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- The Briefing Memo from The Department of XYZ
The Briefing Memo from The Department of XYZ
October 2024
The Briefing Memo
October 2024 - If you’re new here, welcome to The Briefing Memo, which features our latest insights and updates.
The past two months have been our busiest yet and we have a number of exciting updates to share!
Congratulations to Bridge
Our very first investment, Bridge, has announced their acquisition by Stripe. You can read our reaction here and Bridge Co-Founder Zach Abrams’ statement here. Read our “why we invested” blog post for insight on why we backed this company at the seed stage. There’s been a lot of commentary on this deal and here are a couple of posts worth reading if you want to dig deeper: The API Economy by Peter Schroeder and FinTech Brainfood by Simon Taylor. Stablecoin payment systems were our very first investment theme and one we’ll continue to explore as this new category of financial services is defined. Congrats to the entire Bridge team on this major milestone!
Congratulations to Predicate
Pre-seed portfolio company Predicate announced they have raised a total of $7M, including through a recent seed funding round led by Tribe and 1kx. Read our blog post below to learn why we believe Predicate is a critical enabler of widespread blockchain adoption.
Congratulations to Opacity
Opacity recently announced their seed funding round and we were thrilled to participate. The concept is simple: enabling an internet user to verify any unique information about them online to anyone else they choose. Read our blog post below to understand why they will become critical infrastructure for the internet for giving users much greater control over their data.
Department updates
Matt joined a group of leading investors, thinkers, and doers to discuss opportunities for greater asset ownership in America. Thanks to the Aspen Institute and Gary Community Ventures for organizing the gathering and for taking an interest in the role of digital assets toward this objective. We believe digital assets, including tokenized real world assets, can unlock new asset ownership and wealth building opportunities.
Matt served as a mentor, pitch judge, and moderator for the Italian Innovation & Culture Hub’s (INNOVIT) recent fintech program that brought entrepreneurs from Italy to San Francisco for a crash course on the US innovation ecosystem. He moderated a panel on AI in Fintech with executives from Bridge, Plaid, and Visa. INNOVIT is a world class effort that covers a range of innovation areas and we recommend checking out their upcoming public events.
Matt was a panelist at the inaugural Assets on Blockchain Conference where he spoke about the growth of tokenized real world assets, the role of financial institutions, and opportunities / gaps ripe for innovation.
Great to speak at the Assets on Blockchain conference this week and highlight the work of many of our portfolio companies in this space. @Stablecoin@RWA_xyz@superstatefunds@0xPredicate@MountainUSDM@etherfuse
— Matt Homer (@matt_homer)
9:59 PM • Oct 4, 2024
Pitchbook wrote about us in their newsletter several weeks ago.
What we’re reading and listening to
Matt joined friend of the Department Aaron Brogan to co-author an Op-Ed in CoinDesk on prediction markets and Kalshi’s court victory over the CFTC.
Governor Waller, Federal Reserve: Centralized and Decentralized Finance: Substitutes or Complements? — Governor Waller of the Federal Reserve delivered an excellent first-principles speech on defi in which he argues the technology complements rather than replaces traditional financial services. In a display of optimism, Waller says “stablecoins may have benefits in payments and by serving as a safe asset on a variety of new trading platforms.”
Politico: A wave of crypto-friendly lawmakers is about to crash Congress — “Regardless of who wins the presidency, the result of the 2024 elections is likely to be the most pro-crypto Congress ever — and one that could deliver the industry’s long-held lobbying priority of removing regulatory roadblocks.”
a16z Crypto: State of Crypto Report 2024 — a16z’s annual report provides insights on stablecoins, infrastructure developments such as zero knowledge proofs, defi growth, and politics.
Circuit: Systemic Risk: Why Circuit is Building Resilience into the Digital Asset Industry's Future — From portfolio company Circuit, an excellent distillation of the risks associated with key management when relying on trusted third parties and how Circuit is solving this problem.
Castle Island: Stablecoins: The Emerging Market Story — Original research that sheds light on the impressive adoption of stabelcoins in emerging markets, and key use cases.
On the horizon
November 7, 2024 (NYC): We’re co-hosting a non-partisan Crypto Colloquy the night after the election in Tribeca. Respond to this message if you’re interested in joining.
November 20 - 21, 2024 (Dallas): Matt will be participating in the North American Blockchain Summit organized by the Texas Blockchain Council. If you’re interested in meeting, please reach out.
December 4, 2024 (NYC): Matt will be speaking at The Ownership Economy Summit. If you’re interested in attending you can register here and use code XYZ20 to receive 20% off.