When the Internet Eats the Economy: Goodbye Old Money, Hello Digital Chaos!

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In that grand theater of human folly called the “economy,” a curious spectacle unfolds. The old, stoic titan of traditional commerce is being nudged gently-or perhaps shoved unceremoniously-towards retirement, as if the economy itself had caught a nasty cold and the Internet economy, clad in digital armor, strides forth on electric steeds. This prophecy comes, no less, from Balaji Srinivasan, an oracle of crypto realms and former master at Coinbase’s digital bazaar, author of the tome “The Network State,” where dreams of pixelated sovereigns and blockchain borders dance merrily.

“The legacy economy is being sunset,” he proclaimed on the scroll of X (or whatever name the winds of change whisper today), as if the sun itself had grown tired of printing paper bills and now preferred to set in the glow of ones and zeroes.

To punctuate this digital sermon, he unfurled a chart-a curious tapestry showing a chasm between the “Magnificent Seven,” those tech colossi whose stock prices shoot upwards like fiery rockets fueled by investor fever dreams, and the rest of the S&P 500, which languish in mild, unremarkable flatness since the era of 2005. One imagines the rest of the companies sipping weak tea while the seven dine on ambrosia.

Magnificent Seven stock chart

Ah, the S&P 500, that sacred oracle of economic health-composed of 500 of America’s beefiest corporations, measured lovingly by their market cap. Srinivasan waxed poetic:

“Since the 2008 financial crisis, every transaction and every communication has moved online. But, we are still at the foot of the mountain. The next step is internet economies, communities, cities, and presidencies. The world is becoming Internet-First.”

Picture this: The Magnificent Seven-Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google’s parent overlord, Meta Platforms with its goggles and dreams of alternate realities, Nvidia, the wizard behind computer chips, and Tesla, the electric chariot maker. They sit atop their digital thrones, the benevolent overlords of bytes and bandwidth.

Magnificent Seven logos

And if that weren’t enough, our protagonist popularized the notion of Network States-imagine, if you will, entire nations not bound by land, flag, or pesky geography, but woven from the very fabric of the internet. Only the currency here is not gold or dollars, but cryptocurrencies-those arcane digital talismans that promise a new chapter in the human saga, akin to the leap from ploughshares to steam engines.

Farewell dusty ledgers! Blockchain and AI are crashing the party 🎉

The old guard of finance, with its love for snail-speed bureaucracy and penchant for smothering innovation like an overcautious nanny, finds itself increasingly outmatched. Yet, unlike the plot twists of a Bulgakov novel, the regulators and lawmakers of the United States have taken up the torch-if with some hesitation-to push for AI and blockchain’s grand entrance onto the stage.

The SEC and the CFTC, those venerable gatekeepers of market order, have emerged from their offices with a joint proclamation: soon, capital markets may never sleep, mirroring the restless, 24/7 dance of crypto trading. Fascinating news for those who prefer their money markets with a side of insomnia.

And because what’s a government without a flair for the dramatic, they enlisted oracle providers-no, not fortune tellers but Pyth Network and Chainlink-to scribe government economic data directly onto the blockchain, aiming for transparency and accountability. One wonders if the digital ledger will also capture the occasional bureaucratic eyebrow raise or coffee break rebellion. ☕️

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2025-09-21 23:35