Goldman, JPM Target Crypto IPOs

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Good Morning.

Some crypto people are duking out politics on Twitter, iykyk. On to what matters, the bull market is here and it should only get better as we enter 2025 with a Fed rate cut and China stimulus. If Trump follows through with his crypto-friendly promises, there will be many new considerations and market dynamics. We might need to write a full piece just on that!

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Goldman, JPM Target Crypto IPOs 👀 

• Founders Highlight: Bartek of L2BEAT 💓 

• Deal Flow: Glow Labs’ $30M Funding ☀️ 

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WHAT MATTERS

Goldman, JPM Target Crypto IPOs

State of play: According to The Information, top investment banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley, are actively engaging with major crypto firms, anticipating a surge in IPO opportunities within the crypto sector.

• This interest shifts from previous years when many banks viewed crypto as too risky.

• This interest is driven by Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election which could bring regulatory clarity favorable to crypto companies.

• Companies like Kraken, Fireblocks, and Chainalysis are among those seen as strong IPO candidates.

Why it Matters: If top banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are ready to back crypto IPOs, it suggests that institutional barriers are softening, which could lead to wider adoption and credibility for crypto assets in traditional finance.

What’s next: A Trump victory could create favorable conditions for crypto, easing regulatory challenges and may lead to a surge of IPO filings from crypto firms looking to access public markets.

For builders and investors: A wave of crypto IPOs could unlock funding, partnerships, and validation for new projects.

• Public crypto firms may offer a safer entry into the sector’s growth, attracting interest from both retail and institutional markets.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Bartek Kiepuszewski of L2BEAT

Intro: Bartek Kiepuszewski is the co-founder of L2BEAT, an independent research venture that focuses on deep technical risk analysis of Ethereum scalability solutions and various blockchain interoperability bridges and protocols.

• Bartek is also serving as an advisor for TokenFlow, a blockchain analytics company that aims at giving blockchain ecosystem participants the analytical tools, contextualized data, and insight.

Previous background: Bartek has a strong background in technology, finance, and blockchain, with notable crypto experience at MakerDAO as a Blockchain Architect from 2018 to 2023.

• Before MakerDAO, he was a Blockchain Architect at Conjoule GmbH.

The big idea: Recently, Bartek’s L2BEAT launched DABEAT to bring transparency and understanding to the rapidly evolving Ethereum ecosystem, focusing on data availability (DA) and L2 solutions.

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INSIGHTS

Wintermute Proposes Ethena Fee Switch

State of play: Wintermute has proposed a governance change for Ethena's protocol, aiming to allocate a portion of its substantial revenue to benefit staked Ethena governance token holders (sENA).

• Ethena's stablecoin, USDe, with a $2.8B market cap, has been generating significant revenue, but sENA holders currently do not directly benefit.

• Wintermute's proposal suggests implementing a fee switch to connect sENA holders to this revenue.

• The proposal also asks for transparency regarding past and future revenue allocation and calls for a set of parameters for activating the fee switch.

• Ethena holds a fully diluted market cap of $4.93B, with $130M in annualized revenue.

DEAL FLOWS

Glow Labs Raises $30M

Deal flows slowed down this week - we saw $42M+ in deals 💼 

Glow Labs, an Ethereum-based solar project, has raised $30M in funding, led by Framework Ventures and Union Square Ventures.

• The funds include $6.5M for operations and $23.5M for expanding solar farms in India.

• Glow uses DePIN principles, rewarding solar farms with GLW tokens for electricity output and USDC for carbon credits.

• The project aims to offer 100% renewable energy and has already grown from a US rooftop project to multi-million dollar solar farms in India.

• The projects are expected to reduce over 85,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

Deal flows in the past week:

• SkyX, $1M Pre-Seed Round

• Naptha AI, $6M Pre-Seed Round

• vlayer, $10M Pre-Seed Round

• Betski, $345K Seed Round

• Pond, $7.5M Seed Round

• Cytonic, $8.3M Seed Round

• A-WORLD, $5M Series A Round

• AmplifyWorld, $1.2M Unknown Round

• Usual, $1.5M Unknown Round

• GameBeast, $2M Unknown Round

💰 Secondary Market and M&A Deals (Powered by Acquire.Fi)

• Sei Network (sell), SAFT, Min Size - $300,000, Valuation: Discount to spot (Vested)

• Galxe (sell), SAFT, Min Size - $300,000, Valuation: Open

• Circle (sell), Equity, Min Size - $1,000,000, Valuation: 25 / PS

• DAWN (buy), SAFT, Min Size - $1,000,000, Valuation: Open

• SUI (buy), Tokens, Min Size - $1,000,000, Valuation: Discount from spot

QUICK BITES

• Ethereum developers roll out Mekong testnet.

• Ethereum Foundation reports $778M of treasury.

• French Polymarket Whale is estimated to make $79M.

• Coinbase premium flips positive, indicating rising US interest.

• Polygon x Magic Linked launched a new cross-chain network.

• Jito Labs recorded $78.9M in record monthly fees for October.

• BlackRock BTC ETF sees record-breaking $4B traded on election day.

NOTEWORTHY READS

• Degen L3’s read on potentially relaunching the chain.

• Aya Miyaguchi’s read on Ethereum Foundation reports.

• Zaheer’s read on Tether’s future in a Trump Presidency.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.