Inside VanEck’s Crypto Strategy: ETFs, Startups, and What’s Next

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The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️

https://youtu.be/3y_1tgiE7Dc

For this week’s Thursday episode, I interviewed Pranav Kanade, portfolio manager for digital assets at VanEck, and Wyatt Lonergan the GP of VanEck Ventures

VanEck is an asset management firm that has been around since 1955 – and has made strides in the crypto space in recent years with its spot bitcoin ETF, as well as its $40M venture fund that also invests in crypto startups, among other sectors. 

Pranav and Wyatt share their thoughts on tokenizing liquid vs illiquid assets, the state of the crypto market, how they see value in the industry, focusing on long term fundamentals and more.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro
1:05 - Background into crypto industry
6:00 - Public perception of crypto and adoption
9:19 - Crypto ETF strategy
13:12 - What should be tokenized?
20:42 - Thoughts on IPO market
24:36 - State of memecoins
32:19 - Evaluating what will be valuable in crypto
39:00 - How to stay focused when narratives change
43:27 - What do you look for in a founder?
48:26 - Advice for building in crypto

Talking Tokens episodes are released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts at 6AM EST or YouTube at 8AM EST every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen in!

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Money and people moves

The biggest updates regarding startups that raised capital, moved money or did a little bit of both as well as market players who have left their web3 job or are starting something new.

1. CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger to join Blockchain Association as its new CEO in June

2. WonderFi enters agreement to be acquired by Robinhood for about $180M

3. Coinbase’s Armstrong Looks to Make More Acquisitions After Deribit Purchase (Bloomberg)

4. Ricky Wang joins YZi Labs to scout founders and help them build GTM strategies

5. Yuga Labs sells CryptoPunks to new nonprofit in focus shift (Blockworks)

6. Synthetix proposes $27 million token swap to acquire options protocol Derive (The Block)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.