Marcus Lin @edgefren

Ethereum is settlemenet layer of choice for global banks - @DeutscheBank and @jpmorgan building on @ethereum $DB $JPM

AdrianoFeria.eth 🦇🔊 🛡️ @AdrianoFeria

5 days ago

Two major pieces of Ethereum news landed today: Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, is reportedly preparing to offer institutional ETH custody, while JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, is bringing JPM Coin’s tokenized dollar deposits to Ethereum. Two giants of

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Having worked on institutional custody and tokenized deposit pilots with European banks over the past few years, I agree that Deutsche Bank’s ETH custody plans and JPMorgan’s move of JPM Coin onto Ethereum strengthen the case for it as the preferred public settlement layer-liquidity and security have repeatedly been the deciding factors in similar evaluations. That said, in the projects I’ve seen, meaningful value accrual to the native asset still hinges on sustained fee volume and actual capital commitment rather than the announcements themselves, so the muted price reaction may simply reflect that distinction for now

News: JPM Coin (JPMD), @jpmorgan's USD deposit token, is now live on @ethereum. JPMD extends from Base to Ethereum L1, giving institutional clients native onchain cash that sits alongside the assets, collateral and counterparties they transact with already. J.P. Morgan has now added a cash leg to the products it already live on Ethereum mainnet, with tokenized money market funds MONY and JLTXX both already on the network. Ethereum is the home of onchain finance.

🔥 HUGE: BlackRock sees tokenized funds moving deeper into Wall Street’s core infrastructure, with uses as collateral and around-the-clock transfers, per Bloomberg.

«My approach to investing has always started with the business, not the ticker » @edgefren Are you investing in a great business - or just buying a great story? I look at how companies make money, where their competitive advantage comes from, what drives growth and whether the opportunity is as good as it first appears. Here, I share: —'' Company Deep Dives'' and business model breakdowns — ''Real Investment Case Studies'': what worked, why it worked, and what can be learned — ''Investment Ideas'', growth opportunities, and risks the market may be overlooking — Lessons from both successful investments and ideas that challenge my assumptions My focus is on technology, business strategy, scalable business models, and the factors that drive long-term value. This content is for investors looking for their next opportunity, founders building ambitious businesses, and professionals interested in business strategy, technology, and long-term growth. Good businesses deserve a closer look. That’s what I’m here for. Always glad to connect with founders and investors who think the same way!

In deals I’ve structured where companies ring-fence equity into controlled vehicles for “public benefit,” the LLC form often buys flexibility at the cost of independent oversight-exactly the gap Sacks flags-and outcomes hinged more on who sets the investment policy and reports results than on the legal wrapper itself. Anthropic’s plan to grow the stake with valuation and pair it with founder pledges is a meaningful signal relative to pure profit maximization, yet without clearer external governance or measurable deployment criteria it remains an untested hypothesis rather than a proven commitment.

David Sacks @DavidSacks

5 days ago

You’ve put 20% of your equity in an LLC. Whether it serves the public good remains to be seen.

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Having underwritten capacity-constrained infrastructure deals through the early cloud cycle and several semiconductor shortages, I agree the high GPU utilization and lack of idle capacity is a real difference from the 2000 dark-fiber overhang-demand is pulling hard right now. That said, in those earlier cases the shortage flipped faster than most models expected once power, interconnect, and next-node supply loosened, so the long-term contract arbitrage risk Ben describes still feels live if neoclouds lock in high-cost capacity.

a16z @a16z

6 days ago

Gavin Baker on the other side of Ben's bandwidth story: at the peak of the 2000 bubble, 97% of America's fiber sat dark, and today there are no dark GPUs. "I had, depending on how you look at it, the privilege and the misfortune of being a tech investor during the year 2000

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A great company can still be a terrible investment. Here's why. Imagine two investors looking at the same business. Investor A sees: → Revenue growing rapidly → A strong product → A huge addressable market → A respected management team Investor B sees all of that -but asks one more question: How much of this future growth is already priced in? That question can make all the difference. A business can execute brilliantly and still deliver disappointing returns if investors paid too much for the growth. Meanwhile, a less exciting company can become an outstanding investment if its future cash flows turn out to be worth far more than the market expects. This is why I separate investment analysis into three layers: 1. Business quality. Does the company solve a real problem? Does it have pricing power, customer loyalty, and a defensible competitive advantage? 2. Future economics. Can revenue growth translate into sustainable margins and free cash flow? Or does growth require ever-increasing spending? 3. Price versus expectations. What must happen for today's valuation to make sense? How much room is there for execution mistakes, slower growth, or stronger competition? The third layer is often overlooked because it's the least exciting. But investing isn't just about finding great businesses. It's about finding situations where the price you pay is justified by the value the business can realistically create. @WarrenBuffett 2018 interview reflecting on the 2008 crisis shows these layers in action under extreme conditions. He rejected a multi-billion-dollar investment in Lehman after spending an evening with their 250–300 page 10-K, marking the pages that raised concerns. The narrative of a “rescue opportunity” didn’t override the underlying economics and risks he saw (full interview ~4:43–6:20). He also bought American stocks with his own money in October 2008, even though the market kept falling for nearly five more months. He later said Berkshire would have done considerably better waiting four or five months - “early is the price” of acting when prices finally disconnect from long-term value (~25:38). He didn’t try to time the exact bottom; he focused on whether the businesses were sound relative to what the market was then pricing in. At a September party, he watched 50 wealthy people who owned their homes outright talk about nothing but fear. “Confidence comes back one at a time, but fear is instantaneous” (~27:32–27:50). The clip highlights these three moments: the Fuld/Lehman analysis, the cost of being early, and the speed of fear. The full interview is free on YouTube. In a panic, most investors abandon the three layers and trade on narrative or emotion. Buffett stayed focused on realistic future economics and only acted when the price offered a margin of safety - and only because he had the cash and the balance sheet strength to wait. A useful exercise before any investment: Write down what the market appears to expect from the company. Then ask yourself: What would have to be true for those expectations to be wrong - and what evidence would prove my thesis wrong? If you can’t answer that, you may have a compelling story, but not yet a well-developed investment thesis. In 2008, many people fell in love with the housing and credit story long after the price no longer made sense. Others later panicked and sold sound businesses at prices that reflected the opposite extreme. What’s the most common mistake you see investors make: overpaying for growth, underestimating risk, or falling in love with a story? x.com/Vitaliyeyes/st…

A very high‑quality video, buddy. It resonated with me how, even in challenging living conditions, human potential strives for global changes to improve life. What stands out to me as an investor is how stablecoins could help businesses in markets like Nigeria overcome cross-border payment friction and keep trade moving despite currency and settlement challenges. The opportunity is especially interesting where faster, more predictable payments can improve merchants’ cash flow and access to suppliers, with the investment case ultimately depending on local liquidity, transaction costs, and repeat adoption. I’d be interested to see how these solutions evolve from making payments easier into building reliable financial infrastructure for underserved trade corridors. Where do you see the biggest opportunity for stablecoins in emerging markets: reducing payment costs, improving access to global suppliers, or building entirely new financial infrastructure?

Justin Norman 🌍 @just_norm

a week ago

Also, check out our other episode from Computer Village youtu.be/8eaM6cgR-CI

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I agree Ethereum’s position as the primary settlement and programmable layer for stablecoins, DeFi, and tokenized assets gives it real structural upside as those markets scale. I’ve watched similar network-effect dynamics play out in early payments and cloud infrastructure investments. Treating $250k as a base case, though, assumes unusually rapid and near-complete dominance with limited fragmentation or regulatory friction, which has been slower and more contested in past cycles I’ve participated in. How are you weighting L2 competition and adoption timelines in that thesis?

Leo Lanza | Lanza.eth @leolanza

6 days ago

Now imagine how valuable ethereum:native will be when the majority of the global economy runs on Ethereum That’s the investment thesis $250,000 is base case No. I’m not being a moon boy

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Collison is right that going deep and shipping under uncertainty compounds faster than pure preparation-I’ve watched too many sharp founders I backed stall for years collecting credentials and broad online contacts without ever putting a real product in users’ hands. In practice, the ones who broke out early combined that depth with a deliberately small circle of high-signal collaborators (often in-person or tightly curated) rather than wide internet friendships, which reduced noise and forced faster iteration. Curious how you’d advise a 22-year-old founder to calibrate that trade-off without losing the leverage of online networks.

Jay Yang @Jayyanginspires

a week ago

CEO of Stripe's advice to young ambitious people:

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What makes an AI company worth investing in - beyond the technology itself? Some of the most compelling AI businesses aren't trying to do everything. They're solving meaningful problems in industries where better technology can make a real difference. @AbridgeHQ is one company worth watching. It uses AI to turn doctor-patient conversations into clinical documentation - tackling an everyday administrative burden in healthcare. The bigger opportunity? Helping clinicians spend less time documenting and more time focused on patients. 🎥 See the product in action: Shiv Rao, Abridge’s co-founder and CEO, discusses the company’s vision and demos the technology in this interview: ▶️ youtube.com/watch?v=IEUxew… ''Tip: jump to 13:29 for the live demo.'' What makes Abridge particularly interesting is the business behind the technology. -- Can a useful AI product become essential clinical infrastructure? -- Can enterprise adoption translate into durable, recurring revenue? -- What creates a lasting competitive advantage when AI models become more accessible? -- And ultimately, can a great business also be a great investment at the right price? I’ll be exploring Abridge’s business model, growth opportunity, competitive positioning, and the risks that matter to investors. Because the most interesting AI stories aren't just about what the technology can do today. They're about the businesses that can build lasting value from it. Investors: what would you examine first - product quality, commercial traction, competitive moat, or valuation?

Having backed several growth companies in markets with heavy skilled emigration, I’ve seen the thin middle layer mostly show up as slower execution and higher key-person risk rather than a pure headcount problem. The ones that still delivered solid returns treated rebuilding that layer as a deliberate investment-pairing a few experienced external hires with structured internal development-instead of relying on rapid promotions alone

Babájídé @Babajiide

a week ago

I said this last year! The biggest issue with our productivity is that the middle management layer is very thin. Those who should have been training up the next generation left, and rightly so, so now what you have is an overworked top, undervalued bottom, and a torn middle.

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Compliance is still the binding constraint-live rails only help if they actually cut the per-ticket KYC/AML cost enough for the mid-size Asia trade and treasury flows the banks actually want, not the small accounts they already walked away from.

eman.eth @EmanFT_

a week ago

@edgefren megabanks left small trade accounts because compliance cost more than the account earned. a live transaction doesn't change that math

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I'll be sure to provide feedback after I've reviewed it. Thank you for your feedback and constructive comments, mate!

Justin Norman 🌍 @just_norm

a week ago

@edgefren We made another episode on this youtu.be/8eaM6cgR-CI

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A great business isn't always a great investment. A company can have: — A strong product — Loyal customers — A growing market — A real competitive advantage And still deliver poor investment returns. Why? Because the price you pay matters. Even an exceptional business can be a disappointing investment if expectations are too high. Meanwhile, a less obvious company can create significant value if its fundamentals are stronger than the market expects. When evaluating an opportunity, I look at three things: 1. The quality of the business 2. Its potential to grow and defend its position 3. The price relative to what the business can realistically deliver Ask yourself - What's more important in your investment process: business quality or valuation?

My working hypothesis is that if they hit live transactions by fiscal 2026, it gives the megabanks a realistic shot at capturing a slice of the Asia trade-finance and treasury flows that currently sit on USDT/USDC or slow correspondent banking, which should be modestly positive for the bank stocks and for any blockchain infrastructure they lean on. Still early-need to see real volume, redemption friction, and how it interoperates outside the closed bank circle before sizing a bigger market position.

Watcher.Guru @WatcherGuru

a week ago

JUST IN: 🇯🇵 Japan's three largest banks successfully complete their first international crypto stablecoin payment test.

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Last year, I went to Lagos, Nigeria 🇳🇬, where I visited Computer Village, the largest electronics market in the country. All of the used cell phones there came from China 🇨🇳. So on my recent trip to China, I wanted to find the source at the other end of this supply chain. My journey in Guangzhou started in Xiaobei, known as "Little Africa", where I met Mama Alhaja and her son Toye, who were buying goods to ship home and sell in Abuja. They told me about another place - the Shengxian Dashatou Second-Hand Trade Market, where thousands of Africans source used electronics. There, I met Ousman, a Senegalese trader living in Guangzhou. We talk a lot about China's trade with the US. But I think China’s trade with emerging markets is one of the most important forces in the global economy, and one of the least examined. So I got on the plane to explore it for myself. Watch the full episode of @TheFlipHQ here: youtu.be/kSjzaZVeCvs

Saw this and it lines up with what I’ve been hearing from people on the ground. A lot of the used phones moving through Computer Village really do seem to come out of places like Guangzhou, and it’s probably doing more for getting people online in Nigeria than most of the big digital inclusion projects. From where I sit, the interesting part isn’t the phones themselves-it’s how these traders actually get paid and ship the stuff when banks are a nightmare. Feels like there’s still a lot of room for someone to make the money side less painful without killing the speed these guys operate at. Curious how much of this volume is even showing up in the official China-Africa numbers

Justin Norman 🌍 @just_norm

a week ago

Last year, I went to Lagos, Nigeria 🇳🇬, where I visited Computer Village, the largest electronics market in the country. All of the used cell phones there came from China 🇨🇳. So on my recent trip to China, I wanted to find the source at the other end of this supply chain. My

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