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- The Briefing Memo from The Department of XYZ
The Briefing Memo from The Department of XYZ
May 2024
The Briefing Memo
May 2024 - If you’re new here, welcome to The Briefing Memo from The Department of XYZ, which features our latest insights and updates. You can manage your subscription preferences at the bottom of this message.
Before we forget we want to invite you to join our launch party in Austin on May 29.
We’re official!
Our debut fund was announced in Fortune last week in a feature written by reporter Leo Schwartz. If you have any trouble accessing it, reply to this email and we can help you out.
Here is a snippet:
The crypto industry is littered with former regulators, typically serving as legal counsel at top companies or advisors on political lobbying. More rare is a regulator serving as an investor at a venture firm, let alone a founding partner, with the exception of former Department of Justice prosecutor Katie Haun.
Matthew Homer, previously a senior superintendent overseeing crypto at the New York Department of Financial Services, is breaking the mold. After leaving DFS in 2021 and working at the venture firm Nyca Partners, Homer started his own crypto-focused venture firm, the Department of XYZ, which just raised $5.1 million.
The fund is backed by limited partners who serve as advisors to portfolio companies, including former regulators from an array of agencies, as well as top industry participants such as Compound’s Robert Leshner, Multicoin’s Kyle Samani, and the Winklevoss twins.
In an interview with Fortune, Homer said XYZ doesn’t aim to lead funding rounds but instead serve as an essential advisory resource on cap tables for startups. “As I looked at the venture space, it’s one of the reasons I launched this fund,” he said. “There’s no one that is really owning the regulatory lane.”
“We’re not going to be your largest check, but what we are going to be is your regulatory friends on speed dial,” Homer added.
Portfolio News
RWA.xyz released their stablecoin dashboard, which you can find here. The team put a tremendous amount of effort into this and collaborated closely stablecoin projects to get it right. It has already become the market leading source of data and is cited frequently.
Superstate reached $100M AUM for their first product, $USTB.
Squid Router hit an impressive threshold of $50M+ in 7 day swap volume.
Team Updates
We were selected to participate in a US Certified Trade Mission to Switzerland that brought together a select group of US GPs and Swiss LPs.
Matt gave a guest lecture alongside Polygon’s CLO, Rebecca Rettig, for a class of regulators participating in a digital asset program offered by the University of Cambridge. Over 80 regulators participated in the program.
What we’re reading
Superstate: How Tokenization Upgrades the Utility of $650T in Traditional Assets - This first article in a “Book on Tokenization” series details the benefits of tokenization and which assets are primed to be tokenized.
RWA.XYZ: Last Week in Tokenization - RWA.xyz has launched a weekly newsletter on tokenization that is a must-read for anyone interested in the space.
a16zcrytpo: Getting ready to launch a token: What you need to know - An excellent guide for builders and investors alike on much more than “how to launch a token.”
SignalFire: State of Talent Report 2023 tech employee trends - Insightful data on tech talent, showing that while the Bay Area has a lock on AI talent, other tech talent is increasingly migrating to Austin and New York.
Tom Brown: SEC v Coinbase—the Black Knight, Bosses, and the Limits of Regulation by Enforcement - Tom breaks down Judge Failla’s recent opinion on Coinbase’s motion to dismiss the SEC’s complaint, including what it means for self-custody.
On the horizon
Please join us in Austin on May 29 for our launch party!