{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Scoop","title":"A crypto fund that just raised $450 million offers bull case for web3","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3137,"description":"Variant — a venture capital firm founded on the idea that the next iteration of the internet is going to be defined by decentralized, user-owned networks — has raised $450 million to be deployed across two new funds.\nIn this episode of The Scoop, Variant co-founders Jesse Walden and Spencer Noon reveal how they plan on allocating the capital — and why Variant remains bullish on the long-term future of web3.\nAccording to Walden, the technology powering the emerging web3 industry will only improve from here:\n“In the history of technology, technology doesn't get worse and disappear — it gets better and more pervasive. And that's happening at an exponential rate in Web3, because this is all software, it's all open source, and there's just tons of talent jumping in... So the tech is working, and again, I think that means it's only going to be more pervasive.”\nAlthough web3 is still in its infancy, the Variant co-founders believe elements of it are already disrupting their centralized equivalents. For example, Walden describes how certain distressed lenders recently prioritized paying back loans to DeFi protocols over other counterparties:\n“DeFi protocols were the only protocols that got paid back by some of these institutions that blew up … the transparency and sort of enforcement of these smart contracts can actually have better outcomes than the alternative, which is opacity and sort of trust in the wrong parties.”\n\nEpisode 70 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro, and Variant Co-Founders Jesse Walden and Spencer Noon.\nListen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.\nThis episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC Schaffhausen\nAbout Chainalysis\nChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies,...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/kC6kzNjgr18dm0FmBfV_f9xccAkjj-QXoCJmVNlNtrU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8xZmIz/N2E5MmRmMzJjOTU3/OTNhYjJkYzcxZTlj/MTU2Yi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}