His Excellency's Crypto Holdings

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Good Morning,

Crypto markets are down with ETH falling below $1,800.

Lido V2, which will enable  $10B+ of stETH to be withdrawn, is poised to happen on May 15th. In other news, UNI considers turning on fee switch (again) and Elon tweeted a Miladies meme.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: 6 critical bills for crypto founders 📝

• Founders-Investors Highlight: Emma Cui, Founder of LongHash Ventures 🤵‍♀️

• Deal Flows: Blockworks $135M valuation 📰

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WHAT MATTERS

Six Important Bills For Crypto Founders

Credits to The Block for the original article.

State of play: Crypto regulations are front-and-center in the US. Keeping up to date with the developments is the most critical “macro task” that web3 founders should do.

• Like it or not, what the US decides to do towards crypto will significantly impact web3 founders globally.

Here are the six important crypto bills and their takeaways:

• NYAG: All encompassing stricter regulation for New York

  • The proposed bill will prevent those who create crypto assets from also owning crypto platforms.

  • It will require mandatory KYC and independent financial statements audits for centralized exchanges.

• Florida: CBDC ban

  • Governor Ron DeSantis plans to update the state’s commercial code to ban CBDC, stating that the notion of a government controlled currency is against independence.

• California: Legal framework for DAOs

  • DAOs will be allowed to incorporate under California’s bill.

  • DAOs in the state of California will need to abide by the state’s legal and tax framework, legitimizing their presence in the process.

• Texas: Require Proof-of-Reserves from exchanges

  • Crypto exchanges would be require to show Proof-of-Reserves and prevent exchange from mixing customer and corporate funds.

• New Jersey: Its version of BitLicense

  • The legislation aims to grant crypto oversight and licensing regime to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities.

  • It will become the state’s own version of New York’s strict BitLicense framework.

• Illinois: All encompassing stricter regulation for Illinois

  • The bill will grant IDFPR (Illinois’ licensing agency) with nearly unlimited power to regulate crypto businesses.

  • The bill would make unlicensed “digital asset business activity” a felony.

  • Alliance DAO, a web3 accelerator, thinks the bill would kill DeFi in Illinois.

Why it matters: Like it or not, what the US decides to do towards crypto will have a significant impact for web3 founders globally.

For builders and investors: It’s becoming clear that crypto companies and investors need to hedge their regulatory risks by having footprints (deal flows, portcos, networks) in multiple jurisdictions.

• One bad bill can wipe off your entire operation if you’re only staying in one country or even one state.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Emma Cui, Founder of LongHash Ventures

Emma Cui is the Founding Partner and CEO of LongHash Ventures, a web3 venture fund and accelerator based in Singapore.

• LongHash raised its $100M venture fund II in late 2022, which was a massive jump from its $15M venture fund I.

• LongHash currently has a team of 11 people and has invested in more than 60 projects globally.

• LongHash is an EntrePass partner of the government of Singapore — meaning that foreign founders who join the firm’s accelerator program will be eligible for a work pass.

Previous backgrounds: Emma has an extensive experience in the financial services and consulting space. She was a Senior Equity Dealer at Macquarie Bank, a Banker at ANZ, and a Consultant at McKinsey before she went into the crypto space.

The big idea: LongHash is investing in pre-seed to Series A web3 infrastructure. The firm also has an accelerator program that has partnered with 50+ projects globally.

• LongHash is a pure play venture firm without a liquid portfolio.

Take a peek at our new referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 100 smart crypto investors' wallet addresses 👇

INSIGHTS

Tracking Justin Sun’s Wallets

The founder of TRON and OG crypto personality has announced that he’ll be actively trading meme coins from his public wallets. 

How do you track them?

• His public address is 0x3ddfa8ec3052539b6c9549f12cea2c295cff5296

• You can use Debank and Zerion to see breakdowns of his assets and historical activities.

• His biggest holdings (unsurprisingly) are in USDD and TRX, his own tokens.

The full step-by-step is available from @CryptoGirlNova.

DEAL FLOWS

Blockworks Raises $12M at $135M Valuation

Deal flows slowed down further in the past week 😔 — we saw $55M+ in deals.

Blockworks $12M Strategic Round: The crypto media company has raised $12M at a $135M valuation.

• The round was led by 10T Holdings (Dan Tapiero’s firm), with participation from Framework Ventures and Santiago Santos.

• The capital will be allocated towards the firm’s research and data analytics offerings, as well as to expand its presence in Hong Kong and Singapore.

• Blockworks reportedly surpasses its $20M revenue goal in 2022, which was double its revenue in 2021.

Congrats to Jason and Michael for the raise!

Deal flows in the past week:

• Smilee, $2M Seed Round

• Artifact Labs, $3.25M Seed Round

• Blocktorch, $4.2M Seed Round

• Aether Games, $4.5M Seed Round

• Webb Protocol, $7M Seed Round

• Odsy, $7.5M Seed Round

• Pudgy Penguins, $9M Seed Round

• Flux, $5M Strategic Round

• Blockworks, $12M Strategic Round

• Artizen, $2.2M Unknown Round

• Cookbook, Undisclosed $ Seed Round

• Polynomial, Undisclosed $ Seed Round

• Triple Lab, Undisclosed $ Seed Round

QUICK BITES

• US Chamber of Commerce criticizes the SEC’s approach to crypto.

• Tether reports $1.48B profit in Q1 2023.

• Binance US explores ways to cut CZ’s ownership.

• EY launches Ethereum-based carbon emission platform.

• Binance launches platform for VIP users.

• IRS files $44B claim against FTX bankruptcy.

• IRS works with Ukraine to track crypto sanctions evaders.

• BlockFi customers could be repaid $300M.

• Ethereum Beacon Chain suffers brief finality issue.

• BOE states privacy and bank runs risk with digital Pound.

MEME & NOTEWORTHY READS

• Joel John’s read on the market dynamics of meme tokens.

• Packy McCormick’s read on small applications, growing protocols.

• @edatweets_’s read on restaking and expanding Ethereum ecosystem.

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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.