The headline ‘news’ was Jack Dorsey becoming one of us, throwing himself into the center of the 'what is web3?' debate on Twitter. @jack’s most vocal criticism is that web3 is much more centralized than is portrayed, sharing his concern that because much of the capital behind web3 protocols comes from venture capital firms they are therefore tied to VC (ie web2) incentive structures. There are merits and counter-points to both sides of this argument. My view: constructive criticism is good (and necessary, particularly when ‘rebuilding’ the internet), but we’re too early, and Bitcoin and web3 both carry too much potential, to get meaningfully bogged down in tribalism. The tweets were fun, though.
Crypto financings continue to hit the wires this week. Two on-chain data analytics companies are raising big rounds – Nansen’s $75M Series B was led by Accel while Dune Analytics is in talks to raise its Series B at a valuation north of $1B – and Thoma Bravo led the Series C financing of staking provider Figment at a $1.4B valuation. Nansen and Dune provide firms and individuals access to deep, wallet-level on-chain datasets and dashboards, while Figment is capitalizing on the proliferation and success of proof-of-stake blockchains in 2021. That sound you hear is every crypto news publisher hoping that crypto financings submit to a holiday break ahead of 2022.
Lastly, we will soon see our first major decentralized ‘merger’, with Fei Protocol and Rari Capital set to merge and create a DeFi protocol that facilitates permissionless lending markets and hosts $2B of liquidity. Both communities voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal (90%+ from each community). Going forward, the projects will merge via a token swap and be united under the TRIBE token.
'You don't own Web 3.0,' says Jack Dorsey, criticizing its centralized nature:
Nansen Raises $75 Million in Series B Funding:
https: /www.nansen.ai/post/nansen-raises-75-million-in-series-b-funding
Dune Analytics is raising funds at a $1 billion valuation: sources:
Thoma Bravo leads $110 million funding for Figment at $1.4 billion valuation:
Rari Capital, Fei Protocol Token Holders Approve Multibillion-Dollar DeFi Merger:
[Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer. Because the information included in this newsletter is based on my personal opinion and experience, it should not be considered professional financial analysis or advice.]
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