Technology creates possibilities. Culture determines what people actually do with them. Crypto has spent years expressing a particular vision of the future: “Don’t trust, verify.” “Not your keys, not your crypto.” “Be your own bank.” “Bank the unbanked.” “Code is law.” “….Can’t be evil.” “If you’ll permit us, we’d like to change the world.” Behind all of those phrases are ideas about decentralization, sovereignty, open systems, permissionless access, accountability, and changing the relationship people have with money, institutions, and one another. But culture, to me, is more than what a community says it believes. It is the shared assumptions, norms and behaviors that develop around what matters, what is valuable, what is fun, what is worth protecting, and what people expect from one another. A shared vision of the future becomes part of that culture too. But ultimately, culture is reinforced through behavior. What people repeatedly build. What they support. What they fund. What they reward. What they celebrate. What they are willing to spend years working on, even when the attention disappears. Those actions become signals of what the community actually values. When enough people keep reinforcing them, they become habits and expectations. Eventually, they become part of the culture itself. And that is where I think the real shaping of this industry happens. The technology gives us the possibility to build something different. The culture determines whether we actually do. Let’s talk about it today with @CardanoNoodz xitter.cf/i/spaces/1rGmqpY…

A few thoughts from the applicant side after going through the Catalyst Pilot 2026.

Getting clear crypto regulation is very important, especially for those of us who want to build and use things without wondering whether the rules will be interpreted differently after the fact. But this industry also needs to do a much better job of answering a simpler question: Why should people care? Build amazing things. Solve real problems. Give people products they actually want to use. Once enough people genuinely care about what’s being built here, the demand for clear rules won’t just come from the crypto industry. It’ll come from everyone. And pushing for those rules becomes a whole lot easier.

In my early 20s, I failed to land my first major proposal. It was a production worth more than $2M for a major network. During the pitch, the vice president of programming told my partner and me: “You’ve got to know, this is the best proposal we’ve gotten from anyone. But we greenlit a similar concept just a month ago. If that doesn’t go well, we’ll reach out and see if we can develop this instead…” That show ran for 11 seasons. 😂 I get that some people don’t like it when a project calls itself “the first,” but I also understand why that language can matter to people who have spent years thinking about, pitching, and building ideas before they became obvious. Come chat tomorrow. We’ll be sharing project updates and discussing originality, what it means, why it matters, and how ideas evolve into that certain je ne sais quoi that makes something feel truly distinctive. See you there!

I’ve worked in the creative industries for nearly 20 years, with and for projects and artists I couldn’t even dream about when I was a kid. I’ve seen and lived through incredible moments, along with all the difficult, ugly, and messy parts of the industry too. If there is a way to sustainably support a creative economy, we’ll be working on it at @AdaLink_io. If blockchain is truly part of the future of value, then AdaLink can help become one of the bridges between Web3 and the entertainment industries. And looking at the broader Web3 landscape, I believe Cardano has a real opportunity to lead in that direction.