Hey, it’s Marc. ✌️
Your 100% signal on Web3 this week:
SEC wants innovation “sandbox” for on-chain trading
Coinbase introduces Smart Wallets
Robinhood acquires Bitstamp: Challenger to Coinbase?
Kraken’s upcoming IPO
Nvidia’s power play with a new AI chip
Consensus 2024 highlights
Christiano Ronaldo’s failed NFT sale
The Sandbox raises $20M
Let’s dive in. 🦈 | Read time: 4min
📚 Top 5 Reads
Food and Drink Brands in Gaming. By GEEIQ. Link
How We’re Thinking About AI. By Variant. Link
The state of AI in early 2024. By McKinsey & Company. Link
A marketplace for algorithms. By Jack Dorsey. Link
LLMs and AI agents get on-chain (audio). By Chain Reaction. Link
Pudgy Penguins: A Blueprint for Community-Led Brands. By Marc Baumann. Link
Boson Protocol – Real Web3 Commerce, with Web2 UX
As the next bull market emerges, so does a new crypto-rich, Web3-savvy demographic, who are demanding authentic Web3 commerce experiences. Uniquely, with Boson, you can sell physical things as NFTs, with a slick Web2 experience while running on a fully decentralized Web3 backend. No more Web3 washing required!
✨ Web3 & Consumer
Consensus 2024: All Eyes on Regulation🇺🇸
Consensus 2024, one of the biggest crypto & web3 conferences, wrapped up in Austin last week. It was highly political.
Highlights:
U.S. Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, advocated for recognition of decentralized currencies like Bitcoin, followed by a statement on Trump verdict on X.
A16z Crypto's Chris Dixon announced a $25M donation to Fairshake PAC to support pro-crypto candidates.
Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, stated that the approval of ether ETFs is due to crypto becoming a significant election issue
The CEO of Ripple ($45M contributor to Fairshake PAC) anticipates more crypto ETFs, including for XRP, Solana, and Cardano
Zooming in: Fairshake PAC is a pro-crypto political action committee that aims to support political candidates who favor responsible regulation of the crypto industry
Beyond Regulation: Goldman Sachs' Mathew McDermott emphasized tokenization's potential and called Bitcoin ETF approval as the "big psychological turning point.”
Punchline: The mood at Consensus 2024 was optimistic, driven by ETH ETF approval, FIT21 and a heating political debate in the US.
More on Web3:
Animoca Brands introduced Japanese NFT marketplace, SORAH. SORAH is designed to cater to the unique preferences and regulatory requirements of the Japanese market, offering a curated selection of NFTs from local creators and brands. Link
Coinbase introduced Smart Wallets. It allows onboarding with simple passkeys and enables gasless experiences. Link
Christiano Ronaldo sells only $10k NFTs in latest drop. Again: We’ve moved beyond simple NFT drops. Link
🌎 Crypto & Macro
Where there’s smoke💨 there’s fire🔥
Backed by BlackRock and Citadel Securities, TXSE Group plans to launch the Texas Stock Exchange in Dallas
Armed with a hefty $120M in funding, TXSE plans to file for US SEC registration later this year, commence trading in 2025, and unveil its initial listings by 2026.
Why it matters: These are of the largest asset managers in the world.
The TXSE is challenging NYSE and NASDAQ and could potentially run on a distributed ledger infrastructure, potentially Ethereum or Base.
Larry Fink (CEO of BlackRock) has been talking about tokenization for the last 2 years. And the market is huge.
Only last year:
J.P. Morgan started tokenising funds as a proof-of-concept Link
Standard Chartered investment arm launches tokenization platform, “Libeara”. Link
Singapore Central Bank started tokenization pilots. Link
By the numbers:
Source: BCG
Meanwhile: SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce wants to create a "sandbox" for issuing, trading and settlement of securities on a distributed ledger.
In the same months it approved an Ethereum ETF.
Punchline: Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Usually.
More on Crypto:
Kraken in talks for pre-IPO fundraising round, IPO expected in 2025. They’ve been preparing for this for years. Link
Eigenlayer surpasses $20BN in TVL, becomes 2nd largest DeFi protocol. Link
The Sandbox raises $20M in convertible debt at $1B valuation, $SAND spikes. Link
Biden vetoes pro-crypto bill. Link
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🎮 Gaming
Mythical Games announced a partnership with Pudgy Penguins to build an icy new mobile party game. Link
🧠AI
Nvidia’s Power Play 💪
Nvidia unveiled its next generation of AI chips, just months after announcing its previous model.
It’s the next iteration of high-bandwidth memory and will be released in 2026.
Not just any chip:
Nvidia plans to release a new AI chip every year with ‘Blackwell Ultra’ in 2025, and ‘Rubin’ in 2026, following ‘Rubin Ultra’ in 2027.
Rubin architecture, featuring 8-Hi HBM4 stacks, is expected to debut with R100 CPUs.
Rubin strengthens the market position of Nvidia as it has an estimated 80% market share in AI chips.
Why it’s important: By bringing powerful AI training capabilities to the edge, Rubin can enable a wider range of devices and applications to utilize advanced AI models.
This enables new possibilities in areas like autonomous vehicles, robotics, and healthcare.
Meanwhile: Nvidia flips Apple as stock hits $3 Trillion market cap amid AI boom. Link
🏗️ Start-ups & Tools to watch
*partner of FiftyOne Insights
💰 Money Moves
Twelve Labs Inc: Nvidia co-led a $50M round for an AI startup focused on video search. Link
The Sandbox: Metaverse gaming platform has raised $20M at $1B valuation. Link
That’s all for now, folks. Stay tuned for more on Memecoins and the big crypto consolidation.
Talk soon,
– Marc
(Source: MichaelParekh)
(Source: Mckinsey)
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