ARB
In 2017, Pantera took the pitch from Ed Felten, Steven Goldfeder, and Harry Kalodner on Arbitrum, the whitepaper describing something needed and novel. Since the seed round, we have been thrilled with the community that has been built around the project in addition to the tech.
Arbitrum Orbit
Offchain Labs has announced the launch of Arbitrum Orbit, a tool for developing layer 3 networks on top of Arbitrum. Arbitrum said in a recent statement that “developers launching L3s on Arbitrum One and Nova are automatically granted a free and perpetual license allowing them to use, modify and customize Arbitrum’s best-in-class technology for their L3 chains.” With Orbit, users can write a smart contract with Arbitrum chains while leveraging Ethereum’s security. Offchain Labs is also launching Stylus, a programming environment upgrade which will allow developers to program in C, C++, and Rust to build.
DAO
By launching DAO governance for their ecosystem, Arbitrum is becoming the first EVM rollup to reach the second stage of decentralization. $ARB, Arbitrum’s native token, will govern Arbitrum One (which operates as Offchain Labs’ main L2 optimistic rollup), Arbitrum Nova (another L2 designed for extremely high-throughput use cases such as on-chain gaming and social protocols), as well as new projects Offchain Labs launches.
The Arbitrum Foundation said in a recent statement: “Arbitrum DAO will have the power to control key decisions at the core protocol level, from how the chain's technology is upgraded to how the revenue from the chain can be used to support the ecosystem.” Steven Goldfeder, Arbitrum’s CEO, added: “For me, the most exciting part is the decentralization – the fact that Offchain Labs will no longer have any control over the future of this chain. We will be a service provider, and if the DAO calls on us to build software, we will.”
Arbitrum’s growth
Since launch, Arbitrum has seen incredible traction as one of Ethereum’s most popular layer 2 networks. Last month, the network reached 1.103M txs – on that same day, Ethereum had 1.084M txs. The protocol has a TVL of $1.68B, the highest among layer 2’s.
Highest number of 1,103,398 transactions on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. Source: Arbiscan
Further, unique addresses have skyrocketed over time, reaching 3.4M+ as of mid-March 2023.
Arbitrum addresses had a daily increase of 24k on March 15. Source: Arbiscan
There have also been over 4k contracts deployed to Arbitrum so far in March.
Source: Nansen
Partnerships
Offchain Labs also partners with some of the best in web3:
● Arbitrum and Alchemy Pay partnered in late 2022 for fiat onramping to the Arbitrum ecosystem.
● Arbitrum and Chainlink recently launched Chainlink Automation (running on Arbitrum One), which helps developers to automate smart contract building.
● Offchain Labs acquired Prysmatic Labs in October 2022, a leading software team behind transitioning Ethereum from proof of work to proof of stake.
● OpenSea added Arbitrum to its platform in September 2022.
Arbitrum is poised for amazing things ahead, and we at Pantera are proud to be early supporters of this team and ecosystem.
Paul Veradittakit
DISCLAIMER
Pantera Capital Puerto Rico Management, LP and its affiliates (“Pantera”) makes investments in crypto assets and in blockchain-related companies. Pantera and/or its affiliates or personnel may be an investor in, or have relationships or other business arrangements related to, certain instruments, companies and/or projects discussed herein. This document does not contain any advertisement for Pantera’s investment advisory services, or any other services or products, whether provided by Pantera or otherwise. The information and opinions presented in this document are solely those of Paul Veradittakit; they do not represent, and should not be interpreted as representative of, the views of Pantera or any other individual working for Pantera, and do not represent investment, legal, tax, financial, or any other form of, advice or recommendations. Neither Pantera nor Mr. Veradittakit is acting, or purports to act, as an investment adviser or in a fiduciary capacity with respect to any recipient of this paper. Information contained in this document is believed to be reliable, but no representation is made regarding such information’s fairness, correctness, accuracy, reasonableness or completeness. There is no obligation to update this document or to otherwise notify a reader if any matter stated statement or information contained here changes or subsequently is shown to be inaccurate. Nothing contained herein constitutes any representation or warranty as to future performance of any financial instrument or company. Forward-looking statements should not be relied upon, and performance or outcomes may differ materially from what is contemplated herein. Opinions included here incorporate subjective judgments or may be based on incomplete information. This document does not constitute or contain an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities or a recommendation to enter into any transaction, and no reliance should be placed on this document in making investment decisions.
DIGESTS
We asked the SEC for reasonable crypto rules for Americans. We got legal threats instead.
Today, the SEC gave Coinbase a “Wells notice” regarding an undefined portion of our listed digital assets, our staking service Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime, and Coinbase Wallet after a cursory investigation. We are prepared for this disappointing development.
BUSINESS
Copper to Lay Off Up to 15% of Staff, Focus on Crypto Custody, Settlement
The process is just getting under way and the company, which employs about 300, said it cannot put an exact number on job losses.
European Crypto Startups Raised Record $5.7B in VC Funding in 2022
A new report from crypto VC firm RockawayX and startup data provider Dealroom showed strength in the region despite the crypto winter.
REGULATION
SEC Sues Jake Paul for 'Illegally Touting' Justin Sun-Linked Cryptos
Paul and other celebrities did not disclose they were paid to promote Sun-linked assets, the SEC alleged.
Coinbase on Wells Notice
We asked the SEC for reasonable crypto rules for Americans. We got legal threats instead.
IN THE TWEETS
NEW PRODUCTS AND HOT DEALS
Bitcoin Mining Firm Navier Starts Tokenized Hashrate Marketplace for 'Qualified' Customers
The Navier platform is intended to give users more control over their acquired hashrate, and enable them to sell it on.
Web3 Community Management Platform TYB Joins Shopify App Store
TYB (Try Your Best) is built on the Avalanche blockchain and provides brands with tools to expand their customer loyalty programs.
LETS MEET UP
Pantera Summit, San Francisco, April 3
NFT.NYC, New York City, April 10-14
Vancouver, April 24-28
Dubai Fintech Summit, May 8-9
Walks and coffee meetings in San Francisco throughout the year!
ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Paul Veradittakit, a Managing Partner at Pantera Capital, one of the oldest and largest institutional investors focused on investing in blockchain companies and cryptocurrencies. I’ve been in the industry since 2014, and the firm invests in equity, early stage token projects, and liquid cryptocurrencies on exchanges. I focus on early-stage investments and share my thoughts on what’s going on in the industry in this weekly newsletter.
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