Highlights From The 2024 Multicoin Summit
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Last month, we hosted the Multicoin Summit in New York City. This annual gathering allows us to spotlight the most important trends of the year and share our insights on what to expect in the years ahead. To help unpack these ideas, we assembled an outstanding lineup of speakers, including founders and CEOs from Drift, Hivemapper, Baxus, Jito, Pyth, dFlow, Solana, Visa, and Double Zero. Our investment committee also delved into a wide range of topics, such as the design space for stablecoins, capital efficiency in DeFi, MEV and value capture, DeFi Primes and Super Protocols, and more. With hundreds of attendees and countless engaging conversations, this summit was undoubtedly one of the best we’ve ever hosted.
As Kyle noted in his opening remarks, 2024 will be remembered as one of the most consequential years in the history of crypto. From the launch of the first BTC ETFs earlier this year to the midyear shift in the smart contract market, and now with the election of the first-ever pro-crypto President and Congress, the industry is entering a new era. We are optimistic that 2025 will bring landmark legislation in the United States, establishing regulatory frameworks that foster greater innovation both domestically and internationally.
Beyond this regime shift, several key technical trends are driving innovation. Kyle, Tushar, and Spencer presented on stablecoins, MEV, and DeFi, respectively—three of the most critical areas in crypto today. Additionally, Shayon and Vishal introduced two novel investment theses: ICONs (Inference via Crypto-Orchestrated Networks) and BECMs (Blockchain-Enabled Collectibles Marketplaces). These presentations reflect months of in-depth research and provide our unique perspectives on these topics. Each one is well worth watching.
We were also honored to host U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee as a keynote speaker this year. In a fireside chat with Kyle, Senator Hagerty shared his journey into crypto, his passion for the industry, and his outlook under the incoming administration. Paired with Greg’s session on the post-election regulatory environment, these discussions offer invaluable insights into the evolving dynamics of U.S. crypto policy.
Additionally, we were thrilled to welcome back Austin Federa to the Multicoin Summit—this time as Co-Founder and President of the Double Zero Foundation. His fireside chat marked the first in-depth conversation about Double Zero, an ambitious new project aimed at accelerating the internet.
We invite you to explore the 2024 Summit videos below and join us on X to discuss the core trends and issues shaping the future of our industry. The sessions are conveniently organized into a YouTube playlist for easy viewing.
2024 In Review
- Kyle Samani, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
Kyle kicked off the summit by exploring the year in review. In the opening remarks, he covers Multicoin’s five major trends of the year: the rise of Solana, stablecoins, DePIN, regulation, and the arrival of Wall Street.
Stablecoins Are Eating the World
- Kyle Samani, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
Immediately following the year in review, Kyle presented Stablecoins Are Eating The World. In this 25 minute presentation he contextualizes where stablecoins are in the adoption curve of history, and points to several near-term catalysts that are poised to accelerate adoption in the year ahead.
Value Capture In The MEV Stack
- Tushar Jain, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
Two years ago Tushar presented MEV as a Framework for Valuing Asset Ledgers, which outlined a novel way to value blockchains. Today, that framework has largely been adopted by other allocators and market participants. In the spiritual successor to that presentation, Tushar shared our latest thesis on MEV capture and how it will evolve as the market structure matures.
Exploring The Solana MEV Stack
- Tushar Jain, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
- Lucas Bruder, Founder and CEO of Jito Labs
- Jayant Krishnamurthy, Co-Founder and CTO of Douro Labs
- Nitesh Nath, Founder and CEO, DFlow
Following Tushar’s presentation, he invited Lucas Bruder, the Founder and CEO of Jito Labs, Jayant Krishnamurthy, Co-Founder and CTO of Douro Labs (contributor to Pyth), and Nitesh Nath, Founder and CEO of DFlow on to the stage to discuss the nature of MEV and how the they expect it to change as MEV and application value capture becomes more sophisticated.
A Conversation With Senator Bill Hagerty
- US Senator Bill Hagerty
- Kyle Samani, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
In this fireside chat, Senator Bill Hagerty discusses his crypto journey, how he became an advocate for crypto innovation in the US, and his crypto policy outlook in light of the recent federal elections. We’re truly honored that Senator Hagerty joined us during this pivotal moment in our industry’s history.
Solana’s State of the Union
- Raj Gokal, Co-Founder & President, Solana Labs
- Tushar Jain, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital
In this fireside chat, Raj Gokal, Co-Founder and President at Solana Labs, sits Tushar to discuss Solana's state of the union after a historic year. This conversation traverses several major technical developments, Solana's builder culture, and what we can expect in the years ahead out of the Solana ecosystem.
Solana’s Technical Year In Review
- Matt Sorg, Vice President of Technology, Solana Foundation
In this presentation, Matt Sorg, Vice President of Technology at Solana Foundation, provides a technical retrospective on Solana's ascent in 2024 and an overview of the upcoming developments prioritized by the community and the foundation.
Visa’s Vision for Stablecoins
- Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto, Visa
- Matt Shapiro, Partner, Multicoin Capital
In this fireside chat, Cuy Sheffield, the Head of Crypto at Visa, and Matt discuss Visa's ambitious vision for stablecoins within the global payments system. Cuy shares his journey into crypto and how he became the head strategist at one of the largest payment companies in the world, and how he expects stablecoins to impact payees and merchants as adoption continues to proliferate.
Improving Capital Efficiency in DeFi
- Spencer Applebaum, Investment Partner, Multicoin Capital
In this presentation, Spencer introduces a new thesis on how to improve capital efficiency in DeFi derivative markets using Super Protocols and DeFi Primes, two new concepts that we debuted for the first time at this year’s summit.
Drift: The DeFi Super Protocol
- David Lu, Co-Founder, Drift Protocol
Following Spencer’s presentation, David Lu, Co-Founder at Drift Protocol, detailed his vision for Super Protocols and explained how they are integrating multiple DeFi primitives into a unified liquidity platform to deliver a seamless, cross-margined user experience. In case you missed it, Spencer and Tushar published a 28-page report in September detailing our thesis on Drift. You can read that paper here.
ICONs: Inference Via Crypto-Orchestrated Networks
- Shayon Sengupta, Investment Partner, Multicoin Capital
In this presentation, Shayon introduces a new thesis on ICONs: Inference Via Crypto-Orchestrated Networks. In one of the more technical presentations of the day, he explores the burgeoning decentralized datacenter market and expands on how crypto will play an integral role in the proliferation of AI in the years ahead.
Mapping The World With Hivemapper
- Ariel Seidman, Co-Founder and CEO, Hivemapper
In this presentation, Ariel Seidman, Co-Founder and CEO of Hivemapper, shares an update on Hivemapper and explains how they mapped more than 25% of the world in less than two years using a distributed fleet of driving contributors organized through novel token incentives.
Remaking the Internet with Double Zero
- Austin Federa, Co-Founder & President, Double Zero Foundation
- Shayon Sengupta, Investment Partner, Multicoin Capital
In this fireside chat, Austin Federa, formerly the Head of Strategy at Solana Foundation and now the Co-Founder and President of Double Zero Foundation, gave our audience a sneak peek at Double Zero's ambitious plan to accelerate the internet and make it more palatable for blockchain networks. Double Zero represents one of the most exciting and ambitious technical projects in crypto today.
The Post-Election Regulatory Environment For Crypto Assets
- Greg Xethalis, General Counsel, Multicoin Capital
- Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer, Polygon Labs
- TuongVy Le, General Counsel, Anchorage Digital
In this panel, our General Counsel Greg Xethalis joins Rebecca Rettig, the Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs, and TuongVy Le, General Counsel for Anchorage Digital, to explore the post-election regulatory environment for crypto assets.
BECMs: Blockchain-Enable Collectibles Marketplaces
- Vishal Kankani, Principal, Multicoin Capital
In this presentation, Vishal delves into the firm’s thesis on Blockchain-Enabled Collectibles Marketplaces (BECMs) and the firm’s belief that collectible marketplaces are the best way to find venture-scale opportunities in real-world assets (RWAs). For an introduction to this thesis, see Vishal and Eli’s initial post here.
Baxus: Lighting up Dark Markets
- Todd Wiesel, Co-Founder and CEO, Baxus
Following Vishal’s presentation, Todd Wiesel, the Co-Founder and CEO of Baxus, shared his insights on how he’s building a first-of-its-kind BECM to light up the fragmented spirits market.
Thank you for watching our presentations and panels from the 2024 Multicoin Summit. Remember to subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube channel to receive updates from the firm on a go-forward basis.
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