Our Means vs. Your Ends

The article is a rebuttal to Metalabel's blog post "When The Means Justify The Ends," which announced the company's departure from crypto. The author argues that Metalabel misunderstood what crypto offers, that its three cited "strikes" against the ecosystem are misplaced, and that the root cause lies in unrealistic expectations of web3. The author cites Ticketmaster's control over ticketing as an incentive problem blockchains do not solve, and says Blur's removal of resale royalties reflected market preferences rather than a technical failure. The author also notes that L2 networks such as Optimism and Arbitrum were available for NFT drops by late 2022, before Metalabel's April and May 2023 drops on L1.