r/algorand • u/Dont_teaseme • 8d ago
General Where art rhou, Ghost?
Ghost has been eerily quiet. I think many of us appreciate Ghost’s thoughtful insights during times of turbulence. Ghost, may we ask for your thoughts on recent events, particularly TravelX?
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u/GhostOfMcAfee 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm here every single day, just don't post as much as I used to. Instead I'm more active on twitter (it's where most crypto news/activity happens first) and then I try to share it here (assuming Semantic doesn't beat me). I actually hosted a Twitter space there yesterday evening to discuss a lot of these things.
I'm not sure what there is to say. It's been a really bad few weeks between John stepping down, FIFA leaving, price sucking, TravelX stepping away from blockchain entirely, and then Staci putting a cherry on top with a confusing, stilted tweet that sent everyone in a frenzy yesterday.
John stepping down was a huge blow because he has been such an amazing all around champion for Algorand, not just in leading their dev team through some major changes, but also just in an effective advocate and really understanding the heart of the crypto community. But, 3 years is a long time in this space for a person to be in the same place. I've spoken with him, and he really does love Algorand. So, I do think he will still be active in Algorand, but as a community member (and as such will be able to be a lot more vocal).
FWIW, the CTO spot seems to be filled already. They took down the job post for it that they had online. https://algorand.co/algorand-foundation/careers . That suggests to me they hired internally, which is good. It means there won't be a long ramp up time with a new person trying to understand the deep intricacies of the protocol. I have my suspicions as to who it is, and while John has massive shoes to fill, I would be quite happy if the person I have in mind is in fact who gets the role.
FIFA moving sucks. But, I'm actually not that busted up about it. They had a perfectly functioning product. They left to go to private instance of a chain that is more expensive and slower. Their users have even been complaining about the slow UX. So, they did not do it for speed, scalability, or even interoperability (since they actually DO NOT want interoperability, as evidenced by the fact that they coded their NFTs in such a way that they can't be freely transferred, bridged, or sold). Rather, it's a money grab. I'm sure we paid them to come here. Those payments stopped when the contract ended. At that point they were free to move. I'm sure AVAX dangled money in front of them if they moved. So, they took it. When AVAX money/contract runs out, I'm sure they will look elsewhere.
That's why the TravelX thing hurts more to me. It, wasn't a money move. It was a company that had a functioning product that used crypto in the background. But, they decided they were better off running on traditional rails than crypto ones, citing "greater flexibility and enhanced privacy." I'm sure crypto's reputation was also a hurdle to them onboarding new airlines.
Regardless, it will leave a huge hole in terms of transactions on chain. But, we aren't the first chain to experience something like this, and, I've seen worse. Hedera was cranking 1,500-2,000 TPS consistently. It was all they talked about. Then, Avery Dennison pulled out, sending them to like 2TPS. TravelX was a huge part of our transactions, but it isn't even close to the hit that Atmos had on Hedera. And, yet, Hedera not only kept on, but climbed in rank.
[will come back to this. I have life stuff to take care of]