Content Archive

A chronological archive of writing, podcasts, and videos.

I've never really focused full time on writing and public speaking. It's always been just a hobby relative to my primary avocation of technology. Nevertheless, some smart and persistent folks really wanted to see an index of my work all in one place, and even pitched in to help organize it, so here we go! Below is a list of talks, essays, podcasts, and videos that may be of interest. Please also see waitwho.is for a complementary automatically generated index.

2013

During this period I gave a MOOC on startups to ~250,000 students which had several lectures that I think are of continuing interest, including the one that introduced the concept of the "idea maze" (PDF). I also did a panel with Naval Ravikant and the Winklevosses on Bitcoin (BTC price at the time: $127!), discussed the genomics and robotics behind Counsyl for my MIT TR35 address, spoke at YCombinator's Startup School on Silicon Valley's Ultimate Exit, and wrote about how software will eventually lead to mass migrations and the formation of new countries.

Essays

• Software is Reorganizing the World

• The Idea Maze (review by Chris Dixon)

• Startup Engineering Lectures (index)

• Introduction

• Market Research, Wireframing, and Design

• Why do VCs love mobile, local, and social? And what will they love next?

• Regulation, Disruption, and the Technologies of 2013

Videos

• Innovators Under 35: Balaji Srinivasan, Cofounder, Counsyl (article)

• Talking Bitcoin With the Winklevosses

• Balaji Srinivasan at Startup School 2013

2014

While at a16z, I did several investment memos and podcasts. I also did a fun commentary on VR with @cdixon, and collaborated on a piece with Naval on the Bitcoin model for crowdfunding prior to the Ethereum ICO.

Essays

• The Bitcoin Model for Crowdfunding (with Naval Ravikant)

• Software Gets the World to Stop (Over) Eating

• OpenGov: The Startup Analyzing $50B in Spending

Podcasts

• a16z Podcast | The State of the Bitcoin Ecosystem, and a Theory on Satoshi

• a16z Podcast | Where is the Technology That "Matters?" Right Here

• a16z Podcast | Oculus and the (Mind-Blowing) Reality of Virtual Reality

• The Rise of Full Stack Startups

• The State of the Bitcoin Ecosystem, and a Theory on Satoshi

• Where is the Technology That "Matters?" Right Here

• Searching for Mobile's Own PageRank

• Oculus and the (Mind-Blowing Reality of Virtual Reality)

• The Two Big Problems With Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century"

• The End of Ownership

Videos

• a16z Podcast | The State of the Bitcoin Ecosystem, and a Theory on Satoshi

• a16z Podcast | Where is the Technology That "Matters?" Right Here

• Bitcoin Fireside Chat with Marc Andreessen and Balaji Srinivasan - Coinsumm.it

• a16z Podcast | Oculus and the (Mind-Blowing) Reality of Virtual Reality

2015-2016

I didn't produce as much content during this period, as I was busy turning around the vehicle that became Earn (and which we sold to Coinbase in 2018). But the first talk on the Network State and the Stanford discussion with Marc Andreessen where the concept of "personal runway" is introduced are worth checking out.

Essays

• Digital Health

• Bitcoin (and Blockchain)

• The Digital Lab Notebook for Life Sciences, Now Starting at Free

• Blockspring: Do Anything in a Spreadsheet

Videos

• Sunnyvale Bitcoin Job Fair

• The Evolution of Bitcoin

• Bitcoin 101 | Balaji Srinivasan

• The Network State: Estonia 2015 (video)

• Bitcoin is Still Alive

Podcasts

• Stanford discussion between Marc Andreessen and Balaji Srinivasan (podcast)

• 20VC: Balaji Srinivasan

2017

I wrote an early piece on tokens that I think holds up reasonably well today (though there's more of a strong terminological distinction between coins with their own chains vs tokens that run on existing chains), as well as another piece on how to actually quantify decentralization. I also wrote about Twitter Moments, which is the unbranded-but-ubiquitous news organization integrated directly into the Twitter platform that gives editorial commentary on headlines, and did an interview with the Wall Street Journal on cryptocurrency. Finally, I gave a followup talk on the Network State and another talk at 1517 Fund that presaged some later work on the pseudonymous economy.

Essays

• Quantifying Decentralization

• How big is Twitter Moments?

• Thoughts on Tokens

• The Blockchain is the Internet of Money

Podcasts

• TWiSt #769: Balaji Srinivasan with Jason Calacanis on Crypto, Free Speech, and Tech

• How Digital Currency Will Transform The World

Videos

• The Network State - Balaji Srinivasan

• Balaji Srinivasan at the 1517 Assembly on Pseudonymity

• "Quantifying Decentralization" | Blockstack Summit 2017

• Quantifying Decentralization | CESC2017 @ Berkeley

• Quantifying Decentralization - Balaji Srinivasan | Silicon Valley Ethereum Meetup

• Payments Panel: Balaji Srinivasan, Elizabeth Stark, Ryan X. Charles | Blockstack Summit 2017

• E769: #TWiSTLive@WSGR: Balaji Srinivasan: crypto tokens, ICOs, longevity, future tech

• Token Summit II - The Tokenization of Earn.com with Balaji Srinivasan

2018

My primary focus was being CTO at Coinbase and shepherding the Earn/Coinbase integration. That resulted in Coinbase Earn, which did hundreds of millions of dollars in deals in its first year, including a $100M+ deal with Stellar, and is now built into the main Coinbase app as something every user does along with buying, selling, sending, and receiving crypto. I also lead the addition of new assets, the USDC launch, and several other projects.

That said, I did do an interview with Tyler Cowen, a fireside chat with Naval and Erik Torenberg, and a piece for Coindesk (republished and updated here).

Essays

• 3 Ways Blockchain is Already Delivering on the Hype

• And What has the Blockchain Ever Done for Us?

Podcasts

• The Power and Promise of Blockchain

• Balaji Srinivasan on Voice, Exit, and Earning Money Pseudonymously

• Crypto Stories Live: Balaji Srinivasan and Erik Torenberg on Crypto in a Borderless World

• How Everyone Can be an Investor

Videos

• Blockchain: A Shift (Back) Toward Decentralization

• Balaji Srinivasan: Technology Will Lead to a Borderless World

• What Are Blockchains Useful For? - Balaji Srinivasan + Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit

• Fireside Chat with Balaji Srinivasan (Coinbase)

• Crypto-finance: Exchanges & DExs at the Ethereum Meetup 2018

• "The Blockchain Means Global Equality of Opportunity" at Founders Embassy's Borderless Summit 2018

• "People don't realize how close the tech is to being ready" - Vitalik & Balaji Srinivasan at ETHSF

• SFBW18: Blockchain Engineering at Coinbase - Balaji Srinivasan (Coinbase)

• The Present and Future of Crypto with Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan

2019

I finished up at Coinbase in mid-2019, took some time off, and also did a bit of writing and interviews. Here's a piece on why blockchains are truly distinct from previous databases, as they represent massively multiclient databases where every user is a root user. Here's a pair of interviews with Peter McCormack on the intersection between crypto and VR, here's a fun session with Glen Weyl on innovation at the state level, here's a Stanford lecture on crypto circa 2020, here's a talk on why Bitcoin becomes the flag of technology over the 2020s, and here's an address on how we might build a pseudonymous economy.

Essays

• Yes, You May Need a Blockchain (v2)

Podcasts

• Building the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

• Balaji Srinivasan Part 1 - Virtual Worlds, AI and Politics

• Balaji Srinivasan Part 2 - Bitcoin, Coinbase and Maximalism

• Balaji Srinivasan and Glen Weyl on Identity, Governance, and Radical Market

Videos

• Building the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem [Entire Talk]

• Stanford Seminar - Building the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

• How to become a CTO by Balaji Srinivasan CTO of Coinbase

• Spring 2019 Summit: Fireside Chat With Balaji Srinivasan

• Breaking up Big Tech could dampen innovation, says expert

• Balaji Srinivasan Part 1 - Virtual Worlds, AI and Politics

• Balaji Srinivasan Part 2 - Bitcoin, Coinbase and Maximalism

• Balaji Srinivasan - Towards A Pseudonymous Bridge

• SFBW19 - The Pseudonymous Economy - Balaji Srinivasan

• Balaji Srinivasan: Pseudonymous Economy | Blockstack Summit 2019

• Bitcoin as the Flag of Technology
  

2020

I had a bit more time to write and speak this year, given the pandemic situation. There's a fair amount of content below, but I'd recommend looking at this early article on COVID-19 (and these tweets), this piece on Bitcoin as the Flag of Technology, this talk on Decentralized Media with Saagar Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff and a related followup with David Perell, and this essay on the Purpose of Technology.

Essays

• Bitcoin becomes the Flag of Technology

• Citations for the Recode Handshake Debunking

• The Official Chinese Government Guide to Diagnosing and Treating the Novel Coronavirus

• Peer Review of “COVID-19 Anitbody Seroprevalence in Santa Clara County, California”

• How will Covid change the world forever

• Set Up a Paid Newsletter at Your Own Domain

• How to Gradually Exit Twitter

• The Purpose of Technology

Podcasts

• Building a Crypto Civilization with Balaji Srinivasan

• Special Edition: COVID-19 with Balaji Srinivasan

• On Building Digital Commonwealths

• The Coronavirus Might Eat the World

• Exploring COVID-19 (#78)

• TWiSt #1042: Balaji Srinivasan

• COVID-19 Shorts: Balaji Srinivasan

• Corona Crisis: The View from the Valley

• Angel Investor Balaji Srinivasan Speaks About Crypto Hacks for the Coronavirus

• The Argument for Decentralization Part 1

• The Heretic & The Virus

• Navigating the Idea Maze and Finding a Co-Founder

• India's Response to COVID-19

• Predicting Pandemics, Fixing Journalism

• What the World Looks Like in the Coming Years

• Panic with friends (74) - with Balaji Srinivasan

• The rise of cloud cities & citizen journalism

• Balaji Srinivasan and Decentralized Media

• Living in the Future

Videos

• Building a Crypto Civilization with Balaji Srinivasan

• Special Edition: COVID-19 with Balaji Srinivasan

• Fireside chat with Balaji Srinivasan (Nakamoto) & Patrick Stanley (Blockstack) 02.12.20

• Balaji Srinivasan: Coronavirus Will Shape This Decade Like 9/11 Shaped the 2000s

• The Knowledge Project #78 — Balaji Srinivasan

• E1042 Balaji Srinivasan on Recode incident, techlash history, potential COVID-19 endgames & more

• Balaji Srinivasan discusses iteration in biomedical products during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Balaji Srinivasan's AMA on China's guidance to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19

• Balaji Srinivasan discusses the FDA's role during the COVID-19 pandemic

• 0xpo 2020: Fireside Chat with Balaji Srinivasan

• Corona Crisis: The View From The Valley (w/ Balaji Srinivasan)

• Pomp Podcast #295: Balaji Srinivasan On The Argument For Decentralization - Part 1

• Applications: Today & 2025

• #18 - Bharatvaarta - India's Response to Covid-19 | Balaji Srinivasan and Sri Thiruvadanthai

• Decentralizing Media - Balaji Srinivasan keynote - Mainnet 2020

• Balaji Srinivasan - Red and Green Zones

• Unitize2020: How COVID changed everything: crypto,macro, and beyond

• The Future of Decentralized Social Media w/ Balaji Srinivasan, Vitalik Buterin, Juan Benet

• The Realignment Ep. 43: Balaji Srinivasan vs. Big Media

• Long Conversation on Emergent Cities and Chaos 07 | Garance Choko and Balaji Srinivasan

• Long Conversation on Emergent Cities and Chaos 08 | Balaji Srinivasan and Pia Mancini

• Balaji Srinivasan - Angel Investor/Entrepreneur, Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and GP at a16z Ep #28
  

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kevin, Akshay, Krish, and Samar for their feedback and help compiling this archive!