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<ul><li>A high-profile <keyword id="2721952" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto">crypto</keyword> coin backed by prominent venture capital investors has plunged 95% since it launched in May.</li><li>At the time <keyword id="11241951" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Internet-Computer">Internet Computer</keyword> launched, it was one of the 10 most valuable <keyword id="2420795" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrencies">cryptocurrencies</keyword>.</li><li>"A token dropping over 90% in the first month after launch is highly unusual for a project of this scale," Miguel Morel told the New York Times.</li><li><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a>.</li></ul>A high-profile cryptocurrency called Internet Computer made waves when it debuted last month as one of the 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies, sporting a market capitalization of nearly $72 billion at its peak.But just one month later, Internet Computer plunged about 95% and is now worth just $5.7 billion, according to data from <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/internet-computer/">CoinMarketCap.</a>The swift decline of Internet Computer has puzzled many, given its high-profile status and backing from big venture capital investors like Andreessen Horowitz. Internet Computer is a project of <keyword id="6836858" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dfinity">Dfinity</keyword> Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Dominic Williams. The crypto project was designed to help facilitate a decentralized layer of web infrastructure that doesn't rely on solutions from internet giants like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/googl-stock">Alphabet</a>."The technically complex network would make it easier for people to build software and publish directly to the internet without going through the tech giants' platforms," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/business/dealbook/icp-cryptocurrency-crash.html">The New York Times explained.</a>But amid <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/internet-computer-dfinity-top-digital-assets-market-cap-dominic-williams-2021-5-1030419810">Internet Computer's initial coin offering</a> last month, "something went wrong," Arkham Intelligence founder Miguel Morel told The Times. An analysis by Morel found that Dfinity allowed the treasury and insiders to send billions of dollars of Internet Computer to exchanges."A token dropping over 90% in the first month after launch is highly unusual for a project of this scale," Miguel Morel told the New York Times.Morel found 44 "probable insider addresses" that deposited 10 million Internet Computer tokens to exchanges following the coin offering in May, which gave the impression that they were transferred for <keyword id="6368158" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trading">trading</keyword>, not safeguarding. The transfers made by insiders coincided with large drops in the price of Internet Computer.At the same time, according to Morel, Dfinity made it extremely difficult for their longtime supporters to access the tokens they were promised. While the price declines were happening, small investors who were left out of the process were stuck, The Times reported.According to Morel, Dfinity gave complicated instructions for small investors who bought Internet Computer tokens when they were cheap during a 2017 crowdfunding round. The buggy process was hampered by limited customer support. Morel called Dfinity's approach "unnecessarily complicated."In a statement, Dfinity blamed "day traders with alternative agendas and unethical crypto projects" for undermining its project, and said that the initial supply of Internet Computer was moved to a custody account at <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/coin-stock">Coinbase</a> for transfer to various investors. While some have chalked up Internet Computer's spectacular downfall as bad luck, given that it debuted amid a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/ether-eth-price-decline-crypto-crash-key-technical-support-level-2021-5-1030447213">crypto-wide meltdown,</a> Morel said that the token's decline was more serious given that it has plummeted more than Shiba Inu Coin, a joke cryptocurrency that is making fun of another joke cryptocurrency.

'Something went wrong': Expert breaks down the key reasons why VC-backed cryptocurrency Internet Computer plunged 95% in its first month

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Swiss nonprofit <keyword id="6836858" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dfinity">Dfinity</keyword>'s digital asset "<keyword id="11241951" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Internet-Computer">Internet Computer</keyword>" launched on Monday.</li><li>It is already among the 10 largest <keyword id="2420795" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrencies">cryptocurrencies</keyword> with a market cap of $45 billion.</li><li>The decentralized token seeks to break Big Tech's shackles on entrepreneurship.</li></ul>Internet Computer, a cryptocurrency launched Monday by <keyword id="6355684" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Blockchain">blockchain</keyword> non-profit Dfinity, is already the eight-largest digital asset with a market capitalization of $45 billion, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/">data from CoinMarketCap</a> showed on Wednesday.The project, developed by founder Dominic Williams, is a result of five years of research. The token's promoters claim it can provide the core basis of a new, decentralized internet.The first day of trading saw its price swing wildly as it hit an intraday high of $700 before declining to around $250. It is currently trading around the $340-range."The Internet Computer is an open platform that frees the world from a dependence on centralized server farms, making it possible to host software and data directly in cyberspace without the need for legacy IT such as proprietary cloud services, server machines, software stacks, databases, and firewalls," Dfinity <a href="https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2021/05/07/dfinity-foundation-launches-its-blockchain-powered-internet-computer/">said in a statement</a>.<div type="image" title="DFINITY Logo 02" height="3024" width="4032" msid="82573169" hostid="261"></div>Dfinity's token has already listed on a number of major <keyword id="2721952" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto">crypto</keyword> exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase. Its underlying network competes with <keyword id="2810876" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="ethereum">Ethereum</keyword>'s ether token in terms of use cases.A <a href="https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?utm_source=coinbase&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=coinbase-icp-launchp-launch">research report</a> from crypto-insight platform Messari details the idea behind IC and what it aims to overcome. IC's founder Williams has said the internet has become more monopolistic by controlling tech monoliths like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/fb-stock">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock">Amazon</a>, whose users get affected by any changes made to its platform parameters, the report said.He recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-crypto-blockchain-investment-billions-startups-dfinity-chief-2021-5">told Insider</a> mainstream venture capital firms are sitting on "billions and billions of dollars" that they're ready to invest in crypto and so-called "open internet" startups.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-ether-prices-will-reach-100k-10k-fundstrat-digital-assets-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fundstrat's head of digital assets research walks us through his $100,000 and $10,500 year-end price targets for bitcoin and ether - and shares the 8 tokens he's bullish on</a>To that end, the digital token's objective is to offer "a public compute platform so that developers, enterprises, and government agencies can deploy software and services directly to the public internet."Another development by Dfinity allows the Internet Computer protocol to securely manage user identities on certain apps without usernames, passwords, or cryptographic keys."I want you to imagine a world where you can securely authenticate yourself to online services without ever touching a username and password, or touching cryptographic key material, using just your devices," Williams said."I want you to imagine a world where you can log into internet services without ever being tracked across internet services. And I want you to imagine a world where this is happening at a far greater degree of convenience than any kind of authentication service that you use today."The total market value of cryptocurrencies currently stands at about $2.5 trillion, up from around $1 trillion at the start of the year.

Internet Computer is already one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $45 billion - just two days after launching

<ul><li>Within 24 hours of the debut, it had a market capitalisation of $45 billion. </li><li>The <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword> aims to offer a new digital asset that enables users to create software and make content. </li><li>Intends to reduce this reliance on a few big players and create a new breathing space for independent or more beneficial ideas.</li></ul>The talk of the town is <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=microsite" data-type="tilCustomLink">cryptocurrencies</a> right now, and the hype has taken over the world by storm. Young investors are holding eager to board the bandwagon as crypto is considered to be the future. The bullish attitude is easily visible across crypto charts, but nothing's as crazy as the rise of <keyword id="11241951" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Internet-Computer">Internet Computer</keyword>. Internet Computer is a cryptocurrency that was launched on May 10, 2021. Within 24 hours of the debut, it had a market capitalisation of $45 billion. Coinbase, an American crypto exchange, listed it as the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency for a brief period. It's currently at the ninth position, surrounded by veteran names like <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=microsite" data-type="tilCustomLink">Bitcoin</a>, Ripple, Dogecoin, and Ethereum. The cryptocurrency aims to offer a new digital asset that enables users to create software and make content. Today, if the user wants to publish something on the internet, the most common options are big tech giants like Facebook or Amazon, or sign up with a cloud company like Google or Microsoft. Internet Computer intends to reduce this reliance on a few big players and create a new breathing space for independent or more beneficial ideas. Interestingly, Internet Computer leverages smart contracts just like Ethereum and is trying to ride on its bullish trend. Smart contracts can autonomously execute, control, or update data during a transaction to enforce the terms of the agreement. Hence, all actions are automatic and no intervention is needed. Dominic Williams, the chief scientist at Dfinity, reportedly told media platform CoinDesk that: "We want people to abandon traditional IT and move all systems and services to smart contracts." It may seem like the crypto's value surged within a day simply because of the sentimental wave. But that's not true, at all. The project was actually in the works for five years, developed by Zurich-based not-for-profit organisation, Dfinity. It has also <a href="https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2020/01/156752-andreessen-horowitz-backed-internet-computer-developer-dfinity-unveils-demo-of-open-version-of-linkedin/" data-type="tilCustomLink">attracted several impressive backers</a>, including Andreessen-Horowitz and Polychain Capital. According to CoinDesk, the project launched late last week with "multiple ecosystem companies," including "Enso Finance (a decentralised exchange), Distrikt (a professional social network), Fleek (infrastructure for the decentralised web) and Origyn (a platform for luxury goods), among several others." The project's website says that Internet Computer aims to "extend the functionality of the public Internet so that it can host backend software, transforming it into a global comput[ing] platform." One unique feature of the coin is Chain Key Technology, which confirms transactions on the network. Updation of smart contracts takes just a couple of seconds, making it a scalable option that can be deployed across various devices like a mobile phone or smartwatch. While Internet Computer offers a refreshingly new use case, the real challenge for Dfinity's blockchain is to remain in the top charts and maintain its spot, market cap, and trade price amidst the volatility.

This cryptocurrency is valued at $45 billion, and it's just a day old

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Monica SemergiuDominic Williams, Dfinity's founder and chief scientist.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Dominic Williams is the founder and chief scientist of Dfinity, a tech nonprofit that aims to help tech entrepreneurs compete with big tech by 'reinventing' the internet's underlying software.</li><li>To achieve this, Dfinity is building something Williams calls "the internet computer" - a blockchain cloud computing platform aimed at making the internet more efficient, secure, and entrepreneur-friendly. Its offering would theoretically rival AWS, Amazon's cloud service.</li><li>Dfinity - which is valued at $2 billion <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/08/29/crypto-platform-dfinity-raises-102-million-to-take-on-amazon-and-google/#2735f3c86a13">according to Forbes</a> - says it has raised nearly $200 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz.</li><li>Speaking to Business Insider about regulation of big tech and where he believes it has failed, Williams described <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/27/google-acquires-uk-artificial-intelligence-startup-deepmind">Google's £400 million ($500 million) purchase of AI firm DeepMind in 2014</a> as 'an outrage.'</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary&amp;r=US&amp;IR=T">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul>The founder of a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/08/29/crypto-platform-dfinity-raises-102-million-to-take-on-amazon-and-google/#29d573b6a136">$2 billion</a> tech nonprofit aimed at making the internet more accessible to tech entrepreneurs has said Google's 2014 purchase of DeepMind for £400 million ($500 million) was "an outrage."Dominic Williams is founder and chief scientist of nonprofit Dfinity, whose main goal is building something he calls 'the internet computer.' Essentially, the internet computer is a blockchain-based cloud computing platform aimed at making the internet more efficient, safe, and friendly to tech startups.Dfinity is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, and has research centres in the US and Germany.Williams says the internet computer will stop tech startups needing to build their internet services on top of big tech's APIs - something he claims is "almost impossible" at present - thereby making it easier to compete with big tech.Dfinity had planned to release a version of the internet computer in early 2019, but <a href="https://medium.com/dfinity/dfinity-status-update-dec-2018-a6e516514531">delayed the release date</a>. It still plans to launch a test network in 2019, and expects to show off the full internet computer in 2020, a spokesman told Business Insider.<h2>Williams believes Google's purchase of DeepMind was a mistake on the part of regulators</h2>Speaking to Business Insider about lawmakers' ongoing attempts to regulate tech giants such as Google and Facebook, Williams said: "Regulators are the friends of big tech, as they don't realise what they're doing."Google should never have been allowed to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-bought-waze-the-inside-story-2015-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">buy Waze</a>, or DeepMind - which it somehow managed to buy for £400 million when it is worth billions. Facebook should never have been allowed to buy Instagram or to buy WhatsApp.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">DeepMindDeepMind's cofounders from left to right: Mustafa Suleyman, Demis Hassabis, and Shane Legg.</div></div></div>"DeepMind was a big deal. Google bought DeepMind for £400 million. It is worth tens of billions of dollars. I don't know how they managed it. I mean, it's such an outrage - literally an outrage.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/news-publishers-congress-testify-regulate-tech-giants-facebook-google-2019-6?r=US&amp;IR=T">The news industry is joining the attack against big tech companies like Google and Facebook</a>"You should see what goes for £400 million here in Silicon Valley. It is an absolute joke. The British tax system just lost billions and billions of dollars."<h2>'DeepMind could have been a British Google'</h2>Williams also feels that Google's purchase of DeepMind prevented it from becoming a European alternative to Google itself, thereby consolidating Google's power."The bigger tragedy is [that] it was able to pool this mass of powerful tech out of Europe," he said. "DeepMind could have been a British Google. And now, those guys got it for £400 million."So, the point is that regulators don't do their jobs. Even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gdpr-europe-privacy-law-advantage-to-us-tech-companies-2018-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">GDPR</a> won't halt big tech. It's a bit like banking. The banks know that when regulators create more regulations, only they [the banks] have the resources to comply. It creates a defensive moat."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">DFINITYWilliams cites Zynga as another tech startup stymied by big tech.</div></div></div>He continued: "The regulators right now are creating a defensive moat around big tech. They're not trying to. They're well-intentioned. But big tech will use them to create a defensive moat. We believe the solution, at a lower level, involves reinventing the software. The real threat to the tech giants is competition and other technology, not regulation."[Regulators] won't do any of the things they should do, like stop Facebook buying WhatsApp; stop Facebook buying Instagram; stop Google buying Waze; stop Google buying DeepMind. They're not going to do any of the things they should."<h2>'If you're competing with big tech, big tech will change the rules so you can't compete'</h2>Williams also cited Zynga - the firm behind social games such as FarmVille and Texas HoldEm Poker - as another example of big tech's stranglehold on successful startups. Despite <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2011/12/14/technology/zynga_ipo_price/index.htm">enjoying a highly successful IPO in 2011 which saw it valued at around $7 billion</a>, the value of Zynga's stock <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/uk-jobs-at-risk-as-online-game-company-zynga-cuts-costs-8223870.html">had declined by 85% nine months later</a>."Even though Zynga was backed by big-name VCs and managed to IPO, Zynga had no defence when Facebook decided to change the rules and revoke its API access," he said.Zynga enjoyed a close relationship with Facebook, but that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20554441">changed in 2012</a> when the social network decided to treat the studio more like other games developers."The internet computer provides a means for you to guarantee APIs," Williams continued. "The reason that's important is, today, it's almost impossible to create new internet services without depending upon the APIs of big tech. That's why we're seeing this increasing consolidation of big tech."If you're competing with big tech, big tech will change the rules so you can't compete. If you build your service on top of big tech, you're really owned by big tech.Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-area-51-autec-in-the-bahamas-2016-10">The Navy has its own Area 51 and it's right in the middle of the Bahamas</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The scientist who's built a $2 billion nonprofit to end big tech's monopoly says DeepMind's sale to Google was 'an outrage'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US stocks fell Wednesday morning after data showed core inflation rose 0.9% in April. </li><li>That's the largest monthly increase for the core index since 1982.</li><li>The upside surprise in data stokes concerns that the Federal Reserve is misreading the inflation story.</li></ul>US stocks retreated after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-consumer-price-index-april-cpi-economic-reopening-price-growth-2021-5">key inflation data came in significantly higher than expected.</a> The consumer price index increased 4.2% year over year in April and 0.8% from the prior month. Economists were expecting a 3.6% year over year gain and 0.2% gain from March figures. Core inflation - which leaves out volatile energy and food prices - rose 0.9%. That's the largest monthly increase for the core index since 1982.The higher-than-expected figure stoked further concerns that the Federal Reserve is misreading the inflation story. The US central bank has signaled that inflationary pressures will only be transitory.Here's where US indexes stood at 11:25 a.m. ET on Wednesday:<ul><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestm=ingest">S&amp;P 500</a>: 4,105.91, down 1.1%</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">Dow Jones industrial average</a>: 33,984.46, down 0.8% (286 points)</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">Nasdaq composite</a>: 13,162.72, down 1.7%</li></ul>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-correction-strategy-mike-wilson-reopening-inflation-morgan-stanley-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson was right about the last two market sell-offs. He lays out 3 ways stock investors can position for a challenging reopening environment that could bring a 20% drop</a>Nancy Davis, founder of Quadratic Capital Management and portfolio manager of the Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge Exchange-Traded Fund, expects inflation data to remain elevated over the coming months given the economic re-opening, delays in manufactured goods, and a Federal Reserve that is willing to let inflation run above its 2% target. "Regardless of what happens with inflation over the next few months, I believe the Federal Reserve is more focused on the employment part of its dual mandate and will remain accommodative for as long as it takes to ensure the economy returns to full employment," Davis said. "The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment and I believe the Fed is ready to sacrifice the former to save the latter."What have we really learnt today that we didn't already know? <keyword id="31671" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets">Markets</keyword> were already expecting a rise in inflation - the big question is how sticky that inflation is," said Seema Shah, Principal Global Investors chief strategist. "That has not been answered today, nor will it be answered for several months. Nonetheless, risk markets will continue to be whipsawed by inflationary concerns over the coming months and investors would be wise to introduce some inflation protection into their portfolios."Ray Dalio said the US economy could overheat and the dollar might fall during <a href="https://www.wsj.com/video/watch-ray-dalio-at-the-wsj-future-of-everything-festival/F0E3A579-EC13-4D90-BB9B-72E579349D97.html?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal's "Future of Everything Festival."</a> on Tuesday. The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ray-dalio-stimulus-inflation-concerns-dollar-devaluation-china-robinhood-stocks-2021-5-1030419343?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">billionaire based this on the government's fiscal push</a>. Stanley Druckenmiller also warned about the dollar's decline in a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/stanley-druckenmiller-blasted-fed-touted-bitcoin-ethereum-crypto-dollar-warning-2021-5-1030419926">recent interview</a>.In crypto markets, a new cryptocurrency launched just two days ago is already the eighth-largest digital asset with a market capitalization of $45 billion. It's called <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/internet-computer-dfinity-top-digital-assets-market-cap-dominic-williams-2021-5-1030419810">Internet Computer</a>, and was launched Monday by blockchain non-profit Dfinity. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> rose as much as 1.5%, to $66.31 per barrel.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> Brent crude</a>, oil's international benchmark, rose 1.4%, to $69.51 per barrel, at intraday highs.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">Gold</a> climbed as much as 0.4%, to $1,844.70 per ounce.

US stocks tumble as data shows inflation spiked higher than expected in April

<ul><li>The non-fungible token (NFT) ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ by <keyword id="10848595" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="beeple">Beeple</keyword> was sold for a whopping $69 million at a Christie’s auction last week to <keyword id="10920362" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Metakovan">MetaKovan</keyword>.</li><li>MetaKovan has revealed himself to be entrepreneur Vignesh Sundaresan, who was also the founder of the now defunct Coins-e exchange.</li><li>According to him, he made the purchase to show the world the equaling power of crypto.</li><li>However, an independent blogger Amy Castor, suspects that Beeple and Sundaresan may have been in cahoots to increase the value of the rest of Beeple’s collection within the B20 project. </li></ul>A piece of digital artwork — a non-fungible token (NFT) — was put under the hammer in the UK and was sold for $69 million last week. It’s the third-highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist, according to the legacy auction house Christie’s. While the sale of ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ was a historic moment for Christie’s, Beeple — whose real name is Mike Winkelmann — and the art world in general, many were left wondering about the mystery man who made the bid using the pseudonym MetaKovan. <div type="image" title="Screenshot (681)_edited" msid="81583556" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Beeple&amp;#39;s &amp;#39;Everydays: The First 5000 Days&amp;#39;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> It turns out, it wasn’t just one man, but two entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu who are currently settled in Singapore — Vignesh Sundaresan who goes by MetaKovan and Anand Venkateswaran, also known as Twobadour. “The point was to show Indians and people of colour that they too could be patrons, that crypto was an equalising power between the West and the ‘rest’, and that the global south was rising” said the two in a blog post revealing their identity. <keyword id="10952496" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="who-is-metakovan">Who is MetaKovan</keyword>? Sundaresan, an alumnus of the US-based startup accelerator Y-Combinator, discovered crypto in 2013. At the time he had no money. So, he looked to the global and open network of Bitcoin to earn some cash. This led to him offering escrow services, and eventually setting up an exchange in Canada called Coins-e. This was Sundaresan’s introduction to the world of cryptocurrencies. But, his true turning point was when he invested in the world’s first Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of Ethereum. The money that came in was used to fund multiple projects like Polkadot, Tezo, Dfinity, Decentraland, Flow and others. And, the same fountain of gold is what created Metapurse — “a crypto-exclusive fund that specialises in identifying early-stage projects across blockchain infrastructure, finance, art, unique collectibles, and virtual estate.” Basically, if there’s any worth spending money on in the crypto space, then Metapurse wants to be a part of it — like Beeple’s artwork. “As founder and steward of Metapurse, they are charged with helping build the metaverse. We now know they can do the heavy lifting, backed by a growing team,” said the blog post explaining the roles of Sundaresan and Vekateswaran, respectively. The controversy around Metapurse Metapurse’s first experiment was the B20 project. Sundaresan and Venkateswaran bought about 20 single edition art pieces by Beeple for $2.2 million. Subsequently, it set up the collection. Not in the real world, but in bitspace. The two men sought out prime real estate in the virtual world, signed on virtual architects to create monuments, and infused these structures with an original soundscape. And, this is where things get complicated. When Sundaresan created the B20 project, he gave himself 59% of the outstanding tokens and 2% of it went to Beeple. According to an independent blogger <a href="https://amycastor.com/2021/03/14/metakovan-the-mystery-beeple-art-buyer-and-his-nft-defi-scheme/">Amy Castor</a>, this represents a conflict of interest. The two may have been in cahoots to ensure that the ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ artwork, by Beeple, gets added to the Metapurse collection. <div type="image" title="Screenshot (682)_edited" msid="81583576" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Close up of one of the images within &amp;#39;Everydays: The First 5000 Days&amp;#39;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> WhaleStreet, the decentralised market for swapping tokens, hosted the B20 sale on January 23. Around 1.6 million B20 tokens were sold at $0.36 apiece. After the auction, this shot up to $23. This means the sale of Beeple’s latest NFT boosted the value of the entire collection by over 6000%. At the time of writing this article, the value of B20 tokens have come down $8.28, according to <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/b20/">CoinMarketCap</a>. According to Castor, Beeple’s share is still worth over $3 million if he sells his coins quickly and there’s enough liquidity to actually sell them. “Since I published this article, Sundaresan has written to me and asked me to take it down. I refused, but agreed to make edits if he could point to anything specific that was wrong — so far, he hasn’t,” wrote Castor. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/indias-supreme-court-looks-into-allegations-of-nearly-four-crore-ration-cards-being-cancelled-because-they-were-not-aadhaar-linked/articleshow/81570339.cms">A Dalit mother lost her ration card and then her child to starvation — her fight for justice has now become a national cause at the Supreme Court</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/japan-is-the-only-country-that-does-not-allow-same-sex-marriage-within-the-g7/articleshow/81563467.cms">Japan’s same-sex marriage ban ruled ‘unconstitutional’ as India’s LGBTQ community waits in hope</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/finnish-photographer-jp-metsavainio-took-over-a-decade-and-1000-hours-of-photography-to-create-this-picture-of-the-milky-way-and-20-million-stars/slidelist/81563516.cms">It took over a decade and 1,000 hours of photography to create this picture of the Milky Way</a>

The man who bought Beeple’s $69 million NFT reveals his identity to show the equalising power of crypto — but is caught in a controversy himself

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Multicoin CapitalKyle Samani, cofounder of Multicoin Capital.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies-plunged-again-2018-12?r=UK&amp;IR=T">The crypto market was in tumult last year,</a> but that doesn't mean it's all doom and gloom.</li><li>Business Insider spoke with Kyle Samani,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kyle-samani-gives-career-advice-2018-11"> the founder of $75 million crypto fund Multicoin Capital</a>, to get his take on the key themes he's following this year in the crypto space. </li></ul>Kyle Samani is cofounder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, a $75 million fund based in Austin, Texas, that exclusively invests in the crypto space. It's<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kyle-samani/?list=30under30-finance#6fd7cd077764"> backed by mainstream investors</a> like Marc Andreessen, the Andreessen Horowitz partner, and David Sacks, the former PayPal exec and Yammer CEO.Samani recently spoke to Business Insider about the biggest trends he's following in 2019 in the crypto space. The growth of decentralized exchanges Samani is closely watching Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by adjusted trade volume, <a href="https://medium.com/binanceexchange/watch-our-new-binance-dex-sneak-peek-8b942cc733d2https://medium.com/binanceexchange/watch-our-new-binance-dex-sneak-peek-8b942cc733d2">which is poised to </a>unveil its decentralized exchange early this year. It'll be a massive shift in the crypto space, Samani says.In contrast to centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) allow investors to hold their own digital assets, instead of leaving them to middlemen to custody. In addition, DEXs are praised for generating lower, or even zero, trading fees, greater security and more private transactions. Although a growing number of decentralized exchanges have launched over the past couple of years, they haven't yet generated mass adoption. But that may change as Binance enters into the space, said Samani. Binance, which processes more daily trading volume than top US exchanges like Coinbase and Gemini, already has an established brand. So it may be able to lure customers to use its decentralized exchange, Samani said. "Binance realizes that the greatest disruptive threat to their business is decentralized exchanges," he said. "On a long enough time scale, they believe it is likely to become a dominant form of exchange. As such, they're aiming to disrupt themselves by pioneering here. I expect that they will create incentives to encourage customers to trade on the decentralized exchange instead of the centralized one, and will actively bridge liquidity pools."Once Binance unveils its decentralized exchange, others may follow, he said.Still, decentralized exchanges in the US must comply with existing securities laws. The SEC in November <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-258">brought an enforcement action</a> against EtherDelta, a decentralized crypto exchange, for operating as an unregistered national securities exchange. "Whether it's decentralized or not, whether it's on a smart contract or not, what matters is it's an exchange," Robert Cohen, SEC's Cyber Unit Chief, told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2018/11/09/new-sec-cyber-chief-puts-cryptocurrency-exchanges-on-notice/#5c06eed82fb8">Forbes</a> in November. Adoption of blockchain products Samani also expects to see a number of high profile blockchain products launch this year and attract large group of customers. One such project is Tari, an open source project that aims to disrupt the ticketing industry. Built on top of the Monero network, the company will provide a platform to issue and manage non-fungible assets like tickets, loyalty points, and in-game items. A benefit of using this technology in ticketing is embedding transfer restrictions on concert tickets, which could eradicate the ticket scalping market.Challenges to Ethereum Samani believes that a group of well-funded projects, like Dfinity and Cosmos, could pose a threat to Ethereum's leadership as the largest smart contract platform. Ether, which is underpinned by the Ethereum network, is currently the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap. "All of the new blockchains are aiming to challenge Ethereum," Samani said. "I expect by the end of the year the percentage of total developers building on Ethereum will be lower than it's right now, simply because of the competition," he said. "At the end of 2019, I still expect Ethereum to be the market leader among smart contract platforms. But there is a real probability that by the end of 2020, this is no longer the case."<a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/wall-st-insider&amp;hash=f4e91136c13f3c40c496d77bc7347502">Sign up here</a> for our weekly newsletter Wall Street Insider, a behind-the-scenes look at the stories dominating banking, business, and big deals.Get the latest Bitcoin price <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD">here.&gt;&gt;</a>

The founder of a $75 million crypto fund shares the top trends he's watching in 2019

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Getty</div></div></div>Hello!The cloud computing market is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-microsoft-cloud-gap-narrowing-2019-7">close to hitting a $100 billion milestone</a>, according to a new report. And competition is heating up.The cloud market, which covers web-based services for infrastructure, platform, and hosted private clouds, totaled about $23 billion in the second quarter, according to Synergy Research Group. That means overall revenues are close to hitting a $100 billion annual run rate. The same report found that Amazon had 33% of the market share, more than double that of Microsoft, the next biggest player. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-microsoft-cloud-gap-narrowing-2019-7">Microsoft is catching up.</a>According to separate research, Microsoft's overall cloud-hosted businesses - including Azure, Office 365, LinkedIn, GitHub, Bing, and Xbox Live - now appears to account for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-stronger-cloud-business-better-margins-2019-7">as much revenue as the tech titan's more traditional businesses</a>. That's a key milestone for the company. Plus, Todd Pekats, vice president of cloud computing and services for a big Microsoft reseller partner, PCM, told BI's Julie Bort that there's an "obscenely large" opportunity for Microsoft's cloud, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-partner-discusses-big-new-azure-opportunity-2019-7">as customers are forced to give up a very old version of its database.</a>Still, it's not all good news for Microsoft. Outages, runaway costs, and frustration with tech support have hurt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-azure-gartner-magic-quadrant-warnings-2019-7">Microsoft's cloud in the eyes of its customers</a>, according to analyst firm Gartner. (Gartner also had a warning for Amazon cloud customers: Beware of prices, new features, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gartner-magic-quadrant-amazon-web-services-cloud-warnings-2019-7">Amazon's competitive behavior</a>.)And Google Cloud also appears to be making headway. There's a growing list of signs that new CEO Thomas Kurian is starting to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cloud-thomas-kurian-customers-companies-2019-7">make Google Cloud more successful with big companies</a>, according to Bort. In the cloud startup space meanwhile, hot startup Gusto raised a $200 million round, doubling its valuation to $3.8 billion. CEO and cofounder Josh Reeves told BI's Ben Pimentel <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gusto-200-million-funding-valuation-doubled-38-billion-2019-7">that it's just a matter of time before it goes public</a>. "It's not if, but when," he said. And the new CEO of $3.9 billion Snowflake says there's no room for "distractions" like employee activism in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snowflake-ceo-frank-slootman-amazon-microsoft-cloud-2019-6">his mission to fight Amazon and Microsoft</a>. "You go somewhere else if you want that conversation," he told Pimentel. What have we missed? Get in touch!- Matt<h2>Quote of the week</h2>"Talent agencies have had the reputation of being all smoke and mirrors for a long time, but we've really tried to arm our clients with data that shows why they should partner with a certain show or talent." - Julian Jacobs, cohead of UTA Marketing, on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brands-like-pg-and-delta-are-using-hollywood-talent-agencies-2019-7">Hollywood talent and entertainment giants branching out into advertising</a>. <h2>In conversation</h2><ul><li>Marley Jay talked to Peter Mallouk, president and chief investment officer of Creative Planning, the largest independent wealth-management company in the US. He discussed the two mistakes his clients repeatedly make - and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/money-management-estate-planning-advice-peter-mallouk-top-wealth-manager-2019-7">how other investors can best avoid them</a>.</li><li>Rebecca Ungarino talked to Adrienne Penta, a managing director at Brown Brothers Harriman, about why Brown Brothers Harriman is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brown-brothers-harriman-managing-director-on-digital-strategy-wealth-2019-7">betting human interactions will help it dominate in wealth management</a>.</li><li>Alex Morrell talked to John Ahearn, global head of trade at Citigroup, about why <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-trade-finance-surging-amid-disruption-from-tariff-wars-brexit-2019-7">instability is a good thing for the bank's trade finance business</a>. </li><li>Charlie Wood talked to Dominic Williams, founder and chief scientist at Dfinity, a nonprofit set up to end big tech's monopoly. He said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dfinity-founder-dominic-williams-criticizes-deepmind-sale-to-google-2019-7">DeepMind's sale to Google was "an outrage."</a></li><li>Ashley Rodriguez talked to Matt Strauss, the executive vice president of Xfinity services at Comcast Cable, about the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comcast-video-exec-explains-plan-to-retain-customers-2019-7">company's "surgical" strategy for stemming TV subscriber losses</a>. </li><li>Lydia Ramsey talked to Hemant Taneja, a managing director at General Catalyst and an early backer of digital health startup Livongo, which just went public. He told us the three <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/general-catalyst-hemant-taneja-criteria-for-digital-health-ipos-2019-7">key considerations for digital-health companies that want to go public</a>.</li></ul><h2>Finance and Investing</h2><section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-schwabs-chief-marketing-officer-andy-gill-retail-head-leaving-2019-7">Charles Schwab's retail head and marketing chief are out - and the firm's still figuring out what's next</a>Charles Schwab is shaking up its retail arm and two key executives are leaving the firm, Business Insider has learned.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weworks-top-landlords-real-estate-private-equity-2019-7">We got a peek at WeWork's top landlords. Here's who is most exposed to the fast-growing, but money-losing, coworking company as it prepares to IPO.</a>WeWork's landlords have so far avoided much of the media coverage swarming around the startup.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-investing-advice-for-avoiding-losses-morgan-stanley-2019-7">Morgan Stanley scoured 100 sets of data and warns we're 'just outside the danger zone' of the next recession. Here's how it says to prepare.</a>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/recession-watch">next recession</a> may not be imminent - but it's close enough for investors to start getting their portfolios in order.</section><h2>Tech, Media, Telecoms</h2><section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-is-beta-testing-dynamic-product-ads-and-retargeting-2019-7">Snap is secretly testing dynamic product ads that retarget consumers as it races to compete with Facebook and Pinterest for e-commerce dollars</a>Snapchat is revving up its retargeting engine to attract e-commerce ad dollars.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atts-xandr-invest-pitch-deck-june-2019-plays-up-data-ad-tech">AT&amp;T has quietly bolstered its ad tech to compete with Google. Here's the pitch deck it's showing to agencies to explain how it works.</a>AT&amp;T wants to reinvent advertising using its data and content including that of Turner and Warner Bros.<section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ways-youtube-influencers-creators-make-money-2019-7">A top talent manager breaks down the big trends in how YouTube stars are making money in 2019</a>Some of YouTube's top creators are making millions a year off their online brands, like the 7-year-old Ryan of Ryan ToysReview, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ryan-toysreview-7-year-old-makes-22-million-per-year-youtube-2018-12">who makes $22 million a year</a>.</section></section><h2>Healthcare, Retail, Transportation</h2><section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/novartis-vas-narasimhan-on-using-ai-data-in-business-operations-2019-7">'We're light years ahead of where we were': Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan told us how the Swiss drug giant is using AI for everything from evaluating managers to predicting its financials</a>Since taking the reins at Novartis early last year, CEO Vas Narasimhan has been a prominent voice on the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reimagining-novartis-medicines-data-science-company-vas-narasimhan/">potential for technology</a> in the pharmaceutical industry.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/transforming-parking-lots-uber-amazon-hubs-reef-technologies-ari-ojalvo-2019-7">Transforming parking lots into hubs for Uber Eats and Amazon deliveries is big business - and one of the world's most prolific tech investors is now on board</a>The humble parking space hasn't changed much since Henry Ford's era.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beyond-meats-stock-surge-has-spurred-debate-over-its-prospects-2019-7">Beyond Meat, whose plant burgers can fool even die-hard meat lovers, is up 700% since its IPO. Early investors say it will change how we eat, but there are signs Wall Street's binge could end badly.</a>Greg Bohlen knew early on that Beyond Meat could be big.</section> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/area-51-american-conspiracy-theories-aliens-history-animation-video-2017-7">How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Microsoft's making moves, a shakeup at Charles Schwab, and WeWork's landlords

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">CoinmineCoinmine launched a crypto mining device called Coinmine One.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Coinmine, a startup backed by Coinbase Ventures and other investors, rolled out a new crypto mining device that allows users to mint cryptocurrencies at home.</li><li>The device now allows users to mine Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and Zcash, though not yet Bitcoin. </li><li>The launch comes at a time when mining cryptocurrencies at home is difficult to do at scale, in the wake of falling crypto prices and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-rise-causes-hash-rate-arms-race-2018-2">rising energy costs. </a></li></ul>For $799, you can mine cryptocurrency at home.Launched this week, a new gadget called Coinmine One gets rid of the traditionally cumbersome mining process. Instead of manually assembling multiple computer graphic processors, downloading the software, and setting up a crypto wallet, all you need to do is power up the device, connect it to WIFI, and tap your phone to choose which coin you want to mine. For the initial launch, Coinmine One allows users to mine Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and Zcash - but not yet Bitcoin. With further updates, it will support Grin, Dfinity, Filecoin and Bitcoin Lightning, the company said. Unlike most specially-designed, unwieldy mining rigs, the Coinmine One device is smaller, handier, and quieter. The device is the size of a PlayStation video game console with a sleek Apple-esque design and comes pre-assembled. You can simply use a mobile app to control the device, which also doesn't produce roaming sounds when turned on. With a white, transparent cover, it looks like a compact computer case and is powered by an operating system, dubbed MineOS, which updates automatically to support a variety of crypto networks. It also consumes a relatively small amount of electricity at 120 watts per hour, according to the company, The device is aimed at overcoming one of the main challenges in crypto mining - the high barriers for ordinary people to enter, said Farbood Nivi, cofounder and CEO of Coinmine.See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-firms-are-making-bitcoin-more-stable-2018-8">Wall Street has helped eliminate one of bitcoin's biggest problems, and it could fulfill 'Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision'</a>"Crypto is about decentralizing information and money with decentralized computing," he said. "The more you can support the decentralization, the more people can support the decentralizing power, the more secure, powerful, reliable and valuable crypto becomes."Nivi likened the potential impact of Coinmine on the crypto world to the influence that Apple had on the PC industry. "We were like Apple computers back then, an easy way to access the Internet," he said. "Easy to participate. You don't have to be an expert." The device has a power of 29 megahashes per second(MH/s) for Ethereum, 900 hashes per second (H/s) for Monero, and 320 solution per second (Sol/s) for Zcash. To put that into perspective, if turned on for a year, the device can mint an ether, which is the cryptocurrency powering Ethereum, up to three Monero, and half a Zcash, according to Nivi.The company has raised $1.5 million to-date and is backed by Coinbase's venture arm as well as angel investors like Coinbase's chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan and Tinder's chief product officer Brian Norgard.The new launch comes at a time when it's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-rise-causes-hash-rate-arms-race-2018-2">harder to turn a profit mining crypto</a>, particularly at home. According to <a href="https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-40/">research firm Diar</a>, bitcoin miners amassed $4.7 billion in revenue in the first three quarters of 2018. But with crypto prices falling and an increase in computing power competing for mining rewards, profitability has dropped. Mining, in general, is a process of solving complicated math problems to get compensated by new coins, like bitcoin or ether. Machines run 24/7 to execute a protocol to resolve those math problems. The first computer, or a group of computers, that solve the problem can receive slices of the currencies in return. In the midst of the cryptocurrency craze, sophisticated investors set up machines at home to mine those digital assets and sell them, in addition to trading cryptos on exchanges. Whether you can make money depends on the efficiency of the mining rig, the cost of electricity, and the price of the cryptocurrency.In bitcoin mining, the industry has been rapidly evolved, with miners using gears equipped with specially designed mining chips, called ASIC, short for application-specific integrated circuit. But even with those advanced kits, it would still be hard for miners to be profitable at scale, according to Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Tai, who is also a board member of BitFury, which produces mining hardware."You have to be able to source electricity at scale and at prices of less than 10 cents," he said. According to a report by advisory firm Fundstrat, the breakeven price for bitcoin mining is $7,300, assuming that miners are using the powerful bitcoin miner Antminer S9 ASIC and paying an electricity cost of $0.06. "What's at the heart of the crypto mining industry is a hash rate battle and a low energy consumption battle," said Martin Leblanc, founder and CEO of Nuvoo, a Canadian cryptocurrency mining company.<h2>See also:</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-rise-causes-hash-rate-arms-race-2018-2">JPMORGAN: Bitcoin miners are in a hash rate arms race</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-rise-causes-hash-rate-arms-race-2018-2"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-exploring-crypto-digital-asset-receipt-2018-9">Citigroup has created a new, less risky way of investing in crypto - and it may be a game changer for the industry</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-exploring-crypto-digital-asset-receipt-2018-9"></a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernstein-research-says-crypto-exchanges-are-set-to-rake-in-more-money-than-last-year">Crypto exchanges are set to rake in twice as much money as last year even though bitcoin is down 51%</a></li></ul> Get the latest Bitcoin price <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD">here.&gt;&gt;</a>

A sleek new device that looks like an Xbox lets you mine crypto at home

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz general partners Chris Dixon and Katie Haun.</div></div></div><ul><li>Andreessen Horowitz is launching a $300 million fund to invest in cryptocurrency companies and protocols, called "a16z crypto."</li><li>The top VC firm hired Katie Haun, a former prosecutor with the US Department of Justice, to lead the fund alongside partner Chris Dixon.</li><li>The new crypto fund plans to invest consistently over time, even in the event of another "crypto winter."</li></ul> As the price of bitcoin slips to a 2018 low, top Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz shows it's not backing down with the launch of a $300 million venture fund, called a16z crypto, which will invest in cryptocurrency companies and protocols.Leading the effort alongside partner and crypto fanatic Chris Dixon is Katie Haun, a former prosecutor who helped bring down corrupt agents on the Silk Road task force, as well as the head of BTC-E, a digital currency exchange popular with criminals.Haun is the first-ever female general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.The new crypto fund will invest in companies and protocols at all stages, from seed-stage pre-launch projects to fully developed later-stage networks like bitcoin and Ethereum. The firm said it plans to hold investments for over 10 years, which means it cares a lot less about the day-to-day fluctuations in price than about building long-term platforms and infrastructure that it hopes will serve billions of people someday.The plan is to invest consistently over time, even in the event of another "crypto winter." Bitcoin fell below $6,000 on Sunday, reaching a new low for the year."We've been investing in crypto assets for five-plus years. We've never sold any of those investments, and don't plan to anytime soon," Dixon said in a statement.Dixon believes that products and services built on the blockchain will someday be used by "hundreds of millions and eventually billions of people," he told Business Insider."That takes time," Dixon said. "We think that, in the same way that if you went back and invested in social networks 15 years ago, the right answer would have been to hold onto those investments for 10-plus years. It really took that long for those networks to kind of get to scale and for people to really realize their full value."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reuters/Christinne MuschiA worker checks the fans on miners at a cryptocurrency farming operation in Canada.</div></div></div>While other traditional venture firms were slow to get into crypto, Andreessen Horowitz has been making bets on blockchain technology since 2013.The young venture firm led the Series B funding round for Coinbase, an online platform for buying, selling, and storing digital assets that <a href="https://qz.com/1139524/bitcoin-price-nears-10000-as-coinbase-pulls-in-millions-of-users/">added thousands of users a day</a> during the bitcoin price bull run of 2017. It's the largest bitcoin exchange in the US.Andreessen Horowitz has <a href="https://www.cbinsights.com/research/a16z-usv-blockchain/">shifted its strategy slightly</a> from early investments in bitcoin mining and exchanges, like Coinbase, toward new foundation-layer protocols, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized applications. In 2018, the firm <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cryptokitties-raises-12-million-from-andreessen-horowitz-2018-3">put $12 million into Cryptokitties</a>, one of the first successful games built on the blockchain.It also participated in a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/polychain-andreessen-horowitz-dfinity-2018-2">$61 million funding round for the Dfinity blockchain project</a>, a not-for-profit foundation that's building a crypto-powered "internet computer."Haun said she's especially interested in applications that use blockchain technology to put people in control of their own data, for reasons around security and privacy."The basic architecture of crypto is to give power back to individuals. And I think there are a lot of promising ideas that we're hearing about just now," Haun said.Before joining the firm, Haun spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice, where she focused on fraud, cybercrime, and digital assets. She is perhaps best known for her role in the criminal investigation around Silk Road, the notorious online black market that sold everything from heroin to fake passports.Haun prosecuted - and convicted - two federal agents who were <a href="https://qz.com/1236501/the-woman-who-once-policed-the-crypto-world-for-the-us-government-says-a-crackdown-is-coming/">working undercover to investigate Silk Road</a>, while stealing millions of dollars worth of bitcoin.Haun, who also sits on the board at Coinbase and HackerOne and teaches at Stanford, said the transition from prosecutor to venture capitalist has felt natural."I think fundamentally being a prosecutor is in sourcing out the good from the bad," Haun said. "So I think when my team is talking about separating out the wheat from the chaff, in terms of projects and people, just having that sense will translate well."Get the latest Bitcoin price <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD">here.&gt;&gt;</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-the-blockchain-hype-is-really-about-cryptocurrencies-tech-2018-2">Put simply, blockchain technology is 'a security and transparency innovation'</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "dfinity" and got 10 results

'Something went wrong': Expert breaks down the key reasons why VC-backed cryptocurrency Internet Computer plunged 95% in its first month

Matthew Fox

Internet Computer is already one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $45 billion - just two days after launching

Shalini Nagarajan

This cryptocurrency is valued at $45 billion, and it's just a day old

Shivam Vahia

The scientist who's built a $2 billion nonprofit to end big tech's monopoly says DeepMind's sale to Google was 'an outrage'

Charlie Wood

US stocks tumble as data shows inflation spiked higher than expected in April

Emily Graffeo

The man who bought Beeple’s $69 million NFT reveals his identity to show the equalising power of crypto — but is caught in a controversy himself

Prabhjote Gill

The founder of a $75 million crypto fund shares the top trends he's watching in 2019

Madeline Shi

Microsoft's making moves, a shakeup at Charles Schwab, and WeWork's landlords

Matt Turner

A sleek new device that looks like an Xbox lets you mine crypto at home

Madeline Shi

Andreessen Horowitz is launching a $300 million fund to invest in crypto - and it hired its first-ever female general partner to lead the effort

Melia Robinson

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