Alok Vasudev
@AlokVasudev
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vc at @standardcrypto // @alok on farcaster
Joined May 2010
Love seeing smart people new to Bitcoin presenting their investment thesis in elegantly simple terms — it's easy to get lost in the weeds. Here are some great lines from Paul Tudor Jones' memo:.
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Contrarian things to do in crypto:.1/ Join a post-ICO project.2/ Academic research.3/ Build a token-less protocol.4/ Launch without a raise.
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We love Bitcoin. But the Bitcoin we see today is nothing like it once was. We think Ordinals have a chance to make Bitcoin, once again, a technology ecosystem to take pride in and learn from. I elaborate on this topic in my latest post:
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On Bitcoin's scarcity premium:. "It is literally the only large tradeable asset in the world that has a known fixed maximum supply." - PTJ.
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Kelly Johnson, original head of Lockheed's Skunk Works division, on running a company http://t.co/jvSIxOAUKi.
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On Bitcoin's liquidity:. "Interestingly, Bitcoin is the only store of value that actually trades 24/7 in the entire world." - PTJ.
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Incredible finding:.Place a sheet of graphene, rotated 1.1 degrees, on top of another and you get a superconductor. But my heart goes out to the poor grad students futzing with micropositioning stages trying to nail the angle 🤣
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To put crypto in perspective, I've found it useful to map protocols against startup stages we're more familiar with. Some examples:
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Post: Uber S-1.Top comment: ". I simply can't imagine how Uber is worth anything at the moment.". Never change, Hacker News.
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Interesting inversion of a startup failure mode: MBA’s used to look for ‘code monkeys’ to build their product; now crypto projects look for ‘biz monkeys’ for go-to-market/ops.
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"A great store of value can be seamlessly moved from one jurisdiction to another with little or no transaction costs. Cash is obviously good for that; gold is ok but clunky; but, of course, nothing beats Bitcoin, which can be stored on a smartphone among other options." - PTJ.
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On Bitcoin as a macro hedge:. "Owning Bitcoin is a great way to defend oneself against the [Great Monetary Inflation], given the current fact set." - PTJ.
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Startup idea: an internet webpage for giving the people free NFTs. you’d want a trendy xyz domain on it for sure.
2023 is the year of free NFTs.
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Challenge I’ve been having lately with crypto projects: they lack soul. Tech is needed of course, but the truly special ones have the right mix of aesthetics, community values, contributor personalities, etc.
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On COVID-19 accelerating Bitcoin and crypto:. "The most compelling argument for owning Bitcoin is the coming digitization of currency everywhere, accelerated by COVID-19" - PTJ. On Bitcoin's portability: . .
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Game "economies" had a good run. Time for game economies. Thrilled to partner with @AxieInfinity!.
We've raised a $152 M Series B led by @a16z for @SkyMavisHQ! . ✨The funds will be used to fuel the expansion of Axie Infinity and Ronin, our scaling solution for digital nations.
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1/ An investment in Telegram’s TON token is a bet against Ethereum and, more broadly, the existing crypto power structure.
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Everyone loves hating on crypto UX — and I get why that is. But it is a magical experience to roll up to an app like Instadapp, Zapper, Zerion, etc. with nothing but your keys and have it fully populate with your data. (1/2).
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Proud to back @SashaMackinnon and team Mino. They built amazing collectibles games *before* NFTs existed — imagine what they’ll do now… 👾.
🚀🚀 ANNOUNCING OUR $15M SERIES B. We’re building the next HUGE gaming franchise. Honoured to be supported by the TITANS of Gaming and Web 3: @standardcrypto, Bing Gordon, Don Mattrick, @AdamDraper and more. TY @deantak @VentureBeat for sharing our story.
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Web3: Communism in the streets; capitalism in the sheets.
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2000: Stanford appoints a computer scientist president.2016: Stanford appoints a biologist president. Hopefully this is equally prescient!.
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Amazing to me that Jim Clark (founder of SGI, one of the hottest tech companies in the 80s/90s) at age 50 co-founded Netscape with a 23 yr old @pmarca. Have we seen any founding teams recently that compare?.
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People thought we were just making up all the de-banking stuff?.
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It’s true that ETH people have underestimated SOL, just like BTC people underestimated ETH. But the reverse is also true. ETH people simultaneously underestimated BTC. And SOL people are likely underestimating ETH.
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4/ By the end of 2018 we’ll learn a lot about the strength of early-mover advantages in crypto.
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There's also a killer opportunity here to invent new distribution tactics because the monetization of a crypto app is radically different from prior mobile metas. The ARPU characteristics alone are insane. We've had viral apps before but not viral apps that print $ out of the.
Mainstream breakout has always been impossible without great, native mobile apps. Consumer crypto == mobile crypto. Mobile *is* the internet and crypto is finally ready to meet consumer expectations. And, btw, seeing/using these types of apps will inspire a new generation of.
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A DeFi / liquidity mining analogy:. eBay but you get a little eBay stock when you buy/sell stuff. And stockholders get to vote on things like adding new product categories. And if enough people use eBay then eBay can’t fuck over its users later because the users are the owners.
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Early indicators show that the quick-flip ICO is dead. The crypto market self-regulates almost as fast as it irrationally expands.
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If I were a PhD student again, I'd work on simulation/modeling tools for cryptocurrencies (token economies, network behavior, etc.).
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My new favorite term for technical analysis of cryptocurrency prices: "quant astrology".
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3/ Smart crypto-focused investors tend to hate TON, while smart general purpose tech investors tend to love it.
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This is probably the strongest political mobilization of the crypto industry that we've ever had. We should keep pushing hard on this bill, but I can't help but feel optimistic about crypto's voice in DC going forward.
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DeepSeek should be encouraging for crypto x AI folks. It came from AI industry outsiders, had modest capital requirements, the breakthrough came from algorithmic creativity (vs scale). Way better fit.
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I'm starting a cryptocurrency newsletter focused on investing and key technologies. Sign up here:
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Mainstream breakout has always been impossible without great, native mobile apps. Consumer crypto == mobile crypto. Mobile *is* the internet and crypto is finally ready to meet consumer expectations. And, btw, seeing/using these types of apps will inspire a new generation of.
need more of this in crypto:. - mobile.- smooth onboarding.- crazy attention to detail.- clean UX.- feels like an app normies would use.- leans into hypertokenization & games.- beta mode / server overload bc of hype.- funny marketing. awesome job @yapsterxyz & @cloutdotme
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How to gauge crypto PMF? Ask a founder what they think of their community. No PMF: "Our community is amazing! They're so engaged and give us amazing feedback!". PMF: "I want to go door-to-door and literally stab everyone in our Discord.".
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Today we are announcing our investment in @TaprootWizards! @udiWertheimer and @ercwl are building something truly exceptional and we're thrilled to be a partner to them.
HOLD ON TO YOUR WIZARD HATS!. Today we are announcing a $7.5M seed round, led by @standardcrypto, to Make Bitcoin Magical Again. We broke the chain, we danced on stage, we took showers. We heard about bitcoin 10 years ago. And WE’RE HERE TO FIX IT. More in the thread below 🧙♂️
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Highest conviction I’ve ever felt about an investment:. 1. BTC in 2015.2. ETH in 2016.3. 🤐 in 2022.
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Finally - justice for my old high school classmate.
BREAKING: 🇺🇸 PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO FREE ROSS ULBRICHT
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Good episode of crypto today. Solid plot development. Bit of a cliff hanger though.
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Congrats to @SkyMavisHQ on the launch of @Ronin_Network! The next evolution of crypto-powered games will include composable elements, with substrates like Ronin critical to that future.
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Challenge for VC in crypto: sometimes the best risk-adjusted entry point into a project is once it's already publicly traded. Most good VC firms are dabbling with pre-sale securities but a different will required to buy tokens off an exchange (i.e. without opt-in from a founder).
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Cryptocurrencies are blank canvas, a chance to correct past mistakes, and a means to generate wealth for individuals but, perhaps more importantly, for nation states too. "Your ban is my opportunity".
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Blockchains provide a financial substrate for an AI to bootstrap itself into existence. A halfway decent AI can run its own ICO:. 1/ Auto-generate marketing site and whitepaper.2/ Twitter botnet to solicit ICO.3/ Telegram botnet to build social proof & scarcity. Happy Tuesday!.
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i feel like this is the end of a romcom where ted and merkle have had obvious chemistry for so long and literally everyone knew this was going to be the end state.
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Huge congrats to @balajis and Team Earn on their deal with Coinbase! Hard to overstate Balaji’s impact in legitimizing Bitcoin/crypto (visibly and behind the scenes). I’m excited to see his vision amplified by the strongest brand in the space.
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Not using Farcaster to find talent is negligence if you’re in crypto
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There are some insanely talented individuals - with an abundance of opportunity - choosing crypto as their next chapter. 2013 Alok wouldn’t have believed it.
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I'm skeptical that a company can retrofit an existing network with tokens. Networks are highly path-dependent and tokens need to be an initial condition for sustainability. Best case - use existing distro to market a new network to users.
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I am thrilled to share that @standardcrypto has partnered with @Instadapp
DeFi startup InstaDApp raises $10 million in new funding
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PSA: Don't get phished on Twitter and send cryptocurrency to a random address. Here's a scam in action. 1. @elonmusk posts a normal tweet
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Mamba's dunking on VCs now.
BREAKING: @kobebryant’s $6 million investment in @DrinkBODYARMOR is now worth approximately $200 million
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🚨 Announcing Standard Crypto's latest investment:. Sommelier (@sommfinance), a new project led by the incredible @zmanian. We are thrilled to lead Sommelier's seed round and to share why. .
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Seeing lots of VCs looking to invest in climate change startups. I don’t know about you but the sector reminds me of cleantech.
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I wrote up some thoughts on “Free to Own” and why we (@standardcrypto) are excited about it. Once again, it looks like @gabrielleydon is onto something big (before the rest of the market gets it).
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Especially compared with the slog of signing up for a new personal finance management app (even with Plaid). BYO data (via keys) is a step-function UX improvement IMO. (2/2).
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Walt is one of the most talented young investors we've come across over the years and we are beyond ecstatic to have him join us!.
I’m excited to be joining the investment team @standardcrypto. I’ve grown to know @adamwgoldberg and @AlokVasudev over the last 2 years & couldn’t be more excited to work with them to build a world-class Bitcoin (and crypto) investment firm.
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Good take. Olaf is a winner and it's easy to throw rocks at the throne, especially in a bear market.
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This is now my permanent facial expression after being in crypto for a decade.
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Love seeing the Ethereum community transition from “peacetime” to “wartime”. 2018 will be awesome.
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Killing the messenger goes far more viral than debating the message.
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2/ Can early market positioning and mindshare withstand competitive pressures from projects built by crypto outsiders with a proven track record of execution?.
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Whenever someone tells you crypto has no use cases, you can just send them this.
🚀🚀🚀. You can now create your own prediction markets on @veil using @AugurProject and @0xProject. Create markets, collect bets, get paid. And repeat.
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Cross-chain DeFi! You can now move your debt positions between chains in one step. First of its kind! Big ups to the wizards at @Instadapp.
Introducing Interop—the first ever cross-chain refinancing bridge is live for Aave positions 🌉. Polygon => Avalanche: Avalanche => Polygon:
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I'm a simple man. When @cdixon does an interview, I listen to it.
My conversation with @cdixon on all things blockchain and crypto. - core protocols.- challenger protocols.- DeFi.- Social coins.- NFTs.- the future of computing and the internet. Chris is one of the finest thinkers in this area (and overall). Enjoy!.
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Congrats to D, V, and team on the fundraise!. It's been an honor to work with them for the past few years and @standardcrypto is thrilled to make another investment. I use Farcaster way more than I use Twitter nowadays and I think that'll be the case for many more people sooner.
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Good science fiction beats any business book for facilitating deep thinking about early-stage technology.
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I’d love to see a list of regulations temporarily suspended over the past several weeks.
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Bitcoin NFTs, we think, are underestimated as assets. They are fully onchain, occupy secure and legitimate blockspace, and are priced in BTC – all of which are powerful potential value drivers.
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Wow this protocol is growing nicely! Did they find PMF?. Aaaaand it's farming. Money's PMF confirmed, yet again.
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A lot of products could benefit from having a social feed but it's very hard to make an engaging social feed. You can just plug in Farcaster (permissionlessly) and now you have a great feed inside your product. Smart choice by Coinbase Wallet.
We’re thrilled the Base team is building a Farcaster feed into Coinbase Wallet!. By building a frame, developers will now be able to tap into the 800,000+ Ethereum wallets on Farcaster—and millions of Coinbase Wallet users. Go viral onchain.
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And now 300M+ users have an Ethereum wallet :).
Wow. @reddit mobile app now has an integrated Ethereum wallet and they've launched community currencies!. r/FortniteBR & r/Cryptocurrency will distribute tokens to contributors, the value of which derives from paid memberships, tipping & badges!. Amazing onboarding story too!
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Huge. Uber is building an AWS for on-demand services/labor.
The UberRUSH API is helping businesses put their ideas and products in motion. Learn more:
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Thanks to Ordinals, Bitcoin is fun again. We can't wait to see where this newfound energy takes our old orange friend.
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"Cryptocurrencies are not just ‘money’ — they are part money, part asset and part political organization — and these other dimensions must impact the way we see ‘stability’". HT @jessewldn @Iiterature .
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Long internet/crypto culture going mainstream (vs mainstream culture being recycled via crypto/NFTs).
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Read the Ovitz book (super contrarian, I know. ) and came away asking why talent agents aren’t more of a thing in Silicon Valley. Does comp structure (equity vs cash) kill the agency biz model? Cultural norm opposing it? What say you?.
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Trying something new -- I'll be doing a short AMA tomorrow at 10:30am PST on @tokendaily to talk crypto investing, building, and who knows what else. Ask your questions here (softball q's encouraged!):
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We thought "Udi is a good troll, but what would give him 10X the trolling agency?". What they're building is cool too, I guess. Thrilled to double down on @TaprootWizards!.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HATERS IN DISBELIEF AS TAPROOT WIZARDS ANNOUNCE $30,000,000.00 SERIES A ROUND (REAL). (Mossad HQ, Tel Aviv) 2 years ago, the Taproot Wizards team inscribed the first 4MB block in bitcoin’s history with an image of a bald wizard. that historic event marked
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@nathanielpopper Neither the startup nor the VCs expected CryptoKitties in its current form to sustain — it had clear structural flaws. But future collectibles products from a team who produced the most viral dApp to date can be worth the bet.
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Did Twitter stamp out the crypto scam bots or did the bots lose faith in crypto and bail? 🤔.
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The @LiquityProtocol community just submitted the first ever community integration proposal to @Instadapp!.
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Newer entrants to crypto often don't realize that ideas like smart contracts, sidechains, L2's, NFTs, tokens, DAOs, etc. were all developed by Bitcoiners in the early 2010s.
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Bitcoin has a chance to become innovative, once again. And that's really exciting to us. There's strength in being choosy and opinionated in core protocol evolution, but not if the cost of doing so means losing the capacity to innovate at all.
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Congrats to team @veil on getting ready for mainnet launch!! Also thrilled to have a great group of investors around the table. Markets for all the things!.
🚨 It's announcement time! 🚨. We are thrilled to say that @veil will be live on Mainnet on January 15, 2019. And we're proud to share that we've raised a seed round from @paradigm, @sequoia, and @1confirmation. Let's bring @AugurProject mainstream.
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more weird shit pls.
@jon_charb here’s my take that no one asked for:. every smart bitcoiner i talk to agrees that socially, ethereum in 2024 is EXACTLY where bitcoin was in 2020 (that’s not a good place). basically the influencers and podcasters dictate the tone and it’s cringe. the important thing to.
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I’m one a crowd here - but I wanted to tip my cap to @ganeumann who I’ve never met but whose writings have been deeply thought provoking and inspirational to me throughout my career in venture. Thanks for blogging, Jerry! Also what an amazing VC website!.
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