gm folks.
January was a massive month for the industry. It’s hard to believe that just twenty-three days ago the SEC approved eleven different BTC ETFs. It feels like a lifetime ago. While volatility has been a consistent theme this month (every month?), there’s little doubt that over the long term the BTC ETFs have the potential to usher in an era of broader digital asset adoption.
This month’s newsletter is full of new releases and exciting feature updates. Notably, Rabbit Inc. took the internet by storm with the reveal of a new AI-powered hardware device known as the r1. Making its debut at CES 2024, the r1 utilizes a LAM (large action model), creating a handheld device with enhanced, interactive AI capabilities. Rabbit reported that more than 50k units have already been sold.
While compiling this month’s content, I was inspired by the creativity and breadth of innovation that’s taking place right now in our corner of the internet. Crypto builders continue to lay the groundwork for an exciting year ahead and unlock new design spaces, while writers type out expansive long-form pieces that chart the uncharted. As Chris Dixon notes in his excellent new book Read Write Own, “This is a chance to create the internet you want, not the internet you inherited.” It feels like we’re on the right path. The best paths are full of zig-zags.
Thanks for being here. Hope you enjoy the read.
Until next month,
Rabbit Inc. (🤝) / Introducing the r1 — The Rabbit R1, a $199 AI-powered device designed by Rabbit and Teenage Engineering, offers a new experience utilizing LAM (large action models). As of Jan. 18, the fifth batch of 10,000 r1 devices sold out, according to a company tweet. Pre-orders for the sixth batch of 50,000 are now live — more
BTC ETF / SEC Approval — On January 10th, 2024 the US SEC approved the first U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs, marking a significant milestone for the industry. Major firms like BlackRock, Ark Investments, and Fidelity were among the 11 approved applicants — more
Solana Mobile / New Phone Release — Solana Mobile gears up to release a second, more affordable crypto smartphone, retaining key features like an onboard wallet and dApp store, aiming to build on the initial momentum of its predecessor, Saga — more
Microsoft CEO / ‘Most Impressive’ Demo Since Steve Jobs’ iPhone Unveiling — “I thought the demo of the Rabbit (🤝) OS and the device was fantastic,” Satya Nadella told Bloomberg. “I think I must say, after Jobs and the launch of iPhone, probably one of the most impressive presentations I've seen.” — more
Coinbase / Expands Access to Africa — Coinbase partners with Yellow Card to launch in 20 African countries, offering access to USDC and efficient transactions via L2 Base, aiming to revolutionize the continent's financial landscape — more
Fox & Polygon / Collaborate to Launch “Verify” — Fox Corporation introduces Verify, an open protocol on Polygon PoS, enabling media companies to register content and manage AI usage rights. Verify, now in beta, allows consumers to trace content origins, enhancing transparency and content authenticity — more
Stablecoin Issuer Circle / Files for IPO — Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of USDC stablecoin, files for an IPO after a failed 2021 SPAC attempt and amidst recent SEC bitcoin ETF approvals — more
Helium Mobile / Nova Labs x Telefonica — Telefónica and Nova Labs collaborate to introduce Helium Mobile Hotspots in Mexico, enhancing mobile coverage by integrating Telefónica's network with Helium's (🤝) decentralized wireless tech — more
Rabbit Inc. (🤝) / Perplexity AI Partnership — “The Rabbit R1 will offer up-to-date answers powered by Perplexity's AI. The first 100,000 buyers will get one year of Perplexity Pro subscription for free.” — more
Solana / New Token Extensions — Solana's new token extensions enhance the standard token functionalities with advanced features like confidential transfers and custom logic, extended metadata, and other functionality — more
Disney / Unveils ‘HoloTile’ — Disney unveils 'HoloTile,' an innovative VR floor by Lanny Smoot, enabling shared, limitless VR walks. This reveal aligns with Smoot's historic induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a first for a Disney Imagineer — more
Dorm DAO (🤝) / ~500 ETH Raised — Dorm DAO, a collective of university blockchain clubs that invest in crypto assets and produce research based on student-led fundamental analysis, raises round from Collab+Currency, The LAO, Consensys Mesh, Hydra Ventures (🤝), and Lemniscap — more
Scene Infrastructure Company / $3M Raised — Friends With Benefits' (🤝) Scene Infrastructure Company raises seed round, led by a16z crypto, to explore token and social network applications — more
Renzo / $3.2M Raise — Renzo, an Eigenlayer liquid restaking hub, raises seed round led by Maven 11 Capital, with participation from Figment Capital, Sevenx Ventures, IOSG, and others — more
Pixelmon / $8M Raised — Pixelmon, a decentralized game studio, raises seed round from Animoca Brands, Delphi Ventures, Foresight Ventures, and others. Long Live Kevin — more
CryoDAO / 1,108 ETH Raised — CryoDAO, DeSci DAO funding high-impact research in the field of cryopreservation, raises round via the Juicebox Protocol — more
Digital Infrastructure Inc / $11.5M Raised — Digital Infrastructure Inc, the DePIN startup building out the DIMO network, raises Series A led by CoinFund, with participation from Slow Ventures, ConsenSys Mesh, and others — more
Entangle / $4M Raised — Entangle, a startup building customizable infra for web3, raises seed sound from Big Brain, LBank Labs, and others — more
Eesee / $2.85M Raised — Eesee, a gamified NFT marketplace, raises round with participation by SevenX Ventures, Maven Capital, MetaBros, Contango Digital Assets, BasementDAO — more
HashKey / ~$100M Riased — HashKey Group, an end-to-end digital asset financial services group in Asia, raises Series A a pre-money valuation above $1.2B — more
Masa / $5.4M Raised — Masa, a startup building a decentralized data platform on Avalanche, raises seed round led by Anagram, with participation from Avalanche Blizzard Fund, Digital Currency Group, GoldenTree, and others — more
Polymer Labs / $23M Raised — Polymer, an Ethereum L2 network aiming to provide interoperability-as-a-service, raises Series A from Blockchain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and others — more
Bagel / $3.1M Raised — Bagel, a startup aiming to build an infinitely scalable machine learning data lake, raises round led by CoinFund, with participation from Borderless, Maven11, and others — more
Arcade2Earn / $4.8M Raised — Arcade2Earn, a blockchain gaming platform, raised a private token round led by Crypto .com Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, Shima Capital, and others — more
ZorpZK / $5M Raised — Zorp, a project building a Layer 1 PoW blockchain powered by zk-proofs, raises seed round led by Delphi Ventures, with participation from North Island Ventures, CMCC Global, Portal Ventures, and others — more
Axiom / $20M Raised — Axiom, a smart contract infra company, raises Series led by Paradigm and Standard Crypto, with participation from Robot Ventures, Ethereal Ventures, and others — more
Introducing Dorm DAO (🤝): The future of student group engagement / Zack Rosenblatt — “Universities have been hosting student-led “Investment Clubs” on campus for decades. Dorm DAO runs the same playbook — but with cryptoassets — partnering with the top university blockchain groups in the world to inform the allocation of DAO resources across the crypto economy.” — more
Consumer Crypto’s Breakout Cycle / Amanda Young — “Today, we’re on the precipice of another set of breakout apps — crypto as the backbone for novel consumer experiences — powered by an emerging infrastructure stack.” — more
The promise and challenges of crypto + AI applications / Vitalik — “It is also worth noting that "using crypto incentives to incentivize making better AI" can be done without also going down the full rabbit hole of using cryptography to completely encrypt it: approaches like Bittensor (🤝) fall into this category.” — more
Forget Apple Vision Pro — rabbit (🤝) r1 is 2024’s most exciting launch yet / Tech Crunch — “Apple is doing everything it can to make VR happen, but a tiny startup has a better vision of the future.” — more
A Personal List of Some of The Most Interesting Digital-Art Experiments of 2023 / Jiayin Chen x Artnet — “In 2023, collectors thefunnyguys and Zack Taylor unveiled Le Random (🤝), a new venture, dedicated to on-chain generative art.” — more
Livepeer's (🤝) Road to AI Video Compute / Doug Petkanics — “AI will undoubtedly change the world of video faster than we can imagine in the coming years, and the we look forward to the world’s open video infrastructure being the most cost effective, scalable, and reliable backbone for all the compute required to enable this bold new future.” — more
Framing the Future of the Internet / Packy McCormick — “Farcaster's Very Small Apps Are a Very Big Deal.” — more
Minting Is the Native Business Model for Web3 (and maybe AI too) / Fred Wilson — “There is a way forward that works for writers, readers, collectors, creators, and everyone. It starts with us owning our work and allowing others to pay us to collect our work.” — more
The State of Consumer Crypto / Blockchain Brett x PTC Crypto — “What’s Consumer Crypto? Whats the current state? Whats to look forward to?” — more
By All Accounts: On Points, Attestations, & Tokens / Katie Chiou + Graeme Boy x Archetype — “Blockchains are natural infrastructure for point systems because they’re designed as a universal ledger of entities with rails that can programmatically distribute value to these entities based on certain actions.” — more
Luxury Monkeys / Teng Yan — “Why the business of selling dreams and exclusivity is so huge. NFTs = digital luxury goods.” — more
The 2023 State of the Solana Developer Ecosystem / Solana Foundation — “The Solana developer ecosystem continues to grow … Today the Solana ecosystem has over 2500 monthly active developers on open source repositories and developer retention is over 50%.” — more
ETPs: Expanding Investor Access to Crypto / 1kx x Diana Biggs — “Exchange-traded products (ETPs) offer a convenient, regulated, and low-cost way for both retail and institutional investors to access a range of underlying investments — and crypto is no exception.” — more
From Players to Gods: Games & Autonomous Worlds / Archetype x Katie Chiou — “… It’s important to acknowledge that new developments in crypto and other rapidly emerging technologies may create opportunities that we can only dream of—truly testing the limits of not only the question “What is a game?” but also “what is a world?” — more
The Key to Building Sustainable DePIN / Ariel Seidman — “Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) are powerful uses of blockchain technology. But success depends on tokenomics built for the long-term, says the co-founder of Hivemapper.” — more
The Ultimate Guide to Solana's Onchain Gaming Ecosystem / 0xAkina — “Solana has developed strong DeFi, NFT, and DePin communities, powered by its great UX that stems from low transaction costs and fast confirmation speeds. However, what’s not as widely known is that the L1 is building up a robust onchain gaming ecosystem.” — more
It’s All a Game / Colleen Sullivan — “In my opinion, it's inevitable that (younger) gamers will eventually demand ownership of virtual gaming items, and Web3 enables just that. Gaming goes through paradigm shifts approximately every 10 years, and in many respects, the rise of Web3 gaming is similar to the rise of free-to-play (F2P) gaming.” — more
Betting On 7 Deadly Sins / Zee Prime — “Social media transformed reality shows to “the show that is reality.” Reality is the spectacle and people want to take part in it – and one way is via speculation. After all, speculation is a form of coordination.” — more
AI Agents, Product Velocity, & User Interfaces / Michael Dempsey — “It’s very clear that some version of the future includes a world where software actions begin to migrate from humans to AI Agents. How this manifests itself is likely a spectrum with two very different angles of approach that have implications on how you build a company moving forward.” — more
Crypto's Identity Crisis / Natalie Mullins x Volt — “For all the innovation these technologies will bring to the world in the coming years, they will also make the identity problem significantly more difficult and complex for the foreseeable future.” — more
Digital Fashion in 2023: An Obituary To A False Start / Dani Loftus — “I’ve expressed many times that digital fashion is an inevitability. Society has shown an increasing proclivity towards digital existences and digital fashion —the digitisation of our primal need to self-express— is a necessary tool in this future.” — more
Consumer Crypto Report / thirdweb — “2023 was a huge year for innovation at the infrastructure and UX level of Web3. This paved the way for significant strides in consumer crypto.” — more
The DeSci value chain / Patrick Mayr — “The way I currently see it, the DeSci value chain can be broken down into 3 main parts: the funding of research, the execution of it and the publishing of results.” — more
Crypto's Three Body Problem / Sam Hart, Toby Shorin, Laura Lotti — “Crypto's animating purpose was to develop incorruptible institutions. However, various attempts to embed these structures in a broader social fabric, from DAOs to crypto-network states, have largely failed. We draw from Lawrence Lessig's legal theories to explain why.” — more
What Multicoin Is Excited About For 2024 / Multicoin Capital — “At the end of every year we come together and discuss some of the biggest changes we’re expecting in the year ahead. For the first time, we’re publishing these ideas.” — more
Maven 11’s 2024 Predictions / Maven 11 — “Pivotal 2024 trends in blockchain and gaming, highlighting a landmark blockchain game, shifts in crypto and AI integration, emerging technologies in blockchain efficiency, and the evolution of fan engagement platforms, painting a picture of the rapidly evolving tech landscape.” — more
202 Crypto Developer Report / Electric Capital — “While developers overall are down 24%, the most valuable segment of developers (2+ year tenure who contribute the most code) continues to steadily grow. Crypto is now clearly Multi-chain. Crypto is global. The US continues to lose developer share.” — more
Self-Sovereignty Is NEAR: A Vision for Our Ecosystem / Illia Polosuhkin — “Every system is as fragile as the rules holding it together. And the rules can change. They’re changing around us right now, and I believe we are approaching a point of no return.” — more
Top 50 blockchain game companies of 2024 / Jon Jordan — “We thought it perfect timing to highlight the companies we think will dominate the news cycle and most played charts. — more
The World Hates Crypto / Coopahtroopa — “Giving someone the ability to sign in and checkout with a credit card is only a fraction of the battle. There needs to be a clear reason for why they are spending money and what they hope to get out of it. Today - those reasons are as blurry as ever. — more
Decentralized AI / Casey Caruso — “I believe openness begets innovation. In recent years, artificial intelligence has crossed the chasm into global utility and impact. Since computational strength grows with resource consolidation, AI naturally fosters centralization, where those with more computing power progressively dominate. This introduces a risk to our rate of innovation. I believe decentralization and Web3 stand as contenders to keep AI open.” — more
Multi-Hit Wonders: Embracing Apps With Short Shelf Life / Li Jin — “In today's consumer app landscape, aiming for smaller, fleeting hits can be a winning strategy.” — more
2024 Crypto Startup Ideas / Qiao Wang x Alliance DAO (🤝) — “This list serves two purposes: To encourage builders to apply to join our community and get funded. To inspire you, if you are not sure what to build.” — more
Mintellectual Property / Zora — “When you mint your media, you create provenance and preserve your optionality to monetize the work as you see fit. Pure ownership in an open IP paradigm with the click of a button.” — more
Bittensor (🤝) / OSS Capital Commits $25M — OSS Capital pledges $25M to the Bittensor ecosystem, aiming to boost decentralized AI through open source grants, startup investments, validator support, subnet expansion, community staking, and long-term $TAO accumulation — more
Clusters (🤝) / Cross-Chain Name Service Protocol — “Clusters is a cross-chain, multi-wallet name service protocol addressing issues like address fragmentation, wallet management complexity, and domain squatting. It serves as a unified identity layer…” — more
StoryCo (🤝) / $100k Accelerator Program — StoryCo introduced a new Accelerator program offering $5,000-$10,000 grants to transform narratives into multimedia outputs. The accelerator includes comprehensive support including multimedia tools, expert mentorship, industry networking, and marketing assistance — more
9dcc (🤝) / Phygital Brand of the Year of 2023 — “Today we are honored to announce 9dcc, the crypto-centric luxury lifestyle brand created by money, has been awarded the prestigious title of "Phygital Brand of the Year" at the Phygicode Impact Awards ceremony at WEB3 Hub during The World Economic Forum in Davos.” — more
Seed Club (🤝) / SC07 Consumer Crypto Accelerator — Seed Club introduced the Consumer Crypto Accelerator — a 3-month program for founders of unique, socially-driven crypto projects, offering guidance on product launch, market presence, and growth, while fostering collaboration with cohort peers, the Seed Club team, and mentors — more
UMA (🤝) / Introducing Oval — UMA and Flashbots introduce Oval, an MEV capture tool for monetizing Chainlink oracle data usage, offering lending protocols a novel revenue stream — more
Bonfire (🤝) / Introducing Bonfire 2.0 — “Meet Bonfire 2.0. The product you know and love, revamped to better meet your needs of deepening fan engagement, better monetizing superfans, and more seamless fan onboarding, all wrapped in a fresh new coat of paint.” — more
Axelar (🤝) / Monad Integration — “Monad is excited to announce an integration with Axelar Network to enable day 1 cross-chain support! This integration will unlock crucial interoperability between dapps built on Monad and the 55+ chains & ecosystems Axelar connects.” — more
'Nifty Island' (🤝) Is Already Better Than Most NFT Sandbox Games / Kate Irwin — “Even in beta, Nifty Island has quickly earned a spot among the best social NFT games out there. It’s visually appealing with fun movement mechanics, crisp audio, and tons of epic worlds made by other players.” Play-to-airdrop campaign live now — more
Azuki (🤝) / New Anime Anthology Series — Chiru Labs, creator of Azuki and Beanz, partners with renowned director Gorō Taniguchi to produce an anime anthology series, marking a push towards the fusion of digital art and traditional anime — more
Rabbit Inc. (🤝) / Podcast: This Week in Startups — “Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu on launching the R1, future of AI hardware, and going viral at CES.” — more
Farcaster / Introducing Frames — The Farcaster community introduced Frames — a novel way to transform Farcaster casts into interactive apps, enhancing standard OpenGraph embeds into dynamic experiences like polls and NFT mints, redefining user interaction within Warpcast and other FC clients — more
Yuga Labs’ Dookey Dash / Free-to-Play Launch — Yuga Labs revamps 'Dookey Dash,' transitioning from an NFT-exclusive to a free-to-play game, now offering token rewards and open access, in an aim to broaden its appeal beyond initial Ethereum NFT holders — more
Magic Eden / Non-Fungible DAO — Magic Eden launches a cross-chain NFT rewards program, kicking off with a Retroactive Diamond Drop for Solana users. The initiative aims to foster loyalty, integrate rewards in the Magic Eden Wallet, and eventually transition to a community-governed, open-source platform — more
Tensor / Long or Short NFTs — Tensor, an NFT marketplace on Solana, introduces 'Price Lock' — a feature that allows users to set fixed buy or sell prices for NFTs, akin to options trading. Over 10k SOL in volume was traded in the first 12 hours — more
Rarible / Rari Chain on Arbitrum Mainnet — Rari Foundation debuts Rari Chain mainnet on Arbitrum as a Layer 3 solution, enhancing NFT royalty protection and scaling by embedding royalties at the node level — more
Solana / Jupiter Airdrop — Jupiter, a DEX aggregator on Solana, airdropped its JUP token on January 31st. The Solana blockchain maintained 100% uptime during peak traffic — more
GG / Introducing the Solana Hunger Games — The 'Solana Hunger Games,' a Crypto-AR game, is blending treasure hunting in augmented reality with backing from Delphi Digital, as well as influencers such as Cozomo Medici, Gmoney, and others — more
Immutable / zkEVM Mainnet — “Immutable zkEVM Mainnet Early Access is live! The future of gaming is here with the launch of Immutable zkEVM Mainnet, powered by Polygon” — more
Anza / New Solana Dev Shop — “We are excited to announce the launch of Anza, a new software development firm focused on building in the Solana ecosystem.” — more
remnynt / Art Blocks (🤝): Proscenium — “Proscenium is a generative geometry that starts as the snapshot of a world and ends as paint on canvas. It defines a set of instructions to produce a self-painting landscape where the laws of physics are reimagined; paint can bounce like rubber and the land itself is a canvas that collapses from three dimensions down to two.” Dropping Feb. 14th — more
Niceaunties / Daily xyz: Solo Show — “Utilizing AI, the artist created a surreal world where every suppressed being could exist freely and without judgment. "Niceaunties" represents the collective subconscious of all 'aunties,' celebrating self-love, risk-taking, fun, and freedom through self-expression.” English Auction (100 artworks): Feb 6-7, at 1pm ET + Dutch Auction (900 artworks): Feb 7, at 2pm ET — more
Pierre Casadebaig / Verse: Ridge Regression — “Ridge Regression is a tour of imagined landscapes rooted in data visualization, drawing from real elevation logs that reveal the landscape topography of France's diverse mountain ranges. The project’s algorithm involves an evolutionary process applied to geology, where new plausible landscapes are built by recombining a set of randomly sampled real location(s).” Dropping Feb. 6th — more
Rabbit Inc. (🤝) / Award List Two Weeks After Launch
Andrew Kang / Pocket Network (🤝) Traction
Austin White / Pixels (🤝) Token Updates
Nifty Island (🤝) / Play-to-Airdrop Guide
Eleanor Davies / Davos x DeSci x Vita DAO (🤝)
brian flynn / Quest Protocol x Rabbithole (🤝) ATHs
SuperMassive x BasedAF (🤝) / Making Digital as Spontaneous as IRL
Fountain (🤝) / Fidenza Thread
Drip Labs (🤝) / Worldcoin Collab
Metaplex (🤝) / Inscriptions Now Live on Mainnet
Digitized / Featured x Bright Moments (🤝)
Digitized / Spotlight x Sleepagotchi (🤝)
Digitized / Spotlight with Sound xyz (🤝)
0xbrent / Blast Ecosystem Launch
Base / 2024 Roadmap + Mission
Grant Riven Yun / SOL Edition Drop in 2024
Yu Hu / Thread on Narrative Rotation
Pudgy Penguins / 750k Toys Sold in 2023
🤝 = Collab+Currency Portfolio Company
Curated by @Collab_Currency x @_cutbank
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Collab+Currency is an investor in companies labeled with the “🤝” emoji.
Information regarding any company or investment in this Newsletter, including any links to information on our website, should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation of that company or investment for any purpose whatsoever, either for purposes of investment or otherwise. Any person receiving this Newsletter or accessing our website is encouraged to consult with their own financial advisor, tax advisor and/or attorney before making any decision to invest.
The above material and content is educational in nature and should not be considered to be a recommendation to invest in a digital asset. Investing in digital assets, NFTs or cryptocurrency (collectively “digital assets”) is highly speculative and volatile, and digital assets are only suitable for investors who are willing to bear the risk of loss and experience sharp drawdown. Past performance is not indicative of future results.