"HONG KONG | July, 2018Hong Kong is a city of levels. Stairs, ramps, escalators, and elevators cart the businesswomen and businessmen, the drunk English bachelor and his drunker cohort of stags, a young crowd of international backpackers, and a small cohort of meshians up and down, across and through, within and without the tiered pathways of the city. On top of the stone pathways of Hong Kong’s center soar colossal and interconnected buildings. The result is a city that stretches seamlessly from stone streets to steel skyscrapers, vertical and immense.At the risk of forcing an analogy, the architecture of Hong Kong strikes one as representing that of the blockchain ecosystem.At the core of Hong Kong, old colonial architecture forms the foundation of many buildings. Walls of well-worn and precisely-placed stones wrap and twist around the narrow streets of the city. The people who built these foundations are forgotten, but their creations still stand firm and unwavering; still endow those who see them with a sense of wonder and appreciation that some things do, in fact, appear to be everlasting.Is this not similar to the foundation of all blockchain technology [or Ethereum in particular, at least]? What we’ve come to call “layer 1”? A structure fashioned deliberately, slowly, with permanence and security in mind. It would not surprise me if, years from now, people look back on the foundations of the Ethereum blockchain and are struck with the same awe and wonder as those who come across the stone foundations of Hong Kong. A sense of someone having been there but no longer. Whispers of Satoshi between lines of code. Untold numbers of people - most forgotten, a few immortalized - working together but separately, stone by stone, driven by the vision of an end result.On top of the centuries-old foundations, the city of Hong Kong as we know it is built. Glass behemoths puncturing clouds, grounded to the island by sturdy architecture. Giant digital billboards of global corporations crown buildings, claiming ownership over the network of steel beneath. Is this not similar to the next phase of Ethereum, what we are calling “layer 2”? On top of a steady, uniform foundation, rapid, previously-unimaginable scalability made possible. The city of Hong Kong could not have built the infrastructure it has today with the technology it had centuries ago. It built, however, a core infrastructure that could support the then-unimaginable future. And as the Ethereum ecosystem grows, we too will see layer 1 facilitate the growth of many diverse projects of all different models, structures, and purposes.History repeats itself. As much as we sometimes lament this world - its structure, what it has become - we are of it. Though we aim to change it, we should always remember we are creatures of habit, subject to repeat ourselves. And though this analogy forces a comparison of stone, glass, and steel with merkle trees, state channels, and hashes, the lesson remains the same. We should seek, at all costs, to repeat those rare examples from history that have allowed further human development; indeed, have enabled future generations to keep building.And yet, perhaps the most beautiful part of Hong Kong is the hint of chaos around every corner. Thatched bamboo stilts hold up entire construction projects. Worn steps descend into dark alleyways and corridors shrouded by towering buildings. Taxis poise precariously at the crest of steep streets, stones turned slick with evening rain. In the face of such advanced and polished development, it is these unsettling moments that feel immensely human in nature. Functional, manual, but slightly imperfect, reminding us there is always room for improvement. When we return to cracked city streets and foundational code, we are reminded we are human, voluntarily creating the technology that is changing our world. Reminded again and again from where we came and to where we are meant to go."...