The Generalist on Terra: “Terra is using crypto to build practical products. Unlike some other projects, Terra is grounded in the real world. It is used by millions of people to pay for everyday items, without the need for those users to interact with the blockchain or realize they’re interacting with crypto. Its TAM is enormous. Terra can be understood as a “Layer 1” protocol with a fleet of stablecoins. The latter are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a fixed price. This combination gives Terra the potential to serve as foundational infrastructure and eat into the payments market. So far, it’s made progress on both fronts.”
Rex Woodbury: “Even though 3.4 billion people play video games—and even though the industry is larger than the music, box office, and sports industries combined—gaming still gets a lot of eye-rolls. For many people, gaming conjures the image of a teenage boy isolated in his mom’s basement. The reality is that the average age of a U.S. gamer is 35; that close to half (45%) of gamers are women; and that gaming is deeply social. As gaming becomes the on-ramp to digital worlds and crypto economies, this stigma will fade. We’ll stop thinking of gaming as games with an overt objective, and start thinking of gaming companies as 1) social networks, and 2) economies.” [via Colossus Weekly]
The Economist on venture capital: “Global venture investment—which ranges from early “seed” funding for target firms that have not yet developed a product to funding for more established startups—is on track to hit an all-time high of $580bn this year, according to PitchBook, a data provider. That is nearly 50% more than was invested in 2020, and about 20 times that in 2002. The type of investor piling into venture activity has changed just as dramatically. It was once the preserve of niche venture-capital firms run in Silicon Valley. These raised funds from and invested on behalf of pension funds and other end-investors, often relying on vast networks of connections with founders. So far this year, however, only three of the ten biggest venture investors by assets under management have been traditional VC firms. Instead, deals led or solely struck by private-equity shops, hedge funds and others that used to conduct little venture activity are on track to nearly double from $144bn in 2020 to $260bn this year.” More: “The biggest prize would be more innovation. It is true that no amount of cash can create raw brilliance. And governments often fund basic scientific breakthroughs. Yet the global supply of entrepreneurs is hardly fixed and plenty of ideas remain under-exploited. The previous VC boom saw investors extend the horizon of risk-taking to more difficult and adventurous areas. As venture investment spreads around the world, entrepreneurs outside America will have a better chance of joining in. And the barriers to creating new businesses are falling, thanks to cheap cloud computing and remote working. Venture capital aims to take good ideas and make them bigger and better: it is only right to apply that logic to the industry itself. “
