Despite the doom and gloom, Placeholder VC partners Chris Burniske and Joel Monegro are highly bullish on the present moment. “We’re all going to look back on this period and remember it as fondly as we remember ‘18 and ‘19,” Monegro tells Laura Shin. The two long-term investors explain why the confluence of macroeconomic factors and crypto-native (and AI) innovations make this the ideal time to invest in a Web3 future. They cut their teeth on Bitcoin, they grew up with Ethereum; hear what they think is next.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights:

• why Chris says crypto’s four-year cycle will likely play out once again
• the role of interest rates in asset valuation
• whether the crypto industry has learned its lessons from the “crypto carnage” of 2022
• whether there’s a future for KYC’d DeFi
• when failing in crypto should be considered a crime, as in the Do Kwon case
• what could happen with the rate hikes and how the macroeconomic environment affects the markets
• how the ruling in the Ripple case impacts the development of new crypto companies and user adoption
• whether Joel felt relieved by the ruling, considering Placeholder has invested in many tokens that were named as securities by the SEC
• what Joel thinks of the new crypto bill in Congress and how he wishes that smart contracts were used to self-regulate the industry
• what Joel and Chris think of the delicate situations of crypto giants such as Binance and DCG
• whether the fat protocol thesis still holds up and whether it colors Placeholder’s current investment thesis
• why most of the Layer 1s will become rollups, according to Chris
• why Chris is bullish on Solana, despite the massive collapse in value following the FTX debacle
• how NFTs will play a significant role in “establishing the provenance of content”
• whether AI agents will become crypto power users

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Crypto.com
• Arbitrum Foundation
• TOKEN2049

Guests:

• Chris Burniske, partner at Placeholder VC
• Previous appearance on Unchained: 
• 2022 in Review + How Cobie and Chris Burniske Are Playing the New Year
• Cobie and Chris Burniske on How to Navigate a Crypto Bear Market
• How To Value A Crypto Asset
• Joel Monegro, partner at Placeholder VC.
• Placeholder’s Joel Monegro on the Fat Protocols Thesis

Links

• Fat Protocols by Joel Monegro
• The Blockchain Application Stack by Joel Monegro
• Decred Thesis by Joel Monegro and Chris Burniske
• WSJ: 
• Binance Lays Off Over 1,000 Employees
• Binance Cuts Back Employee Benefits, Citing Decline in Profit
• CoinDesk: Unpacking the Latest Lummis-Gillibrand Bill Draft
• Reuters: US SEC accepts six spot bitcoin ETF proposals for review

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