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Tron’s Troubling Founder

By Vin Narayanan on June 3, 2022

Not every crypto is spilling red ink this year. While bitcoin is down about 37% in 2022, Tron (TRX) is up about 10% this year. And most of the gains have happened in the last 30 days. Last month, Tron launched the USDD stablecoin. USDD is an algorithmic stablecoin. One USDD is supposed to equal $1. And the peg is maintained by burning TRX to mint USDD or converting…

Solana Teaches Crypto Investors a Critical Lesson

By Vin Narayanan on June 3, 2022

Crypto Market Musings As expected, bitcoin continues to trade in a fairly tight range between $28,000 and $30,000. Most other coins are loosely tracking with bitcoin. There are some exceptions, though. Tron, for example, is up about 17% in the last 30 days.
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There will never be a “next” Facebook or Google or Airbnb. Companies are a product of a specific time, place, technology know-how and need. It’s as if the universe wills them into existence.  Of course, founders play an important role. But there are a lot of…
In the wake of yet another mass shooting, many Americans are outraged and terrified. While lawmakers continue to argue over gun control legislation, the effects of gun violence are being felt across the country.  That includes businesses too. The May 24 shooting in Uvalde, Texas —…
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Sometimes — and especially in bear markets — investors need to be opportunistic. That’s why Andreessen Horowitz just launched a $4.5 billion fund for crypto projects. A16z is going bargain hunting. And with good reason. “Bear markets…
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Behind the Pick: The Importance of DeFi Diversification

By Early Investing on May 26, 2022

Memorial Day is rapidly approaching. So we expect many of our Crypto Asset Strategies subscribers to be preparing for a long weekend of relaxation.  With that in mind, we won’t keep you too long. We’ve got a lightning-fast version of Behind the…

It’s Easier Than Ever to Invest in Works of Art

By Andy Gordon on May 25, 2022

I was in the fifth grade when Andy Warhol held his first solo painting exhibit in 1962. He was showing his set of 32 Campbell’s soup cans. The exhibit bombed. Pop art was just getting started in the early ‘60s. Art critics didn’t get him or his art. …
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Crypto Insider: How to Handle the Crypto Bear Market

By Early Investing on May 23, 2022

The crypto bear market has been rough. Bitcoin started the year trading at around $47,000 and is currently trading for around $30,000. Ethereum started the year around $3,800 and is now around $2,000. And downtrending crypto prices are just one aspect of a bear market. Investor…
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The public markets are a mess. The private markets are a mess. The precious metals markets are a mess. And the crypto markets are a mess. Those are the facts. I fully expect the crypto markets to be highly volatile and continue to bottom out over…

Crypto Needs to Solve the Stablecoin Problem

By Vin Narayanan on May 20, 2022

Demo Day Alert Before we get to the crypto markets, we wanted to alert you to a really cool demo day opportunity. One of the things I love the most about being a startup investor is meeting founders and having them demonstrate their products to me. It’s a…
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In a slightly less broken world, Enosi Life Sciences would not exist as is. Enosi is a tiny drug research and development company. And that is the only ordinary-sounding thing about it. Its technology is not ordinary. Its rockstar founders are far from ordinary. And its…
A member reached out to us earlier this month wondering if there was a good way to track all of the startup investments they had made. This particular investor had made several startup investments across multiple investment platforms and had also done some private placement deals. They also…
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Today we have a fund investment opportunity that we’re very excited about. It comes from KingsCrowd, the parent company of Early Investing. The KingsCrowd Capital Fund I is a basket of 100 early-stage startups. And…
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Startup Insider: The Evolution of Crowdfunding

By Early Investing on May 16, 2022

Break out the cake and champagne — it’s Regulation Crowdfunding’s sixth anniversary! On May 16, 2016, Regulation Crowdfunding — or Reg CF — went into effect and allowed startups to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding. Reg CF was first made possible by the JOBS Act,…
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The crypto markets are a bloodbath right now. Bitcoin crashed around 22% over the last week, dipping down to $26,638 on Thursday. And the crypto markets as a whole lost more than 16% of their overall capitalization overnight.  Investors…

Crypto Is No Longer a Non-Correlated Asset

By Vin Narayanan on May 13, 2022

Market Musings Crypto is in official bear market mode. Bitcoin briefly fell below $27,000 on Thursday. As of this writing, it’s down around 43% on the year and down about 60% from its all-time high of $67,802 last November. Ethereum dropped to close to $1,748 on Thursday. That’s…