Towards the end of 2025, Nic Carter started writing lengthy pieces about the threat quantum computing poses to Bitcoin.
Here is part 1 (#1260675) and here is part 2 (#1295184).
During the tizzy he caused, a number of people pointed out that Carter's VC fund had invested in a company trying to solve the quantum "problem." Carter said something like, "Well, duh!" (I will find the link if you really want, but it doesn't seem worth the effort right now).
The gist seemed to be that Carter didn't think there was any kind of conflict of interest; rather that it was more like putting his money where his mouth was.
Fast forward to today:
Project Eleven, a startup seeking to protect cryptocurrencies from the threat of quantum computing, raised $20 million at a $120 million valuation, the company tells Axios Pro exclusively.
Now, maybe this is just more proof that Carter is super cereal about the quantum threat, but there's a little part of me is wondering if the lengthy, somewhat breathless murmurations on the quantum threat weren't at least a little bit helpful in securing a nice round for Project Eleven.
No one said he's not good at what he does.
Both things can be true.
I was being coy.
I should have said that I think he overplayed the quantum freak out, especially after a year's worth of many smart bitcoiners talking about it and working on solutions and I think he only did this because he wanted to pump his bags.
In this case I think you're probably right.
In general, I get annoyed when people clutch their pearls about stuff like this. Like, if I believed with my heart and soul that OpenAI was the salvation of humanity, you can bet that in addition to blathering endlessly about it, I would invest in them. In a sense, talking your book is a moral imperative.
But as you say, there are other generative models that can produce the same data.
Also, I am both jealous and full of admiration that you used "murmuration" in a post and I never have.
Not only did Carter name his substack Murmurations, he named it Murmurations II.
(Now I've used murmuration twice in one semtence)
Murmurations the Third, Twice Removed
Murmurations 2: Eclectic Boogaloo
Stop flexing, it's undignified.
2 Fast 2 Murmurous