Welcome to Block & Mortar!

What is this?

More like, what was this. Block & Mortar was a newsletter I ran for two years to document my exploration of web3: blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and metaverse.

Specifically, this was about exploring the intersection of web3 and business opportunities: how are companies using this new technology? What new capabilities does web3 provide? How does it improve their products or customer experience?

Block & Mortar is no longer active, so you can't subscribe. But you're welcome to browse the archives for fun stories like the Terra/Luna meltdown, the FTX bankruptcy, and various examples of the fashion industry testing out cool ways to incorporate blockchain and NFTs.

This sounds like it was pretty cool. Do you have anything else I could read?

I welcome you to subscribe to my other newsletters:

• Complex Machinery is my space to explore the intersection of risk and AI, with the occasional nod to related topics.
• In Other News spun out of Complex Machinery. It’s my weekly list of interesting reads from around the web. That includes plenty of links related to AI, but also random finds like the business of K-pop and

Who wrote Block & Mortar?

I’m Q McCallum. I’ve spent the past two decades in the emerging-tech space, with more than half of that in the area we now call AI. (I was there when it was still called “predictive analytics” and “Big Data.”) My focus quickly shifted from the purely technical matters to the business considerations. In this newsletter, I took a similar journey with web3.

Credit where it’s due

Longtime friend and co-conspirator Scott Robbin played a key role in the origins of Block & Mortar. He also contributed to some of the earlier issues.

Shane Glynn, a friend with experience in the crypto space, reviews early newsletter drafts. (Any mistakes that remain are mine.)