Blog

Twitter Threads for Digifox

Posted on April 28, 2022

During my time at Digifox, I got to learn about many projects in crypto because I needed to write informative threads for our followers. Here they all are, in one place: How the Lightning Network works: Bitcoin’s energy usage: Biden’s executive order: China’s digital yuan: Implications of Lugano turning crypto into de-facto legal tender: Bitcoin’s use in the Russia-Ukraine war:  Bitcoin’s use in Canada amidst the trucker protests: How MiamiCoin works: Inflation: Why Our Current Measures of Inflation don’t doRead More

Jana Petkanic – DeFi Scams, Evaluating S**tcoins, and Starting Meetups

Posted on February 15, 2022

Thanks to Jana for coming onto the podcast!   To get started buying your first bitcoin, solana, and ethereum, sign up for Newton today: https://web.newton.co/r/NY371Z  Twitter: www.twitter.com/eugenefds  Instagram: www.instagram.com/fernandeseugene/  YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SoM1kuW8mW…  Website: www.eugenefernandes.com — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eugene-fernandes1/message

Learned Unreasonable Helplessness

Posted on February 3, 2022

To protect your faith in debate and public speech, it’s important to not use it in situations where it won’t work. I left university with a pessimistic view of reason and people’s ability to be influenced by it because the people I would use it with wouldn’t fall like dominos and change their minds when I put forward an argument. At best, it spurred counter-arguments. At worst, it spurred recalcitrance. But in any case, people never changed their minds afterRead More

James Rosen-Birch: Canadian Monopolies, Health Care, and Entrepreneurship.

Posted on February 2, 2022

Click to listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | All Others Thanks to James for coming onto the podcast! You can find him (and his thoughts) on the following platforms: provisionalideas.com https://twitter.com/provisionalidea Twitter: www.twitter.com/eugenefds  Instagram: www.instagram.com/fernandeseugene/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SoM1kuW8mWAB1pNZ5aPJw Website: www.eugenefernandes.com — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eugene-fernandes1/message

Frank Hepworth – How to Make 20% APY on Your Stablecoins (!), The Threat Crypto Poses to Lawyers

Posted on January 15, 2022

Click to listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | All Others Thanks to Frank Hepworth for coming onto Letters from a Contrarian! To get started buying your first bitcoin, solana, and ethereum, sign up for Newton today! https://web.newton.co/r/NY371Z Topics Discussed: etherscan.io The Block Explorer Terra Luna The Anchor Protocol (to make 20% interest): https://www.anchorprotocol.com NDAX, Newton, Coinbase, Shakepay. Contact Frank: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/frank_hex Twitter: www.twitter.com/eugenefds Instagram: www.instagram.com/fernandeseugene/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SoM1kuW8mWAB1pNZ5aPJw Website: www.eugenefernandes.com

Don’t Apologize for Getting COVID.

Posted on January 1, 2022

The last three people I know who got COVID most recently all apologized to me after letting me know that they had it. One apologized because our exposure to him might mean that some of us would need to cancel Christmas plans, another apologized because we could no longer see each other in the time that he would be spending in Calgary for holidays. The third apologized because we live together and he’d feel wrong if I ended up withRead More

Mackenzie Putici – How to Pick Profitable NFTs, Getting Into Yield Farming, and Selling a Bored Ape Yacht Club!

Posted on December 16, 2021

Click to listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | All Others Thanks to Mackenzie Putici for coming onto Letters from a Contrarian! The *iconic* Bored Ape Yacht Club: https://opensea.io/collection/boredapeyachtclub Solana Platforms like OpenSea on which you can trade NFTs: Digital Eyes: https://digitaleyes.market Solanart: https://solanart.io Solana Wallets: To get started buying your first bitcoin, solana, and ethereum, sign up for Newton today! https://web.newton.co/r/NY371Z Other Topics Discussed: Impermanent loss Uniswap and Sushiswap for yield farming ethereum. Places to yieldRead More

My Critique and Review of The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene

Posted on December 12, 2021

Seduction is a skillset that is surprisingly legal. I had the unfortunate pleasure of being seduced for the first time in my life by someone a month ago called Finn. While my infatuation with him took two weeks and a lot of journalling to get over, he still lives rent-free in my mind. I set out to read The Art of Seduction because I wanted to avoid ever being in a similar situation again – one where I’ve lost completeRead More

What’s Happening to the World?

Posted on December 8, 2021

It seems like the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated trends and forces within society that were already happening. It revealed a lot about the government, the media, “scientists”, social media, the networks we’re all in, our weak spots as a society and as a country, and perhaps what we should do moving forward. I think the most acute issue that I experienced was the failure of my society to respect and value rights and freedoms. This was made most evident by theRead More

Nicholas Merten – Founding and Running Digifox, The Value of Bitcoin, and Energy Stocks

Posted on December 2, 2021

Click to listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | All Others Full disclosure, I happen to work at Digifox, and Nicholas is my boss. But as a 23 year old who’s responsible for the salaries of ~2 dozen people and a Praxis graduate, Nicholas is an extremely impressive guy. In this episode, we discussed his background and origins, the rise and potential of crypto as an asset class, the failures and inefficiencies of the banking system, andRead More

IJ Makan – Cultural Appropriation, Crypto, NFTs, and Future Cities

Posted on November 16, 2021

Click to listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | All Others IJ and I met over twitter! We covered a lot of ground in this episode, including discussions about Canadian identity (or lack thereof), the potential that blockchain and crypto has, how he got started creating his NFT collection of philosopher kings, and how we’ll build cities in the future. Also, the video doesn’t show my face for the first hour or so because I forgot toRead More

Steve Paolasini – Jumping Down the Crypto Rabbit Hole

Posted on November 1, 2021

Steve Paolasini joins us once again to talk about his journey into crypto and all of its possibilities! — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eugene-fernandes1/message

JCCF Essay Competition

Posted on November 1, 2021

I found out that the JCCF had an essay competition on Friday, October 29. The deadline to submit an essay was Sunday, October 31 at 11:59 PT. So of course, I wrote an essay in two days. It brought back memories of undergrad. The essay question: “Should citizens who refuse to get vaccinated have the same rights and freedoms as those who do get vaccinated?” Click here to read the essay.

Pandemic Populism – Season 2 Wrap Up

Posted on October 20, 2021

In Season 2 of Letters from a Contrarian, I sought to understand what went wrong with Canada’s pandemic response, and what a more ethical, constitutional, and tolerable response would’ve looked like. I summarize my two answers to these questions based on the conversations I had with my guests in Season 2 in this episode. I also go through why crypto, web3, and decentralization is the best way to preserve liberal values without the use of naked power. — Send inRead More

What Adulting Is

Posted on September 5, 2021

It’s been about a year since I graduated with a bachelor’s degree and started working full time. Here’s what adulting seems to mean: a loss of time, no cheap talk, and iterability. A Loss of Time I work 8 hours a day, five days a week. In university, I worked (maybe) 3 hours a day, 3 days a week. Losing all of that free time (~26 hours) is jarring! It feels like all of your time has been sucked away.Read More