Lucas Matney
Senior Editor
The Latest from Lucas Matney
OK, this one is for the crypto-curious
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single to
Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire on competition and conviction in crypto venture — ‘A lot of VCs… are going to pull back’
As crypto continues its wild rise, storied venture firm Sequoia is not just competing with the a16z’s of the world but with a rising crop of crypto native venture funds that are seeing their ass
Why a bipartisan embrace of crypto might never touch Bitcoin
Hey everyone, and welcome back to Chain Reaction In our Chain Reaction podcast this week, Anita and I chatted with Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire on why gamers are skeptical of NFTs and where d
Please don’t YOLO your 401(k) into shitcoins
Hello and welcome back to the Chain Reaction podcast, where we unpack and explain the latest crypto news, drama and trends, breaking it down block by block for the crypto curious. It’s been an a
a16z debuts new crypto research team led by Columbia, Stanford researchers
In the world of crypto, where vast amounts of investment are pouring into young and scrappy teams building uncharted technology, it’s increasingly the VC firms who are investing heavily in resea
Nukes, NFTs and Meta’s income tax
Hello, and welcome to Chain Reaction, where we’ll get you up to speed with what’s going on in the weird world of crypto every week so you don’t have to join 1,000 Discord chats or fo
To defeat Elon Musk, Twitter needs … more NFTs
Ahhhh I can’t tell you how much I’m finally excited to say … Welcome to Chain Reaction. This is a new experiment for TechCrunch — it’s a newsletter and a podcast working toge
Metaverses grapple with Meta versus Apple
Hello readers, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, I talked about Apple and crypto. This week, we’re talking about Apple clashing with Meta over their metaverse taxes. After sending o
Avatar startup Genies hits $1 billion valuation in latest raise
Only in the current market can one wonder how a celebrity avatar startup that sells NFT accessories took so long to hit a unicorn valuation. Genies, an LA-based digital avatar startup, announced Tuesd
Will Apple build its own blockchain?
Hello readers, and welcome back! Last week, I wrote about the issues facing Axie Infinity in the wake of a $625 million heist. This week, I’m talking about Apple and crypto. If you like my rambl
Boba Networks raises at $1.5B valuation for its take on an ‘optimistic’ Ethereum scaling solution
Ethereum scaling solution Boba Networks shared Tuesday that it has raised $45 million from a bunch of investors including Crypto.com, Huobi and BitMart, among a couple dozen others. The Series A round
VCs scale their bets on Solana’s expanding NFT ecosystem
The voracious rise of NFTs as an asset class has been a bubble that seemingly refuses to pop — at least for the time being — but NFT marketplaces are continuing to court investor attention
The 26 crypto startups that Y Combinator is backing in its W22 batch
Crypto was big at YC this batch. Y Combinator Demo Days returned yet again with another ballooning heap of startups. In the old days, a gaggle of TechCrunch reporters would go to the Demo Day in perso
TechCrunch debuts ‘Chain Reaction,’ a new podcast about the wild world of web3
Few topics in tech are more confusing or intimidating than crypto. The industry has attracted trillions in investment, but it can still be tough to even buy tokens or NFTs, let alone understand what
Bored Apes NFT startup Yuga Labs raises seed round at monster $4B valuation
Yuga Labs, maker of the multimillion dollar monkey JPEGs that plenty of NFT skeptics love to hate, just raised a $450 million round from Andreessen Horowitz at a $4 billion valuation, the company anno
Following a16z departure, Katie Haun debuts Haun Ventures with $1.5B in capital to back crypto startups
Katie Haun, who co-led Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm before announcing her departure this past December, is ready to take the wraps off her new organization, which she’s calling Haun Ve
Paradigm and a16z back Ethereum scaling startup Optimism at $1.65B valuation
Throughout the most recent crypto bull run, plenty of new crypto users have interacted with the Ethereum network for the first time and have been surprised to find sluggish, expensive transactions. Wh
Bored Apes NFT project gets official ‘ApeCoin’ token
Even among the fastest-growing crypto startups, Yuga Labs has had a particularly explosive year. The startup is behind the NFT project Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC), which only launched in April of las
Ex-Meta employees raise $200M from a16z, Tiger, Multicoin to realize Facebook’s crypto dreams
Facebook’s audacious attempt at creating a crypto payments network met an unceremonious end earlier this year when Silvergate Capital acquired the Diem technology assets for $182 million. The deal
Augmented reality’s half-decade of stagnation
Hello readers, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, I talked about the future of this newsletter and what’s coming next. The short of which is that in the coming weeks I will be windin