Dorm Room Dropouts Are Building Crypto Empires While Professors Nap 😂🚀

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Pray, good sirs and mademoiselles! Dost thou recall that noble chain of blocks, Ethereum? Before it reigned o’er markets vast, ‘twas but a thought — nay, but a spark! — flick’ring in the noggin of a young scholar unburdened by the weight of diplomas. Imagine, if you will, a mind unfetter’d by syllabus or stuffy lecture!

Ah! The council of crypto kings assembleth not in opulent boardrooms, but in those hallowed halls where pizza boxes breed: dormitories, secret gatherings, and, I dare say, hackathons where sleep is but a myth. These founders hast no letter of recommendation — forsooth, many possess no patience for parchment at all. Therein lies no accident, but a farce oft repeated: the drama of bold ideas, impetuous action, and a gleeful disdain for those aged timelines set by the Academy.

In the year 2014 (the age of ancient memes), a motley band of students didst conjure the Blockchain Education Network (BEN). Their singular mission: unite the disciples of Bitcoin across the many ivory towers of learning. Lo! Within a twelvemonth the network didst grow to 160 chapters across 35 lands, as if by some madcap sorcery.

From humble grassroot weeds sprout mighty oaks… or perhaps, more accurately, a launchpad (for what is entrepreneurship but a series of delightful explosions?).

BEN — that most blessed of acronyms — sparketh not only its core kin, but an entire order of young crypto fanatics. Some flung themselves from the cathedral of academia. Others, ever cautious, didst linger within. Yet nearly all didst begin their alchemic craft before the elders caught a single whiff of innovation. Projects seeded in this riotous garden didst sprout and grow to valuations of twenty billion crowns (that’s $20bn for those in the cheap seats). Think: IOTA, Optimism, Bitso, Augur, Wanchain, Notional, and Roll—each the bastard child of enthusiasm and disregard for sleep!

Such was the spirit that seized myself and Master Erick Pinos (erstwhile president of the MIT Bitcoin Guild, slayer of syllabi), to invent Dropout Capital—a fund for the young and technical, those who sprint before the world wakes up and asks why they’re in such a hurry.


Mark your calendars, noble crypto-enthusiasts! Master Erick Pinos doth speak at Consensus 2025 (May 16), where he shall address the deep question: “How can one find a livelihood in crypto?” ‘Tis a panel not to be missed, unless thou art allergic to opportunity.

As the wise Pinos declaimeth, with all the brio of a soapbox prophet:


“Over yon past seven years, we’ve chanced upon countless student founders — and at least half-a-dozen didst ascend into unicorn-dom! We are, verily, thrilled to offer others a golden ticket for the next blockchain generation. 🦄”

Why, this very sense of haste is no strange thing! The mighty titans of tech, those Jobses, Wozniaks and Dorseys, plus the enterprising Collison brothers of Stripe, despised college and left it strewn behind them like empty Red Bull cans. They built their empires while the professors napped.

Web3’s minstrels and maestros follow suit, by Jove! A non-exhaustive scroll of dropouts ascends:

  • Vitalik Buterin—quitter of Waterloo; conjuror of Ethereum ($500bn+)
  • Charles Hoskinson—departed Colorado, founded Cardano ($70bn)
  • Jed McCaleb—farewell to UC Berkeley, sired Ripple & Stellar ($130bn)
  • Jesse Powell—eschewed Cal State, opened the Kraken ($10bn)
  • Shayne Coplan—fled NYU, founded Polymarket ($1bn, approximately)
  • Joey Krug—exiled from Pomona, co-founded Augur ($1bn)
  • Jeremy Gardner—eschewed Michigan, yet another Augur architect ($1bn — a crowd, surely)
  • Jinglan Wang—left Wellesley, led Eximchain then Optimism ($11bn+ — one applauds!)
  • Noah Tweedale—never besmirched a campus, and co-founded Pump.fun ($1bn+)

Let us not forget Dropout Capital’s own prodigious brood:

  • Vana—MIT-born, weaving a fair decentralized data bazaar
  • SatLayer—from MIT alumni, seeks to stuff AI in Bitcoin’s trousers
  • Tenderize—a Marquette marvel, architecting a liquid staking bazaar
  • Algebra.Finance—crafted by a doctoral wizard, redreaming on-chain prediction (no mere fortune-teller!)

A loquacious plug, if thou wilt: The future lore of these protean projects is sung in ChainStories, a podcast I co-host with Sir Erick. There we draw the velvet curtain aside: Plume Network, YesNoError, Algebra.Finance, Virtuals.io, TON, Horizon Labs (and a cavalcade of others). Learn how companies are birthed—from raw idea to madcap reality—with all their calamities, fudge, and sheer happenstance.

Behold, gentlefolk: the future of crypto is not a dry academic panel, nor a meeting whence corporate gums flap endlessly. Nay! It lives in the trembling hand, the sleepless eye, and the mad desire to build before anyone realizes what on earth is going on. History whispers (nay, shouts): those who wait are left with the crumbs!

A footnote as dry as last week’s bread: The musings herein are the author’s own. CoinDesk and its noble sponsors may or may not share these hot takes — consult thine own judgment, and pass the wine.

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2025-05-01 18:16