Packy McCormick

Who Is Packy McCormick in Crypto?

Packy McCormick is a writer, venture investor, and technology commentator best known for creating Not Boring, a popular newsletter focused on startups, markets, technology, strategy, and the future of the internet.

In crypto, Packy McCormick matters because he helped explain Web3, blockchain platforms, token networks, decentralized ownership, and crypto-native business models to a broader startup and investor audience.

He is not a blockchain protocol founder, core developer, miner, validator, or anonymous crypto creator.

His influence comes from writing, narrative building, investing, and translating complex technology themes into essays that founders, investors, operators, and curious readers can understand.

The official Not Boring About page describes Not Boring as a newsletter written by Packy McCormick that sends in-depth analyses of the tech and startup landscape to more than 250,000 subscribers.

His Substack profile also identifies him as the author of Not Boring and shows a large subscriber base.

For crypto users, Packy McCormick is important because narratives shape how people understand new technology.

A blockchain may be technical at the protocol level, but adoption often depends on whether builders, users, and investors can understand why it matters.

Packy’s writing has often tried to explain crypto as more than price speculation.

He has framed blockchains as platforms, Web3 as a possible new ownership layer for the internet, and crypto networks as experiments in incentives, coordination, and digital property.

Key Takeaways About Packy McCormick

• • Packy McCormick is the writer behind Not Boring and the founder of Not Boring Capital.
  • He is relevant to crypto because he has written influential essays about Web3, blockchain platforms, digital ownership, token incentives, and startup strategy.
  • He helped make crypto ideas more accessible to readers who came from startups, venture capital, technology, and business strategy.
  • His crypto relevance comes from education, narrative analysis, and venture investing rather than protocol development.
  • His writing often focuses on long-term technology trends instead of short-term token price calls.
  • His work shows how storytelling can influence crypto adoption, founder behavior, investor interest, and public understanding.
  • Crypto users should treat his essays as analysis and perspective, not as personal financial advice.

Why Packy McCormick Matters to Crypto

Packy McCormick matters to crypto because crypto is difficult to explain.

Blockchains combine computer science, economics, finance, governance, game theory, culture, law, and internet infrastructure.

Many people first hear about crypto through price headlines, scams, hype cycles, or confusing technical language.

Packy’s writing helped present crypto as part of a larger technology story.

Instead of treating crypto only as coins moving up or down, he often discussed it as a way to build new platforms, communities, ownership models, and incentive systems.

This kind of writing matters because the way people describe a technology can affect whether builders choose to work on it.

If crypto is described only as gambling, serious builders may ignore it.

If crypto is described only as guaranteed revolution, users may ignore the risks.

A useful explanation must show both the promise and the problems.

Packy’s strongest crypto-related work often sits in that middle space by exploring why blockchains may matter while also recognizing that many products are early, flawed, or hard to use.

Packy McCormick and Not Boring

Not Boring is the platform most closely associated with Packy McCormick.

It began as a newsletter and grew into a broader media and investing brand focused on technology analysis, startup stories, and future-facing ideas.

The official Not Boring homepage describes the publication as covering tech strategy, analysis, and philosophy in a style that is meant to be engaging rather than dry.

For crypto, this matters because many blockchain concepts need explanation that is both clear and interesting.

Ideas like decentralized finance, NFTs, DAOs, token incentives, wallets, stablecoins, rollups, and network effects can be hard for mainstream readers to follow.

A newsletter like Not Boring can turn those ideas into stories about companies, protocols, markets, and user behavior.

This storytelling function is not just marketing.

It can help readers understand why a product exists, what problem it solves, how it might grow, and where it could fail.

For founders, Not Boring can also be a way to communicate a complex vision to people outside the immediate crypto community.

Packy McCormick and Not Boring Capital

Packy McCormick is also connected to crypto through Not Boring Capital.

Not Boring Capital is his investment platform, and it reflects the connection between his writing and venture investing.

In the Not Boring Capital Fund III announcement, Packy described a $30 million fund focused on investing in hard startups and telling their stories.

This matters because crypto startups often need more than capital.

They need users, developers, liquidity, community trust, regulatory awareness, technical credibility, and a clear story.

A writer-investor can support a startup by providing capital and helping explain what the startup is building.

This model fits the crypto world because many blockchain projects are hard to understand from the outside.

A technical white paper may not be enough to attract mainstream attention.

A clear narrative can help a serious project communicate its purpose without reducing it to hype.

However, users should remember that an investor may have financial exposure to the companies or sectors they discuss.

That does not make the analysis useless, but it makes disclosure and independent research important.

Packy McCormick and Web3

Web3 is one of the main crypto-related themes in Packy McCormick’s writing.

Web3 usually refers to internet products and networks that use blockchains, tokens, wallets, smart contracts, and decentralized ownership models.

In his essay The Web3 Debate, Packy discussed Web3 as a broad category that includes crypto, dApps, NFTs, social tokens, and decentralized finance.

This framing matters because Web3 is often used loosely.

Some people use Web3 to describe any blockchain-based consumer app.

Others use it to describe a new internet ownership model.

Others criticize it as a venture-funded slogan.

Packy’s role has often been to explain why Web3 supporters believe the concept matters, while also engaging with criticism about decentralization, usability, and incentives.

For crypto users, this is useful because Web3 is not one product.

It is a category of experiments around ownership, identity, payments, governance, coordination, and digital property.

Packy McCormick’s View of Blockchains as Platforms

One of Packy McCormick’s important crypto ideas is that blockchains can be understood as platforms.

In Blockchains As Platforms, he argued that blockchains are better understood as platforms with unique benefits and real drawbacks rather than only as ideological symbols.

This is a helpful way to explain crypto because it moves the conversation away from simple labels.

A platform is useful when developers can build on it, users can interact with it, and new businesses can form around it.

Traditional internet platforms often control access, rules, data, distribution, and monetization.

Blockchain platforms can offer different trade-offs because they may provide open settlement, programmable assets, transparent state, permissionless access, and shared ownership.

However, blockchain platforms can also be slower, more expensive, harder to use, and more exposed to regulatory uncertainty.

Packy’s platform framing helps users ask practical questions.

What can this blockchain do better than a normal database?

What does decentralization improve in this case?

Who are the developers?

Who are the users?

What new behavior does the platform make possible?

Packy McCormick and Web3 Use Cases

Packy McCormick has written about actual and future Web3 use cases.

In Web3 Use Cases: Today, he argued that Web3 already had real use cases, even if some were early, flawed, or strange.

That balanced wording is important.

Crypto discussions often become extreme.

One side may say everything is revolutionary.

Another side may say everything is useless.

Actual adoption is usually messier.

Some use cases are real but small.

Some are promising but not ready.

Some are overhyped.

Some are misunderstood because they solve problems that only early users currently feel.

Packy’s approach encourages readers to look at use cases instead of only ideology.

For crypto users, this means asking where blockchain rails create a better product, not just where a token can be added.

Packy McCormick and Crypto Storytelling

Storytelling is one of Packy McCormick’s main contributions to crypto.

A strong crypto story explains why a protocol, token, wallet, app, or network should exist.

It explains who benefits from it.

It explains why now is the right time.

It explains what changes if the project succeeds.

Crypto storytelling can be positive when it helps users understand complex technology.

It can be dangerous when it hides risks or turns speculation into belief.

Packy’s work sits at the intersection of analysis and narrative.

He often writes about ambitious technologies in a way that makes them exciting and understandable.

For crypto readers, the benefit is clearer understanding.

The risk is that a good story can make a risky asset feel more certain than it is.

Users should enjoy strong storytelling while still checking data, incentives, tokenomics, security, and adoption.

Packy McCormick and Venture Capital in Crypto

Venture capital has played a major role in crypto.

Many crypto companies and protocols have been funded by venture investors before reaching broad public adoption.

Packy McCormick’s role as a writer-investor makes him part of this broader funding and narrative ecosystem.

Venture capital can help crypto by funding research, infrastructure, wallets, security tools, consumer apps, developer platforms, and new networks.

It can also create tension because venture-backed projects may have token allocations, insider unlocks, growth pressure, and financial incentives that ordinary users need to understand.

Packy’s model is interesting because media and capital can reinforce each other.

A deep essay can help readers understand a startup, and investment can align the writer with the startup’s success.

This creates powerful distribution for founders.

It also means readers should pay attention to incentives.

Good crypto research asks not only what a person believes but also what they are exposed to financially.

Packy McCormick and the Attention Economy

Crypto markets are deeply shaped by attention.

A protocol can have strong technology, but if no one understands it, it may struggle to attract users and developers.

A weak project can still rise temporarily if it captures attention through memes, incentives, or hype.

Packy McCormick’s work shows how valuable thoughtful attention can be.

An essay can direct readers toward a category before it becomes mainstream.

It can help founders recruit talent.

It can help investors understand a new market.

It can help users make sense of a confusing technology cycle.

However, attention is not the same as product-market fit.

A popular article can create interest, but the product still needs to work.

For crypto users, the lesson is to separate attention from adoption.

Attention can start the conversation, but real usage must sustain it.

Packy McCormick and Intelligent Optimism

Packy McCormick is often associated with an optimistic view of technology.

This optimism is important in crypto because the industry is built around ambitious ideas.

Crypto promises open financial networks, programmable money, digital ownership, user-controlled identity, decentralized coordination, and new forms of internet-native organization.

Those ideas require optimism because they are difficult to build and easy to criticize.

At the same time, crypto also needs skepticism.

Optimism without risk awareness can lead users into scams, overvalued assets, or unrealistic expectations.

Skepticism without imagination can make people miss real innovation.

Packy’s best-known style leans toward optimism but often uses business analysis to explain why an idea might work.

For crypto readers, the strongest lesson is not to become blindly optimistic.

The strongest lesson is to study ambitious ideas seriously while still asking hard questions.

Packy McCormick and Crypto Education

Packy McCormick’s writing has served an educational role for many people entering crypto from the startup world.

A beginner may not understand why wallets matter.

A traditional investor may not understand why token incentives can change network growth.

A startup operator may not understand why decentralized ownership could create different user behavior.

A reader may not understand why smart contracts can act like open financial building blocks.

Long-form essays can help bridge that gap.

Education is especially important in crypto because misunderstanding can be expensive.

A user who does not understand private keys can lose funds.

A user who does not understand token unlocks can buy into heavy sell pressure.

A user who does not understand smart contract risk can deposit funds into unsafe protocols.

Good crypto education should make users more curious and more cautious at the same time.

Packy’s writing helped many readers become curious about Web3, but users still need security education and independent research before making financial decisions.

Packy McCormick and Tokenized Ownership

Tokenized ownership is one of the major ideas behind Web3.

The basic idea is that users, creators, developers, and communities can own pieces of networks or digital assets through tokens.

This is different from traditional internet platforms, where users often create value but do not own the platform itself.

Packy’s Web3 writing has often explored the possibility that token ownership could change how networks grow and how communities coordinate.

This idea is powerful because ownership can create stronger alignment between builders and users.

Users may become contributors.

Contributors may become owners.

Owners may help govern, promote, and improve the network.

However, tokenized ownership can also create problems.

Tokens can encourage speculation before a product is useful.

Large holders can dominate governance.

Short-term price incentives can overwhelm long-term product quality.

Users should treat tokenized ownership as a design tool, not as automatic proof of decentralization or fairness.

Packy McCormick and DAOs

DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, are another crypto theme connected to Web3 writing.

A DAO usually uses smart contracts, token voting, community governance, treasury management, and online coordination to organize people around a shared goal.

DAOs are interesting because they show how crypto can move beyond payments into organization design.

A DAO can fund public goods, manage a protocol, coordinate an investment group, support creators, or govern a digital community.

Packy’s broader interest in startup strategy and internet-native organization makes DAOs relevant to his crypto influence.

However, DAOs also expose serious challenges.

Token voting can favor wealthy holders.

Governance can become slow or captured.

Legal status may be unclear.

Contributors may lack accountability.

Treasury decisions may become political.

For users, the main lesson is that DAOs are not magic companies without problems.

They are experiments in coordination that need strong governance design.

Packy McCormick and NFTs

NFTs are crypto assets that can represent unique digital items, memberships, media, game assets, collectibles, identity markers, or other forms of digital ownership.

Packy has discussed NFTs as part of the broader Web3 conversation rather than only as speculative images.

This matters because NFTs became a mainstream entry point into crypto for many creators, collectors, and brands.

At their best, NFTs can support digital ownership, creator monetization, community membership, and programmable media.

At their worst, NFTs can become hype-driven speculation with weak utility and poor buyer protection.

A serious NFT analysis should ask what the token actually does.

Does it grant access?

Does it represent a useful asset?

Does it connect to a durable community?

Does it depend only on resale value?

Packy’s narrative style is useful for explaining why NFTs captured attention, but users should still evaluate each project carefully.

Packy McCormick and DeFi

DeFi, or decentralized finance, is another major part of Web3 and crypto analysis.

DeFi uses smart contracts to create financial services such as lending, borrowing, trading, stablecoin systems, derivatives, liquidity pools, and yield strategies.

Packy’s Web3 essays have discussed decentralized finance as one of the important existing crypto use cases.

DeFi matters because it shows how blockchains can support open financial applications without relying on a traditional centralized ledger.

However, DeFi also carries serious risk.

Smart contracts can fail.

Oracles can be manipulated.

Liquidity can disappear.

Governance can be attacked.

Yields can be subsidized by token emissions rather than real demand.

A good DeFi thesis must include both the innovation and the risk.

Packy’s role is useful because he helped explain why DeFi could matter to people outside the deepest crypto circles.

Packy McCormick and Crypto Market Narratives

Crypto market narratives are the stories that explain why users and investors care about a category.

Examples include digital gold, internet money, decentralized finance, creator ownership, on-chain identity, real-world assets, gaming economies, and open social networks.

Packy McCormick is relevant because he helps create and refine these narratives.

A narrative can attract developers and capital.

It can also create bubbles if it runs ahead of real usage.

This is why crypto users should understand narrative power without becoming controlled by it.

A strong story can help explain the future.

A strong story can also hide weak fundamentals.

The best users ask whether the narrative is supported by real users, real revenue, real security, real decentralization, or real developer activity.

Packy’s essays can be a starting point for understanding narratives, but they should not be the final step in research.

Packy McCormick vs Crypto Founders

Packy McCormick’s role is different from the role of a crypto founder.

A founder builds a protocol, product, app, wallet, infrastructure company, or community.

Packy mainly explains, analyzes, and invests in ambitious technology companies.

Both roles matter.

Founders create the systems that users can actually use.

Writers help people understand what those systems are and why they might matter.

Investors provide capital that can help teams build.

In crypto, these roles often overlap because the market is shaped by technology, money, and narrative at the same time.

Packy is best understood as a bridge between builders, investors, and readers.

He turns complex startup and crypto ideas into stories that can travel outside narrow expert circles.

Packy McCormick vs Crypto Influencers

Packy McCormick is different from a short-form crypto influencer who mainly posts price predictions or token calls.

His main format is long-form analysis.

Long-form writing can provide more context than quick social posts.

It can explain business models, market structure, technology history, founder strategy, and future scenarios.

This does not make long-form analysis automatically correct.

It does make it easier to examine the reasoning behind a claim.

Crypto users should be careful with any influencer who pushes urgency without explaining risk.

They should also be careful with any essay that makes a future outcome feel certain.

The best analysis should help users think, not make them stop thinking.

Packy’s work is most useful when read as a thoughtful lens on technology trends rather than as a trading signal.

What Crypto Users Can Learn From Packy McCormick

Crypto users can learn that good writing matters.

A powerful protocol can fail to attract users if no one understands why it exists.

Crypto users can learn that narratives need evidence.

A story about decentralization should be checked against actual governance, ownership, and infrastructure.

Crypto users can learn that platforms matter more than isolated apps in some markets.

A blockchain can become valuable when many developers build useful products on top of it.

Crypto users can learn that optimism must be paired with discipline.

Many ambitious ideas are worth studying, but not every token tied to an ambitious idea is worth buying.

Crypto users can also learn that long-term thinking matters.

Short-term prices can distract from whether a technology is attracting developers, solving real problems, and creating durable user behavior.

Risks of Following Packy McCormick Too Closely

Following any writer or investor too closely can create bias.

A compelling essay can make an idea feel more inevitable than it really is.

A founder story can make a startup feel safer than it is.

A Web3 thesis can make an early product feel more mature than it is.

A venture investor may also have financial interests connected to a company, sector, or theme.

This does not mean users should ignore Packy’s work.

It means users should read it critically.

They should check whether a project has real users, clear token utility, secure contracts, sustainable economics, honest disclosures, and reasonable valuation.

They should also compare optimistic essays with skeptical research.

A balanced crypto user reads both builders and critics.

Strong conviction should come from independent understanding, not from borrowed enthusiasm.

Common Misunderstandings About Packy McCormick

One common misunderstanding is that Packy McCormick is a crypto founder.

He is not a blockchain founder or protocol creator.

He is a writer and investor who has covered crypto and Web3 as part of the broader technology landscape.

Another misunderstanding is that his essays are investment advice.

They are not personal financial advice.

A third misunderstanding is that Web3 optimism means ignoring crypto risks.

Good Web3 analysis must include security risk, governance risk, usability problems, regulatory uncertainty, and speculative behavior.

A fourth misunderstanding is that narratives alone create lasting value.

They do not.

Narratives can attract attention, but products need real users and strong execution.

A fifth misunderstanding is that every startup covered in a newsletter will succeed.

Startups are risky, and crypto startups can be especially risky because they combine technology risk, market risk, legal risk, and token incentive risk.

How to Read Packy McCormick as a Crypto User

Read Packy McCormick for frameworks rather than price targets.

Use his essays to understand why a sector might matter.

Then test the thesis against current data.

Look at active users, developer activity, protocol revenue, token distribution, liquidity, security history, governance design, and legal risk.

Separate the company from the token if a token exists.

A company can be impressive while its token is poorly designed.

A protocol can be useful while its current valuation is too high.

A good story can be true in the long run but overpriced in the short run.

Do not buy an asset only because a smart writer explains the category well.

Use the explanation to guide deeper research.

Packy McCormick in One Sentence

Packy McCormick is the writer and investor behind Not Boring whose crypto relevance comes from explaining Web3, blockchain platforms, tokenized ownership, and ambitious startup narratives to a broad technology and investment audience.

FAQ

Who is Packy McCormick?

Packy McCormick is a writer, venture investor, and founder of Not Boring and Not Boring Capital.

Why is Packy McCormick important in crypto?

He is important in crypto because his essays helped explain Web3, blockchain platforms, token networks, digital ownership, and crypto business models to a wider audience.

Did Packy McCormick create a cryptocurrency?

No, Packy McCormick did not create a cryptocurrency or blockchain protocol.

What is Not Boring?

Not Boring is Packy McCormick’s newsletter and media platform focused on technology, startups, strategy, markets, and future-facing ideas.

What is Not Boring Capital?

Not Boring Capital is Packy McCormick’s investment platform for backing ambitious startups.

Does Packy McCormick write about Web3?

Yes, he has written about Web3, blockchain platforms, decentralized finance, NFTs, tokenized ownership, and crypto use cases.

Is Packy McCormick a crypto influencer?

He is better described as a long-form technology writer and venture investor rather than a short-term crypto price influencer.

What does Packy McCormick mean by blockchains as platforms?

The idea means blockchains can be viewed as developer and user platforms with unique benefits, real drawbacks, and new business possibilities.

Should users treat Packy McCormick’s essays as investment advice?

No, his essays should be treated as analysis and perspective, not personal financial advice.

What can crypto users learn from Packy McCormick?

They can learn how to think about narratives, platform strategy, Web3 use cases, token incentives, and the long-term role of technology in markets.

What is the risk of reading only optimistic crypto writers?

The risk is that a compelling story can make users underestimate security risks, valuation risks, token design problems, and regulatory uncertainty.

What is the best way to use Packy McCormick’s crypto writing?

The best way is to use it as a starting framework, then verify claims through data, documentation, risk analysis, and independent research.

Conclusion

Packy McCormick is an important crypto glossary figure because he represents the power of analysis, narrative, and venture investing in the Web3 era.

He did not become relevant to crypto by building a blockchain or launching a token.

He became relevant by explaining why crypto and Web3 might matter to startups, investors, builders, and technology readers.

Through Not Boring, he helped translate complex ideas such as blockchains as platforms, tokenized ownership, decentralized finance, NFTs, and Web3 use cases into more accessible stories.

Through Not Boring Capital, he also connected those ideas to venture investing and startup formation.

His work shows that crypto adoption depends not only on technology, but also on the stories that help people understand it.