This Week in Web3: Friday, June 17th, 2022
The rising tide of optimism, True Global doubles down on Web3, Metaverse could be worth $5 trillion by 2030, Polygon founder still mega bullish and Chris Dixon on the future of Web3
Dear friends,
Does history repeat itself? No, of course not, that would make no sense. Does the past have something to teach us about the present, absolutely!
I started my professional career designing and building digital products in 2000 and Social Media Week was founded in early 2009. We’re talking dot-com crash and The Great Recession eras. 2022 will be the third time I’ve experienced what many are calling a market correction. In 2000 it was very specific to tech, in 2008/09 it was related to the collapse of the housing market, and today, it is due to a confluence of factors, including a global recession, the public markets, crypto, and a major hangover from a two-year-long Pandemic.
This week I’ve had so many conversations about what all of this means and how the current set of circumstances will either be a hindrance to our progress in building for Web3 or whether we are entering into a period of extraordinary creativity and innovation.
As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, I’m an optimist, but not a blind one. I prefer to be informed, pragmatic, and goal-oriented. I believe this is the most fertile time for new ideas to flourish and potentially the best environment in which to start something new. However, it is not possible to simply will things into existence, we also need other factors during these times to support early-stage ideas and new businesses.
This is where Venture Capital plays a crucial role. Consumer confidence and spending will hit an all-time low, advertising dollars will begin to dry up and more traditional ways in which businesses make money will become harder during this bear market.
Surely, VC money will also dry up? Perhaps, some, but certainly not all. According to Chris Dixon, who recently launched a $4.5B Crypto fund and who was interviewed by Kara Swisher this week on her podcast Sway, he is unwavering in his bullishness and believes this will be a golden era for creative people and software developers. He went on to say that “smart people with good ideas are a good investment, regardless of the market”.
Dušan Stojanović, one of TGV’s 15 general partners, who just announced a $145M follow on fund for Web3 projects, also shared his thoughts on investing during the bear market:
“It is much easier to see more clearly who the winners are now. This has created a high level of confidence amongst our investors. Regardless of the market situation, there are always good teams having great products at the proper time. Crisis is the best time to invest, not the bull market."
With all of this taken into consideration, my conviction is that some of the most important businesses that will shape the future of society will be created in the next few years and I intend to be part of this movement. However, people are hurting right now, and we need to be empathic and provide support to those who need it. This is where the rising tide of optimism needs to lift all boats.
LFG!
P.S Dorsey has gone full Troll. You never go full Troll, everyone knows that!
TL;DR
True Global Ventures doubles down on Web3 with $146M ‘follow-on’ fund
Metaverse could be worth $5 trillion by 2030: McKinsey report
The Crypto Crash Shows The Unearned Confidence In Web3, NFT And Blockchain Gaming
Bitcoinist: Web3 Still ‘Mega-Mega Bullish’ Despite Crypto Mayhem, Polygon Co-Founder Says
Sway Podcast: As Bitcoin Busts, What’s the Future of Web3? And What Even is Web3?
‘Welcome To Crypto Island’: PJ Vogt Plots TV Series & Docs Based On Wild Internet Podcast
Dump Discord? Nansen Launches Messaging App for Web3 Communities
News we’re following
True Global Ventures doubles down on Web3 with $146M ‘follow-on’ fund
The TGV4 Plus Follow On Fund was led by a group of 15 general partners who committed over $4 million on average (over 40%) into the fund.
Venture capital firm True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV4 Plus) has announced the closure of a $146 million funding round earmarked for a wide range of Web3 projects — highlighting investors’ continued interest in crypto despite an ongoing bear market.
The latest closure, dubbed the TGV4 Plus Follow On Fund, was led by a group of 15 general partners who committed over $4 million on average (over 40%, or $62 million) into the fund. The majority of the funding will be primarily injected into Web3 companies within TGV’s portfolio, while the remaining will be used to invest in late-stage Web3 opportunities.
Yesterday, the team behind the popular NFT marketplace of OpenSea, announced that they had migrated to SeaPort. The latter is a decentralized Web3 NFT marketplace ‘designed for safely and efficiently buying and selling NFTs.’
SeaPort Users to Save 35% in Fees in Comparison to OpenSea.
Metaverse could be worth $5 trillion by 2030: McKinsey report
A new report from global consulting firm McKinsey found that the Metaverse could be worth $5 trillion by 2030.
Global spending in the Metaverse could reach $5 trillion by 2030, according to a new report from international consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
Published yesterday, the 77-page report titled “Value Creation in the Metaverse” analyzed current adoption trends and drew additional insight from two global surveys; one gathered data from 3,104 consumers across 11 countries, while the other polled a range of executives from 448 companies across 15 industries in 10 different countries.
Things we’re reading
The Crypto Crash Shows The Unearned Confidence In Web3, NFT And Blockchain Gaming
It is impossible to ignore the absolute carnage going on in the crypto market between crashing prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and most other coins, the shutdowns of exchanges due to volatility with no regulatory bodies to soothe the panic, and now fresh layoffs at crypto staples like Coinbase.
While I do not like seeing anyone suffer the loss of a job or income, this is turning into quite a large “we told you so” moment from the gaming community especially. For the better part of a year now, we’ve been assailed on all sides from evangelists saying that web3, blockchain-based games and NFT-driven economies were the future of the industry.
Bitcoinist: Web3 Still ‘Mega-Mega Bullish’ Despite Crypto Mayhem, Polygon Co-Founder Says
Web3 is not about to cave in despite the adversity engulfing the crypto market.
The crypto winter is almost literally “freezing” the flow of life into the digital currency ecosystem. But despite this, Polygon Co-Founder Sandeep Nailwal maintains a positive attitude in the face of uncertainty.
While things may be rocky and overwhelming for Web3 and the crypto market right now, the bearish market is said to push for a bullish turn anytime this year. And this gives a lot of investors that spark of hope.
Mike Novogratz: Bitcoin Will 'Lead the Markets' in Recovery From Fed Rate Hike
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz is cautiously optimistic that Bitcoin will play a key role in the recovery from the current downturn.
“Bitcoin will lead the markets back out of this Fed hike. The moment the Fed flinches… you’re going to see Bitcoin explode north,” Novogratz said in a recent interview with CNBC.
Amid a wider crypto market crash this week, the price of Bitcoin nosedived $20,000 on Wednesday, before staging a comeback to almost $22,900 earlier today.
However, the leading cryptocurrency has since retraced those gains, and is now changing hands at $21,150, according to CoinMarketCap.
Things we’re listening to
Sway Podcast: As Bitcoin Busts, What’s the Future of Web3? And What Even is Web3?
Chris Dixon is one of Silicon Valley’s most ardent crypto-evangelists. A general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, he leads a16z Crypto, which invests in web3. At the beginning of the year, his proselytizing seemed to be paying off: Bitcoin had doubled in value in the last half of 2021, NFTs were all the rage, and crypto seemed poised for mainstream acceptance. Nowhere was this more evident than the Super Bowl broadcast, crammed with cryptocurrency ads featuring celebrities like LeBron James, Matt Damon and even the curmudgeonly Larry David.
But it’s all come crashing down. This week, Bitcoin reached its lowest point in 18 months — at just above $23,000 — and Ethereum is worth about a quarter of its November peak. The cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase announced it was laying off nearly 20 percent of its work force while the crypto-lending platform Celsius paused withdrawals, in a moment that looked a lot like the run on the banks in the film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
In this conversation, Kara Swisher asks Dixon if we’re watching the beginning of an all-out crash for the industry. They discuss parallels to the 2008 financial crisis, dig into how much of crypto is “scam at scale,” and contemplate what regulation from the government could help. And they talk about whether web3 will really be the decentralized utopia enthusiasts paint it to be, another iteration of an internet that profits too few, or something in between.
‘Welcome To Crypto Island’: PJ Vogt Plots TV Series & Docs Based On Wild Internet Podcast
PJ Vogt, one of the founders of the hit podcast series Reply All, has returned to the audio medium with a new series full of wild internet stories.
While Vogt quietly dropped the first episode of the series – Welcome To Crypto Island – yesterday, Deadline understands that the team behind it are already planning to supersize it with TV extensions, both in the documentary realm and scripted arena.
Ostensibly, Welcome To Crypto Island explores the world of cryptocurrency (listen to the first episode below), but it’s really about the weird human stories behind the world of bitcoin and blockchain.
Projects we’re following
Dump Discord? Nansen Launches Messaging App for Web3 Communities
Analytics platform Nansen aims to take a bite out of Discord’s dominance with a new messenger service for NFT projects and more.
Discord is the reigning chat app of choice for the Web3 community, ranging from NFT projects to DAO communities—but frequent scams are taking the shine off of the service. Now, crypto analytics platform Nansen has a new solution to connect communities in the space.