Mike

BD @berachain. building a wealth of friendships through internet projects.

[Rajiv Patel-O’Connor @rajivpoc]

We are thrilled to lead back-to-back financings into @MeckaAI to build infrastructure for robots to learn about the world and deploy reliably.

Mecka is the fastest-growing revenue company we've ever invested in and is still accelerating.

Thrilled to deepen our partnership with @joshavata @jasontheutopian and the entire Mecka team.

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

New York City-based Mecka AI, which trains robots with human data sourced from body sensors and iPhones, raised $60M, including a $25M Series A (@bdanweiss / Fortune)

(Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

[Eric Balchunas @EricBalchunas]

Anthropic confidentially submitted S-1 draft IPO filing to SEC - just on terminal now 🔥

[Ben Roy @benroy]

I gave a (very) short talk last month at Dorm Summit to a bunch of college students on how they might think about their careers through the lens of reputation & personal brand

If you’re interested in listening to me yap about those topics, then check out the recording below 👽

[Mike @mikevp]

@nbaschez Apollo Bagels 🥯 get the full works

[Mike @mikevp]

@base Credifi spotted 🤭

[terence @terrry]

Builders no longer have to fight to borrow against the companies they built

This should have existed 15 years ago

Sorry for the delay

[squid @squidrouter]

hello @EthCC

[Michael Passalacqua @passalacqua_mj]

Excited to lead the new @CFTC Innovation Task Force.

Under @ChairmanSelig, the ITF will provide clarity to builders by advancing the @CFTC’s innovation agenda across crypto, AI, & PMs.

Clear rules of the road will ensure the new frontier of finance is built in the US 🇺🇸

[Mike Selig @ChairmanSelig]

For far too long, Americans have awaited clear guidance on the status of crypto assets under the federal securities and commodities laws.

@SECPaulSAtkins and I are committed to fostering a regulatory environment that allows the crypto industry to flourish in the US with clear rules of the road. With today's interpretation, the wait is over.

Read the @CFTC and @SECGov's joint agency action ⬇️

[Michael Passalacqua @passalacqua_mj]

CFTC’s Market Participants Division today issued a no-action letter to Phantom addressing the application of IB registration requirements to developers of self-custodial wallet software. https://t.co/20UaBOI9Zn

[ren (wassie arc) @0xren_cf]

if you feel like you’re in a pressure cooker don’t worry i feel the same way

it’s not ai psychosis, it’s your subconscious understanding that we’ve gone through a regime change and we’re unlikely to return

but pressure and competition is core to free markets and you have agency over the future

yes you can check out and touch grass but i believe that it is a privilege to have the opportunity to compete and help shape the future

[Dmitriy Berenzon @dberenzon]

I’d like to share a story of a startup that’s fought their way to PMF through empathy, insight, and sheer determination.

@SgtPepperNFT and the @kettlepay team have been at it for 4.5 years. They started out as an NFT aggregator and pivoted to a luxury watch marketplace before their current focus.

In that process, they built out a large network of watch retailers and wholesalers and discovered that stablecoins are a massive part of their business.

They had an insight; they discovered a secret. (cc @m2jr)

After interviewing a hundred watch merchants in NYC’s 47th St. Diamond District, they found out that ~half are using UDST on Tron via TrustWallet to conduct wholesale transactions and some had millions of dollars just sitting in their hot wallets.

Take that in for a second.

Realizing this, the team pivoted their product to what it is today - a payments app that allows merchants to send and receive high value stablecoin transactions around the world in a safe and compliant way.

To bootstrap usage, these chads literally went door-to-door in every building in the diamond district to onboard merchants. Most were initially not interested, but their hustle was respected in a market that is infamously trust and relationship based.

Within 3 months, they’ve onboarded over a hundred merchants and supported tens of millions of dollars in payment volume. All of this with just a PWA btw, which is generally a great sign that they’ve struck a nerve since frankly the app isn’t super polished (cc @eladgil).

If you ask 10 random watch shops on 47th street today, half of them will have heard of Kettle - they’ve become the “crypto guys” of the diamond district.

Furthermore, these merchants are now calling it their “crypto checking account” and referring their network - over 75% of their volume is via referrals.

The cohort analysis is beautiful - incredibly sticky D30 retention and volumes and balances ramping up monthly.

I used to think that the biggest startups started with the biggest ideas (cc @kareemszaki) but now I appreciate the startup that starts in an overlooked and fragmented market as a beachhead and expands from there. @slashapp started with sneaker flippers, and Kettle started with watch flippers.

If you’ve read until the end, give Sean a follow, shoot him a DM, or ask me to connect you.

[Mike @mikevp]

@NTFabiano cool research, but watch this horse on skis

https://t.co/2yZuUrG7Zd

[Mike @mikevp]

@calcom great ad. just made https://t.co/W86vvcuBwy thank you!

[Mike @mikevp]

@terrry it’s Techdollar time.

[sracha @sracha]

Sat down with @shanefanx on his social media and founder journey!

Topics:
1:25 25M views in 24 hours
4:44 How he gained viral-sense
6:54 Posting 30-50 videos everyday
11:37 Instagram Success
13:54 Juggling social media & companies
15:06 Being bullied after immigrating to America
18:11 Graduating Berkeley at 18
23:28 Uncertainty in college
29:04 How Lucy Guo changed his life
34:19 Do you regret the founder path?

[Jason Hitchcock 🐻⛓ @JasonHitchcock]

Excited to share that I've been appointed CEO of Greenlane Holdings, with a sharp focus on our Berachain Digital Asset Treasury strategy.

We're building a $BERA accumulation engine around the unique PoL mechanics of Berachain.

We're just getting started🐻⛓
https://t.co/QaoxcylPEm

[Michael Passalacqua @passalacqua_mj]

Honored to join to the @CFTC at this historic time in America’s Golden Age & sincerely thank @ChairmanSelig and his Chief of Staff for placing their trust in me 🇺🇸

[Mike @mikevp]

@masonnystrom @credifi