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The Tide is Out: What the 2018 Crash Has Revealed and Why the Future of Crypto is Bright
By Travis Scher, VP of Investments
2018 was a challenging year in blockchain, and there are good reasons for pessimism and disillusionment as 2019 begins. Prices of major cryptoassets fell over 70%, while those of many small cap coins collapsed by over 95%. Meanwhile, there has been hardly any uptick in actual usage of crypto-networks for payment or decentralized applications, and the ICO market is dead. To top it off, regulators have come down harder than ever, making life for many crypto companies extremely difficult. Nonetheless, I remain optimistic — these challenges create opportunities, and there are many positive harbingers.
To continue reading, click here for the full Medium post.
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Bitcoin celebrates 10th birthday. Bitcoin, which is the cryptocurrency that set off the blockchain revolution, celebrated the 10 year anniversary of its Genesis Block. The Genesis Block was solved on January 3, 2009, and included the following message to the world: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." More here.
Blockstack launches Stacks blockchain and unlocks $25mm from investors. Blockstack, a New York-based company building a new internet for decentralized applications, launched its Stacks blockchain, meeting its milestones to receive an additional $25mm from investors. The blockchain is designed to enable developers to easily build decentralized apps at scale. More here and here.
Blokur and Massive Attack test remix-rights application. Blokur, which builds tools to help publishers track rights to their music, partnered with British musical group Massive Attack to provide rights attribution on music created in the band's Fantom application. More here.
Coinbase and Circle announce launch of USDC. Coinbase and Circle, which are two leading cryptocurrency companies, announced the launch of USDC, a USD-backed stablecoin. Each USDC is 100% collateralized by USD held in regulated bank accounts. More here.
DCG launches Metaverse Ventures to invest in companies building for Decentraland. Metaverse Ventures is a new wholly owned subsidiary of DCG that will invest exclusively in companies building products and services for Decentraland. The entity has made two investments so far: Artie and Vegas City. More here.
Decent partnered with Costco to offer pharmacy benefit management services. Decent is a startup charting the path forward for affordable healthcare by using groundbreaking technology and novel rewards systems. The company partnered with Costco to offer pharmacy benefit management services to Decent members via Costco's 65,000 pharmacies. More here.
Gem launches portfolio management application. Gem builds an application to make managing your crypto portfolio fun, easy, and friendly. The application supports over 2,000 cryptocurrencies and connects with your exchange accounts for real-time portfolio tracking. Download the application for iOS and Android.
Zcash activates network upgrade Sapling. Zcash, a privacy-preserving cryptocurrency, upgraded its network with an update called Sapling. Sapling introduces new shielded addresses with significant performance improvements. More here.
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DCG Portfolio Fundraising Highlights
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BitGo, a leading cryptocurrency custodian, raised $15mm from Galaxy Digital and Goldman Sachs as part of its Series B. Details.
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., raised $300mm in a Series E led by Tiger Global Management. Other participants include Y Combinator, Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz, and others. Details.
Dapper Labs, the company behind the world's most successful consumer blockchain product, CryptoKitties, raised $15mm. Venrock led the round, with participation from GV, Samsung NEXT, DCG, and others. Details.
ErisX, a new cryptocurrency exchange that will offer investors the ability to trade both spot and futures for bitcoin, ether, and litecoin, raised $27.5mm. Investors include Fidelity Investments, Nasdaq Ventures, Ameritrade, DCG, and others. Details.
Flipside Crypto, a company which tracks blockchain network activity and developer contributions to generate asset scores, raised a seed extension for an undisclosed amount. DCG, Coinbase Ventures, and angel Jeff Parker join existing seed investors True Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, and Castle Island Ventures. Details.
Layer1 Capital, a crypto investment and engineering infrastructure platform that will begin its efforts with a new privacy-focused cryptocurrency called Grin, raised $2.1mm from DCG, Peter Thiel, Jeffrey Tarrant, and others. Details.
Lolli, a rewards application that gives users free bitcoin when they shop online at 500+ merchants, raised $2.25mm in a seed round. Investors include Version One, Bain Capital Ventures, DCG, SV Angel, and others. Details.
Nomics, a startup looking to provide gapless cryptocurrency data, raised $3mm in a Series A. Arthur Ventures led the round, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, DCG, Ben Davenport, and others. Details.
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Coinlist is the most trusted platform for running compliant token sales. The company has supported the token sales of leading projects such as Filecoin and Blockstack.
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eToro is a global online trading platform that allows users to trade assets such as currencies, commodities, stocks, and most recently, cryptocurrencies. In addition to trading, eToro offers users powerful features, such as the ability to copy the portfolios of successful traders.
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Horizon Blockchain Games makes blockchain-powered games where players can enjoy the freedom of true digital ownership, open economies, provable fairness, privacy, and the ability to earn money by playing games. Their first game will be SkyWeaver, which is a Hearthstone-like action card game.
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