Blockchain Bites: a16z’s Cyclic Crypto Thinking and Grin’s Grim Outlook – CoinDesk

FalconX raised an inflation-adjusted equivalent to Facebook’s 2005 Series A, Bakkt has unveiled $600 million in total insurance cover and Andressen Horowitz anticipates another age of growth.

Crypto trading platform FalconX closed a mult-imillion dollar seed funding round led by Accel, a venture capital firm that took a gamble by investing early in Facebook. Looking at these two raises separated by 15 years is revealing. Adjusting Facebook’s 2005 Series A to today’s terms brings it to around $17 million, or the amount FalconX was just handed.

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Unlike Facebook, FalconX doesn’t seem interested in mass adoption. The firm told CoinDesk it has no plans to expand its services to retail investors.

Not Smiling
Grin, the privacy-centric project that garnered outsized interest in investments in 2019, is showing little signs of life. Its price has dropped 20% year to date, while the network’s hash power and mining difficulty have experienced nine consecutive months of decline. Grin launched during an “altcoin bear market,” said grin developer David Burkett. That the price has “so far only moved downward” is a “very similar movement to many coins launched at the same time.”

Bakkt’s Backing
Bakkt has onboarded more than 70 clients for its custody services and given them the option to tap more than $600 million in insurance coverage overall, the company announced Monday. The company has also completed two audits into its financial reporting and customer data protection controls by KPMG and PwC, respectively. 

FalconX’s Facebook-level Raise
FalconX, a cryptocurrency trading platform, announced it has raised a total of $17 million in a round led by Accel, with backing from Coinbase Ventures, Fenbushi Capital and Land Avon Ventures. The platform claims 100 customers as well as an AI-powered trading solution programmed to eliminate artificially inflated prices. CoinDesk’s Paddy Baker puts the raise in perspective by detailing Facebook’s  $12.7 million Series A led by Accel in 2005. “Inflation means Facebook’s raise would now be worth the same as FalconX’s; then again, a pre-seed is two or three raises behind a Series A,” he said. 

Cyclic Thinking
By monitoring 10 years of data – including from subreddits and Github – analysts at Andreessen Horowitz have found that crypto boom cycles progress in roughly five phases. 1) The price of bitcoin and other crypto assets goes up, 2) leading to new interest and social media activity, 3) leading to more people getting involved, contributing new ideas and code, 4) leading to projects and startups getting created, 5) leading to product launches that inspire more people, eventually culminating in the next cycle. With…