BlockNovum — February 2019 Update
Dear reader,
I’m happy to present to you the newest issue of BlockNovum’s monthly newsletter. I’ll give you a brief overview about any relevant news around BlockNovum and the crypto markets, share my favorite crypto & investing articles that I’ve read in the last few weeks, and highlight some interesting projects that I’ve found.
Let’s get started..
📈BlockNovum & Market Updates
BlockNovum:
- BlockNovum and Oakura entered a collaboration, where BlockNovum becomes a part of the Oakonomy to support Oakura and participating startups with its expertise and services.
I’m personally really excited about this since I’ve been following Oakura’s journey for a while and have a high opinion of Daniel Naeff and his team. Oakura is the company behind the Oakonomy, a technical solution to enable a marketplace built on blockchain, where startups can grow faster by receiving valuable, cutting-edge support from a strong, incentivized ecosystem. Find out more about Oakura here. - Some big personal news: I’ll be joining Tamedia Ventures, the venture investing arm of Switzerland’s biggest media company, as an investment manager in mid March. Tamedia recently defined Crypto and Fintech as new growth areas for its investment focus. I’m very much looking forward to leverage my blockchain and startup investment research expertise directly in a venture capital context to drive forward Tamedia’s investment in these areas.
Consequences for BlockNovum?
BlockNovum will continue. However, given my additional responsibilities at Tamedia, BlockNovum’s current focus will shift to on-demand consulting mandates and the regular newsletter. Depending on the development of the market environment, I might look for additional support at BlockNovum in the future.
So as always, if you are interested in BlockNovum’s crypto and research expertise feel free to get in touch.
Note: The views and opinions of BlockNovum and myself are our own and independent from my engagement at Tamedia.
Markets:
- “Generalized mining” or active network participation in crypto networks is getting more popular recently. In generalized mining investors get actively involved on the demand or supply side of the networks. One related article: https://www.coindesk.com/these-cryptofunds-say-generalized-mining-is-the-new-way-to-invest
- Quote from Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital: “Just as a traditional VC firm would set aside capital for follow-on rounds, we believe that crypto investors who typically invest in protocols will find it’s a best practice to also set aside capital for supporting the network.”
- Upward and downward price movements: We’ve seen some price increases among BTC, ETH and other cryptoassets in mid February. Ether reached 165 USD and Bitcoin 4210 USD. However, prices have been decreasing again shortly after so that price levels are similar as in the beginning of February 2019.
🔍Recommended Reads
Find below a selection of this month’s articles that I recommend to read:
- Cryptonetworks as Emerging Economies (Done Right?) — a16z Podcast
Great podcast of Andreesen Horowitz with Chris Burniske & Joel Monegro of Placeholder VC, and two partners of a16z’s crypto fund. The podcast provides a informative deep dive into cryptonetwork design and what can be learned from monetary and fiscal policy failings of “real-world” economies. - The Defensibility of Middleware Protocols — Placeholder
Since I’m a fan of Chris Burniske’s work around cryptoasset valuations I regularly follow his investing activities with Placeholder VC. He recently published Placeholder’s investment thesis focused on middleware protocols, meaning protocols sitting below the interface/application layer, but above the Blockchain (Layer 1) and interoperability & scalability solutions (Layer 2).
Very interesting read why Placeholder VC believes that value can be captured and defended by these middleware solutions. Examples mentioned are MakerDAO, 0x, Aragon. - The VC Game Is Changing: 5 Ways To Compete — Forbes
Forbes provides an interesting overview about how VC is changing and what Venture capitalists need to bring to the table to stay competitive that startups chose them. - Blockchain & Crypto Hype Cycle: Where We’re at and What’s Coming Next — Gartner
Nice write-up and analysis of crypto’s current stage in the hype cycle and outlook on the future. - Thin Heads and Fat Tails: Understanding the Crypto Reinvention of Capitalism — Philipp Stauffer
Well-written piece by Swiss VC Philipp Stauffer of FYRFLY Ventures about the Web 3.0. The decentralized internet based on crypto technologies could level the foundations of the modern web to establish free and open access to information, connection and exchange.
💡Interesting New Projects
Here a few cool projects I came across and that might be worth keeping in mind:
- Uniswap
Uniswap is probably one of the most interesting Ethereum projects that launched recently. It is a protocol for decentralized exchange of tokens, which consists of a set of smart contracts deployed to the Ethereum network (entire process is on-chain). Consequently, there is no token, no centralization, and no fees are earned for the founders. In Uniswap market makers no longer specify price when providing liquidity, but just supply the funds. In a nutshell, Uniswap pools liquidity that gets rid of large bid/ask spreads and minimizes order and position management for traders / liquidity providers. - Keycard — Status
Launch of Keycard — A secure, contactless hardwallet & open source API by Status. Keycard (looks like a credit card) will make it simple for users of all experience levels to easily and safely store, send, and receive crypto. - Tippin.me
A lightning network wallet to receive tips and micro-payments in Bitcoin everywhere and cash out quickly. They just launched a Chrome extension to accept / send tips to Twitter users. Very cool and interesting solution for micropayments. - Dexpay
Dexpay is a secure and fast point of sale for physical stores and online shops that accepts Ethereum and many other coins and instantly converts them to Dai stablecoin so stores don’t have to worry about volatility. Such a solution is definitely needed if we want to see adoption of crypto payments at offline and online stores. - Staker
A new solution to make staking of Proof-of-Stake tokens easy and user-friendly. They launched their beta version, which allows staking of Tezos.
🚀Startup Data Entry
Based on the success of BlockNovum’s public Blockchain Startup Newcomer reports (Part 1 & Part 2), I heard some feedback that early-stage startups not yet listed on the map are interested in a way to let BlockNovum know about them & submit a short description.
As a result, if you are a founder of a new exciting startup (preferably Crypto, but I’m also interested in FinTech, Wearables, E-Commerce, Media, Gaming etc.) and would like BlockNovum to know about you / include you in upcoming research, feel free to send me the following at info@blocknovum.com :
- Name of your startup + website
- Industry
- Short description of the company / your mission
- Funding category (bootstrapped, VC, Token sale etc.)
- Location (where are you based)
I will definitely have a look and include you in BlockNovum’s startup database, where you will also be considered for future research reports.
If the demand is big enough, I might also add a form where projects can automatically fill-in their data on BlockNovum’s website.
🙏 Thanks for your interest.
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Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, if you’re interested in BlockNovum’s tailor-made investment research and consulting services.
I’m also happy to hear from you if you have any feedback or questions.
Best wishes,
Remo / Founder BlockNovum
About BlockNovum
BlockNovum is a Swiss Blockchain and Cryptoasset investment research & consulting firm. We provide professional assessments, fundamental valuations, and market research reports for the emerging asset class of cryptoassets & blockchain startups.
