Who let the bulls out?

Gm, degens. Remember how we told you about Reddit’s NFT success on Tuesday? Looks like collectors are keeping a close eye on the Coinsider Radar—secondary market sales of Collectible Avatar NFTs have skyrocketed over the last few days. How’s that for market moving?

Today: What Rishi Sunak means for crypto, a16z’s investment flop, and crypto’s role in the midterms. Let’s dive in.

—Angelina & Vincent

U.K.’s New PM = Crypto Bull?

Rishi Sunak may be Britain’s third head of government in 50 days, but he’s got a lot of firsts going for him—Sunak’s the youngest PM in modern history, the first Hindu and person of color to lead the U.K., and the richest person to ever reside in No. 10 Downing Street. Could he also be the country’s first crypto bull in office? Let’s unpack.

Who is Rishi Sunak? Son of immigrant parents, Sunak has the CV you’d expect from someone who’s twice as rich as his country’s own king—Oxford degree, Stanford MBA, all that good stuff. After working for Goldman Sachs and a couple of hedge funds, he was elected Chancellor of the Exchequer (aka head of treasury) under former PM Boris Johnson.

Here’s where things get interesting. During his stint as finance minister, Sunak voiced his “ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for crypto-asset technology.”

Sunak’s plans took the shape of a crypto-heavy agenda. Some of his term highlights?

• Commissioning the Royal Mint (a 1,000-year-old government institution) to issue an NFT.

• Pushing a law that would turn stablecoins into a recognized form of payment in Britain while supporting infrastructure to help crypto firms innovate.

• Promoting the benefits of a British CBDC.

Today: Sunak hasn’t publicly commented on crypto since he left his post as finance minister, so we don’t know if his stance has changed. But we’ll know more soon—a crypto-focused parliamentary group urged their new PM to clarify his approach to crypto on Tuesday.

The takeaway? Judging from past appearances, it seems that Sunak recognizes the potential in crypto. He’s also had a lot more direct exposure to the crypto industry than most other politicians, having done roundtables with companies such as Solana Labs and Bitwise.

The U.K. is the world’s sixth-largest economy, so Sunak’s actions could change the political and economic discourse on crypto for the better—provided he can last longer than his predecessor.

—Angelina

The bleeding edge of crypto

This latest bear market is taking down overly ambitious crypto degens and established investors alike. Famed venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) has lost 40% of its crypto fund, according to a report from the WSJ earlier this week.

It’s a shocking loss for the second-most active crypto venture firm. A16z backed 56 crypto companies last year, a deal flow only Coinbase Ventures topped in terms of volume. But a16z’s big bet meant big stakes—its losses doubled that of similar crypto funds.

“They’ve just pushed it so far with crypto that I’m not sure they can rebalance,” Ben Narasin, a general partner at the VC firm Tenacity Venture Capital, told the Journal.

Some background: A16z’s crypto investments were led by partner Chris Dixon, who poorly timed a $4.5 billion investment in a new a16z crypto fund in May. The firm also often invested not only in crypto companies, but also in the native tokens that those companies created.

That meant that when those companies were performing well, a16z got much better returns—but it also suffered heavier losses when they failed (by the end of last year, a16z’s first crypto fund was 10.6 times larger than it was initially).

The takeaway: It’s a lesson as much for you and me as it is for the decision makers at one of the world’s most famous VC shops—if you don’t hedge your bets, you’ll lose as much as you risk.

—Vincent

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Crypto in the midterms

The crypto lobby's effort to get Americans to vote pro-crypto in the midterms is failing, according to a national survey of 1,200 voters run by the Crypto Council.

The stats:

• Only 6% of U.S. voters are going to change their vote based on a candidate's crypto policies.

• 52% want the industry to be more regulated.

• 41% said the industry was regulated enough or didn’t have an opinion.

• 58% want regulators to focus on market stability and fraud prevention with crypto regs.

Bottom line: Crypto has a long way to go before it can find single issue voters.

—Vincent

In other news:

• MakerDAO, the world’s largest DeFi protocol, will break up into smaller units for the sake of decentralization.

• Bitcoin exchange reserves hit their lowest mark in almost five years, suggesting investors are intending to hodl.

• Gen Z is bullish on crypto and is using it to save for retirement.

• The bear market hasn’t stifled institutional investors’ interest in crypto.

• Norway goes metaverse with a Decentraland tax office.

And that’s what you need on your radar today in crypto. We’re taking bets on how long Rishi Sunak will last as Prime Minister, so hit that reply button. Catch you on Sunday!