#28 Stakeborg DAO’s First Community-built NFTs. a16z’s Chris Dixon Named as 2022’s Best VC Investor.
Disclaimer: Everything we write in "The Crypto Insider Report" is an x-ray of the industry as we see it, through the lens of publicly available information. We are not financial advisors.
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Forbes Crowns Chris Dixon as 2022’s Best VC Investor
Forbes compiles an annual list of the best venture capital investors, ranked by their returns - Midas. To qualify, investors are ranked by their portfolio companies that have gone public or been acquired for at least $200 million over the past five years, or that have at least doubled their private valuation since initial investment to $400 million or more over the same period. Usually, the top performers are managers who invest in Web2 tech companies like ByteDance (TikTok), Slack, Square, Okta and Lyft (to name the 2020 edition’s top 5 notable deals).
The latest edition welcomes a significant change - the top ranked investor is a16z’s Chris Dixon, with Coinbase as his most notable deal. CoinTelegraph writes that he managed to grow the 350 million USD fund into 6 billion USD (including unrealised gains) just last year. That is a cool 17x increase, compared to Crypto’s overall ~3x growth in the same year.
This goes to show first that Crypto has already matured enough to encompass large cap projects, with Coinbase being valued at around 86 billion USD in its IPO day, as opposed to the everyday micro cap coins that we keep hearing about from people who made 100x in paper money. Furthermore, it proves that there is a lot of alpha to be uncovered by skilled players (as opposed to TradFi hedge funds who struggle to achieve market returns).
I expect more of the traditional VCs to follow a16z’s and Sequoia’s steps and jump into this space, pursuing Crypto’s eye-watering gains. We’ll see who comes out on top next year.
Mihnea
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Genies: the avatar laboratory
On April 12th, Genies, the avatar technology company empowering individuals to create their own avatar ecosystems, announced a $150 million Series C round led by Silver Lake. The investment round valued the company at $1 billion, making it a new Web3 unicorn.
Genies, a Los Angeles-based startup that provides the tools for people to create their own avatars and avatar fashion collections, had already stepped into the spotlight. It is the official avatar and digital goods NFT provider for Universal Music and Warner Music Group. WMG noted that artists will be able to turn their favorite cultural moments or latest artistic endeavors into digital wearable drops. Genies has created avatars for musicians such as Justin Bieber, Migos, Cardi B, and J Balvin. It currently has a 99% celebrity avatar market share, but is gradually diversifying its user base. Bob Iger, the famed former CEO and chairman of Disney, joined its board in March 2022. Moreover, the Company now has the backing of Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing, with a portfolio of investments collectively generating $227+ billion of revenue annually.
Genies recently launched The Warehouse, an avatar ecosystem NFT marketplace enabling creators to buy, sell and trade their creations. All items are minted on Flow, Dapper Labs’ blockchain network. The newly injected capital will be used for hiring and to further invest in the Companies’ core technology.
With a clear focus on Gen Z and users / gamers that will spend more time into the Web3 landscape, its success seems also reliant on cross-chain interoperability and how easily it will make avatars and other items to be transferable in other Web3 creations. Celebrities endorsement does not always put you on the right and long-term track.
Razvan
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Visa seeks new college grads for Crypto Development Program
Vlad Mercori, CEO and Co-founder of Stakeborg, was recently mentioning in a podcast that three years ago it was unimaginable for crypto and blockchain enthusiasts to think that this topic will get to the top of the agenda for so many institutions and governments in such a short period of time.
Today I find myself writing once again about Visa’s actions in the crypto space. After announcing in a previous TCI report the launch of an NFT program aimed to support creators, Visa announced this week a crypto rotation program for college grads. The credit card giant is inviting college graduates to join the newly launched Crypto Development Program, an 18 month rotational experience designed to grow the next generation of cryptocurrency professionals. Visa explains they are aiming to build a fully fluent cryptocurrency team as they plan to roll out crypto-focused products and solutions. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering Visa’s announcement back in December of launching a crypto consulting service for merchants and banks.
The job listing does not require any specific majors, although those studying the liberal arts, business, computer science and related fields are preferred. In addition, only applicants who graduated or will graduate from a baccalaureate program between December 2021 and August 2022 qualify. Even though permanent authorization to work in the US is required for this position it is most certainly just a matter of time until such positions will be available in Europe and the rest of the world.
As dedicated crypto teams are booming, demand for crypto professionals keeps increasing, making blockchain and crypto education crucial for those considering making a bold and exciting career move in the months and years to come.
Evelyne
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A DAO you cannot fcuk with: Bring Web3
Reality check.
As human beings, we tend to explore further and further, only to realize, from time to time, the diamonds that we have in our front yard.
We launched StakebrogDao on November 1st, 2021, and it has been almost six great months in uncharted territory with lots of beautiful people joining. We are still maturing, but you can see the number of people putting in the work and spending their time in this fantastic community that we are becoming.
We already have four pretty big community projects in development and two more getting ready to jump to the next level. Already people started making proposals on Agora as well.
If you didn't have the chance to go on our discord, please click here: https://discord.gg/stakeborgdao, and go to the AREA 51% category to see these ongoing projects.
We will talk some more about these projects soon. Just keep in mind that:
Every Tuesday evening, we have our Community Talks, and you get a POAP if you tune in and listen;
The DAO Insider keeps us posted with everything happening in the community, daily reviews, and much more (follow more on Twitter);
Bring Web3 just launched something cool that I'm going to touch on in just a bit;
The Onboarding project has already reached the 2nd level, with the 2nd proposal coming soon, aiming to reorganize our Discord Server;
Dao Fundraising Club seeks to help the ones in need, also doing fun fundraising, poker tournaments, and more;
Financial Edu aims to push the pedal on the education side;
And trust me, just mentioning them in two lines doesn't do them justice, but if you are curious for more, just join our Discord and read what's being built, pro bono, by the people that start to understand Web3 more and more.
And don't forget about: https://stakeborgdao.xyz/
Remind me to write some more about the other projects, in the weeks to come. You promise? Ok then 😊
Speaking of which, to get back on to Bring Web3, Thursday, April 14th was a memorable day, because this happened:
We have our first community-built NFTs and man they look good. And there's a lot more going on behind because every NFT has a story and every story comes with a responsibility, Spiderman style 😃
They come in 5 types and shapes, for now:
#Bootstrap Member – given to the founders of #StakeborgDAO
#Veteran – For the first 100 members
#Early Adopter – For the first 250 Members
#Sustainer for the next 500 members
#Believer – For the next 1000 members
You can read the whole story here: https://stakeborgdao.xyz/go-big-or-go-home/
I was lucky enough to get 2 of them, just because I am part of the bootstrapping team and of course, we were here from the beginning. But the community members that got theirs deserve them a lot more than we do, because they put their trust in the vision of a team they hardly knew, they are still here, giving up the most precious resource they have: Time.
We are truly blessed to have you around, and we mean that.
You can read some more into the story in the DAO Insider Twitter thread. And please read it until the end because, in the last post, you get to meet the team that created all of this. Here are the names, go see the profiles: @Vrudubz, @EugenPtr, @DubluDe, @andreivdev, @ioand_eth, @bogdanionita96, @iancu_teodor, @codez_eth, @d_timbota, @IuginT, @RazvanLaca
If you want to inspect the NFTs closely, to see if you are qualified for any of the categories, just go to our community website, connect your wallet, read the about the vision and the five pillars and enjoy: https://stakeborgdao.xyz/community-achievements/
It's 02:09 in the morning, but moments like this keep us awake at night. This is what I signed up for, the moments where the people take over with goodness in their hearts, the right values, and the appropriate skills.
Just remember this, we only spoke for a bit about one of the six projects we have going on. Imagine what comes next.
PS: special thanks to our community devs as well, for all the bots helping us, and today we have an extra beer 🍺 for @andreivdev for our Hodlers and Stakers bot. Should be already out by the time you guys read this article.
Until the next project, I mean next time 😬
Cosmin
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For more educational crypto content, check out the links below:
The Stakeborg DAO Talks on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOrFZZifNn4Nx4nSQL3WS52ALPXgrTSVG
Discord channel: https://discord.com/channels/901898461568442458/903006233584341052
StakeborgDAO Quarterly Reports: https://docs.stakeborgdao.com/reports/dao-quarterly-reports
Stakeborg Academy: https://academy.stakeborg.com/
You rock guys! ✌️