Hi friends,

We're back with the 40th edition of Paragraph Picks, highlighting a few hand-selected pieces from the past couple of weeks.

Check them out & let us know which is your favorite!

Life is not daijoubu

@naomiii shares a powerful critique of crypto culture’s dehumanizing tendencies, calling for a return to human-centered design, dignity, and moral responsibility.

Bringing up morals at a crypto happy hour is the best way to be left alone.

The MiniApp Moment: What FarCon Shows About Quick Micro Builds

@bethanymarz reflects on FarCon 2025 and celebrates the rise of lightweight, community-driven micro-builds like MiniApps that empower everyday users — especially with the help of AI and no-code tools.

What I like about FarCon is that it felt like the first true consumer user conference in the crypto space.

URL to IRL: My FarCon Recap

@adrienne reflects on a packed, high-energy week at FarCon NYC filled with hacking, community connection, and questions about the evolving identity of the conference.

The URL to IRL pipeline is a better way to make friends.

rethinking digital value: micro-economies and community-centric tokens

@edit makes the case for community-centric micro-economies like fidcoins as a human-scale alternative to extractive Web2 and Web3 systems, where value stems from relationships, contribution, and sustainable participation.

The true potential of micro-economies emerges when tokens move beyond being merely financial instruments and become keys to genuine utility.

Den Fujita: The Hamburger King of Japan

@beecurious chronicles the visionary, controversial, and deeply human approach of Den Fujita, whose bold strategies and cultural instincts helped build McDonald’s Japan.

Fujita always chatted with taxi drivers, seeing them as an invaluable source of business intelligence.

Crypto App Thesis pt. 2

@sean07.eth explores whether simply rebuilding familiar Web2 apps with Web3 infrastructure — like his NFT-powered word search game Prism — can meaningfully attract mainstream users by offering ownership and composability.

Mostly everybody is not a content creator that wishes their take rate was higher.

That's all we have for this week — what did we miss?

Let us know what you think!