Paul Hsu’s Post

Tech giants are set to spend over $1T on AI infrastructure over the next few years and investors are questioning the ROI from its related use cases. This lag in durable use cases can lag the initial infrastructure investment across all disruptive technologies and Gen AI is no exception. As the initial hype wears off, executives are scrambling to tap into solutions and products that actualize the technology’s potential. Goldman Sachs covers the different concerns and possibilities and concludes: “we still see room for the AI theme to run, either because AI starts to deliver on its promise, or because bubbles take a long time to burst.“

Understanding database technologies from an investor perspective provides a foundation for investing in #blockchain technologies. Blockchain is a distributed database technology and a cousin to open source #databases. Its key capabilities of permissionless, transparency and immutability stand to innovate unique use cases in finance, commerce and entertainment. An area of non-consensus in #venturecapital: These capabilities could create market leaders and transform the trajectory of databases and its end user companies… or maybe not… What do you think?

As blockchain applications in gaming and social gain mainstream popularity, the opportunity for #appchains, or application specific blockchains, grows larger and larger. General purpose blockchains may service current DeFi, NFT and stablecoin use cases well. The next generation of performant use cases will rely on performant blockchains. A quick look at solving these scaling challenges through a specific example of a game that’s growing on the blockchain, Pirate Nation, form Decrypt: https://lnkd.in/e5FccUfT Amitt Mahajan —founder and CEO of Proof of Play, the developer of crypto game Pirate Nation—predicts that eventually there will be thousands of dedicated blockchains that each support individual applications. This comes after his experience building the viral Facebook game Farmville. During his time developing the casual farming simulator, Zynga operated approximately 64 databases simply to prevent the game from crashing. To Mahajan, the blockchain is just an advanced database. “As soon as you're an application with any level of scale, you need to be able to predictably control your gas costs,” Mahajan told Decrypt. “My prediction is that there's going to be thousands and thousands of chains, as people split off from these shared layer-2s to application-specific chains.” Since launching on its own app-specific chain, Mahajan said that Pirate Nation has started to fill up the chain with transactions—with the team already eyeing up a second chain for support. “We’ve essentially reached the capacity of Apex,” Mahajan explained. “Now, in order to continue to scale the game, we need to add the B-chain, the C-chain, the D-chain,” he added. “We're going to be adding more chains in the future so that we can continue to add and scale the number of users in the game.”

A celebration of the Fourth of July celebrates the innovation that makes countries great. To dedicate the work ethic, determination, and ideas towards improving society is the opportunity our generation has today. American or not, the American Dream drives this global pursuit of life, liberty and happiness through innovation. 1️⃣ The American Dream promises that anyone, regardless of their background, can achieve success through hard work and determination. Innovation democratizes opportunity by creating new industries, markets, and jobs, thus enabling more people to align their passions with wealth creation. Technology is increasingly accessible to learn and deploy - anyone can innovate. 2️⃣ Innovation thrives in cities where capital connects with innovators, where these ideas are funding individuals who have the freedom to explore, experiment, and express themselves. This is true in Silicon Valley, New York, Chicago as well as Dubai, Singapore and London. 3️⃣ The American Dream is not just about achieving success but also about making continuous improvements. Innovation, by its nature, involves challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries to create something new and better. We do better when we acknowledge our shortcomings, debate our decisions, and intensely execute our solutions. 4️⃣ The American Dream is about creating a better future for us and for future generations. Innovation drives this progress, transforming bold ideas into groundbreaking solutions that shape the world we live in. These ideas today embrace the powerful technologies of AI, web3 and metaverse. This powerful combination of innovation and the American Dream continues to inspire me and others around the world. Let’s sustain this ethos today and everyday. Happy 4th.

Web3 venture capitalists were active in Q2, with quarter-over-quarter capital investment growing 28% to $3.19 billion. Investment demand for equity and tokens sustains across many of our deal conversations. The improved investor sentiment is expected to drive deal making activity into the summer and fall.

Congrats Jamie Burke, Rumi Morales, Benjamin Meyer and team for a decade of innovating on the next generation Internet. Their collaborations with venture investors and innovators drive the possibilities of blockchain and web3 technologies. It's been wonderful to see your impact. We're excited to see what the next decade brings.

Join us August 1 for our 3rd Annual Web3 Investor Day. We once again bring over 200+ asset allocators, venture capitalists, and web3 innovators to assess the transitions today driving the changes tomorrow. Thank you for our partners in joining us this year - a curated group of industry leaders building adoption of blockchain innovations. Brian Walls and Keith Johnson of Bridge Alternatives have the energy and passion to bring together capital providers and technologists to accelerate innovation. Dean Marks and Keating Crown of Sterling Bay design and build the physical spaces such that innovation ideas flourish, across teams and borders. Bob Harazin of Grayscale Investments is leading the forefront of publicly traded products that enable investors access to digital assets. Jan-Dirk Lueders and Sam Hallene of CMT Digital are top investors in blockchain technologies and digital assets ventures, drawing on their decades of experience in ventures, trading and regulatory to advance our industry. Michael Frisch and Paige Bolinger of Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres are legal thought leaders in the evolving landscape of regulatory, financing and governance in digital assets. Jay Kolbe and Philip Robertson Impact Partners form the narratives for family offices, venture investors and web3 companies at the frontiers of innovation, crafting their stories that are relatable to the mainstream audiences. Stephen Vlasak of Richey May provides the world class technology risk and audit management for our industry across the patchwork of evolving special situations innovation entails. Gary Newlin and Patrick Clancy of MG Stover LLC streamline the fund administration processes across liquid and illiquid digital assets for investment managers to focus on their investment alpha in web3. Srinivas Dhulipala of New Form Capital deploys his decades of financing trading markets to today's crypto markets with liquid strategies that fuel this innovation cycle. Join us and many others to understand and build the future of our Internet.

Apple’s AI Strategy was well received by market analysts and equity investors. Apple’s AI advancements will reshape the tech landscape as the capabilities roll out in the fall. Here’s a quick summary of key insights and what it means for startups and venture capital: Benedict Evans: Apple integrates AI incrementally to enhance its ecosystem, leveraging existing hardware and software strengths. Foundational LLMs are commodity infrastructure with value capture at the applications layer. Ben Thompson: Apple’s strategic timing in AI strengthens its platform and competitive position, enhancing its advantages in customer experiences and developer ecosystem. Implications 🌉 Barriers & Opportunities: Apple’s robust AI ecosystem raises entry barriers but creates opportunities for partnerships and innovation. 🤝 Partnership Focus: Startups can benefit from aligning with Apple’s partnership model, accessing advanced AI without building from scratch. 🎯 Domain-Specific Applications: Developing domain-specific AI applications that complement Apple’s offerings can lead to unique market advantages. 🔧 Third-Party Integration: Innovating within Apple’s ecosystem by leveraging AI APIs offers growth paths and mobile distribution for startups. 🚀 User-Centric Design: Adopting Apple’s incremental, user-focused AI integration can help startups meet market needs effectively. For VCs, investing in startups that enhance and integrate with existing ecosystems, particularly those focusing on domain-specific markets and user-centric AI applications, can unlock significant opportunities within Apple’s evolving AI landscape. 🌐💡 #AI #Startups #VentureCapital #Apple #Innovation #TechStrategy #Partnerships

Crypto by sector from Binance details the innovations that span adoption trends.