we believe crypto today is at a similar stage to the internet in the late 1990s: resilient infrastructure has been built, adoption drivers are emerging, and the environment is primed for ambitious founders to create products. our thesis centers on two converging forces: 1) a robust infrastructure layer enabling experimentation and 2) stablecoins as a global trojan horse for onboarding millions. the result is the birth of a self-sustaining onchain economy, and our goal is to back the builders creating it.

over the past decade, crypto has gone through its “infrastructure cycle.” today:

• resilient chains like ethereum and solana have withstood multiple market cycles and scale effectively.

• improved tooling (wallets, smart wallets, developer frameworks, SDKs) has lowered friction.

• institutional-grade payment rails (coinbase, stripe, base, sui) bring crypto closer to mainstream usability in the form of payments and money transfers.

this infrastructure is not speculative, it works. it enables founders to move faster, attempt more ambitious projects, and serve larger audiences than in previous cycles.

stablecoins simplify the crypto value proposition: they are just money that moves better.

• expected to reach $1 trillion in market cap in the next few years.

• proliferation will place crypto into hundreds of millions of wallets globally.

• for most users, stablecoins are the first crypto experience. a subset will naturally explore further into defi, tokens, and consumer crypto.

• this dynamic is a viral funnel into the onchain economy.

when infrastructure and stablecoins converge, the result is a new onchain economy that can rival the scale of web 2.0. we invest in companies building this new economy.

• consumer crypto: social networks, communities, commerce, payments, RWAs, digital culture, prediction markets.

• protocols & primitives: core building blocks that enable scalable activity onchain.

• selective infrastructure: only when it creates new surface area for the onchain economy (e.g. plasma, tempo).

we seek founders who are ambitious and risk-taking, often reimagining proven models for a crypto native environment.

• historical parallel: just as broadband + payments enabled the dot-com boom, infra + stablecoins are enabling the onchain economy.

• market readiness: wallet penetration, developer activity, and capital flows into crypto are at multi-cycle highs.

• timing: many experiments that failed in 2018–2023 can now succeed with better infrastructure and user adoption.

we curate access to early-stage crypto startups by sourcing dealflow from across the builder ecosystem. investors can participate alongside us on the same terms. with deep networks and hands-on knowledge of the space, our edge is in finding the right companies early and making them accessible to our community of investors.

this will be organized via an echo.xyz group. the group is currently in the works and we’ll notify once it’s ready. in the meantime, you can sign up below to join and get further instructions.

we will continue to publish research and our thoughts on this blog as part of our broader effort in onchain sensemaking {crypto x culture}. our goal is to cut through noise and bridge the information asymmetry that keeps many investors on the sidelines. we also host a group chat to connect, ask questions, and learn together.