Can Speculative Fiction And A Web3 Film DAO Stop The Crypto Scam-demic?

“HEX cryptocurrency utilizes a Proof of Wait (PoWa) protocol. Holders earn interest on their investments by staking their tokens. The longer the stake, the higher the interest.”

Hello my Friday Freaks.

I'm not a cult-of-personality, but you are my disciples, and as SilverGate disappears into the FTX and Alameda slipstream, I'm glad you're here.

Another week passes by in the blink of an eye and we all stop and wonder why.?

But let’s not dwell on entropy.

Instead, I want to speak about a cryptocurrency called HEX and a web3 filmmaker.

When I first learnt about Richard Heart, Hex and the Hexicans I thought it was all a crypto-parody; a Truman Show prank that I wasn’t in on.

It couldn't be true, could it?

The story made Scientology - or whatever your favourite cult happens to be - look like a Mr Men book. There was the cult-of-personality, the L. Ron Hubbard of web3 who gathered the easily led, convinced the easily persuaded and gave them a smart-contract on which to hang their hopes and dreams. He wore a gold Versace coat and always sat on a huge leather chair next to a gold candlestick and told the world how rich he was.

Known as Hexicans, his congregation shared a commitment to the unshakeable truth that they were all going to get rich. A layer 2 sidechain rhetoric of 'us-verses-them' fanned the flames on social media and the cryptocurrency that was first called BitCoin Hex ballooned into some kind of uncontrollable escaped vortex.

Generational wealth, health, Lamborghinis and billionaires.

And a Hex-shaped castle on Malta?

Again, it couldn't be true, could it?

I needed to seek the wisdom of an expert.

Rich T. is a web3 documentary filmmaker who has spent the last six years exploring unusual tokens, crypto-scams and the strange, deranged and wonderful people behind them.

His latest work is a 4-part series called Hexicans and the Time Value Of Money. In it, his alter-ego Tom Gillespie, a crypto-journalist and investigator, goes around the world to uncover the truth of crypto-community, smart contracts, scams and decentralization.

Rich took a break from his monster schedule to speak to my co-host Jeremy Gilbertson and me on this week's episode of our web3 podcast, Thinking On Paper.

We spoke about Speculative fiction, collaborative filmmaking DAO The BitJoinery, Tom Gillespie, Scootercoin, Bitman 360, the spectrum of decentralization, the spectrum of scams, and just who the hell are Richard Heart and the Hexicans.

Watch it.

Please.

Then tell your friends to tune in every Thursday at 15.30 GMT.