A framework for everyone

Conceptually, the Open Money framework is for everyone. Or, maybe more to the point, it’s for people who often feel left out of the conversation or the crypto “action.”

My main motivation in writing so much about Open Money is to help people better understand the opportunities and the risks associated with new kinds of money-related technologies like crypto, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, etc.

These technologies aren’t just reshaping financial markets— they’re reshaping culture, identity, and how we interact in the digital world. But here’s the thing: too often, the door to this conversation feels closed for many people. Or at least if feels like a heavy door to open.

From my perspective, one of the biggest liabilities in the crypto space so far is that the most outspoken participants are either people who are terminally online, gamblers disguised as speculators, hardcore crypto degens, or the “crypto establishment.” The latter group includes tech influencers and personalities who have at times driven the industry’s growth but also boxed it in with exclusivity and insider jargon.

The establishment matters — just as elders matter in any evolving system. They’ve helped lay the foundation. But let’s not pretend they’ve been flawless. Chronic price hype, overcooked narratives recycled on the same dozen podcasts, and a tendency to gatekeep knowledge have made crypto feel impenetrable to the uninitiated. And while the insiders trade tweets and tokens, a lot of people are still missing out.

And this is where Open Money comes in. It’s a project for my friends, neighbors, and the curious passerby — the ones who hear “blockchain” and think of some abstract concept that doesn’t touch their lives. It’s for people who assume they’ve already been left behind in a race they didn’t know was happening. This framework is for them because they are, quite frankly, the most important participants in this system.

Why? Because the true potential of digital asset technologies isn’t just about financial returns or market cap milestones. It’s about utility — about people using these technologies to improve their everyday lives.

Imagine a world where sending remittances across borders takes seconds, and doesn’t cost a double-digit percentage. Where paying bills or buying groceries with stablecoins feels as natural as swiping a credit card. Where creators own their digital art without intermediaries taking a cut. Or where someone builds a community economy in their neighborhood using self-created digital assets to track contributions and rewards.

Maybe this sounds a little too utopian or warm and fuzzy. And maybe it is. But if nothing else, we can probably all agree that building alternatives to the way things are going right now is probably worth the investment. At the very least, it’s probably worth reading up on it.

Open Money isn’t about getting rich quick or flexing technical know-how. It’s about practical empowerment — tools for real people to use in real ways, whether that’s sending money, paying bills, playing games, or collecting digital artifacts. The specific use case almost doesn’t matter. What matters is inclusion. The more people using these tools for their purposes, the more robust, diverse, and resilient the ecosystem becomes.

The idea of network effects is probably one of the most compelling drivers of Open Money systems. The more people used the networks the stronger and more resilient — and the more valuable — the underlaying system becomes. You really can’t say the same thing for a traditional banking account, payment app, or credit card…