White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #61
Inside one DAO’s $20m plot to purchase the US Constitution 📜
Inside one DAO’s $20m plot to purchase the US Constitution 📜
What started as a pie-in-the-sky dream last Thursday to form a DAO to bid on a copy of the Constitution has since become a full-on movement that’s attracted over $5m in commitments. “ConstitutionDAO” insiders now believe they have a real chance at actually winning the forthcoming auction at Sotheby’s.
The torrid progress the fledgling group has made in just five days is a testament to the organizational power of DAOs: Less than a week after someone hatched this plot, the project has attracted 11k social media followers, commitments from 2k Ethereum addresses and a brain trust of a few dozen builders, investors and community members who now have the infrastructure in place to make a competitive bid for one of the world’s foremost cultural artifacts.
It’s great to see a group of strangers on the internet get so excited to make history together. As contributions opened last night, messages like this kept popping up on the contribution page (they’re still going):
All eyes will be on the Sotheby’s auction this Thursday to see if ConstitutionDAO can pull it off!
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Announcing our latest investment in ALEX!
ALEX is the first open-source DeFi protocol built on the Stacks blockchain. Building on top of Stacks allows ALEX to access the liquidity, power, and safety of Bitcoin.
DEX aggregator ParaSwap launches its own token, to airdrop 150 million PSP
Early users of ParaSwap — some 20,000 accounts — will be rewarded with 150 million tokens, which is 7.5% of the PSP's total supply of 2 billion. Specifically, "active users on all supported chains" will be rewarded with the retroactive airdrop.
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Twitter is launching a dedicated crypto team
The social media giant has tapped Tess Rinearson to lead its new team focused on decentralizing social media.
Public.com expands crypto offering one month after digital asset launch
This doubling down on crypto will add to the investment platform’s plethora of services ranging from themed investment plans to traditional stocks and ETFs.
SEC rejects VanEck's spot bitcoin ETF
The rejection comes soon after the SEC cleared the runway for ETF products centered around bitcoin futures. In recent comments, SEC chair Gary Gensler had expressed openness toward bitcoin futures-based ETFs as opposed to spot ETFs.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Joint Congressional committee to hold 'demystifying crypto' hearing
The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee will hold a hearing on Nov. 17 focused on clarifying the role of government in the context of digital assets.
Seoul will be the first city government to join the metaverse
Ted Cruz seeks repeal of Biden infrastructure bill's crypto broker definition
According to a statement from Cruz's office, the proposed legislation would, if passed, remove language aimed at tightening reporting requirements for "brokers" in the digital asset space. The legislation mirrors an earlier attempt by Cruz to eliminate the language from the infrastructure package in August.
💰 Funding & Exits
VCs back ‘pawn shop of the metaverse’ with $3m raise
Pawnfi lets customers take out loans against their NFTs while also providing appraisal and liquidation services.
Alex raises $5.8m led by White Star Capital to bring DeFi to the bitcoin ecosystem
Alex aims to be a one-stop DeFi platform for fixed-rate and fixed-term bitcoin lending and borrowing.
Saddle raises $7.5m to reduce slippage in DeFi trading
The round was led by Polychain and Electric Capital with participation from Nascent, Project Galaxy and others.
Cosmos liquid staking protocol pSTAKE raises $10m in seed funding
Three Arrows Capital, Galaxy Digital, Sequoia Capital India, and DeFiance Capital co-led the round, with Coinbase Ventures, Tendermint Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Alameda Research, and Sino Global Capital also participating.
Web3 social infrastructure startup CyberConnect raises $10m in seed funding
Multicoin Capital and Sky9 Capital co-led the round.
Cosmos-based smart contract platform Agoric raises $32m
Agoric has also launched its mainnet. It now plans to launch an AMM and a native stablecoin.
Ethereum Layer 2 developer StarkWare raises $50m, now valued at $2bn
The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing investors, including Paradigm, Three Arrows Capital, Alameda Research, and Founders Fund.
Forte closes $725m in funding for its blockchain gaming platform
The Series B was led by Sea Capital and Kora Management with further support and funding from Animoca Brands and others.
Valkyrie launching $100m hedge fund run by Tom Brady's former business manager
Valkyrie Investments, the firm behind one of the market's bitcoin futures-tied exchange-traded funds, is launching a new hedge fund that aims to profit from dislocations in the fast-growing decentralized finance ecosystem.
Paradigm launches $2.5bn venture fund for crypto companies
The fund will continue alongside its existing flagship fund.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
DCG's mining subsidiary Foundry launches staking business
Foundry, the Bitcoin mining and financing subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, has launched a staking business-as-a-service targeting institutions.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
New England Patriots partner with fan token site Socios
The NFL team is dabbling with something that had been a European football phenomenon until now.