Lucas Matney
Senior Editor
The Latest from Lucas Matney
YC and a16z back virtual reality basketball app Gym Class
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 the highs of 2
Arca’s David Nage on how regulatory scrutiny is impacting venture investment in web3
The regulatory environment surrounding crypto is shifting stateside as the SEC takes aim at major players in the web3 world, promising to shake up business as usual with aggressive action. This week o
Can VCs game crypto out of this downturn?
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week, we looked at Musk holding onto doge. This week, we’re talking about where all of this crypto VC money is possibly gonna go. To get this in your inbox e
Securities are in the eye of the beholder
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has brought down its wrath on Coinbase. The publicly traded exchange has been under investigation for allegedly selling crypto tokens on its platform that q
The outlook is getting more complicated for Meta’s virtual reality dreams
For an industry that rarely has major news anymore, this was an awfully big week for virtual reality. Unsurprisingly, all of the important data points are related to the industry’s sole benefact
FTC sues Meta to block acquisition of VR fitness app
The FTC filed an injunction today to block Meta’s acquisition of the virtual reality studio Within, which is best known more recently for its subscription VR workout app Supernatural. The regula
The “D” in DAO doesn’t stand for democracy, says Upstream CEO Alexander Taub
Ever since a group of chronically online crypto enthusiasts tried to buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution in a high-profile bidding war, DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) have been at the f
The Dogefather sends his regards
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week, we looked at a crossover episode for meme investing. This week, we’re talking about Musk dumping tokens while holding onto others. You can get this new
Snap stock is getting obliterated
Investors in social media company Snap are reeling this afternoon as the stock has endured a bit of a meltdown following its release of Q2 earnings yesterday. The stock price is down nearly 40% for th
The SEC takes a long-feared position in Coinbase insider trading suit
A former product manager at Coinbase has been arrested, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday, after being charged in a cryptocurrency insider trading scheme related to the listing of new cry
Get ready for a lot of dead DAOs
After a lengthy crypto bull run, the startups and projects in the space are reining in expectations and settling in for a long-haul crypto winter. It’s been a particularly tough time for DAOs, w
Elon Musk discloses that Tesla owns Dogecoin, but how much does it have?
Despite announcing that Tesla had sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in Q2, CEO Elon Musk disclosed in a quarterly investor call that the company also held Dogecoin and had not sold any of those holding
Tesla dumped 75% of its Bitcoin holdings
Elon Musk apparently isn’t trying to hodl Tesla’s bitcoin during a crypto winter. During the company’s Q2 earnings report, the electric car company revealed it has sold 75% of its Bi
Bored Apes founders on their plans for Otherside metaverse
After seemingly pulling off the strangest unicorn success story in tech, the founders of NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have an awful lot to prove with their startup Yuga‘s early beta v
Yat founder Naveen Jain talks ’emoji identity’ and lasting web3 trends
As the crypto market continues to struggle, plenty of founders and investors are left wondering whether this latest bull run was all some grand fever dream or whether some of the trends of the past tw
GameStop looks to diversify its meme money
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week, we looked at web3 without Web 2.0’s winners. This week, we’re looking at a crossover episode for meme investing. You can get this in your inbox e
NFT brand loyalty platform Hang banks $16M from Paradigm
Crypto startups — fresh off a mind-boggling bull run — are preparing for the next phase of life where the mere mention of “NFT,” “DAO” or “DeFi” may not tempt i
NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off 20% of its staff: ‘We have entered … crypto winter’
Despite a significant depression in crypto markets, plenty of top players have been hesitant to say that the good times are over for the time being, but as NFT marketplace OpenSea announces today that
A meme stock’s second shot at the moon
Everyone’s favorite 2020 meme stock is back in the news, and this time it’s flexing on crypto industry incumbent Coinbase. GameStop, which largely operates brick-and-mortar retail stores f
Magic Leap details pricing for its next augmented reality device
It’s been an interesting life for Magic Leap, the augmented reality startup with big dreams and some big moments of hubris thus far. Today, the company detailed the availability and pricing of i