Outlier Ventures Daily Brief
Issue #13 — We cover payment app Cash integrating Bitcoins. a marketplace for AI, British hedge fund Man Group’s focus on tokens & a piece on securing your cryptocurrency .
Bit of housekeeping first and foremost. We are hiring! If you or someone you know are passionate about helping build the decentralised economy take a look at the positions we are hiring for and get in touch.
Also, IOTA (an Outlier Ventures portfolio company) announced the official launch of the IOTA Foundation, the first fully regulated not-for-profit foundation in Germany to be capitalized with a crypto-currency (IOTA Tokens). Congratulations to the team!
1. Payments App Cash Enables Bitcoin Purchases 😍
Popular payments app & Venmo (so popular in the US that it is a verb with millenials: “venmo me” ) competitor, Cash now enables users to have bitcoin of their own. The current iteration of the app will only allow individuals to buy and sell at spot rates or hold bitcoins. So if you wanted to give your friends the “token experience” through the app that will have to wait. ☹️Future plans have not been revealed. However, considering that Cash is managed by Square and Jack Dorsey is the CEO of both Twitter & Square, one could wonder whether Twitter could soon monetise content through micro-transactions? Kin, launched by Kik earlier in the year had raised over 160,000 Ether for the integration of a token into their chat-based ecosystem. As more companies with influence on a younger generation turn towards tokens, we will see an influx of millennial users willing to experiment with blockchains for better user experiences. Bitcoin’s economics, convenience and possible upsides make it an attractive investment for first-time investors even if one takes its volatility into account. Let us know when you first hear “Bitcoin me” on the streets. 👽
2. Man Group says bitcoin futures would draw it toward cryptocurrencies
It seems as though hedge funds are increasingly embracing the token economy. British hedge fund Man Group suggested that it will add cryptocurrencies to its “investment universe” if the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launches a bitcoin futures contract. The fund handles over $95 Billion in assets under management. In addition to CME Group, Man’s foray into the token economy would further legitimise the ecosystem. As more mature money flows in through regulated avenues, the volatility and quality of tokens are likely to increase. With opportunities to garner outsized returns in developing economies diminishing, hedge funds have due reason to look at alternative avenues such as emerging technologies to continue generating profits for investors. Over 120 hedge funds are stated to enter the ecosystem in the years to come. This is all part of the maturation of the industry that will further legitimise the token economy. 🤘🏻
3. On Protecting Your Tokens From Theft & Hacks
Hacks are part and parcel of the token economy. (Well today they are, decentralised exchanges will help improve) Concerns about losing money to unknown perpetrators online have been a critical barrier to mainstream adoption. One cannot blame consumers when you notice the sophistication behind some of these hacks. (I mean if Gavin Wood can’t protect his tokens, what hope does the average consumer have)However, taking care of certain basics will enable you to reap the rewards from the tokens you have held forever instead of losing it all to a malicious actor. Simple things such as secure passwords, cold storage & phishing attempts could be overlooked while in a rush to get a transaction done. A recent piece by Santiago Palladino, a security researcher at Zeppelin Solutions notes the significant reasons why people end up being hacked and things to watch out for while handling tokens. Catch up on the piece here and stay safe out there. 🙄
4. Blockchain bots: Why we need a decentralised and open AI future
Present day experiences of AI are boxed away with huge conglomerates like Apple or Google due to the scale of their consumer-facing apps. The typical Facebook user provides data worth over $300 in advertising revenue! What if access to this information could be democratised? We have discussed this challenge at length here and here. Seed Vault (an Outlier Ventures portfolio company) is aiming to democratise bot era with an open source approach. Developers are able to deploy a bot framework, create an avatar and make it available for users. Companies would be able to license the bot and receive Seed tokens in exchange. End users using the app would be able to find bots through an app and engage with it. If they choose to share data, they get paid in tokens. We wholeheartedly agree with this statement:
“The convergence of AI and blockchain is absolutely necessary. it means that bots and their creators can be held accountable.”
As usual, discussions and mentions of tokens & startups do not constitute investment advice.
