Latest from Lucas Matney
TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022
Bitwise, Paradigm and Perkins Coie talk regs at TC Sessions: Crypto
7:15 am PDT • November 5, 2022
Crypto entities ranging from major exchanges to small projects are on the road to stateside regulation. Whether it comes through the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading…
Featured Article
BetterData taps the blockchain to help create better synthetic data
As the global data privacy regulatory landscape gets more convoluted and constrictive, engineering teams looking to use structured data to improve their products and AI models are being pushed to jump through plenty of hoops to stay compliant. BetterData, which is launching onstage at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF Battlefield startup…
3:13 pm PDT • October 19, 2022
Featured Podcast
Kraken’s Jesse Powell on why he’s stepping down as CEO of the crypto exchange
Jesse Powell is stepping down from the CEO role at U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Co-founded by Powell and Thanh Luu in 2011, Kraken is now the fourth-largest crypto exchange by volume, according to CoinMarketCap. It’s a critical inflection point for the company, which was valued at $10 billion…
1:22 PM PDT • October 11, 2022
Meta didn’t hold back with their announcements at Meta Connect this year. As Facebook has done every year or so, the company is shaking up their avatar products. This year…
At Meta Connect 2022, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s latest virtual reality headset. But, after years of striving to bring down the cost of entry to the VR world,…
Hardware
Meta’s Quest Store hits $1.5 billion in total revenue to date
10:15 am PDT • October 11, 2022
While outside research data suggests that the number of VR headsets being shipped over the past couple years has surged, the release of new VR titles hasn’t always kept pace.…
This week was a weird one for crypto, as reality TV superstar Kim Kardashian was one of the first celebrities to get an SEC fine…
TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022
Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao shares his vision of web3 opportunities at TC Sessions: Crypto
10:35 am PDT • October 4, 2022
When it comes to the decentralized world of crypto, few single entities loom larger or carry more weight in the industry than exchange behemoth Binance. The blockchain giant processed $34…
Gaming
Google’s GV backs SideQuest, an unofficial Meta Quest app store
9:46 am PDT • October 3, 2022
While the broader virtual reality industry earnestly waits for Meta’s next announcements around new VR products at its Connect event next week, Google’s venture arm GV is placing an interesting…
TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022
Announcing the agenda for TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022
6:10 pm PDT • September 27, 2022
The crypto industry seemed to age several decades over the past bull run, maturing in some places while barreling ahead in ambitious new pursuits, including DeFi, NFTs and web3. And…
The crypto world has never shied away from making big promises, but as the industry matures and its audience widens, now’s a good time to…
Welcome to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto…
Crypto
CoinFund’s Seth Ginns on why the crypto downturn has spared early-stage startups
9:55 AM PDT • September 21, 2022
Crypto token prices have been trending downward for the past year, with BTC and ETH both down over 50% since last September. Yet despite the…
Welcome to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For our Thursday episode…
Startups
Arpeggi Labs banks a16z funding to build web3 music software
12:15 pm PDT • September 14, 2022
The quest to define what exactly a web3 use case looks like hasn’t always been easy but has allowed plenty of founders to get creative in building out products designed…
Crypto
Meltem Demirors on why society isn’t ready for a crypto-driven revolution yet
8:20 AM PDT • September 14, 2022
Meltem Demirors hasn’t just been working in crypto for seven years — she’s been shaping its trajectory. Demirors, chief strategy officer at publicly traded European…
Welcome to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the…
Crypto
A video game industry veteran on making the art behind popular NFTs
4:32 PM PDT • September 6, 2022
Welcome back to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for…
Few startups in the crypto world boast the market dominance that OpenSea currently enjoys, but numerous venture-backed startups are looking to chip away at their…
Welcome to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For our Thursday…
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week, we talked about privacy in crypto and how it’s sometimes at odds with regulation. This week, we’re covering…
There are some events in your life that you look back on and think to yourself, “Wow, that was a really tough time.” We all…
Crypto lending and financial services companies have been at the forefront of the industry’s latest controversies ever since the collapse of the Terra stablecoin, with many drawing parallels between the…
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week, we talked about a hack that gave new, ironic meaning to the word “trustless.” This week, we’ll get…
TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022
FTX Ventures’ Amy Wu is bringing her blockchain investing expertise to TC Sessions: Crypto
10:25 am PDT • August 12, 2022
The world of crypto venture has had a whirlwind few years, with powerful new players inspiring furious catch-up among traditional VC firms aiming to make a name for themselves in…
It seems like there are always people butting heads in the crypto world, and this week was no different. Cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash was hit…
Crypto
Portal Ventures closes on $35 million debut fund for early-stage crypto startups
8:00 am PDT • August 9, 2022
While plenty of crypto investors have scaled back their breakneck pace of startup investing as they wait for more clarity on the macro environment, the fact is there have never…
Crypto
There’s always another nightmarish crypto hack around the corner
3:30 PM PDT • August 7, 2022
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week, we looked at the near-term future for crypto gaming as VCs zero in on where to place consumer…
The world of crypto moves quickly and sometimes, when there’s an ongoing heist, the best thing that technically savvy but ethically sound users can do…
Despite Zuckerberg & Co. spending billions of dollars on virtual reality tech every fiscal quarter, the wider VR startup ecosystem has been having a tough few years coming down from…
