Slow Burn by Slow Burn Team — The Information Subscriptions

Cars On-Chain

By Slow Burn · Nov. 3, 2023 1:33 PM PDT

DePIN's superpower is in its ability to coordinate fragmented physical networks, and we're only just beginning to witness its extraordinary impact. Perhaps most exciting—and indicative of the ecosystem's maturation—are the projects that leverage crypto simply as a piece of infrastructure to fulfill a product goal (that is often distinct from... DePIN's superpower is in its ability to coordinate fragmented physical networks, and we're only...

Why Does DePIN Matter?

By Slow Burn · Oct. 27, 2023 12:52 PM PDT

At Slow, we conceive of crypto’s progression in three “eras”:Era 1 marked the immaculate conception of Bitcoin post 2008, and the introduction of internet-native money.Era 2 focused on “just making the infrastructure work” and enabling developers globally to begin experimenting on general-purpose blockchains, such as Ethereum and Solana.Era 3,... At Slow, we conceive of crypto’s progression in three “eras”:Era 1 marked the immaculate...

Mapping the Gaming Ecosystem

By Slow Burn · Oct. 20, 2023 10:29 AM PDT

This week, we're spotlighting several emerging and established teams dedicated to bringing more individuals on-chain through gaming. While there are now hundreds of independent developers, studios, modders, and infrastructure providers, we've limited our mapping to 20 significant contributors to the ecosystem.AI Arena: AI Arena is a web PvP... This week, we're spotlighting several emerging and established teams dedicated to bringing more...

By Slow Burn · Oct. 13, 2023 10:59 AM PDT

Play Stupid Games, Win Mainstream Users

By Slow Burn · Oct. 13, 2023 10:59 AM PDT

If you've ever taken public transportation, you’re familiar with the ubiquity of mindless games like Candy Crush. That these simple games are incredibly addictive, despite their basic graphics and straightforward gameplay, is not a novel observation. And yet crypto has not leveraged them in its quest for the ever-elusive “mainstream adoption.”... If you've ever taken public transportation, you’re familiar with the ubiquity of mindless games...

A Brief History of On-Chain Gaming

By Slow Burn · Oct. 6, 2023 10:07 AM PDT

In the past few years, on-chain gaming has greatly benefitted from the establishment of standards and adoption of open-source fundamentals. This week, we’ll dive into the history of on-chain gaming and explore the core innovations that have driven its evolution.2017: The draft of Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard gave rise to pioneering on-chain games... In the past few years, on-chain gaming has greatly benefitted from the establishment of standards...

The Crypto Long Game

By Slow Burn · Sept. 29, 2023 8:55 AM PDT

Gaming is an ever-evolving medium for escape, challenge, and connection—and, historically, has offered an early use case for tech advancements. From experimenting with computer graphics to embracing virtual and augmented reality, gaming has welcomed innovation as it strives to provide more immersive and interactive experiences for its... Gaming is an ever-evolving medium for escape, challenge, and connection—and, historically, has...

Mapping The Stablecoin Ecosystem

By Slow Burn · Sept. 22, 2023 10:42 AM PDT

With over $130Bn in circulating supply, stablecoins are among the most important on-chain assets. This week's market map separates stablecoins into two categories: Central Issuance and Algorithmic. Central Issuance refers to regulated entities issuing tokens backed 1:1 by fiat or fiat-equivalents. Algorithmic stablecoins, on the other hand, rely... With over $130Bn in circulating supply, stablecoins are among the most important on-chain assets....

By Slow Burn · Sept. 15, 2023 9:33 AM PDT

Decentralized Dollars

By Slow Burn · Sept. 15, 2023 9:33 AM PDT

A leading stablecoin model effectively holds USD (or equivalents) 1:1 in an off-chain account. While ostensibly a logical approach, it is subject to counterparty risk (is USDT really 1:1?), blacklist risk (the Lazarus Group can’t use USDC), and centralization risk (issuers must adhere to jurisdiction-specific regulation). Many teams globally are... A leading stablecoin model effectively holds USD (or equivalents) 1:1 in an off-chain account....

Stablecoin Summer

By Slow Burn · Sept. 8, 2023 2:10 PM PDT

PayPal’s and Visa’s stablecoin-related announcements have reintroduced payments as a core use case for blockchains. Perhaps with the exception of Block, which has a long-standing Bitcoin and Lightning initiative, crypto-native experimentation signifies emerging competition for traditional networks and applications—who have to contend with the... PayPal’s and Visa’s stablecoin-related announcements have reintroduced payments as a core use...

Why Do Stablecoins Matter?

By Slow Burn · Sept. 1, 2023 2:00 PM PDT

As previously discussed, Bitcoin revolutionized digital payments as the first decentralized tool for peer-to-peer transactions. And yet USD-backed assets, issued (mostly) by highly centralized entities, have arguably found stronger product-market fit. Since the 2014 launch of Tether (USDT), stablecoin supply has surged to over $120Bn, and has... As previously discussed, Bitcoin revolutionized digital payments as the first decentralized tool...

Mapping The Appchain Ecosystem

By Slow Burn · Aug. 25, 2023 1:06 PM PDT

This month, we explored appchains, which represent a more flexible, if technically complex, substrate than monolithic L1 chains. Below we’ve mapped the nascent ecosystem and highlighted a few teams enabling experimentation at the application layer.Arbitrum Orbit is a program that supports building and launching dApps on Arbitrum's L2 scaling... This month, we explored appchains, which represent a more flexible, if technically complex,...

By Slow Burn · Aug. 18, 2023 7:59 AM PDT

A dApp Developer’s Guide To Appchains

By Slow Burn · Aug. 18, 2023 7:59 AM PDT

This week's post was written by Jake Nyquist, Co-Founder and CEO of Hook. Hook is an NFT-native options protocol and is in the Slow portfolio. The Ethereum community has spent the last 3 months buzzing with a new narrative around app-specific rollups. They’re heralded as an easy way for projects to build custom chains with no... This week's post was written by Jake Nyquist, Co-Founder and CEO of Hook. Hook is an...

Why Not Appchains?

By Slow Burn · Aug. 11, 2023 10:42 AM PDT

As we discussed last week, appchains have emerged as a compelling alternative to general-purpose L1 and L2 networks. In theory, they advertise an enhanced developer and user experience “without tradeoffs”; in practice, however, they are not completely able to deliver on their promise (yet).A comprehensive evaluation of appchains requires... As we discussed last week, appchains have emerged as a compelling alternative to general-purpose...

But Why Appchains?

By Slow Burn · Aug. 4, 2023 7:14 AM PDT

Useful and performant applications will likely drive crypto’s mainstream resurgence. But the developers building them are plagued by a fundamental question: what’s the best chain to deploy on? Recently, application-specific blockchains ("appchains") have posed a compelling alternative to general-purpose Layer 1s.An appchain, as the name implies,... Useful and performant applications will likely drive crypto’s mainstream resurgence. But the...

Montana Land sDAO: The Liquidity Frontier

By Slow Burn · July 28, 2023 8:22 AM PDT

A year and a half ago, Sam published “How to Put Physical Assets on the Blockchain.” The article announces Slow Ventures’ first real-world asset (RWA) project, The Montana Land sDAO (sDAO 1). Using a legally compliant structure, we coordinated capital on-chain to purchase a piece of land in Flathead County, Montana, and fractionalized ownership... A year and a half ago, Sam published “How to Put Physical Assets on the Blockchain.” The article...

By Slow Burn · July 21, 2023 7:12 AM PDT

Mapping The Wallet Ecosystem

By Slow Burn · July 21, 2023 7:12 AM PDT

After a month of discussing the challenges to and innovations in the wallet ecosystem, we're excited to spotlight many of the teams reimagining crypto's critical entry point.Below, we've segmented the wallet landscape into consumer and infrastructure. Generally, we categorized wallets for long-tail retail users as consumer, and products /... After a month of discussing the challenges to and innovations in the wallet ecosystem, we're...

Building Passports To The Internet.

By Slow Burn · July 14, 2023 8:04 AM PDT

This week's post features insights from Raj Parekh, Co-Founder and CEO of Portal. Portal is an embedded wallet infrastructure provider in the Slow portfolio. Raj, previously the Director of Visa's Global Crypto Product, brings a uniquely qualified perspective to combining traditional fintech with crypto.Every company will eventually offer a... This week's post features insights from Raj Parekh, Co-Founder and CEO of Portal. Portal is an...

The iPhone Experience

By Slow Burn · July 7, 2023 8:55 AM PDT

To successfully attract and retain billions of users globally, crypto—and particularly wallets, as an inevitable first blockchain touchpoint—must revamp the user experience. Wallets have been greatly, but insufficiently, refined since the launch of Bitcoin Core. New account abstraction and multi-party computation solutions, which improve... To successfully attract and retain billions of users globally, crypto—and particularly wallets,...

Wallets — Can’t Live Without ‘Em

By Slow Burn · June 30, 2023 3:16 PM PDT

Self-custody wallets (”wallets”) are essential portals to the on-chain world—facilitating activities ranging from onboarding funds to deploying smart contracts.Despite their crucial role in the crypto ecosystem, wallets today offer suboptimal user experiences. The unintuitive message-signing process, unwieldy addresses, and perpetual threat of... Self-custody wallets (”wallets”) are essential portals to the on-chain world—facilitating...

By Slow Burn · June 23, 2023 10:07 AM PDT

Mapping The Exchange Ecosystem

By Slow Burn · June 23, 2023 10:07 AM PDT

Slow Burn’s exchange month has, albeit unintentionally, proved relevant to the current macro environment. Regulators, legislators, and entrepreneurs are engaged in contentious debate over crypto regulation—a watershed in the broader ecosystem's US viability.To conclude our dive into exchanges, we've assembled a market snapshot bifurcated into... Slow Burn’s exchange month has, albeit unintentionally, proved relevant to the current macro...