where? We’ll see, will dig into that in a post very soon.
Song: “true faith” by new order
True Faith” is about growing up and becoming more self-aware, realizing that beliefs and expectations change over time. It touches on confusion, self-doubt, and emotional distance, but it feels reflective rather than hopeless, like someone trying to make sense of themselves and the world.
Last year, on December 4 2024, these were the crypto prices:
Bitcoin: $98,928 - Today: $93,022
Ethereum: $3,841 - Today: $3,183
Solana: $229.12 - Today: $143.31