@jacek

I have a very low tolerance for dishonest people. And I won’t pretend business is always clean. It can be cutthroat, and I’ve seen how often success is chased in grey areas, sometimes far beyond them. For a long time, I believed startups were mostly about creating real value: building, shipping, learning fast, earning trust, doing the work. I still believe that’s the core. But I’ve also learned that the world doesn’t reward value evenly. Some of the most important work is underpaid, under-celebrated, and quietly foundational, while some of the most financially rewarded paths are not the most virtuous. That’s why I have a lot of respect for the harder path. Honest work can be slower, and it can feel unfair watching others sprint ahead by cutting corners. But there’s a different kind of power in refusing to trade your character for momentum. The wins mean more when you don’t have to hide how you got them. In crypto especially, trust is the scarcest asset. People have been lied to, rugged, and scammed so many times that clarity and consistency almost feel rare. I want Degen to be the brand that doesn’t play those games, that tells the truth even when it’s inconvenient, and that builds for the long term. I don’t just think that’s the right way, I think it’s strategically strong. I’m here because I want to be. I enjoy building. I care about the people around this. And I’m committed to doing it the right way: not perfect, not performative, but real. I’m going to keep working hard, keep making cool things happen, and keep choosing the long path built on trust. Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t just to succeed. It’s to succeed without losing yourself. And I want Degen to be something we can point to years from now and say: we built this with integrity, and it lasted.

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