The possibilities surrounding cryptocurrency have become an irresistible attraction for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. The excitement of planting the seeds for the next generation of technology and growing new investments drew serial entrepreneur Rick Marini into the world of cryptocurrency. Marini started his career in finance and investment banking, but his time at Harvard Business School earning an MBA changed his perspective. Soon after graduating, he and classmate James Currier started tickle.
The company survived the 2K dot-com bust and was acquired by Monster Worldwide. This ingrained the taste for entrepreneurship in Marini, who went on to found companies like BranchOut and Talk. What got you so interested in the cryptocurrency industry that you started this fund? About four years ago, I was exposed to crypto for the first time.
I was having dinner with Naval Ravikant from MetaStable and Tim Chang, a partner at Mayfield, and they were talking about this new crypto thing.
I found all the applications of blockchain technology that could disrupt countless industries to be fascinating, as was the trading and tokenization. At that point, Naval was starting MetaStable and I wanted to back him, so I became an investor there. Some of us also did a separate fund called Binary Financial, which has also done very well.
There are about crypto asset funds out there, so we take money in from investors and invest that into the funds. We do this to allow an investor to get diversified while bringing better access and prices. I initially invested in MetaStable and then Neural Capital. I realized that they and larger family offices wanted exposure to this asset class, but might not have the knowledge of the space or relationships with crypto hedge fund managers.
From there, the decision to start Protocol seemed like an intuitive next step. These guys are getting 50 to 80 percent returns in a month. The information advantages that these hedge fund managers have is better than almost anyone else. When you have information advantages, you are going to blow away any kind of return that a robo-advisor could do. How is it impacting the entrepreneur scene in San Francisco? Should I do an ICO, or traditional fundraising?
In terms of startup ICOs, it feels like I hear founders mention raising an ICO almost as often as saying they want to raise a venture round. The FOMO builds when people are expecting a big return. Think about it this way: This is why we need regulation. A lot of entrepreneurs want an ICO because you can raise massive amounts without getting diluted. Can you give me money? There are special cases: That, to me, is like investing in a Google or Facebook—something that comes along once every five years.
Banks are now getting behind certain types of crypto. Will the market go to where this money goes? Or will that money go to where people are investing today? Right now, there are about 1, crypto assets.
I would argue that only the top matter. That number will expand to what matters, and the top hundred will also shift on which are the most important. This is very much like the internet in What do you think about that? Governments want to control their own currency. Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is not owned by any government, by any company, by any person; no government can control it.
This includes regulation and taxation. I believe we need more regulation. It will hurt in the short term, but I believe it will eventually add a zero to the market cap. Do you think governments will issue their own sort of cryptocurrency in the future, or favor more of an oversight role for cryptocurrency transactions? The governments just have to give more clarity and more regulation.
What do you think the chances are of the government actually taking regulatory action in its current anti-regulatory environment? At some point this year, they are going to have to come out with solid clarification on if crypto is a security or a commodity.
China was the number one crypto country in terms of trading six months ago, but they wanted to clamp down on currency outflows, so they regulated it to abruptly stop all trading.
That was September 15, That demand just got sucked up by Japan, Korea, and the U. If you had a thousand dollars, a hundred thousand dollars, or a million dollars, where would you place your bets right now? Investing in crypto on Coinbase is the easy way to start. Coinbase only has four currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. There are more investment opportunities coming, too.
I think that would be a good way for people to dip their toe in the water and have liquidity as well. One is the retail bitcoin cash ceo we wont need banks anymorecrypto trader newscrypto trader news coming bitcoin cash ceo we wont need banks anymorecrypto trader newscrypto trader news. Over Thanksgiving weekendovernew accounts were started at Coinbase. Everyone is trying to get money into crypto. I opened bitcoin cash ceo we wont need banks anymorecrypto trader newscrypto trader news a Coinbase account for my father-in-law over Thanksgiving.
Now, mom and pop are coming in. Number two, Wall Street infrastructure is coming into play. Bitcoin cash ceo we wont need banks anymorecrypto trader newscrypto trader news could with some other currencies, like Bitcoin Bitcoin cash ceo we wont need banks anymorecrypto trader newscrypto trader news, or Litecoin, or some others that are trying to be highly scalable.
I think everybody wants crypto to be fully functional. What is Protocol Ventures, and what does it do? So why start Protocol Ventures? What do you and your fund managers think is going to happen with crypto in ? Any final thoughts on the future of cryptocurrency? Women from the Blockchain.
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