Depue posted the short thesis publicly instead of trading.
i feel pretty stupid for not shorting crypto as a whole given AI cyber capabilities. like you should be short an industry incredibly vulnerable to hacks the day the hack machine 9000 is announced. maybe leopold got this one too
Many users dismissed the researcher's call to short crypto over AI cyber hacking risks as fear-mongering, arguing it would make crypto worthless or expose it as a scam.
@willdepue tfw u tweeted about it instead of actually opening any positions
@willdepue hard to short assets that have random melt ups that reverse unless you can commit huge amounts of capital to meet liquidation thresholds
@willdepue @shakoistsLog Yes a put option lol
@willdepue
@shakoistsLog yeah but can’t you just do some version where you’re betting on a big crash but your max loss is fixed? like not shorting it directly just buying some kind of insurance like thing against crypto nuking
@willdepue but crypto/stablecoin is also honestly the most efficient way for ai to transact in the future as the throughput goes even more through the roof
@willdepue thought the same but Vitalik's blog changed my mind a bit: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2026/05/18/fv.html
@willdepue Doesnt this mean we should short the US electrical grid
@willdepue The DAO was 2016. "AI lowers exploit costs" is a short on every software holding value, not a thesis specific to crypto. Crypto just makes the theft irreversible.
@willdepue @shakoistsLog All good you touched OpenAI equity
@ken100bands @shakoistsLog i have never touched a derivative in my life just to be clear, sounds good
@willdepue i thought about what industries would be most affected by hack machine 9000, but overlooked crypto. i figured there was so much motivation for state-level actors to do it, it should've been done already. ohwell
@willdepue Hack the planet
@based16z @willdepue @shakoistsLog DAT that holds IBIT and ETHA puts who is building this?
@willdepue Lol don’t beat yourself up, there are yet so many plays to be missing out on!
Chin up king
@willdepue
@ken100bands @willdepue @shakoistsLog I think all the major Bitcoin ETFs track the spot price of Bitcoin very closely during trading hours, minus an annual expense ratio of 0.25%.
@willdepue the hack machine 9000 has been live since 2014, it's called a smart contract
@ken100bands @willdepue @shakoistsLog Yes. You can buy put options on a Bitcoin etf like ibit.
@mllichti @willdepue @shakoistsLog careful though, the mechanics of certain cryptos are much more robust than others !