azeem

The news is out! Couldn't be more excited to announce that I'm back in the ring as a builder. Coming on as a co-founder to @0xMiden with our $25M seed fundraise being co-led by @a16zcrypto , @1kxnetwork , and @hack_vc .

I spoke to what must have been over a 100 projects in the past few months, but nothing came close to being nearly as exciting as what this team is building.

My co-founder @bobbinth is genuinely the most impressive person I've met in Web3 in the 13 years I've spent in this space. And this is no exaggeration. Brilliant, humble, and hustles like no other.

Vitalik brought him into Web3 and got him working at the EF years ago on zk, then he went to Meta where he led the zk team, and is a Polygon cofounder as well. When I say the most impressive, I mean it.

Privacy, scalability, and decentralization, with the ability to offer compliance. That's what separates Miden from just another blockchain. And we're going to be bringing institutions on chain with this.

If you're a builder in this space, I'd love to hear from you. My DMs are open.

A few months back, Mashal and I sat down with Junaid Akram, a prominent Pakistani YouTuber, to talk about blockchain and digital assets. We even did parts of the interview in Urdu.

But this post is about the shirt I wore.

Anyone who knows me knows how much being a New Yorker means to me. In some ways, I feel like a New Yorker before I feel like an American. If you’re from New York, you probably understand.

So wearing my “Mamdanistan” tee on that platform was intentional.

When Zohran Mamdani won last year, I felt a sense of hope that reached well beyond New York. I believe that hope helped build the momentum we saw in yesterday’s elections. It certainly stayed with me.

I’m the child of immigrants who came to this country looking for a better future. My parents achieved the American Dream, and I’ve spent my life benefiting from the opportunities their courage and this country gave me.

I want that same possibility to remain real for the people who come after us.

That’s what this hope means to me. And yesterday’s results strengthened my belief in the future of a country I love deeply.

Proud New Yorker. Proud child of immigrants. And still convinced the United States is the best country in the world.

One of the more interesting developments as Ethereum matures is how we think about managing ETH treasuries.

For years, the conversation has largely centered around holding and staking. But as yields compress, treasury management will increasingly require a more sophisticated approach to balancing productivity, liquidity, and risk.

Great research from @GolemFoundation and @ethereuminsti.

Life is funny. Tomorrow, I'm going to be giving a guest lecture at NYU to an undergraduate class titled "Web3 Foundations: Blockchains and Marketing Fundamentals."

Back when I was applying to college, I didn't get into NYU, despite it being my top choice. Things worked out just fine with me going to Boston University (BU) instead, but I still remember telling myself that BU would be "like NYU, but in Boston."

Now, as I'm putting together my presentation, I can't stop smiling at the thought that the school that once didn't accept me as a student is now inviting me to help teach its students.

Sometimes, as entrepreneurs, we get so focused on the larger goals we're trying to accomplish that it's easy to lose sight of the smaller wins we accumulate along the way.

Not this time, though. I'm absolutely taking this moment to stop and smell the roses.

Action produces the very information inaction waits for.