AlanaDLevin

The #1 question that matters when buying a token: what belief does buying this asset allow me to express about the future?

One of the most striking insights from Coinbase's State of Crypto summit today came from @brian_armstrong's fireside: how is it that Coinbase is such a startup factory? There are more paths to a yes than a no

Twice a year, Coinbase holds an internal pitch competition, where anyone can suggest an initiative for Coinbase to pursue. Every internal leader has a budget for these venture-like bets; all it takes is ONE yes to get an initiative greenlit

When making venture bets, there are often far more paths to a "no" than a "yes" - it's often easier to imagine how something can go wrong than how it can go really right. Coinbase inverted this model and my guess is that it's a big part of the reason why Coinbase is such an impressive founder factory

Fun thought experiment: can you think of people who were bearish Circle at $5B but bullish at $15B?

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More crypto companies going public would be a huge win because it likely expands the set of large-scale acquirers in the industry

Circle IPOing probably got them a higher valuation than if they had launched a token

Circle going public is a big win for the industry! Congratulations to everyone who has worked at and contributed to the company's success in reaching this milestone

Circle going public is a big win for the industry! Congratulations to everyone who works at, has worked at, or contributed to the company's success along the way

Is this accurate? What's driving stablecoin adoption in Europe?

Has anyone seen cool stuff with token extensions?

Feels like it was overhyped and under-delivered

Theme in the next 6mo will be a bifurcation of payment chains vs market chains

Who's in town for Stablecon?

Trends I believe with relatively high confidence:

- The number of wallets will grow exponentially
- The number of new tokens will grow exponentially
- More markets will move toward 24/7 trading
- More markets will find ways to facilitate global access
- Proof of humanity will continue to grow in importance
- We'll see institutional interest in digital assets beyond just Bitcoin

The TAM for digital assets today is the largest it’s ever been, and the smallest it’ll ever be

It's genuinely incredible that one of the most important data center companies started off as a bitcoin miner

One of the big open questions around stablecoin payments is the layer at which KYC / compliance occurs

Is it at:
- Issuance
- Transaction initiation
- The wallet layer
- The chain level
- Elsewhere

If you're thinking about this, DMs open - trying to learn more!

I'm skeptical of the dozens of "new payment rails for agents" startups emerging BUT I'm rooting for the stablecoin-based ones regardless b/c I would like to see micropayments enabled at scale

At first glance, Coinbase acquiring Circle doesn't make sense - Coinbase already receives the majority of interest revenue and is the dominant USDC distributor

So, what would be the reasons Coinbase could be interested in an acquisition?

1) Their distributor deal may be nearing renegotiation and they're set to receive less revenue. Coinbase could issue their own stablecoin, but USDC may have brand stickiness with consumers + network effects in DeFi

2) There's unrealized upside in components of the Circle's nascent payment network and Coinbase thinks they could somehow supercharge it

3) Maybe Coinbase sees a way to build stronger distribution partnerships. If Coinbase owns the full stablecoin stack, they might be willing to sacrifice some of their own interest revenue in order to give other exchanges good deals and grow overall USDC supply

4) It might be offensive defense - acquire Circle so another competitor doesn't

How many months until POS solutions start accepting payments in stablecoins?

XRP trading volume on Coinbase last quarter was higher than pretty much every asset besides BTC and USDT

Lesson in there