Chain Catcher Evening News | Sequoia Capital launches cryptocurrency investment fund; Xuhui District in Shanghai proposes to develop the NFT industry
Daily recommended reading of wonderful content.Organizer: Zeyi, Chain Catcher
"What are the truly important things today?"
1. Sequoia Capital launches a $500-600 million cryptocurrency investment fund
Sequoia Capital has launched a $500-600 million cryptocurrency investment fund, primarily investing in liquidity tokens, including both listed and unlisted tokens on cryptocurrency exchanges, with individual project investments ranging from $100,000 to $50 million. The fund plans to participate in processes from staking to providing liquidity to governance. This is Sequoia Capital's first industry-specific fund since its establishment in 1972.
Sequoia Capital partner Maguire stated that the firm is particularly interested in cross-chain interoperability and GameFi projects, believing that multi-chain is the future. "If the crypto market enters a bear phase, the fund is expected to be fully deployed within a year; if it enters a bull phase, the fund will be fully deployed in more than a year." Maguire said, "We are still at the absolute starting point. Cryptocurrency will be the biggest trend in the next 20 to 30 years." (Source link)
2. Xuhui District in Shanghai proposes to develop the NFT industry and establish an NFT art ecological alliance
Xuhui District in Shanghai has explicitly proposed to develop the NFT (non-fungible token) art industry. At the same time, the first domestic NFT art ecological alliance is about to be launched in Xuhui District. Jin Jianhong, deputy director of the Xuhui District Cultural and Tourism Bureau, stated at a communication meeting that Xuhui District has established the goal of building an NFT art industry ecosystem centered around the West Bank and will soon establish the NFT art ecological alliance, accelerating the construction of platform scenarios and formulating industry development standards and rules, "seizing this hot new track and vigorously developing the regional digital economy." (Source link)
3. The Graph launches a $205 million ecosystem fund, with participation from DCG, Multicoin Capital, and others
Several crypto venture capital institutions have launched a $205 million ecosystem fund for Web3 and blockchain data indexing layer The Graph, with participating institutions including Digital Currency Group, Multicoin Capital, Reciprocal Ventures, gumi Cryptos Capital, NGC Ventures, and HashKey. The purpose of the fund is to accelerate the growth and development of key projects within The Graph ecosystem.
In January of this year, The Graph announced it had completed a $50 million financing round, led by Tiger Global, with participation from FinTech Collective, Fenbushi Capital, Reciprocal Ventures, and Blockwall Digital Assets Fund. (Source link)
4. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issues risk warning against illegal fundraising under the guise of "metaverse"
Today, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission released a risk warning titled "Risk Warning Against Illegal Fundraising Under the Guise of 'Metaverse'." The warning states that recently, some criminals have been taking advantage of the hype, attracting funds under the names of "metaverse investment projects" and "metaverse chain games," suspected of illegal fundraising and fraud.
The CBIRC outlines the following methods and risks:
- Fabricating false metaverse investment projects.
- Scamming under the banner of metaverse blockchain games.
- Maliciously hyping metaverse real estate to raise money.
- Engaging in illegal profit-making from metaverse virtual currencies in disguised forms. (CBIRC)
5. Circle partners with Block, Coinbase, and others to launch decentralized identity standards, providing digital identity credentials for users and institutions
USDC issuer Circle announced a partnership with Block, Coinbase, and Centre to launch the decentralized identity standard Verite, enabling any organization to issue and verify digital identity credentials for users and institutions participating in the crypto economy. Unlike centralized approval mechanisms, the Verite standard is decentralized, open-source, and can be built for free by anyone. Subsequently, any project can begin adopting Verite's open-source standards.
With Verite, certificates can be issued to prove identity claims for numerous use cases, including KYC verification, accredited investor status, social reputation, and NFT provenance tracking, without requiring participants to disclose personal data. These credentials are portable, tamper-proof, and can be easily stored in crypto wallets like digital assets. At the same time, the credentials belong to the users, allowing complete control over when and how different organizations or protocols access their identity proof. (Source link)
6. Biden to sign executive order on cryptocurrency next week
U.S. President Biden is expected to issue an executive order next week directing government agencies to study cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and propose a government-wide regulatory strategy for digital assets. According to a government official familiar with the matter, the upcoming directive will mandate research on CBDCs and require a range of agencies, including the Treasury Department, State Department, Justice Department, and Department of Homeland Security, to prepare a report on currency and payment systems. Meanwhile, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will conduct a technical assessment of what may be needed to support CBDC systems.
7. FBI plans to establish a dedicated virtual asset crime investigation unit
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced on Thursday that the FBI is creating a "specialized team dedicated to cryptocurrency," called the Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit. This unit will include crypto experts and will have blockchain analysis tools that could ultimately be used to trace and seize illegal funds.
Monaco stated that the Justice Department will launch an international cryptocurrency initiative, allowing "more joint international law enforcement actions" to trace funds through blockchain and encouraging responsible regulation of digital assets. (Source link)
8. Web3Vision announces the establishment of a $20 million venture capital fund
Web3 and blockchain investment firm Web3Vision announced the establishment of a new $20 million venture capital fund, initiated and managed by blockchain investment veteran Cyber Young, technology expert Johnny Zhou, user research expert Cathy Wang, and chief analyst Boa Jiang. The LPs consist of family offices, traditional gaming companies, internet executives, and high-net-worth individuals in the blockchain space.
It is reported that Web3Vision's investments will cover sub-sectors such as DeFi, GameFi, SocialFi, and data tool middleware, while also considering investment opportunities related to public chain ecosystems. The fund primarily invests in startups, and Web3Vision aims to provide unique value and critical support to Web3 entrepreneurs in areas such as technology, overseas traffic, user experience, and token economic model design.
9. Circle, the issuer of USDC, reaches new deal terms with SPAC, valuation rises to $9 billion
According to official news from Circle, the issuer of USDC, Circle has reached new deal terms with special purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp (NYSE:CND), raising Circle's valuation from $4.5 billion announced in July 2021 to $9 billion. (Source link)
"What the editors of Chain Catcher are watching"
1. "Sequoia Capital Partner Maguire: Crypto will be the biggest trend in the next 30 years"
In an interview, Sequoia Capital partner Maguire stated that cryptocurrency will be the biggest trend in the next 20-30 years. To this end, Sequoia Capital is adjusting its fund structure and establishing an independent crypto fund to ensure it captures this trend of the times. In fact, beyond Sequoia Capital, many traditional venture capital firms such as Tiger Global, Accel, Insight Partners, Goldman Sachs, Coatue, a16z, and USV are also accelerating their layout in the crypto space.
2. "Web3 Scam Prevention Guide: Essential Security Skills for Discord Users"
With the rapid growth of the NFT market, the trading volume of the NFT market reached nearly $44.2 billion in 2021. The huge monetary temptation has led professional scammers and digital world fraudsters to infiltrate the crypto world in large numbers. These crypto world scammers target inexperienced crypto newcomers, prompting the writing of this article to provide some useful security guidelines.
3. "Decoding Sequoia Capital's Crypto Bureau: A Woman's Choice to Go ALL IN"
Sequoia Capital announced the launch of a $500-600 million cryptocurrency investment fund, marking its first industry-specific fund since its establishment in 1972. Why did Sequoia Capital leap from a traditional first-tier dollar fund to lead Web3 investments? The answer is simple: someone is driving and leading this effort, and her name is MICHELLE BAILHE. To some extent, she has changed Sequoia Capital.
4. "Why Should We Pay Attention to the Federal Reserve's Interest Rate Hikes?"
The news of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes sometimes causes drops and sometimes increases. Who exactly is deciding the pace of these hikes? What is their attitude towards the rate increases?
