Indeed, as recently as November 2019 Agrawal still refers to himself as “naive about cryptocurrenciesDuring a fireside chat held on Twitter’s campus with crypto entrepreneur Joseph Lubin. Just over a week later, Agrawal join Dorsey on a trip to Nigeria, where Agrawal meets the local Bitcoin community. Chris Maurice, CEO of exchange YellowCard, who attended the meetup, recalled Agrawal – like Dorsey – being “extremely curious” about the subject. “They enjoyed listening and learning, rather than being the center of attention,” Maurice recalls.
A few months later, Agrawal was instrumental in leading bluesky, a Twitter-funded initiative to develop a protocol—potentially underpinned by a blockchain—To build decentralized social networks, to replace proprietary platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Initially, the project runs on a separate server on Matrix, a secure communication platform, before switching to a public Discord channel. Evan Henshaw-Plath, a former lead developer at Odeo, the podcast publishing platform from which Twitter was eventually spun off, and who is also on the bluesky server, said Agrawal is not allowed to actively write on the server. but still there,” lurks, observes more, listens rather than vigorously advances his agenda.”
In Henshaw-Plath’s opinion, the selection to appoint Agrawal as CEO signals that Twitter will work seriously on decentralization and cryptocurrency. “I doubt Twitter will continue to experiment with various blockchain tools, even if I don’t know what it looks like,” he said. He describes Twitter’s internal politics as a constant duel between technologists like Dorsey promoting a more open, decentralized structure and monetization-focused entrepreneurs. “Parag is definitely among those who think Twitter is an underlying infrastructure and who are driven by enabling exciting technology.”
But some in the crypto space don’t see Agrawal’s involvement in the bluesky as a commendable badge. Carter says the project is notoriously behind schedule. “It’s a form of stagnation,” he said. All in all, he’s skeptical that a company like Twitter – especially after Dorsey’s departure – can truly bring decentralization to social networks. “I expect to see some kind of crypto-based social networking platform developed at some point, but I think it will happen outside, not from within an established company. in Silicon Valley,” Carter said.
Mati Greenspan, founder and CEO of crypto investment consulting firm Quantum Economics, similarly denied. “We can say that bluesky is building its protocol very, very quietly, and that it is a big project – or we can say that it is hard work and not a big deal,” he said. is a priority.
Henshaw-Plath countered that creating a blockchain protocol needs to be slow, for its own sake. “It’s a process; It involves a lot of people. Bluesky might be faster; could have a lot to do with it. But it is also a mistake to rush too quickly,” he said. He believes that Agrawal’s temperament, which he describes as that of a “considerate consensus builder,” means he will be able to make Twitter a powerful force in the development of social media. such technology.
