Dear Friends & Family,

The difference between a crazy person and a genius?

"Success" said Javier Milei recently on Lex Fridman's podcast.

The world could use more crazy people, the ones who turn into geniuses in the public eye when their ideas start to work.

2025 might require a rethinking of many preconceived notions.

The older I get, the more I value people being open to ideas, no matter how “radical,” “socialist,” or “vulture capitalistic” they may seem.

Labels don’t help, they just provoke unnecessary battles. What we need is a battle of better ideas.

Believing that the best ideas always win is certainly naive.

But continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results? That’s insanity—whether Einstein said it or not.

Half a year ago, the tech industry, once proudly democratic, started rolling out the red carpet for Trump and his “Vice President,” Elon Musk.

Like it or not, there’s a feeling of Aufbruchstimmung in the US, a fresh start, that we haven’t seen in a while.

If Elon Musk can launch 7,000 satellites for a global internet network or build a reusable spacecraft, why not fund him a moonshot for laser fusion?

The International Space Station, a $150 billion collaboration involving 15 countries, is probably humanity’s largest joint endeavor to date.

Could we pull off something like that to produce abundant, cheap, and clean energy today?

When Dogecoin has a market cap of $60 billion and meme coins like Fartcoin are nearing a billion, it’s clear that money isn’t the obstacle.

We need more bold and naive builders, who are chasing the one-in-a-million shot that could have a meaningful impact on the world.

The problem is not money, it is ambition.

Welcome Bayesline

Thomas Bayes was an 18th century English statistician and philosopher best known for formulating the "Bayes' Theorem", which provides a way to update probabilities based on new evidence.

That is exactly what Misha van Beek and Sebastian Janisch are building with Bayesline: risk management software that operates at the speed of markets, not at the speed of humans.

We’re thrilled to be backing these two exceptional founders.

Both have stellar track records at BlackRock and Bloomberg, and judging by the buzz on LinkedIn, they have plenty of cheerleaders in the industry rooting for their success.

Their work reminds me of the transformative introduction of spreadsheets in the 1980s with Lotus 1-2-3 (for Gen Z: Microsoft Excel), which revolutionized financial planning and modeling.

We’re confident Misha and Sebastian will redefine risk management with AI, creating tools as groundbreaking as spreadsheets once were.

Welcome Level

In today’s volatile world, stablecoins have become the foundation of the crypto ecosystem, bridging stability and innovation.

While many are still searching for crypto’s elusive killer app, stablecoins like Tether and USDC have quietly amassed a combined market cap exceeding $200 billion.

But there’s a drawback: stablecoins, as essential as they are, struggle to generate meaningful returns.

Enter Kedian Sun and David Lee. With exceptional credentials and deep industry expertise, they’ve built Level, a protocol making stablecoins work harder.

Level issues Level USD (LvIUSD), the first stablecoin backed by dollar-denominated tokens re-staked on shared security protocols like EigenLayer, Symbiotic, and Karak.

This dual-yield strategy not only enables holders to earn through lending but also introduces a second layer of returns via re-staking.

By optimizing income potential while relying on the stability of dollar-backed assets, Level is breaking new ground in a quickly expanding market.

We’re excited to welcome Level as investment #16 in our portfolio of great founders.

Marcello writes a book

Curious about what Level does - or what decentralized finance even means? Check out our colleague Marcello’s book, “DeFi Revolution”.

Marcello fell down the crypto rabbit hole in 2018 after witnessing Uniswap’s rise firsthand.

His book (available in English and German) explains the often bewildering world of crypto and DeFi in a way that’s accessible for both beginners and seasoned enthusiasts (I know they always write that about books but it’s true).

It’s everything you need to form your own opinion about this transformative financial system.

Want a signed copy? Reach out to Marcello!

Coming up: Davos Web3 Investor Gathering, January 21, 2025

Co-hosted with Animoca Brands and supported by many other amazing partners, this event is the perfect way to kick off the new year with movers and shakers from the industry.

If you’re in Davos during the week of January 20-23, we’d love to meet you there!

Season’s Greetings

Whether you celebrate Christmas, another holiday, or simply enjoy the season, we wish you peace, joy, and a wonderful start to the new year.

To our incredible founders, investors, advisors, colleagues, and friends - thank you for believing in us, challenging us, and being a part of our journey.

Here’s to a healthy, happy, and curious 2025!

Warmest regards,

Wolfgang with Ben, Marcel, and Sagar