FreeCryptoCurrency.Me

Among those selected are the largest local banks, Visa and Microsoft.

Bitcoin miners might find non-mining AI applications too tantalizing to pass up.

Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, one of most established and active players in the space, is going beyond just blockchain and highlighting a focus on a broader array of “frontier tech” that includes artificial intelligence, two sources with knowledge of the matter told The Block. 

The change is subtlety visible on the firm’s website, with the company now calling itself a “research-driven technology investment firm” as opposed to one that specifically invested in “disruptive crypto/Web3 companies and protocols.” The revision appears to have gone live around May 3, according to the Wayback Machine that’s operated by the Internet Archive.

A line that said “we believe crypto will define the next few decades” was removed from the home page, which now makes no mention of web3 or blockchains. One source who was not authorized to speak publicly said the change didn’t mean the company was shying away from crypto but rather highlighting its reach into adjacent areas. 

The company’s portfolio section of the website still lists dozens of firms associated with crypto, decentralized finance and NFTs. 

A May 2 version of website, according to archive.org.

The website on May 25.

The person familiar with the strategy said the company had not changed its mandate and continued to focus on crypto and web3, with no practical change. The updated website copy was meant to emphasize its technical research, the person said, noting that Paradigm had backed companies that have explored new technologies within their core strategy such as AI Arena. 

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment. 

Crypto industry challenges

The wider focus comes as the crypto industry is still dealing with aftershocks from the crisis last year marked by the collapse of the FTX exchange. Paradigm was an investor in FTX and wrote off its $290 million investment in the company after it filed for bankruptcy in November.

Paradigm was co-founded in 2018 by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia partner Matt Huang. In November 2021, the firm raised a $2.5 billion fund, which at the time was the biggest ever crypto-focused venture fund. Its portfolio includes high-profile companies including Uniswap, OpenSea and Fireblocks, according to The Block Pro’s Deals Dashboard.

Paradigm has invested in over 100 crypto startups to date, according to the dashboard.

After a troubled year, crypto VC investments have slowed down. Venture capitalists put around $2.8 billion into crypto investments in the first quarter of 2023, down from about $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to data tracked by The Block Research.

Can crypto and AI work together? 

The fresh focus comes amid a surge in attention on AI this year, especially with the widespread adoption of OpenAI’s ChatGPT language model. And there has also been much industry chatter about how AI and blockchain technology can be integrated. 

Jeremy Allaire, the co-founder and CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle, said Thursday that he was already hearing about “AI Bots spinning up on-chain wallets and using USDC.”

“AI and Blockchains are made for each other,” he wrote on Twitter. “Provenance of data, machine generated and enforced contracts, and machine to machine value exchange.”

Allaire was responding to a lengthy post from Hunter Horsley, the CEO of crypto investment firm Bitwise, who said he’d spent a lot of time talking with AI engineers over the past several days.

“AI may be a catalyst for crypto in this cycle,” Horsley wrote, adding that the tech would create new demand for cryptography and blockchains. “Feeling increasingly convinced that these two disparate technologies are going to have intertwined futures, and that crypto is going to become a lot more important as AI starts to proliferate.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

After Pudgy Toys debuted on Amazon on May 18, the floor price of the cute NFT project shot up over 6 ETH. Now, with the launch of Pudgy World and the addition of the collection to the NFT lending platform Blend, it is continuing to build momentum.

Skyrocketing debt, rising inflation and bank runs are contributing to an uncertain financial landscape. Crypto can help FAs navigate this future.

Ripple president Monica Long said the company’s recent stake acquisition in European crypto exchange Bitstamp will help further grow the company’s international presence and diversification beyond payments.

“Ripple has a strong balance sheet and we are actively looking for opportunities to continue expanding the business outside of the U.S. and beyond payments, as we further solidify our global leadership position,” Long told The Block. The company acquired an undisclosed stake in Bitstamp from crypto venture capital Pantera. Galaxy Digital Holdings, who advised Pantera on the deal during the first quarter of the year, disclosed the news earlier this month.

“Like Ripple, Bitstamp has a long and established history in the crypto industry. They’re a trusted and leading exchange, particularly in their enterprise-grade and institutional offerings,” Long said. “They have been a valuable partner to Ripple, and as such we were excited at the opportunity to invest in their business and deepen our partnership.”

Ripple works with several crypto exchanges globally, including Bitstamp, to make its payments product more useful with features such as fiat on/off ramps and crypto custody service integration, Long said. Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, CEO of Bitstamp, told The Block that Ripple and Bitstamp have had a partnership since 2017.

“We’re delighted to take this next step to be able to invest together in making the future of crypto even more secure, reliable, and accessible to institutions across the world,” Graftieaux said.

Bitstamp is the fifteenth largest spot crypto exchange in the world by trading volumes, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

Ripple has been on a buying spree lately. Earlier this month, the crypto payments company acquired Switzerland-based crypto custody startup Metaco for $250 million.

The recent deals come as Ripple is still locked in a years-long feud with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2020, the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of the XRP token, and also sued CEO Garlinghouse and co-founder Christian Larsen. A decision from a federal judge settling the dispute could come as soon as the first half of this year.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The bank says lawmakers should take advantage of existing regulations that cater to systemic risk and enforcement action for example, as well as stresses the need for crypto specific ones.

Since NFT lending marketplace Blend launched May 1, it has amassed 169,900 ETH, or about $308 Million in volume.