What We’re Looking For in DePIN (Pt. 2)

Alana Levin

Consumer Crypto

May 21, 2025

Building Collective-Intelligence Systems

Jack Gorman

AI Crypto Web3

May 20, 2025

Agents in a Bazaar

Daniel Barabander

AI Crypto Web3

May 13, 2025

How to Pick a VC

Alana Levin

Crypto Investments Web3

May 9, 2025

What We’re Looking For in DePIN (Pt. 1)

Alana Levin

Crypto Infra Web3

Apr 15, 2025

Investing in Plastic Labs

Daniel Barabander + others

Jack Gorman + others

AI Investments

Apr 10, 2025

Agents as NFTs

Daniel Barabander

AI Crypto Web3

Mar 25, 2025

Investing in Pluralis Research

Daniel Barabander + others

Jesse Walden + others

Jack Gorman + others

AI Investments

Mar 19, 2025

Using Crypto Ownership to Solve the Resource Problem

Daniel Barabander

Crypto Web3

Mar 17, 2025

Liability Considerations for Agent Developers in Crypto

Daniel Barabander

AI Crypto Developers +

Feb 25, 2025

Investing in Whetstone

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Crypto Investments

Feb 11, 2025

DAO 2.0 Product Ideas

Jesse Walden

Crypto DAOs Web3

Jan 31, 2025

Unchaining Web2 Data Onchain: What Agents and Oracles Need to Know About the Law

Daniel Barabander

Crypto Legal Web3

Jan 31, 2025

Why (Good) AI Needs Crypto

Daniel Barabander

AI Crypto Web3

Jan 16, 2025

Reflections on the State of Crypto – H2 2024

Alana Levin

AI Crypto GTM +

Jan 9, 2025

DAOs 2.0

Jesse Walden

Crypto DAOs Web3

Dec 13, 2024

DevRel == Sales in a Trench Coat

Cooper Kunz

Crypto Developers Web3

Dec 13, 2024

Investing in Hyperbolic

Jesse Walden + others

Daniel Barabander + others

Jack Gorman + others

AI Crypto Investments +

Dec 10, 2024

Analyzing Criminal Liability for Unlicensed Money Transmitting Businesses Under Section 1960

Daniel Barabander + others

Jake Chervinsky + others

Amanda Tuminelli

Crypto Regulation Web3

Dec 2, 2024

The World Network Opportunity: A Greenfield for Builders

Derek Walkush + others

Leighton Cusack

Crypto Developers Infra +

Nov 14, 2024

Investing in Sapien

Jesse Walden + others

Derek Walkush + others

Jack Gorman + others

AI Crypto Investments

Oct 30, 2024

Investing in Satflow

Alana Levin + others

Derek Walkush + others

Crypto Investments Web3

Oct 23, 2024

Investing in delta

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Cooper Kunz + others

Crypto Developers Investments

Oct 9, 2024

Variant Research Day: Future of Crosschain

Variant Team

Crypto Infra Web3

Oct 2, 2024

A Practical Guide to Geofencing

Jake Chervinsky + others

Daniel Barabander + others

Crypto Legal Regulation +

Sep 30, 2024

The Next Ten Years of Smart Contract Blockchains

Jesse Walden

Crypto Web3

Sep 29, 2024

Toward a More Connected Internet

Alana Levin

Crypto Web3

Sep 23, 2024

What Credit Card Networks Can Teach Us About Stablecoin Opportunities

Alana Levin

Crypto Web3

Sep 18, 2024

How Enforceability of Terms of Service Relates to UI

Daniel Barabander

Crypto Legal Web3

Sep 9, 2024

Browser Extensions, the CFAA and User Control

Daniel Barabander + others

Cooper Kunz + others

Legal

Aug 19, 2024

How to Build a Pitch Deck

Alana Levin

Crypto Developers Web3

Aug 2, 2024

On DeFi Superapps and Their Bottlenecks

Alana Levin

Crypto DeFi Web3

Aug 2, 2024

Investing in Morpho (Again)

Jesse Walden + others

Geoff Hamilton + others

Crypto Investments Web3

Aug 1, 2024

Things We’re Excited About in Crypto

Variant Team

Crypto Web3

Aug 1, 2024

The Future of DEX Trading

Derek Walkush + others

Jack Gorman + others

Crypto Marketplaces Web3

Jul 24, 2024

Examining SEC v. Consensys

Daniel Barabander

Crypto Legal Regulation +

Jul 17, 2024

How to Structure Engineering Organizations for Efficiency and Operational Rigor

Alli Pope

Crypto Web3

Jun 27, 2024

Tokenized Marketplaces: Bootstrapping and Scaling Active vs. Passive Supply

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Marketplaces Web3

Jun 20, 2024

AI and the ‘Why Now’ of Data DAOs

Li Jin

AI Crypto DAOs +

Jun 18, 2024

Reflections on the State of Crypto: Q2 2024

Alana Levin

Art Crypto DeFi +

Jun 18, 2024

Crypto and Net-New Marketplaces

Li Jin

Crypto Marketplaces Web3

Jun 7, 2024

How We’re Thinking About AI

Variant Team

AI Crypto Legal +

May 31, 2024

Verticalization of the Web3 Social Stack

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Marketplaces Web3 +

May 30, 2024

Investing in Farcaster

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Crypto Investments Web3 +

May 21, 2024

AI Models with Taste

Alana Levin

AI Art Crypto +

May 7, 2024

On Non-Transferability, Geofencing, and the Regulatory Risk Spectrum of Token Distributions

Jake Chervinsky

Crypto DeFi Legal +

Apr 30, 2024

Requests for Startups for the Farcaster Ecosystem

Variant Team

Crypto DeFi Marketplaces +

Apr 1, 2024

Crypto as the Next Iteration of the Attention Economy

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto NFTs +

Mar 29, 2024

Memecoins as the New GTM Strategy

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto GTM +

Mar 26, 2024

DeFi Opportunities on High-Performance Chains

Derek Walkush

Crypto DeFi Web3

Mar 8, 2024

ETHDenver Conversation: Why Sufficient Decentralization Is No Longer Sufficient

Jesse Walden + others

Jake Chervinsky + others

Variant Team + others

Crypto Web3

Mar 5, 2024

Crypto Goes on Offense in the Courts

Jake Chervinsky + others

Amanda Tuminelli

Crypto Legal Regulation +

Feb 26, 2024

Dissecting the Points Meta: Best Practices for User Loyalty

Li Jin + others

Jake Chervinsky + others

Consumer Crypto Web3

Feb 14, 2024

New Opportunities in the Farcaster Stack

Alana Levin

Crypto Infra Web3 +

Feb 7, 2024

Headless Marketplaces: Go Where the Wallets Are

Jesse Walden

Consumer Crypto Marketplaces +

Jan 29, 2024

Investing in Gevulot: A Performant Market for Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Crypto Investments Web3

Jan 29, 2024

Multi-Hit Wonders: Embracing Apps With Short Shelf Life

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto Web3 +

Jan 25, 2024

Onchain Namespaces: An Emerging Crypto Business Model

Mason Nystrom

Consumer Crypto Web3

Jan 25, 2024

Requests for Startups: Crypto Projects We’d Like to See in 2024

Geoff Hamilton + others

Alana Levin + others

Derek Walkush + others

Mason Nystrom + others

Jack Gorman + others

Consumer Crypto DeFi +

Jan 5, 2024

A Tale of Two Cryptos: Speculation vs Decentralization

Jesse Walden

Consumer DeFi Web3

Jan 4, 2024

Building Through the Crypto Cycle: A Variant/USV Portfolio Survey on Web3 Hiring and Compensation

Tom Dils + others

Calder Zwerling + others

Matt Cynamon

Crypto Developers Variant Network +

Dec 21, 2023

Lessons on Points Programs for Crypto Apps

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto Web3

Dec 19, 2023

Building in the Dark: Mapping the Current Crypto Privacy Landscape

Derek Walkush

Crypto Infra Web3

Dec 14, 2023

New Signs of Life in the Ethereum & L2 NFT Ecosystem

Jack Gorman

Crypto NFTs Web3

Dec 8, 2023

Crypto AI Agents: The First-Class Citizens of Onchain Economies

Mason Nystrom

AI Crypto Web3

Dec 5, 2023

What Onchain Apps Enable

Alana Levin

Consumer Crypto Infra +

Dec 1, 2023

Progressive Ownership: A Model for Application Tokens

Li Jin + others

Jesse Walden + others

Consumer Crypto Token Design +

Nov 14, 2023

Love vs. Fame: A Framework for Social Applications

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto Social Media +

Nov 10, 2023

The Next Big Thing in Stablecoins

Geoff Hamilton

Crypto DeFi Web3

Nov 7, 2023

Investing in Modulus: Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning for Decentralized Protocols

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

AI DeFi Investments

Nov 1, 2023

Doubling Down on Botto: Because Everyone’s a Critic

Caleb Shough

AI Art DAOs +

Oct 25, 2023

Investing in Blockaid: Protecting Users Onchain

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Investments

Oct 23, 2023

Embracing Speculation as a Go-To-Market Approach in DeFi

Derek Walkush

Crypto DeFi Web3 +

Oct 11, 2023

Welcoming Jake Chervinsky as Variant’s Chief Legal Officer

Jesse Walden

Joining Variant Regulation

Oct 3, 2023

Why Bringing Real-World Assets Onchain Is Important

Geoff Hamilton

Crypto DeFi

Sep 29, 2023

The Barrier to Mainstream Crypto Adoption Isn’t UX — It’s Product-Market Fit

Li Jin

Consumer Web3

Sep 26, 2023

Debate: Speculation as Growth Strategy for Social Apps

Li Jin + others

Jack Gorman + others

Mason Nystrom + others

Caleb Shough + others

Jesse Walden + others

Dan Roberts + others

Tina Dai + others

Medha Kothari + others

Derek Walkush + others

Consumer NFTs Social Media +

Aug 31, 2023

‘Pop Music Is a Promise That You Aren’t Listening Alone’: What AI Music Can and Can’t Do

Li Jin

AI Art Consumer

Aug 7, 2023

How DEXs Are Demonstrating Their Resilience

Jack Gorman

Crypto DeFi

Aug 1, 2023

Building a Truly Scalable Lending Protocol: Morpho at EthCC

Geoff Hamilton

Crypto DeFi Web3

Jul 31, 2023

DePIN and DeREN: Toward a Better Classification of Decentralized Infrastructure Networks

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Infra Web3

Jul 20, 2023

Joining Variant: Jack Gorman aka J Hackworth

Jack Gorman

Joining Variant

Jul 12, 2023

Investing in Alluvial: Liquid Staking for Institutions

Jesse Walden + others

Caleb Shough + others

Derek Walkush + others

Infra Investments News & Updates

Jul 11, 2023

‘This Protocol Is Brought to You By’: An Onchain Model for Web3 Advertising

Mason Nystrom

Consumer Crypto NFTs +

Jun 30, 2023

App-Specific Rollups: A Trade-Off Between Connectivity and Control

Alana Levin

Crypto Infra Web3

Jun 30, 2023

Overcoming ‘Token Debt’

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Token Design Web3

Jun 15, 2023

Web3 Social Networks: The Case For and Against Financialized Approaches

Li Jin

Consumer Frameworks/Theses Social Media +

May 31, 2023

Adventures in Onchain Ownership

Caleb Shough

AI Art Consumer +

May 26, 2023

SocialFi: A Blank Canvas for Web3 Social Apps

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Frameworks/Theses NFTs +

May 24, 2023

Web3 Social Media Under the Lens

Li Jin

Consumer NFTs Web3 +

May 17, 2023

Generative Art Will Be a Multiplayer Exercise in Meaning-Making

Tina Dai + others

Simon Hudson

AI Art Marketplaces +

May 16, 2023

Building Base: Coinbase Engineer Jesse Pollak on Ecosystem Growth

Medha Kothari

Crypto DeFi Developers +

May 15, 2023

Centralized Dapps Through Tokenized Rebates: A Modest Proposal

Caleb Shough

Consumer Crypto DeFi +

May 8, 2023

AI, NFTs, and Proof of Personhood: The Frontier of the Crypto Creator Economy

Li Jin

AI Art Consumer +

Apr 27, 2023

The Interplay Between AI Abundance + Crypto Scarcity

Jesse Walden

AI Art Crypto +

Apr 25, 2023

Libraries vs. Networks

Jesse Walden

Crypto Frameworks/Theses Web3

Apr 6, 2023

Building Psychological Attachment — Not Just Ownership — Into Web3

Li Jin

Consumer Crypto Frameworks/Theses +

Apr 4, 2023

The NFT MEV Landscape

Alana Levin

Crypto Infra NFTs +

Mar 31, 2023

Investing in Turnkey: Removing Barriers for Crypto Developers

Spencer Noon + others

Medha Kothari + others

Consumer Crypto DeFi +

Mar 21, 2023

About the Variant Network

Jesse Walden + others

Alli Pope + others

Crypto News & Updates Variant Network +

Mar 20, 2023

Product vs Network-Driven GTM

Mason Nystrom

Frameworks/Theses GTM

Feb 28, 2023

Whole Crypto Catalog: Progressive Decentralization

Jesse Walden + others

Medha Kothari + others

Alana Levin + others

Nina Suthers + others

Crypto Web3

Feb 3, 2023

The Next Frontier in Cryptoeconomic Business Models

Mason Nystrom

Crypto Web3

Feb 1, 2023

Productive Fees: Valuable Protocols / Extractive Fees: Valuable Companies

Jesse Walden

Crypto Web3

Jan 30, 2023

More Than Semantics: “Crypto” vs. “Web3” Is About What Will Be Decentralized

Jesse Walden

Crypto Web3

Jan 30, 2023

Hybrid Ownership

Caleb Shough

Token Design Web3

Jan 26, 2023

Canto: A Layer-1 Incentive Experiment

Jesse Walden + others

Spencer Noon + others

Derek Walkush + others

Crypto DeFi Web3

Jan 19, 2023

Cross-Chain Order Flow Auctions

Alana Levin

Infra Web3

Jan 10, 2023

Investing in DIMO: The User-Owned Mobility Network

Li Jin + others

Mason Nystrom + others

Jesse Walden + others

Consumer Crypto Investments +

Dec 12, 2022

Investing in Shibuya: Decentralized Creativity

Li Jin

Crypto Investments NFTs +

Dec 8, 2022

Investing in Perennial: A New Era of DeFi Derivatives

Spencer Noon + others

Derek Walkush + others

DeFi Investments

Dec 7, 2022

Pro Nouns

Jesse Walden + others

Alana Levin + others

Li Jin + others

Consumer NFTs Web3

Dec 6, 2022

The Long View: Web3 and User Ownership

Li Jin + others

Jesse Walden + others

Crypto Token Design Web3

Dec 2, 2022

Investing in NiftyApes: Building a Better NFT Debt Market

Geoff Hamilton + others

Spencer Noon + others

DeFi Investments News & Updates +

Nov 1, 2022

The New Creator Playbook

Li Jin

Consumer Web3

Sep 27, 2022

Investing in Hyperlane and the Bridge to a Multichain Future

Medha Kothari + others

Jesse Walden + others

Infra Investments News & Updates

Sep 22, 2022

Fans Are the New Creators

Li Jin

Consumer NFTs

Sep 1, 2022

Tokens Are Products

Jesse Walden

Infra Token Design

Aug 24, 2022

Designing Governance Tokens

Alana Levin

Infra Token Design

Aug 16, 2022

Sufficient Decentralization

Marc Boiron

Legal Web3

Aug 2, 2022

Introducing Variant Fund III

Li Jin + others

Spencer Noon + others

Jesse Walden + others

News & Updates Web3

Jul 28, 2022

Joining Variant: Alana Levin

Alana Levin

Infra Joining Variant News & Updates

Jul 18, 2022

Joining Variant: Mason Nystrom

Mason Nystrom

Consumer Joining Variant News & Updates

Jul 1, 2022

A Theory of Justice for Web3

Li Jin + others

Katie Parrott

Crypto DAOs NFTs +

May 10, 2022

The Ownership Economy 2022

Variant Team

Web3

Apr 28, 2022

Recent Trends in Token Distribution

Derek Walkush

DeFi

Apr 25, 2022

Joining Variant: Derek Walkush

Derek Walkush

DeFi Joining Variant News & Updates

Apr 13, 2022

Joining Variant: Alli Pope

Alli Pope

Joining Variant News & Updates

Feb 15, 2022

Joining Variant: Geoff Hamilton

Geoff Hamilton

DeFi Joining Variant News & Updates

Jan 31, 2022

The Web3 Renaissance

Li Jin + others

Katie Parrott

Consumer Web3

Dec 20, 2021

Product vs. Protocol: Finding a Balance in Web3

Jesse Walden + others

Jonathan Glick

Web3

Nov 29, 2021

Variant Fund II: $110M Fund Built for the Ownership Economy

Jesse Walden + others

Li Jin + others

Spencer Noon + others

Variant Team

Oct 19, 2021

The Passion Economy Is the What, the Ownership Economy Is the How

Li Jin

Consumer News & Updates

Oct 19, 2021

A Labor Movement for the Platform Economy

Li Jin + others

Scott Kominers

Lila Schroff

Consumer DAOs

Sep 24, 2021

The Creator Economy Is in Crisis. Now Let’s Fix It.

Li Jin

Consumer

Aug 10, 2021

Apple Is Holding Back the Creator Economy

Li Jin + others

Nathan Baschez

Yash Bagal

Consumer

May 10, 2021

The Case for Universal Creative Income

Li Jin + others

Lila Shroff

Apr 21, 2021

NFTs Make the Internet Ownable

Jesse Walden

NFTs

Feb 15, 2021

We Studied 50+ Startups on TikTok and Here’s What We Found

Li Jin + others

Lila Shroff

Jan 27, 2021

The Creator Economy Needs a Middle Class

Li Jin

Consumer

Dec 17, 2020

Leadership in the Ownership Economy: Scaling Decision Making while Minimizing Securities Risk

Jesse Walden + others

Connor Spelliscy

Dec 1, 2020

Unbundling Work From Employment

Li Jin

Consumer

Jul 29, 2020

The Ownership Economy: Crypto & The Next Frontier of Software

Jesse Walden + others

Variant Team

Crypto

Jul 14, 2020

How Does DeFi Cross the Chasm?

Jesse Walden

DeFi

Jun 17, 2020

Four Implications of Disruption Theory for the Passion Economy (Part 2)

Li Jin

Consumer

May 22, 2020

How the Passion Economy Will Disrupt Media, Education, and Countless Other Industries (Part 1)

Li Jin

Consumer

May 14, 2020

Crypto’s Business Model Is Familiar. What Isn’t Is Who Benefits

Jesse Walden

Crypto

Apr 10, 2020

Narrative Economics

Jesse Walden

Crypto

Apr 7, 2020

1,000 True Fans? Try 100

Li Jin

Consumer

Feb 6, 2020

Progressive Decentralization: A Playbook for Building Crypto Applications

Jesse Walden

Infra

Jan 18, 2020

16 Key Metrics for the Passion Economy

Li Jin

Consumer

Jan 8, 2020

The Passion Economy and the Future of Work

Li Jin

Consumer

Oct 8, 2019

Layers (Not Eras) of Blockchain Computing

Jesse Walden

Infra

Sep 3, 2019

8 Things to Consider When Building Managed Marketplace Companies

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces

Aug 28, 2019

Incomplete Contracts (and Scaling Crypto)

Jesse Walden

Crypto

Aug 4, 2019

Past, Present, Future: From Co-ops to Cryptonetworks

Jesse Walden

Consumer

Mar 22, 2019

4 Eras of Blockchain Computing: Degrees of Composability

Jesse Walden

Infra

Dec 12, 2018

What’s Next for Marketplace Startups?

Li Jin

Consumer Marketplaces

Nov 27, 2018

What NFTs Mean for ETH

Spencer Noon

DeFi Marketplaces

Apr 18, 2018

The Persistent Forker

Spencer Noon

Infra

Apr 11, 2018