White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #44
EthCC Paris in full swing & an unprecedented DAO transition 🦊
ShapeShift decentralizes the company to form a DAO
The White Star Capital Digital Asset team is currently in Paris attending the EthCC (Ethereum Community Conference). We are one day in and we’re excited with everything we’ve seen so far. From hearing about new exciting protocols and reconnecting with the community in person, the feeling is electric.
The big news of this past week was regarding the crypto trading pioneer ShapeShift closing its doors and handing over its legacy to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) controlled by holders of its FOX token. As it begins a months-long process of closing up shop, it will start by airdropping the FOX token to DeFi investors across multiple blockchains.
This airdrop involves 340m FOX Tokens to over 1m recipients in a multi-step process. It will be distributed to an estimated 900k current and past shapeShift users, KeepKey hardware wallet owners, and about 120k users of several DeFi protocols such as Yearn, Uniswap, and Gitcoin.
There’s a total supply of 1,000,001,337 FOX tokens with no inflation. Of that, 34% is getting distributed to the community and to other crypto communities, 32% will be distributed to ShapeShift staff, 24% to the ShapeShift DAO (of which FOX token holders will have control), 7.5% to the Foundation (which will steward whatever can’t be decentralized now until it can) and 1.3% to the company to use as it winds down.
FOX Token 30-Day Price Chart
The company’s founder & CEO, Eric Voorhees had the following to say about the announcement:
“Inspired by the broader DeFi community, we'll now help pioneer a new model of economic coordination for the 21st century. No corporate entity, no banks and no borders.”
The company is open-sourcing its entire codebase and technology and bringing ShapeShift further in line with the true vision of immutable, decentralized finance.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Rally lists on Coinbase!
Rally CEO explains why he wants millions of people to have their own 'creator coins'
Listen to Rally CEO Kevin Chou on The Scoop with Frank Chaparro to talk about the development of creator coins
Ledn Trade gets an upgrade 💪
New Paraswap integration with Stabilize Protocol
Numio integrating Paraswap for in-app token swaps
The integration allows users of the Numio mobile app to quickly, and easily, swap one ERC-20 token for another.
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Apollo Global Management to work with Figure on blockchain Initiatives
The companies will investigate practical applications such as listing funds on a blockchain, asset securitization, and digital marketplaces.
Crypto luxury transactions accelerate at Sotheby's
Crypto’s mainstream adoption has gained further momentum as the 277-year-old British auction house Sotheby's sold a rare 101.38-carat diamond for $12.3m in cryptocurrency to an anonymous buyer.
Bank of America approves bitcoin futures trading
Clients are in the process of being set up, with some already live.
Grayscale is launching an institutional-grade DeFi fund and index
The Grayscale CEO said the firm has seen interest from a broad base of its existing investors — along with prospective ones — for DeFi assets.
Square is creating a new business line focused on bitcoin
Hong Kong's largest English media to turn its archives into NFTs
The firm said that it is partnering with The Sandbox to recreate the media assets of its 118 years of journalism on the decentralized virtual space platform owned by the NFT digital property firm Animoca Brands.
Silvergate took $4.3bn in deposits from digital currency customers in Q2
Most came from crypto exchanges, which deposited $2.4bn in cash during the quarter. Institutional investor deposits grew by $1.8bn and those from other customers by $100m.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
ECB moves to start digital Euro project
The ECB has been discussing the potential launch of a eurozone central bank digital currency since the beginning of the year.
Australian lawyers propose the creation of a DAO legal entity
Such a move gives legal standing to blockchain-based organizations, enabling DAOs to contract with other legal persons.
Digital Yuan used in $5bn of transactions, says China’s central bank
The PBOC also said the central bank digital currency will be compatible with smart contracts.
El Salvador may issue its own stablecoin
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's brothers reportedly presented the plan to foreign investors.
💰 Funding & Exits
DeFi wallet Phantom raises $9m in Series A funding led by A16z
Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) led the round, with participation from Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance, and the Solana Foundation.
Blocknative raises $12m to follow crypto transactions ‘in-flight’
Blocknative’s tools surveil the mempool – digital waiting rooms for not-yet-validated crypto transactions – to get a sense of upcoming on-chain activity.
Seed Club raises $2m to build “YCombinator of tokenized communities”
The round includes: Packy McCormick, Stani Kulechov, Denis Nazarov, Nascent, Sfermion and was led by IDEO CoLab Ventures.
NFT marketplace 4K raises $3m to combine NFTs and luxury goods
4K aims to bring NFTs of vault-stored valuables into the world of decentralized finance.
Social NFT platform DeFine raises $5m from Asian investors
The raise was led by Huobi Ventures, eSports entertainment company Abyss, and global game developer PearlAbyss. Several Asian blockchain funds also participated, including Draper Dragon, NGC Ventures, and SevenX Ventures.
Blockchain interoperability protocol Axelar raises $25m in Series A funding
The round was led by Polychain Capital, with participants from Dragonfly Capital, Galaxy Digital, North Island Ventures, Robot Ventures, Lemniscap, SCB 10X, Divergence Ventures, and others.
Hedge fund Coatue co-leads blockchain audit firm CertiK's $37m Series B
Hedge fund Coatue Management and China-based venture capital firm Shunwei Capital co-led the round, with participation from Coinbase Ventures.
OpenSea secures $100m in Series B round at $1.5bn valuation
Participants in the round include talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz, Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher.
SoftBank unit to invest in crypto exchange Bullish amid SPAC moves
SB Northstar LP, a business unit of SoftBank, is set to invest in the operator of a yet-to-be-launched crypto exchange as well as the special-purpose acquisition vehicle through which it plans to go public.
LMAX Group to sell stake to New York private equity firm, valuing firm at $1bn
JC Flowers & Co, the multibillion-dollar private equity firm, is set to acquire a 30% stake in cryptocurrency and FX exchange operator LMAX Group.
Pillar VC raises $192m for two funds with crypto focus
The Boston-based firm's investments will be focused on the northeast U.S.
CoinFund launches $83m venture fund, mandate includes DeFi, NFTs
The new venture capital fund, which raised $83m in fresh capital from investors like Venrock, enters the world as private crypto markets heat up.
Terra attracts $150m for DeFi ecosystem fund
Terraform Labs, the South Korean company behind the Terra public blockchain, has raised $150m from a handful of major crypto investors, including Arrington XRP Capital, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital and BlockTower Capital.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
DeFi project Aave to release ethereum-based Twitter alternative this year
Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of DeFi lending protocol Aave, said that users will be able to monetize the content they post and govern the rules of the network.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Dolce and Gabbana to launch an exclusive NFT collection
Dolce and Gabbana announced the first in a line of NFTs in partnership with luxury marketplace UNXD.
New York Giants star Saquon Barkley will take all future endorsement money in bitcoin
The running back said he heeded some advice from Strike CEO Jack Mallers in making his decision.