The Potential of NFTs for Mainstream Adoption

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I think there is a ton of potential for NFTs for mainstream adoption and maybe in areas that we might not have today or that are not being capitalized upon. Any of the startups you're looking at right now are working towards making NFTs more mainstream? I still feel like either one, the word is toxic to non crypto people and nobody wants to talk about it or use it. But I'm curious if you're seeing any startups pop up that like you look at that and you're like, that's an amazing idea. This will actually help.

Welcome to Chain Reaction.

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious.

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Maria Shen, a general partner on the investment team at Electric Capital, an early stage venture firm focused on crypto, blockchain, fintech and marketplaces.

Before Electric Capital, Maria was the CTO and co-founder of a startup Bambify that helped small to medium-sized businesses create more efficient supply chains with manufacturers globally. Prior to that, she worked at Microsoft.

In March 2022, the firm announced that it closed $1 billion for a pair of crypto funds – a $400 million vehicle for making equity investments in startups and a $600 million fund intended to invest directly in crypto tokens. Its website currently showcases a portfolio with about 75 investments with crypto startups like Magic Eden, ConsenSys and Bitwise, to name a few.

More recently, Electric Capital put out a report that showed the number of blockchain developers in the U.S. has declined every year since 2017, dropping to 29% last year from 40% in 2017. We dove into what that report really means and how it will affect the growth of developers domestically and internationally.

We discussed what crypto sectors Maria is watching for investments, why she’s betting big on NFTs and the general venture capital market sentiment.

We also talked about:

U.S. regulatory impact on investments
The bear market
Trends she’s following
Advice for founders

Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.