About 4TH.ENERGY

Onchain is changing and 4TH.ENERGY needs to change with it.

2023 was a watershed year in the space we call crypto. For those with a DeFi or financial perspective, it was a bear year. But for those in the creative, development, or solutions space of the Ethereum technology ecosystem, it was a year where the community shifted to the onchain dynamic and focused on changing and creating to achieve general adoption of onchain applications.

In my view, this community is exemplary in its ability to move on from crypto orthodoxy and avoid the maximalism that dogs Bitcoin and other chains. The Ethereum community said - if we need to go change to be environmentally friendly then we will make proof of stake work. If we need to scale beyond single chains, we will embrace L2 networks with bridges. And now it is saying that if the idea of wallets and externally owned accounts (EOAs) used in blockchains are a barrier to adoption, we will embrace standard industry curves so that we can push the secret keys and other nerdy stuff that gets in the way of adoption down below the surface. And if third parties need to pay for things on a users behalf to help them onboard, then we will invent ideas like account abstraction.

I am 100% on board with this approach.

I am also 100% committed to making a contribution to the flip side of the coin - increasing decentralization to increase freedom and reduce censorship. However, now is not the time for that. First, the terms and architecture and provider ecosystems etc. are all changing so fast this year (2024) that February already feels like December and I can't work out where the productive niches are that can get engagement. Second, I want to support this pragmatic change and focus on what it is, not what it isn't, and I don't want to muddy my support of the adoption drive with the contradiction of advocating the opposite ideas of the hard core monasticism required for true privacy tech. Third, when this phase succeeds, then I think freedom fighting will clearly diverge into a different space and we will have better clarity. And fourth, but not least, I think there are some opportunities in the current changes that will be commercially fruitful and help me fund the patience, advocacy, and team that are needed for the deep tech in a narrow niche such as the one I was pursuing with 4TH.ENERGY.

Timing is everything in tech, and so at this time I am retiring the current 4TH.ENERGY initiative and rolling my tools into a new venture that I can use to push into the new onchain adoption initiative. If that works, 4TH.ENERGY will be back with a team. Meanwhile, I will continue to talk about, and advocate for, all things onchain and an easier, more human, adoption process.

Thank you for reading this note.

Pete Horne
fc:horneps