Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase's Founder Sees Promising Projects in These Ten Cryptocurrency Fields: 1. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) 2. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) 3. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) 4. Layer 2 Scalability Solutions 5. Privacy Co
Original author: defioasis, Wu Blockchain
Note: This article is for information sharing only and does not endorse the mentioned projects or have any interests related to them.
Following the announcement of the top ten focused areas by crypto venture Paradigm, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong also tweeted about his top ten cryptocurrency startup tracks: Flatcoin (a stablecoin aimed at defeating inflation and tied to the cost of living); Onchain Reputation; Onchain Ads; Onchain Capital Formation; Job/Task Marketplace (decentralized labor marketplace); Layer 2 Privacy; Full-chain P2P Exchange; Full-chain Games; RWA (tokenization of real-world assets); Launch and management tools for digital nations.
The areas Coinbase, represented by Brian Armstrong, focuses on are not only different from those of Paradigm, but are also more niche and early-stage in some areas. Ari Paul, founder of crypto venture BlockTower Capital, has expressed different views on the areas Armstrong focuses on, such as his belief that onchain reputation is a dead end for at least 5 years, that Job/Task Marketplace is not significantly related to cryptocurrencies, and that full-chain P2P exchanges lack sufficient funding for a fair market return, among others.
Of course, different perspectives lead to different opinions. As both a leading US exchange and the owner of top venture capital firm Coinbase Ventures, and as a compliant publicly listed company, Coinbase's thoughts may be more grounded, and its views may lean towards the advantages and disadvantages of Web2 and Web3. Onchain reputation, onchain ads, and decentralized labor markets all have the potential to bring offline products onto the blockchain.
In this article, we will take inventory of the top ten focus areas by Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong from multiple dimensions such as project progress, financing, onchain data, and social attention. We will prioritize investments and projects from Coinbase Ventures. It should be noted that due to some tracks being in the very early stages with few projects, there is considerable uncertainty, and investors need to continuously track and exercise caution.
Flatcoin
A decentralized stablecoin that tracks CPI, aims to defeat inflation, maintain purchasing power, and is tied to the cost of living.
Nuon Finance
Nuon Finance is a decentralized stablecoin DeFi protocol built on Arbitrum and introduced by Nuon Finance. It claims to be the first decentralized flatcoin, with its price anchored to the inflation rate to protect holders from value loss due to inflation. The daily inflation level pinned by NUON is measured by the independent inflation predictor, Truflation.
Truflation calculates the pinned exchange rate of NUON daily and shares it with the Nuon Finance protocol. The Nuon protocol uses over-collateralization and arbitrage to maintain the pinned exchange rate while offsetting inflation for NUON flatcoin holders. The Nuon treasury charges fees for collateral deposits/withdrawals and NUON minting/burning. In addition to NUON, Nuon Finance plans to launch nuMINT, which will be used for protocol governance and capturing platform fees. Nuon Finance also plans to launch Nuon Oil currency in the fourth quarter of this year, linked to the value of oil prices and a basket of commodities.
As of September 1st, on-chain data shows the current total supply of NUON is 118,000 tokens, held by 462 holders, with a total of 2,469 completed transactions, indicating limited growth.
Nuon Finance has not announced any fundraising news and completed an audit by Coinfabrik in September 2022. Truflation, an important price feed provider for Nuon, completed a seed funding round on May 17, 2022, with investments from Fundamental Labs, C² Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, and IBA, but the amount is undisclosed.
Ampleforth - SPOT Protocol
SPOT is a decentralized flatcoin envisioned and launched by the Ampleforth Foundation in 2022. It uses senior AMPL tranches as collateral. Essentially, SPOT is an algorithmic stablecoin with AMPL zero-coupon bonds as collateral. Although AMPL is the underlying collateral for SPOT, using AMPL as collateral can result in significant collateral volatility due to rebase. ButtonWood is used to bundle the volatility of the asset into a bond, allowing AMPL to be collateralized to mint Senior and Junior AMPL tranches.
Senior AMPL tranches represent the lowest risk bonds and serve as collateral for SPOT, providing seniority in repayment. Junior AMPL tranches bear the high volatility of AMPL but also gain value appreciation. Additionally, to enable free trading of Senior AMPL tranches, SPOT introduces an incentive mechanism called Rotators.
As of September 1st, according to onchain data, the current SPOT total is 760,000, and the spot price is $1.13.
Ampleforth completed a total of $9.8 million in financing in 2018 and 2019 through VC and public offerings, with participants including Pantera Capital and Huobi Ventures.
Ampleforth has been open-sourced and completed a Certik audit in 2020.
Onchain Reputation
Galex
Galex is a Web3 data credential and reputation network. Users can contribute to Galex's credential data network, and when the credentials are used in Galex's application modules, credential oracle engines, and credential API, users who pay to use the data in the Galex ecosystem will be rewarded. According to official figures, there are currently over 2,100 partners launching over 10,000 activities on Galex. Through Galxe Credentials, a Web 3 DID system called Galxe ID has been built to provide users with multi-chain identity and to understand users through past achievements and credentials.
In January 2022, Galex completed a $10 million financing round led by Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital, with participants including Coinbase Ventures and Solana Ventures.
zkMe
zkMe aims to build the zk-credential layer of Web3 to provide onchain anonymous user verification. With the SSI mobile application developed by zkMe, users can encrypt and anonymize their data and use ZKP to prove statements on their own devices, giving users full control over their digital identities and the ability to selectively disclose their reputation credentials to authorizers without compromising their privacy.
zkMe completed a $2 million seed funding in May this year from investors such as Circle Venture, Fenbushi Capital, and NGC Ventures.
Onchain Ads
Spindl
Spindl is a measurement and attribution platform for Web3 that helps identify the source of users and what they have done on-chain protocols, in order to determine whether users generate protocol revenue and the cost of acquiring users, etc. Through attribution, such as from Discord posts to wallet logins, to the behavior of certain on-chain (or off-chain) users, the user group gradually narrows down. If the project team knows how to monetize at the "bottom of the funnel" of the user experience and knows exactly how much it cost to attract users (through paid media such as advertising, blog posts, etc.), then the project's "ROAS" can be calculated, that is, the advertising cost return on investment. If the return on investment is greater than 1, it means that the marketing expenses are worth it, and vice versa.
Spindl completed a $7 million financing led by Dragonfly's Ani Pai and Chapter One's Jeff Morris Jr. in October 2022, with participation from Multicoin Capital, Polygon Ventures, Solana Ventures, and others.
HypeLab
HypeLab is a Web3 advertising network that provides one-stop advertising materials such as images and videos and uploads them directly on the self-service advertiser portal. It provides on-chain and off-chain services based on user data labels, and real-time tracking of advertising effects, such as traffic brought to projects, country/region and asset segmentation, etc.
HypeLab completed a $4 million financing led by Shima Capital and Makers Fund in August this year, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, OP Crypto, and others.
Onchain Capital Formation
Syndicate
Syndicate is a decentralized investment protocol and social network that includes Investment Clubs and Collectives as two main modules, allowing communities to raise and invest capital in a simpler form. However, on June 22nd this year, Syndicate has suspended support for the frontend of Investment Clubs and Collectives, stating that in the new era of the Internet where the potential of on-chain communities, organizations, and economies is fully realized, Syndicate's infrastructure and protocols can meet greater demands and have more new discoveries and possibilities in collaboration with Web3 projects in the past two years. As one of the largest investment DAOs, Syndicate currently has no more displays of future directions.
Syndicate has raised a total of $27.8 million in financing in 2021 and 2022, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, a16z, Circle Ventures, and Polygon Ventures.
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is an integrated platform for governance discussions, voting, and crowdfunding for online communities. Crowdfunding includes functions such as project funding, community donations, and token launches.
Commonwealth has raised a total of $23.2 million in funding in 2021 and 2022, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, HashKey Capital, and Jump Crypto.
Decentralized Job/Task Marketplace
Braintrust
Braintrust claims to be the world's first Web3 decentralized talent network, connecting vetted knowledge workers with businesses. Braintrust charges 15%, which is 80% less than traditional contract staffing agencies and 40% less than direct hiring agencies. Braintrust has also introduced BTRST as a reward for the community to build a decentralized talent network, invite and review talent, and make recommendations to clients.
Braintrust has raised a cumulative total of $124 million in funding in 2020 and 2021, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, Tiger Global, Multicoin Capital, and HashKey Capital.
TalentLayer
TalentLayer is a protocol and development toolkit that can be combined with Lens Protocol to build interoperable hiring and service platforms. Key components include on-chain jobs and proposals, identity and reputation with soul-binding, configurable escrow such as milestone bonuses and hourly wages, decentralized platform-managed dispute resolution solutions, and configurable fee systems for escrow transactions, job postings, proposal submissions, and dispute resolutions.
TalentLayer is still in its early stages and has not received any funding yet.
Layer 2 Privacy
Aztec
As the first privacy Rollup, Aztec shut down Aztec Connect after March this year. In May, Aztec announced a brand new trustless, scalable, and decentralized L2 zkRollup that combines programmable anonymity, data privacy, and confidential contracts to protect user data. The new L2 zkRollup is expected to launch a local testnet for developers in the third quarter of this year and open a mature public testnet for users by early 2024.
Aztec has raised a total of $119 million in funding from 2018 to 2022, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, a16z, IOSG, HashKey Capital, and Fenbushi Capital.
Zecrey
Zecrey is an L2 protocol based on zkRollup, with privacy and scalability. Zecrey provides wallets that support both L1 and Zecrey native L2, and embeds two different L2 systems: Zecrey Zero, which focuses on privacy features, and Zecrey Legend, which focuses on NFT issuance and NFT market. Zecrey Zero is a lightweight, privacy-driven portable payment solution that allows users to easily make private transfers and exchange transactions.
Zecrey has raised a total of $11.5 million in funding between 2021 and 2022, with investors including Binance Labs, Fenbushi Capital, and Shima Capital.
Full-Chain P2P Exchange
Connecting the trading needs between on-chain and off-chain. It has significant difficulties, such as off-ramp withdrawals, involving custody and whether it is for physical assets, etc., are all challenging problems.
Onboard Wallet
Onboard Wallet is a Web3 wallet launched by Nigerian cryptocurrency company Nestcoin. Nestcoin was created by former Binance Labs Africa director Bademosi. Bademosi also launched the African cryptocurrency exchange Bundle Africa. Unlike typical crypto wallets, Onboard Wallet is accessed via email, without mnemonic phrases, and has secure key management and multi-factor authentication. By using Onboard virtual cards, it is possible to make cryptocurrency payments online or in-store in over 160 countries/regions. In addition, Onboard also opens up merchant onboarding to the P2P market, allowing for instant trading using cryptocurrencies and converting them into fiat currency. Currently, Onboard is working on integrating with the African exchange Bundle Africa.
Nestcoin raised $6.45 million in seed funding from investors such as HashKey Capital and CMT Digital in January 2022.
Full-Chain Gaming
Azra Games: Project Legends
Azra Games is a blockchain gaming company specializing in on-chain RPG games. It was founded and led by industry veteran Mark Otero, whose previous mobile game "Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes" broke Electronic Arts' highest revenue record. Azra Games is currently developing Mark's ninth RPG game: Project Legends. Currently, Azra has launched the Play Pass NFT, which unlocks private Discord, early access, exclusive invitations, and airdrops.
Azra has raised a total of $25 million in funding between 2022 and 2023, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, a16z, and Franklin Templeton.
Horizon Blockchain Games: Skyweaver
Horizon Blockchain Games is a blockchain infrastructure company focused on gaming. They have launched an integrated developer platform and smart wallet solution called Sequence for Web3 games and applications, as well as a free-to-play Web3 collectible card game called Skyweaver, which features 15 hero cards, 5 prisms (similar to talents), and 27 tribal factions.
Horizon Blockchain Games has raised a total of $53.25 million in funding between 2020 and 2022, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, Polygon Ventures, and CMT Digital.
Real-World Asset Tokenization (RWA)
Goldfinch
Goldfinch is a decentralized lending protocol that generates revenue from real-world loans. Investments are backed by off-chain collateral. For example, the Goldfinch Senior Pool with $77 million provides an 8% yield for USDC. Borrowers come from over 25 countries and cover asset financing, small business loans, and consumer loans. All transactions are protected by 20-25% first-loss capital, with a total loss rate of 2.19%. The current effective loan value of Goldfinch exceeds $100 million, with a daily average revenue of $100,000.
Goldfinch has raised a total of $37 million in funding between 2021 and 2022, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, a16z, Dragonfly, and BlockTower Capital. In addition, Goldfinch has undergone external audits by Certik and Trail of Bits, as well as an internal audit by Warbler Labs.
MoHash
MoHash is a cryptocurrency asset management company that provides global liquidity for real-world products on the blockchain. They aim to achieve higher returns by developing high-alpha, high-growth private debt markets with maturities ranging from 6 months to 3 years. With baseline returns of 6-10% plus incentives for early adopters, MoHash expects to offer investors up to 20% in returns.
MoHash completed a $6 million seed financing led by Sequoia Capital India and Quona Capital in June 2022, and participating investors include Coinbase Ventures, Jump Crypto, and Hashed Ventures.
Launch and Management Tools for Web Nations
The concept of web nations, proposed by alaji Srinivasan, is a network community with highly consistent collective action capabilities. It raises funds worldwide and eventually obtains recognition as a political entity.
Zuzalu
Vitalik describes Zuzalu as an IRL town that combines cryptocurrency, life sciences, and philosophy. Zuzalu applies blockchain to city governance and operations, such as using stablecoins to track government internal financial systems, urbanization tokens, and government-issued on-chain certificates/passports.
References:
https://panewslab.com/zh_hk/articledetails/ujyzckwo.html
https://www.techflowpost.com/article/detail_12113.html
