Here Are the 5 Wildest Web 3 Companies Funded by VCs - Podcast
Take a trip down memory lane
Since some here are convinced the bull market is back... this week, @kapursanat (from Dragonfly Capital Partners) and I discuss the 5 wildest fundraises in the LAST crypto bull market, and lessons learnt from each.
1. Yuga Labs
Yuga Labs' $4B "seed round" was the poster child of Metaverse euphoria. After making $127M, mostly from one-off selling of virtual land, Yuga secured $450M in financing. For reference, Epic Games - the company behind Fortnite - is valued 8x more...but makes 50x the money.
2. WorldCoin
Worldcoin raised $115M to scan your eyeballs and receive their cryptocurrency. The project launched to some concerns over privacy, but has garnered attention as Altman's other company, OpenAI, takes the world by storm.
@kapursanat and I get into a good debate over this
3. Praxis
Praxis raised $15M to build a "Libertarian paradise". To start off, they're in the process of buying "thousands of acres of Mediterranean" land to effectively create their own private city. One of the wildest ideas I've seen in venture.
4. OlympusDAO
Before the world soured to algo stablecoins after Luna, a few genuinely thought a self-rebasing stablecoin paying 10,000% APY was sustainable. In fact, OlympusDAO attracted forks that were paying $900K a year to get a slice of the algo-ponzi pie...
@kapursanat and I debate all of the above (and one more!), their implications for crypto, and lessons learnt for NFTs, metaverse, DeFi and more.
Good conversation. But unfortunately, I believe the implications for crypto are far worse than event ardent industry skeptics can imagine as the deleveraging across the real economy continues.
What if full on anti crypto populism is here short term?
Sanctions, social ostracization of anyone crypto affiliated, millions of ex-crypto users -most of whom are naive Gen Z and millenials (94%) to cheer on Feds starting to arrest devs and promoters using the coming economic sentiment to their benefit, more banks to unbank the banked for using crypto like Chase UK just did, barely a day goes by without another indictment/lawsuit/hack now, new FinCen requirements on mixers recently, UK FCA threatening prison time to unregistered advertising, list goes on and on.
It's unfortunate but crypto bros really thought due to a decade of ZIRP the world ran on shitcoins and DeFi. Turns out when shit hits the fan it still runs on state backed violence.
Did crypto bros really think they could release and market half baked, often flawed, open access financial tech to the masses as replacements for the banking system, inadvertently lead to terrorist financing and billions to be hacked, and nothing would happen in retaliation from users and the Feds?
Lol.
Sorry but I believe a level of hell the crypto industry cannot imagine is still to come, and economic crimes to be paid for before any future bull market to happen longer term. We shall see.