You can understand crypto and not be a true believer

Most people who understand crypto aren't true believers. The evangelists are generally people with the least amount of information and the most hype.

This kind of mentality in 2023 verges towards conspiracy theory. It can’t even be proven to be baseless, because it relies on the semantic ambiguity of the phrase “true believer”. It’s really bizarre to see this form of irrational skepticism afflicting a tech person (presumably). Really says a lot about the extent of polarity amplification in society. Almost nobody is spared

What's irrational about my skepticism exactly?

Just here as an anecdata-point, crypto understander (build a really, really dumb blockchain in python during HS) who doesn't think it'll be used for anything beyond a cool new datastructure/verifiable constraint mechanism for relational databases.

The coins we see traded today are a short-term jousting match between people who don't know a blockchain from a linked list. You could replace them with an exchange of company coupons/points and see identical market effects.

Why is that ironic?

Why is it ironic that the head of one of the most important financial bodies in the country knows a good deal about different currencies and currency systems?

Because the organisation he heads is deliberately opaque on most things crypto and refuses to engage with companies like Coinbase that are trying to operate in this space.

Because he seemed to me like a nice guy genuinely excited about crypto and blockchain in general. He does touch on the topic of regulations but nothing in his lectures would make you think just a few years later he will be leading the SEC, cracking on crypto exchange companies and pushing on regulations with an iron fist.