Many correlate the overall health of the crypto industry with the price of Bitcoin. While prices plummeted across the board in 2018 it has been accompanied by continued development in new and existing projects. Where do we go from here? What is holding the space back from wider adoption? What are the guideposts that need to be seen for broader institutional investment?

I came across this Scientific American article in August and was struck by its relevance to a number of conversations we were having with investors. Without going into great detail, we were discussing a couple of investment opportunities that could be classified as esoteric or “off the run.” In many of the initial conversations, investors were trying to dig deeper into the opportunity in order to find an analogous thread that they could follow back to a previous investment or experience. While this is extremely valuable in helping suss out the types of risk inherent in any possible investment, what if the exercise misses the mark completely? What if we are applying our past experience incorrectly, neutering our ability to assess something that is truly novel?

  While the media focuses on Bitcoin and it’s value as a digital store of value or censorship resistant global currency, many are building and investing in the future of the internet…not currencies. Olaf will discuss investing in internet protocols and how they will capture a majority of the value in a future built on decentralized, blockchain technology.

  This industry is rapidly changing and highly technical.  How can institutional investors equip themselves in order to keep up and take advantage of the opportunity?

  We have just begun to uncover a world of opportunities made possible by decentralized, blockchain technology. Starting from “Blockchains 101”, Michael Casey discusses the massive technological and societal advances that are possible as well as the challenges that have yet to be overcome.

  There is still a fair amount of infrastructure that needs to be developed before meaningful institutional capital is allocated to this space. In addition, we have seen a dramatic growth in hedge funds trading crypto which will necessitate it’s own unique tool kit. Industry pioneers who have begun to build this infrastructure will discuss where we are in the development cycle and what some of the unique challenges are relative to existing asset classes. This discussion focuses on the security, custody, risk hedging and trading solutions that will support the cryptoasset ecosystem.

Chris Dixon from Andreessen Horowitz recently wrote this piece discussing Web 3.0 and why a decentralized internet is important for future innovation.  This is a topic that will be explored in depth by Olaf Carlson-Wee at our upcoming time Summit event in April.

When engaging institutional investors on the topic of cryptoassets, the discussion usually centers on Bitcoin and its promise as a digital currency or digital gold.  Given Bitcoin’s longevity and status as the “poster-child” of crypto, this shouldn’t be a surprise.  However, stopping at Bitcoin misses out on the extreme number of disruptive projects being developed on the Ethereum blockchain.  This conversation usually requires one to deploy new mental models for thinking through updated business models and economic incentive structures that will pervade these networks.