Writing
The world 3-5 years from now will have a lot more agents in it than exist today. How we get from here to there has a lot of fuzzy questions.
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Hiring Agents Is the Easy Part
License to Distill: The Law of Distillation and Where Anthropic Goes from Here
Exporting Institutions
Automate What You Can, Augment What You Can’t
Investing in Tenor
Investing in Augustus
Towards Dedicated Model Foundries
Investing in Autonomy: Ten Hypotheses
AI Governance: The Public Benefit Problem
Onchain Geofencing: A New Path for Tokenized Securities
Crypto Assets as Stores of Value
VARIANT 4: AUTONOMY
The Value of Open Harnesses
Compute as a Commodity
When Domain-Specific Models Win
Investing in Swoop
YouTube Is the Next Neobank
The API War
Onchain Options, Why Now?
The Flattening
The Fraud Thesis
Geeks Like Us
Everything Is Market
We Are Not Onboarding Institutions (for Now)
Thoughts on the Law of Insider Trading and Prediction Markets
Prediction Markets Meet Derivatives Law
Investing in Derive
The 7 Powers in Crypto
You Can’t Outsource Your Voice
Trench Tech
Investing in Pye
Policy-driven M&A
2025 Crypto Trends Report
Putting All Your Calls in One Basket
Marketing a Token Launch: A Checklist for Crypto Founders
The Quiet Maturation of Crypto x AI
Investing in MetaDAO
Bringing Perps to the People: A Proposal for Perpetual Futures Regulation in the U.S.
Investing in Takenos
Investing in Melee Markets: Permissionless Prediction Markets with Uncapped Upside
The World Network Opportunity: Request for Builders
Four Categories I’m Excited About
Policy Is the New Edge
How to Act Like a GENIUS
Second-Order Prediction Market Opportunities
Hourglass Markets: On Crypto, Cross-Border and Beyond
String It Together: How Stablecoins Go Mainstream
Control is a Spectrum
Tokens Versus Equity
Investing in Project Eleven: Securing Crypto’s Post-Quantum Future
Fractal Protocols: Strategies for Defending Against Open Supply in Crypto
What We’re Looking For in DePIN (Pt. 2)
Building Collective-Intelligence Systems
Agents in a Bazaar
How to Pick a VC
How a Safe Harbor for Token Issuance Could Work
What We’re Looking For in DePIN (Pt. 1)
Investing in Plastic Labs
Good Crypto x AI Projects Actually Use Crypto’s Strengths
Agents as NFTs
Investing in Pluralis Research
Using Crypto Ownership to Solve the Resource Problem
Policy Priorities to Make the USA the Crypto Capital of the World
Yes, Ethereum Should Go to Washington
Liability Considerations for Agent Developers in Crypto
Investing in Whetstone
DAO 2.0 Product Ideas
Unchaining Web2 Data Onchain: What Agents and Oracles Need to Know About the Law
Why (Good) AI Needs Crypto
Reflections on the State of Crypto – H2 2024
DAOs 2.0
DevRel == Sales in a Trench Coat
Investing in Hyperbolic
What Are Agents Good At?
Analyzing Criminal Liability for Unlicensed Money Transmitting Businesses Under Section 1960
Beyond Speculation and Stablecoins: Crypto’s Next Phase?
The World Network Opportunity: A Greenfield for Builders
Investing in Sapien
Investing in Satflow
Investing in delta
Variant Research Day: Future of Crosschain
A Practical Guide to Geofencing
The Next Ten Years of Smart Contract Blockchains
Only with Crypto / Better with Crypto
Toward a More Connected Internet
What Credit Card Networks Can Teach Us About Stablecoin Opportunities
How Enforceability of Terms of Service Relates to UI
Browser Extensions, the CFAA and User Control
How to Build a Pitch Deck
On DeFi Superapps and Their Bottlenecks
Investing in Morpho (Again)
Things We’re Excited About in Crypto
The Future of DEX Trading
Examining SEC v. Consensys
Variant Builder Day (Security): Spearbit
Variant Builder Day (Security): Turnkey
Variant Builder Day (Interoperability): Reservoir
Variant Builder Day (Interoperability): Across Protocol
Variant Builder Day (Interoperability): Hyperlane
How to Structure Engineering Organizations for Efficiency and Operational Rigor
A Framework for Thinking About Opportunities in Tokenized Marketplaces
Crypto as Culture, Crypto as Tech
Tokenized Marketplaces: Bootstrapping and Scaling Active vs. Passive Supply
AI and the ‘Why Now’ of Data DAOs
Reflections on the State of Crypto: Q2 2024
All Media Onchain: Crypto as a Port of Entry
Crypto and Net-New Marketplaces
Signal to Noise
How We’re Thinking About AI
Verticalization of the Web3 Social Stack
Investing in Farcaster
On the Intersection of AI and Crypto
AI Models with Taste
On Non-Transferability, Geofencing, and the Regulatory Risk Spectrum of Token Distributions
Requests for Startups for the Farcaster Ecosystem
Crypto as the Next Iteration of the Attention Economy
Memecoins as the New GTM Strategy
DeFi Opportunities on High-Performance Chains
ETHDenver Conversation: Why Sufficient Decentralization Is No Longer Sufficient
Crypto Goes on Offense in the Courts
Dissecting the Points Meta: Best Practices for User Loyalty
New Opportunities in the Farcaster Stack
Headless Marketplaces: Go Where the Wallets Are
Investing in Gevulot: A Performant Market for Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Multi-Hit Wonders: Embracing Apps With Short Shelf Life
Onchain Namespaces: An Emerging Crypto Business Model
Requests for Startups: Crypto Projects We’d Like to See in 2024
A Tale of Two Cryptos: Speculation vs Decentralization
Building Through the Crypto Cycle: A Variant/USV Portfolio Survey on Web3 Hiring and Compensation
Lessons on Points Programs for Crypto Apps
Building in the Dark: Mapping the Current Crypto Privacy Landscape
New Signs of Life in the Ethereum & L2 NFT Ecosystem
Crypto AI Agents: The First-Class Citizens of Onchain Economies
What Onchain Apps Enable
Progressive Ownership: A Model for Application Tokens
Love vs. Fame: A Framework for Social Applications
NFTs and the Post-Mint Problem
The Next Big Thing in Stablecoins
Investing in Modulus: Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning for Decentralized Protocols
Doubling Down on Botto: Because Everyone’s a Critic
Investing in Blockaid: Protecting Users Onchain
The Promise of Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Personae and Pluto
Embracing Speculation as a Go-To-Market Approach in DeFi
Welcoming Jake Chervinsky as Variant’s Chief Legal Officer
Why Bringing Real-World Assets Onchain Is Important
The Barrier to Mainstream Crypto Adoption Isn’t UX — It’s Product-Market Fit
Recruiting and Hiring for Early-Stage Web3 Startups: OpenSea’s Calder Zwerling
Variant Founder Fellowship: Meet Our 2023 Cohort
Web3 Startup Messaging 101 with Comms Veteran Kristin Sauchak
What Brand Marketing Can and Can’t Do in Web3: Ryan Wyatt
Debate: Speculation as Growth Strategy for Social Apps
Rethinking Decentralized Trust: EigenLayer’s Sreeram Kannan
Getting ‘Modular-Pilled’ with Nick White of Celestia
Why Wallets Will Rule Web3: Dynamic’s Itai Turbahn
The Rising Importance of Intents in Web3: Succinct’s Uma Roy
How Founders Should Approach Shared Sequencers: Astria’s Josh Bowen
Where Interoperability and Modularity Meet: Hyperlane’s Jon Kol
How To Improve Your Web3 Project’s UI/UX: Slope’s Jeffrey Zhao
Denis Nazarov Holds Up a Mirror to Onchain Brands
Shane Mac Has a Message to Deliver (via Your Blockchain Wallet)
‘Pop Music Is a Promise That You Aren’t Listening Alone’: What AI Music Can and Can’t Do
Applying Lessons from Web2 to Unlock Web3 Product Growth: Casey Winters
Case Studies in Psychological Ownership: Li Jin
How DEXs Are Demonstrating Their Resilience
Building a Truly Scalable Lending Protocol: Morpho at EthCC
Uniswap Founder Hayden Adams: Product vs Protocol
Why UniswapX Will Be Additive to the Uniswap Protocol
DePIN and DeREN: Toward a Better Classification of Decentralized Infrastructure Networks
Joining Variant: Jack Gorman aka J Hackworth
Investing in Alluvial: Liquid Staking for Institutions
‘This Protocol Is Brought to You By’: An Onchain Model for Web3 Advertising
App-Specific Rollups: A Trade-Off Between Connectivity and Control
Overcoming ‘Token Debt’
Web3 Social Networks: The Case For and Against Financialized Approaches
Adventures in Onchain Ownership
SocialFi: A Blank Canvas for Web3 Social Apps
Web3 Social Media Under the Lens
Generative Art Will Be a Multiplayer Exercise in Meaning-Making
Building Base: Coinbase Engineer Jesse Pollak on Ecosystem Growth
Centralized Dapps Through Tokenized Rebates: A Modest Proposal
Actionable Tips for New DevRel Teams
AI, NFTs, and Proof of Personhood: The Frontier of the Crypto Creator Economy
The Interplay Between AI Abundance + Crypto Scarcity
Libraries vs. Networks
Building Psychological Attachment — Not Just Ownership — Into Web3
The NFT MEV Landscape
Investing in Turnkey: Removing Barriers for Crypto Developers
About the Variant Network
Product vs Network-Driven GTM
Variant x Botto in OnCyber
Consumer Tokens Should Look Like Web2 Incentive Programs
Whole Crypto Catalog: Progressive Decentralization
The Next Frontier in Cryptoeconomic Business Models
Productive Fees: Valuable Protocols / Extractive Fees: Valuable Companies
More Than Semantics: “Crypto” vs. “Web3” Is About What Will Be Decentralized
Hybrid Ownership
Variant Values
Canto: A Layer-1 Incentive Experiment
Progressive Decentralization for Media
Cross-Chain Order Flow Auctions
Investing in DIMO: The User-Owned Mobility Network
Investing in Shibuya: Decentralized Creativity
Investing in Perennial: A New Era of DeFi Derivatives
Pro Nouns
The Long View: Web3 and User Ownership
Investing in NiftyApes: Building a Better NFT Debt Market
When Tokens Shape Behavior
When to Launch a Token
The New Creator Playbook
Investing in Hyperlane and the Bridge to a Multichain Future
Fans Are the New Creators
A New DeFi Security Paradigm
Tokens Are Products
Designing Governance Tokens
Music NFTs Can Revamp Music Royalties
What Can Tokens Do?
Sufficient Decentralization
Introducing Variant Fund III
Joining Variant: Alana Levin
Investing in Empiric Network: Oracles That Expand What’s Possible in Web3
Joining Variant: Mason Nystrom
The Unbundling of Wallets
The Garden of Magic Eden
The 0-to-100 Guide on Stablecoin Designs and Risks
A Theory of Justice for Web3
The Ownership Economy 2022
Recent Trends in Token Distribution
Joining Variant: Derek Walkush
What Is the Future of NFT Marketplaces?
Joining Variant: Alli Pope
Joining Variant: Geoff Hamilton
7 Steps to Transition to Web3
The Web3 Renaissance
Product vs. Protocol: Finding a Balance in Web3
The Future of Unions Is Decentralized
Music NFTs Are the Next Generation of Collectibles
Li Jin on the Future of the Creator Economy
The Blockchain-Based Global Supercomputer
What NFTs Can Learn From the Success of Legos
Variant Fund II: $110M Fund Built for the Ownership Economy
The Passion Economy Is the What, the Ownership Economy Is the How
A Labor Movement for the Platform Economy
The Creator Economy Is in Crisis. Now Let’s Fix It.
Bankless Podcast: Li Jin on the Creator Economy
Ownership Will Decide the Battle Between Platform and Participant
Fred Ehrsam’s Podcast: Jesse Walden on Creators, Communities, and Crypto
Apple Is Holding Back the Creator Economy
The Case for Universal Creative Income
a16z Podcast: Jesse Walden on the Creator Economy – NFTs and Beyond
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy: Jesse Walden – A Primer on NFTs
The Pomp Podcast: Jesse Walden on the Ownership Economy
NFTs Make the Internet Ownable
Indie Hackers: The Passion Economy
We Studied 50+ Startups on TikTok and Here’s What We Found
The Creator Economy Needs a Middle Class
Leadership in the Ownership Economy: Scaling Decision Making while Minimizing Securities Risk
The Pomp Podcast: Li Jin on the Passion Economy
Bankless Podcast: Jesse Walden on the Ownership Economy
7 Indicators for DeFi Project Investment
Unbundling Work From Employment
The Ownership Economy
How Does DeFi Cross the Chasm?
Unchained Podcast: Jesse Walden on How to Decentralize a Crypto Project Without Harming Security
Four Implications of Disruption Theory for the Passion Economy (Part 2)
How the Passion Economy Will Disrupt Media, Education, and Countless Other Industries (Part 1)
a16z Podcast: Li Jin on How the Passion Economy Is Redefining Work
Crypto’s Business Model Is Familiar. What Isn’t Is Who Benefits
Narrative Economics
1,000 True Fans? Try 100
Progressive Decentralization: A Playbook for Building Crypto Applications
16 Key Metrics for the Passion Economy
Paid Groups and the Passion Economy
The Passion Economy and the Future of Work
Layers (Not Eras) of Blockchain Computing
8 Things to Consider When Building Managed Marketplace Companies
Incomplete Contracts (and Scaling Crypto)
Past, Present, Future: From Co-ops to Cryptonetworks
The Best Marketplaces Solve a Demand Need
Fake Your Way to Marketplace Success
4 Eras of Blockchain Computing: Degrees of Composability
What’s Next for Marketplace Startups?
5 Questions for Evaluating E-Commerce Viability
Why Crypto Community Building Matters
a16z Podcast: Jesse Walden on Crypto and the Evolution of Open Source
Crypto Community Building Playbook
What NFTs Mean for ETH
The Persistent Forker