Chain Reaction

Welcome back, this week Lucas and Anita dive into the latest mega-fund from venture giant Andreessen Horowitz and some of the... interesting bets that they’re making, including one in disgraced WeWork founder Adam Neumann’s new crypto startup. Lastly, they recap crypto exchange FTX’s big entry into stock trading, which comes just a week after the firm’s young CEO made a massive bet on Robinhood.

In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita talk to Grace Isford. Isford is an investor at Lux Capital where she focuses on the infrastructure and security opportunities for blockchain startups. We talk about some of the recent big hacks and whether consumers can feel safe betting on crypto.

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Helpful links:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/25/amid-crypto-downturn-a16z-debuts-4-5-billion-web3-mega-fund/

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/24/flowcarbon-wework-adam-neumann-blockchain-crypto-carbon-credit-startup-raises-funding-from-a16z/

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/19/crypto-exchange-ftx-expands-into-stock-trading-retail-investors/

Welcome back, this week Anita and Lucas discuss another stressful week for crypto markets which has pushed even bullish investors into bearish territories. We also chatted about growing crypto regulation efforts and Jack Dorsey’s latest effort called “web5”.

In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita chat with Aaron Levie. Levie is the CEO of enterprise software company Box. While his day job doesn’t have anything to do with the blockchain, he has attracted the ire of plenty of crypto VCs for sharing thoughts on Twitter about why web3 won’t work. We caught up with Levie about some of his biggest complaints and what it would take for him to angel invest in a crypto startup.

Subscribe to the Chain Reaction newsletter to dive deeper: https://techcrunch.com/newsletters

Helpful links:

• https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/14/coinbase-ceo-says-it-is-laying-off-18-of-its-workers/
• https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/13/as-celsius-accelerates-the-crypto-sell-off-who-pays-the-price/
• https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/14/binance-crypto-exchange-hiring-plans-fight-crypto-winter/
• https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/13/crisis-on-the-blockchain/
• https://twitter.com/levie/status/1477052989881782272

Welcome back, this week Lucas and Anita discuss turmoil and heartbreak in the crypto markets as Bitcoin and Ethereum get hit hard, a number of other popular tokens get crushed, and crypto-aligned public stocks like Coinbase and Robinhood see their share prices tank. What caused this bloodbath? Well, a major catalyst was the disastrous implosion of Terra’s Luna token as a result of ongoing stablecoin woes.

In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita chat with Kevin Rose. Kevin is a serial entrepreneur who founded Digg in the early 2000s and is now an investor at True Ventures and a co-founder of the Proof Collective. His startup recently raised $10 million from Seven Seven Six and launched its NFT project Moonbirds, which has quickly become one of the most popular NFT efforts out there. Listen along as we discuss the crypto crash and its fallout, and the challenges up ahead for NFTs.

Helpful links:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/10/bitcoins-backers-trying-to-turn-it-into-one-blockchain-to-rule-all-crypto/
11:09
https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/11/ust-founder-do-kwon-shares-plan-to-save-its-stablecoin-from-mass-destruction/
11:09
https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/11/terras-ust-crash-will-make-life-harder-for-crypto-as-regulation-looms/

Subscribe to the Chain Reaction newsletter to dive deeper: https://techcrunch.com/newsletters

Welcome back, this week Lucas and Anita break down the chaotic rollout of Ethereum’s biggest drop yet — a virtual land sale for the Bored Apes metaverse. The startup behind it banked more than $400 million in the sale, but the auction of land tiles called Otherdeeds brought the Ethereum blockchain to a crashing halt, leaving users paying exorbitant transaction fees worth thousands and tens of thousands of dollars just to buy themselves some monkey land.

Beyond that, they discuss Wikipedia’s abandonment of crypto donations after a vote from the Wikimedia Foundation’s editors and how the SEC is bulking up its crypto crime division with a few new hires that are tasked with the daunting challenge of policing web3.

In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita chat with Jill Gunter. Jill is a crypto VC at Slow Ventures and the co-founder of Espresso Systems — a startup building a privacy-centric blockchain. Listen along as they get her take on why there are so many blockchains out there and whether we’re headed towards a future where one blockchain rules them all.

Subscribe to the Chain Reaction newsletter to dive deeper: https://techcrunch.com/newsletters

Welcome back, this week Anita was off on vacation so Lucas was joined by TC crypto reporter Jacquie Melinek to discuss what happened in the crypto world this week. They dove into the topic of the Solana Saga phone, discussed FTX's alleged interest in buying up Robinhood, and chatted about some of the crypto financial firms that are currently in deep... trouble.

In this week’s interview, Lucas chatted with Julian Holguin, the CEO of Doodles. Doodles is a very popular NFT project that has done just over $500 million in total sales volume. Holguin was previously a big exec at Billboard and has taken on the task of scaling the Doodles brand into an intellectual property powerhouse. The firm just banked its first round of venture funding from Alexis Ohanian and is gearing up for some big new NFT launches as it looks to keep the party going even amid a crypto downturn.

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Subscribe to the Chain Reaction newsletter to dive deeper: https://techcrunch.com/newsletters

Helpful links:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/27/ftx-says-no-active-talks-to-buy-robinhood/

https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/23/osoms-ov1-is-now-solanas-web3-android-handset-saga/

https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/30/north-korea-lazarus-harmony-theft/