SF is basically heaven

I’m excited to announce our lead investment in @universaldotxyz (formerly Alongside), which is building a protocol to make all cryptoassets available on all chains. Over the last few years, performant L1s and Ethereum L2s have transformed onchain activity and created new opportunities for broader DeFi adoption, such as near-instant transactions and improved UX. But many of the largest cryptoassets aren’t easily tradeable on crypto rails or are siloed to just one blockchain. These assets are much harder to access and integrate into DeFi protocols. As a result, users have had to rely on bridging solutions, multiple wallets, or centralized exchanges. This friction creates capital inefficiency and frustration, but even more importantly, it makes it harder for unsophisticated users to enter DeFi and hinders innovation by reducing DeFi’s composability. In order for crypto to play a larger role in global finance, we need a way to bring any asset onto any chain in an inexpensive, verifiable, and composable way. With Universal’s wrapped tokens, you can trade, borrow, lend, or stake any asset from your preferred wallet on any chain. Think of Universal as a “Circle for cryptoassets.”: you request a wrapped version of your preferred asset on your preferred chain, and, once verified in reserves, it’s minted 1:1 on the destination chain. Universal has started by launching on @Base with integrations into DeFi protocols @aeroxyz and @MorphoLabs, allowing DeFi borrowers to use popular assets from non-smart contract L1s as collateral for lending on Base. We’ve known Universal’s cofounders @AustinLDiamond, @0xgaut, and Jun for over two years since we led their seed round. Not only are they brilliant, but they have an exceptional ability to translate ambitious ideas into real working products. Their combination of crypto knowledge and operational excellence is what we need to help unlock crypto’s full potential. We’re excited to continue supporting Austin, Gaut, Jun, and the Universal team.

Introducing Universal, uAssets, and our $9M round led by @a16zcrypto. Universal brings the tokens you want to trade (think SUI, XRP, and DOGE) to the chains you already trade on (think Base and Solana) – and uAssets have already seen $850M+ in volume since going live. If you do most of your trading onchain, you know how painful it is. Want to trade spot coins like DOGE or XRP, but your money's on Base or Sol? Well...you can't. DeFi protocols are similarly constrained to whichever assets are available and liquid on their chain. We built Universal to make every crypto trade back on crypto rails. uAssets are 1:1-backed wrapped tokens that let you trade native assets without leaving your chain. No bridges, no CEXs, no fragmented liquidity. How this works: open universal.xyz, connect your wallet, and trade over 80+ assets previously unavailable on your chain. uAssets are minted and redeemed on-demand via the Universal relayer. You get near-instant, capital-efficient trading. This becomes really powerful when you use it for DeFi integrations. Take your uXRP and provide liquidity on @aeroxyz, or lend it on @MorphoLabs. uAssets work anywhere ERC-20 tokens do. Developers: we've made it ridiculously easy to bring 80+ assets to your protocol. Our Relayer API gives you access to offchain liquidity and cross-chain settlement in a few lines of code. Reach out to us for access. We're live on Base, Polygon, and Arbitrum. Many more chains coming soon. Try it yourself at universal.xyz. Builders: docs.universal.xyz

Happy to share Browserbase with the world today. We help AI applications browse the web. And we just raised $6.5 million to do it. Now, we're opening signups to developers everywhere. I can't wait to see what you 🅱️uild.

Introducing @cradle_health, co-founded with @huntercoledavis. We're building reversible cryo technologies. Think the hibernation pods you see in space movies for long-term travel - we want to build that. We’ve raised $48M, built a world-class team of scientists and engineers, and achieved electrical activity in previously cryopreserved neural tissue. You can read more about us at cradle.xyz

Full self driving is a decade or more away. We’ve all been completely duped - just like when we were told solar and wind energy were viable replacements to oil and gas.