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Evaluating crypto networks is challenging. The “<a href="http://www.usv.com/blog/fat-protocols" target="_blank">fat protocol</a>” thesis, for example, represents an attempt to identify the features that will drive the value of crypto protocols. Put forward by Union Square Ventures’ Joel Monegro in 2016, the thesis— which has captured the imagination of many Silicon Valley investors — posits that the value of blockchains will concentrate at the protocol layer. Whereas in the case of the protocols underlying the Internet (such as TCP/IP, HTTP, or SMTP) value has been captured at the application level, the thesis states that the value of blockchains will be distributed along the protocol layer. Monegro argues that whereas the Internet is composed of “thin protocols” and “fat applications,” the inverse relationship holds in blockchains — blockchains will consist of “fat protocols” and “thin applications“ (see Figure 1).