TechDigits

Tech news
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Legendary investor Ron Conway tells us Coinbase is the new Google. Here's what that means for the next wave of startup founders.

Legendary investor Ron Conway tells us Coinbase is the new Google. Here's what that means for the next wave of startup founders.

Just like Netscape kicked off the dot-com era, Coinbase is ushering in a boom for crypto startups, Silicon Valley legend Ron Conway told Insider.

According to legendary investor Ron Conway, known as the "Godfather of Silicon Valley," crypto startups are on the cusp of a breakthrough that will be just as transformative as the dot-com boom of the late '90s.

In his view, that's largely thanks to Coinbase, which went public on Wednesday and ended its debut market session valued at $86 billion.

Conway, who was an early investor in Coinbase, called the cryptocurrency exchange the "Google for the crypto economy" in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. Elaborating further, he told Insider that just as Google opened the web, Coinbase is making crypto accessible to consumers all over the world.

But the cryptocurrency exchange has similarities with another pioneering tech company as well, he added.

"Netscape marked the beginning of the .com boom," he wrote in an email to Insider. "Coinbase is marking the beginning of the crypto economy boom."

Netscape was the company that pioneered the Web browser and made the internet accessible to anyone. It also sent its founder, Marc Andreessen, onto the path of Silicon Valley fame and fortune.

The next step in taking crypto mainstream, Conway said, is decentralized finance, or DeFi, services. DeFi services aim to enable people to carry out financial tasks without having to go through traditional institutions such as banks. Bank of America has even floated the idea that DeFi could be more disruptive than Bitcoin.

In Conway's view, that would be especially beneficial to those without banking accounts — estimated at some 1.7 billion adults worldwide, according to the World Bank.

Conway named some other startups, several of which SV Angel has invested in, that he said he also considers to be the new utilities of the crypto economy:

*  Anchorage, a crypto platform for financial institutions
*  Dapper Labs, a blockchain gaming platform best known for NBA Top Shot
*  Celo, a crypto-based payments platform
*  OpenSea, a marketplace for non-fungible tokens and crypto collectibles
*  Goldfinch, a crypto lending service

Recently, crypto startups that branch out beyond fintech have been grabbing investors' attention.

In March, Dapper Labs, the maker of trading-card platform NBA Top Shot, announced it had raised $305 million in a star-studded round including celebrities such as Michael Jordan and Will Smith. Also that month, OpenSea announced it had raised a $23 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, in which Conway also participated.

Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
0:00
0:00
Close
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
Melinda French Gates Advocates for Increased Female Representation in AI to Prevent Bias
Snapchat+ gains 4 million paying subscribers in its first year
Apple Makes History as the First Public Company Valued at $3 Trillion
Elon Musk Implements Twitter Limits to Tackle Data Scraping, but Faces Criticism for Technical Misunderstanding
EU and UK's Slow Electric Vehicle Adoption Raises Questions About the Transition to Green Mobility
Top Companies Express Concerns Over Europe's Proposed AI Law, Citing Competitiveness and Investment Risks
Meta Unveils Insights on AI Usage in Facebook and Instagram, Amid Growing Calls for Transparency
Crypto Scams Against Seniors Soar by 78% in 2022, Experts Urge Vigilance
The End of an Era: National Geographic Dismisses Last of Its Staff Writers
Shield Your Wallet: The Perils of Wireless Credit Card Theft
Harvard Scientist Who Studies Honesty Accused Of Data Fraud, Put On Leave
Putting an End to the Subscription Snare: The Battle Against Unwitting Commitments
The Legal Perils of AI: Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Relying on Fictional Cases Generated by Chatbot
ChatGPT’s "Grandma Exploit": Ingenious Hack Exposes Loophole in AI, Generates Free Software Codes
The Disney Downturn: A Near Billion-Dollar Box Office Blow for the House of Mouse
A Digital Showdown: Canada Challenges Tech Giants with The Online News Act, Meta Strikes Back
Distress in the Depths: Submersible and Passengers Missing in Titanic Wreckage Expedition
Mark Zuckerberg stealing another idea: Twitter
European Union's AI Regulations Risk Self-Sabotage, Cautions smart and brave Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale
Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
Chinese car exports surge
Reddit Blackout: Thousands of Communities Protest "Ludicrous" Pricing Changes
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
×