today was the biggest day for us ever. we had our first contest ever generate over *a million dollars* to voters ($1.3M!). man. and we cohosted ink's demo day of apps with 13,000 listeners. but i can't stop thinking about another event that augured it all earlier in the morning. the EF, with @nounsdao, hosted "world of apps," organized by @jchaskin22 and @benjaminlatsko i went for a few hours and presented and hung with some of my favorite people in the space (@izgnzlz @mashal @arlery @gmcaseycraig @0xbullgarian @azeemk_ @sodofi_). if you're an app builder, you know how meaningful it is in this environment to get to hang with other app builders. we're all in these trenches together, and it's a fight for attention more than ever. but that's also why the *fact* of the event feels like a huge turning point in ethereum. pause and consider that again. the ethereum foundation *threw a dedicated day to demo and celebrate apps* it might sound small; other ecosystems do this all the time. but i've been railing for years how ethereum doesn't. at devcon last year, i counted something like 3 app builders in a lineup of 400 speakers. that's changing now. note what the EF has done since devcon: > hire @jchaskin22 to help lead the app ecosystem > developing incubator/fellowship for app builders > posting regularly about apps > hosting a demo day to feature apps frankly, i don't care whether any of this has direct impact or not. it's a barometer of the ways ethereum culture is finally catching up with every other ecosystem in recognizing that infra will always be a ponzi if it isn't building for actual apps that use them. the change is symbolic. apps are here, generating real revenue, and will save the infra vision by providing it something it's never had: actual users. so i'll finally say something i've hesitated to say for a long time. the ticker is ETH, and the environment is the EVM. higher.