π#111: Project Stargate
Trump's historic crypto executive order. Ethereum's crisis. Circle acquired Hashnote. Hugo Boss launches AI product content. Walmart's e-commerce strategy on Zepeto. $500B AI Project Stargate.
Hey, itβs Marc. This week is loaded with alpha β donβt miss our top under-the-radar macro signals at the bottom.
βOn Zepeto, particularly when it comes to clothing and fashion, thereβs a much higher propensity to spend on digital goods.β
β Barney Lynch, Account Director, GEEIQ
This weekβs question:
π Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.
Letβs dive inπ¦
π Our Top Reads This Week
Report: The Dawn of AI Agents. 51x. Link
The Solana Thesis: Internet Capital Markets. Multicoin Capital. Link
State of Web3 Adoption Report 2025. 51 Insights. Link
The Tech Stack: A New Internet Architecture. Outlier Ventures. Link
Scaling Ethereum L1 and L2s in 2025 and beyond. Vitalik. Link
Electric Capital: 2025 Crypto Landscape. SBR. Link
TRUMP and Its Implications. TPAN. Link
π¨ Weβre going to release an exclusive report on Web3 for sports & entertainment soon. Sign up below to be among the first to get it:
Ethereum is Missing Its Moment
The Ethereum community is buzzing with controversy following Vitalik Buterinβs update on the Ethereum Foundationβs leadership shakeup.
TLDR:
He wants to boost technical expertise, improve ecosystem communication, and support app builders to promote decentralization, privacy, and censorship resistance.
But hereβs the real problem: π€―
itβs too little, too slow, and far too disconnected from the realities of todayβs market.
Ethereum has become a giant asleep at the wheel.
They missed the meme coin boom (love it or hate it, it drove massive adoption elsewhere).
Theyβre nowhere in AI tokens despite AIβs global takeover
Their marketing and PR? A ghost town. Where are the bold campaigns? The moves to onboard corporates, institutional investors, or mainstream users?
"Sharding" is in the works since 5+ years, but transaction speed and cost are still nowhere competitive.
Ethereum's market dominance dropped 50% to a mere 10% in 2024.
And while Ethereum tinkers with its internal structure and ideologies, competitors are shipping products, capturing market share, and defining the future.
Punchline: Ethereum struggles to find its place among top L1s for consumer and corporate adoption. One thing is clear: Leadership needs to step-up.
Circle Acquires Hashnote
Circle acquired Hashnote, the issuer of the worldβs largest tokenized money market fund (TMMF), US Yield Coin (USYC), valued at over $1.25B. [Announcement]
Goal? To connect cash and yield-bearing assets with USYC-USDC integration.
What does this mean?
Crypto capital markets: Instant convertibility and faster access to collateral
TradFi: Unlocks blockchain-enabled efficiency, driving liquidity and transparency at an unprecedented scale.
Why it matters: Traditional financial institutions have relied on fragmented systems to manage collateral and cash. Circleβs approach puts both on the blockchain, enabling real-time transactions, better risk management, and broader institutional participation.
By the data: With the RWA sector already valued at $7.89B, it signals the rise of tokenized RWAsβassets like Treasury bills, tokenized and deployed on blockchain.
Whatβs next: Circle plans to deploy USDC natively on the Canton Networkβa blockchain designed for secure financial applications. With over $3.6T in RWA issued and $1.5T in repo transactions monthly, Canton is positioned to be a critical bridge for institutional finance moving on-chain.
E-Commerce on Metaverse
Walmart launched an e-commerce experience for physical goods on Zepeto.
What you should know:
Users can order Walmart clothing directly through the Zepeto app through Walmartβs account without re-entering payment info.
Select in-store purchases, which include free virtual equivalents on Zepeto.
Why it matters: Walmart is bridging digital and physical retail in the metaverse. Success with virtual try-ons on Zepeto (20M monthly users, 70% Gen Z, mostly female) led to real-world e-commerce integration and a perfect testing ground.
Zooming in: Walmart partnered with Zepeto last year, enabling users to try on No Boundaries virtual outfits since October 2024, with a second drop in November.
3.5M+ virtual try-ons since October.
1.3M virtual garment purchases.
1.87M Zepeto content pieces featuring Walmart items.
Stepping back: In 2024, Walmart entered the metaverse by launching an e-commerce experience on Roblox in April, followed by its own virtual world platform, Walmart Realm, in May.
The power of data: Walmart leverages Zepeto to understand:
Virtual design trends: Graphic designs and phrases outperform plain items.
Gen Z preferences: Insights into virtual and real-world apparel choices.
This data could shape Walmartβs strategies across Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft. By focusing on clothing instead of accessories, Walmart aligns with Zepetoβs core strengths.
Project Stargate: A $500B AI Push
Donald Trump announced Project Stargate, a $500B joint venture by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.
The goal? Building a robust U.S.-based AI data centre network.
What you should know:
Job Creation: Promises over 100,000 American jobs
Massive Stakeholders: Major tech players like Microsoft, NVIDIA, Arm, and Oracle are backing the effort, with billions in funding already pledged
Microsoft: $80B; SoftBank: $24.3B; MGX: $100B & Oracle: $11B
Starting Point: The first phase starts in Abilene, Texas, with 10 data centres already in construction. Plans could expand to 20 centres
What they say: The project has sparked debate, with Elon Musk questioning the financial viability, but key investors are doubling down on the ventureβs potential.
Punchline: According to FT, Stargate has no fully developed plan, hasnβt yet secured funding, will get no government financing, and will exclusive serve OpenAI once operational.
π¨ Other Highlights You Canβt Miss
The US strategic Bitcoin reserve is coming. Link
Hugo Boss launched AI-powered product content globally. Link
Coach adopted generative AI to create "digital twins" of their handbags. Link
UCLA athletes and students will use CUDIS smart rings for health tracking. Link
Crypto.com secures MiCA in-principle approval. Link
OpenAI launched its AI agent, Operator. Link
π Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.
π¨ Top Under-The-Radar Macro Signals
Bitcoin:
MicroStrategy now holds 461,000 BTC ($29.3B total), adding 11K BTC for $1.1B at $101K each, with a 1.69% YTD yield.
El Salvador added 12 BTC, boosting its reserves to 6,044.18 BTC.
Rumbleβs first Bitcoin purchase was on January 17 with plans to invest $20M in Bitcoin.
Regulation:
The SEC has rescinded SAB 121, clearing the path for U.S. banks to offer digital asset custody. Under new SAB 122, banks will report custody risks as contingent liabilities, enabling more involvement in crypto & tokenization services.
Senator Cynthia Lummis to chair senate panel on digital assets. βUS Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, pretty much confirmedβ, tweets CZ, former Binance CEO.
π° Money Moves
Phantom: Crypto wallet raised $150M Series C led by Sequoia Capital & Paradigm. Link
Komainu: Centralized exchange raised $75M led by Blockstream Capital Partners. Link
Raspberry AI: AI startup raised $24M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz. Link
Oshi: Anime fandom platform raised $12.5M led by Polychain Capital. Link
Merit System: Blockchain infra company raised $10M from a16z crypto. Link
Thatβs all for now, folks.
Talk soon,
β Marc & Team
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