For the primary time in a very long time, there was much less speak circulating a few sure three-letter crypto change, ahem, FTX. However in fact, that didn’t final lengthy as the previous FTX CEO (who additionally goes by three letters — SBF) created a Substack and shared his perspective on Thursday — in a 2,300-word overview — detailing what FTX and Alameda had been “pre-mortem.”
Over the previous seven days, there have additionally been a handful of cuts introduced throughout the crypto area, from the second-largest change Coinbase cutting 20% of its workforce to NFT market SuperRare axing 30% of its staff.
That is Coinbase’s second spherical of main layoffs, after eliminating 18% of its staff, or about 1,100 jobs final June, however there was “no method to scale back our bills considerably sufficient, with out contemplating modifications to headcount,” Coinbase co-founder and chief government Brian Armstrong wrote in a post Tuesday.
Amid the doomy and gloomy sentiment from these layoffs, a variety of market gamers had been trying to help these affected by the cuts, together with Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, who tweeted, “In case you are a departing Coinbase worker, attain out! I might love to seek out you a house within the ecosystem.”
See, not all hope in humanity needs to be misplaced.
It was additionally a giant week for partnerships as extra crypto corporations joined forces with mainstream Internet 2.0 and monetary corporations like AWS and Mastercard. However as an alternative of claiming extra right here, I’ll let the tales communicate for themselves. Learn extra about them beneath.
This week in web3
AWS partners with Avalanche to scale blockchain solutions for enterprises, governments
Amazon Internet Companies (AWS) has partnered with Ava Labs, the corporate constructing out layer-1 blockchain Avalanche, to assist scale blockchain adoption throughout enterprises, establishments and governments, the 2 corporations completely informed TechCrunch. “Trying ahead, web3 and blockchain is inevitable,” Howard Wright, VP and world head of startups at AWS, stated to TechCrunch. “Nobody can name the time or date or quarter that it’s going to occur and it’ll be mainstream, however we’ve seen the cycles of development earlier than. The rate of this one looks like it’s accelerating and we’re simply excited to be part of this.”
6 crypto investors talk about DeFi and the road ahead for adoption in 2023 (TC+)
The crypto enterprise capital business has change into extra selective due to the final market downturn and wavering belief attributable to a slew of scandals and market disruptions, however buyers at main corporations are nonetheless writing checks within the area. Because the market appears towards the longer term, some enterprise capitalists are revamping their investing methods, whereas others are holding to their present plans, with maybe a small tweak or two. Learn on to learn the way lively buyers are excited about DeFi, how they’re advising their portfolio corporations amid the dearth of funding, one of the best ways to method them and extra.
Mastercard launches web3-focused artist incubator with Polygon
Mastercard, one of many largest monetary funds suppliers on the earth, is launching a web3-focused incubator to assist artists join with followers by means of a brand new medium, the corporate shared. Mastercard partnered with Polygon, a scaling blockchain constructed on high of Ethereum, which has been making large strides within the Internet 2.0 ecosystem these days. After becoming a member of the incubator, taking part artists ought to know find out how to mint NFTs, symbolize themselves in digital worlds and set up a neighborhood, Raja Rajamannar, chief advertising and communications officer at Mastercard, stated to TechCrunch.
Web3-focused Beacon launches flagship demo day with 13 crypto startups
We’re solely within the second week of 2023, however demo days have already begun as founders attempt to hold momentum alive within the ever-changing crypto market. Beacon, a web3-focused early-stage accelerator program, launched final 12 months, and its flagship cohort simply graduated. The groups within the first cohort, referred to as Cohort 0, introduced their concepts on Tuesday throughout a demo day, completely lined by TechCrunch.
When it comes to web3, investors say they’re in it for the long haul (TC+)
Hyped or not, web3 corporations appear to be they’re right here to remain, and buyers appear greater than keen to maintain backing them. To get a greater thought of how the folks writing the checks are excited about web3, TechCrunch surveyed greater than 35 buyers, and it seems the bulk should not solely actively investing within the class, additionally they harbor hopes of a shining future for what they really feel is a probably transformative expertise.
The most recent pod
Chain Response is again in motion with the launch of Season 2!
For this week’s episode, I talked to Ryan Wyatt, president of Polygon Labs, one of many largest market shakers and layer-2 blockchains within the crypto area that’s constructing on high of the Ethereum ecosystem.
The previous 12 months has been large for Polygon because it partnered with big-brand names like Starbucks, Disney and Mastercard to launch loyalty rewards and accelerator applications. Now, Polygon is trying to 2023 and new alternatives, and Wyatt shares what’s in retailer for it and the way the area nonetheless has room to develop.
We additionally mentioned:
- Polygon’s huge themes and product imaginative and prescient for 2023
- Mass adoption of crypto and what it takes to get there
- Wyatt’s outlook for the gaming and NFT market
Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the newest episodes, and please depart us a evaluation should you like what you hear!
Observe the cash
- Venom Ventures Fund introduced a $1 billion venture fund and made its first funding in Nümi Metaverse’s $20 million funding spherical
- The Straightforward Firm, a “social” crypto pockets, raised $14.2 million in a seed spherical
- Cosmo blockchain-based DeFi protocol Quasar raised $5.4 million at a $70 million valuation
- Open Forest Protocol raised $4.1 million to scale nature-based options
- C14 raised $2.5 million to assist construct crypto cost flows
