A Quick Visit to the Metaverse
Takeaways from Paris Blockchain Week Summit
If you’re a regular reader here, you’re probably familiar with our investment thesis. In fact, the terms “blockchain,” “cryptocurrency” and “NFT” are nowhere to be found on our website or in our corporate communications. Which is why it might surprise you that the topic of today’s piece is exactly that. Blockchain technology is still quite new despite its peak cultural relevance and thus far we have opted not to invest in the space. But as the crypto-economy grows and matures, products and companies aligned with our core mission are beginning to emerge with traits analogous to our investments in B2B software, marketplaces, and financial services. So why do I bring all this up now? Well, the Paris Blockchain Week Summit took place just last week and we happened to stop by to explore (and gauge) the hype. The crypto community’s ultimate promise is progress towards the metaverse, a mirror image of reality in digital form, replete with virtual experiences and economics.
The event was hosted at the Palais Brongniart, the former French stock exchange, a bastion of traditional finance, now hosting the innovators looking to dismantle it through DeFi (decentralized finance). The energy and excitement was palpable, with keynote speakers and corporate sponsors abound. But for a crypto event, the environment felt like your typical tech conference: booths giving out SWAG with their logos, self-serve mediocre coffee, and a loud speaker announcing the upcoming panel at the Master Stage. In other words, fairly normal, aside from the subject matter. If you want to see a breakdown of the main takeaways, I recommend this article from popular crypto publication, the Coin Telegraph. Of the Top 5, there is one announcement that hits particularly close to home: Binance, a leading crypto exchange, announced a €100M investment in the French blockchain ecosystem, in partnership with Station F. During an interview at the conference with the Coin Telegraph, Binance CEO CZ said:
So what exactly does this mean for Paris? Could the European blockchain ecosystem develop a hub right here in our own backyard? It’s a bit early to say, but we figured it was worth doing our “due diligence” and highlighting a few French Tech startups leading the way. Below is a list of a few prominent crypto startups based in France:
- SoRare
- Ledger
- The Sandbox
- Kaiko
- Coinhouse
- Paraswap
- MorphoLabs
- Angle Labs
- Woorton
Perhaps most notably — at least in terms of fundraising news — is Sorare, the crypto-collectible and eSports company who raised a whopping $680M for its fantasy sports NFTs. Next in line is undoubtedly Ledger, which provides a market-leading hardware wallet. It’s a physical, thumb-drive style device enabling cryptocurrency holders to safely store their tokens offline). The lesser known companies listed above range from currency exchanges to gaming to liquidity pool aggregators to digital asset data providers to peer-to-peer lending to stablecoin protocols. It’s a mouthful, I know. But the chart below should help clarify who these players are and what value they bring to the table. I’ll include a quick glossary just below for those of you new to the blockchain ecosystem.
Blockchain Glossary:
Protocol — Protocols are basic sets of rules that allow data to be shared between computers. For cryptocurrencies, they establish the structure of the blockchain — the distributed database that allows digital money to be securely exchanged on the internet.
Wallet — Wallet is a software, containing private keys, that interact with the PKI (Private Key Infrastructure). Oftentimes, they are browser based, enabling you to spend tokens seamlessly online. Cold storage wallets (like Ledger) are physical hardware with no internet connection.
Liquidity Pool — Liquidity pools enable users to buy and sell crypto on decentralized exchanges and other DeFi platforms without the need for centralized market makers. More here.
NFT — A non-fungible token is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio.
Open World Gaming — In video games, an open world is a game mechanic of using a virtual world that the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay.
Exchange — A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange, is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies
Stablecoin — Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies where the price is designed to be pegged to a cryptocurrency, fiat money, or to exchange-traded commodities.
As mentioned at the top of the article, this is the very beginning of our own exploration into the crypto space. We hope that it’s been an informative read for you, wherever you are along the journey. While this was only a quick visit to the metaverse, we expect to see more and more exciting opportunities in the sector. Who knows, some of them might be right here in Paris!
written by Kyle O'Brien
