EP. 100 | Consensus Miami is in Full Swing. Are you on our list tonight
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Member Spotlight
This week we’re doing our first ever double spotlight.
Meet Maggie Hsu and Charlie Keinath 👋
Two people helping shape one of the most influential firms in crypto from the inside.
Maggie Hsu
→ AWS Blockchain
→ Emerging tech + GTM strategy
→ Head of GTM at a16z crypto
Consistently early to where the market is heading next.
Charlie Keinath
→ BuzzFeed
→ Beeswax → Comcast acquisition
→ NexHealth
→ Talent Partner at a16z crypto
Helping build the talent networks powering the next generation of web3 companies.
And last week marked a major milestone.
The a16z crypto team announced their newest $2.2B crypto fund focused on backing founders building the next generation of infrastructure adoption.
It’s great seeing members of our network helping shape that vision from the front lines.
This is what our network is all about. Access is earned. Keep building.
Show Maggie and Charlie some love 👇
🎉 Introduction.com@ Consensus🎉
The Miami residency is nearing capacity.
Consensus Miami is well underway.
And Introduction.com is doing what we do best.
Monday night kicked things off at Cipriani Miami alongside American Bitcoin.
Bellinis. Carpaccio. Biscayne Bay at golden hour. Decision-makers only.
Yesterday’s room. Tomorrow’s headlines.
And that was only Dinner I.
Two private rooms remain.
You missed the first room.
The dinner may be over, but the opportunity around it is not.
Deals are still being discussed. Introductions are still being made. Follow ups are already in motion.
If you want the debrief from the room, context around what came out of the night, or early access to the remaining private events this week, reach out for consideration.
Sunset on OceanDrive. Co-hosted with Pi Network and XDC Network and powered by Arcadia. A global room built around scale, distribution, and the next wave of adoption.
A private waterfront estate to close the week. Co-hosted with Hedera, TBV, and Diamante and powered by Arcadia. A closed-door gathering for the institutions, allocators, and operators shaping what comes next.
Strictly Invite-Only.
Chatham House Rule applies.
No spectators, no "networking", just high-signal alignment between the few who shape the many.
Final allocations are happening now.
Access is earned.
Welcome to the Network
We are proud to introduce the newest innovators and leaders joining our community; please take a moment to connect with them and welcome them to the inner circle 👇
David Mikulecky | Sarmen Saryan |
Dylan Shub | Alex Yastremski |
Jay Drain Jr. | Anthony Wise |
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Top Raises
Member Activity
Series A
Fun (formerly Fun.xyz) raised $72M in a Series A round led by Multicoin Capital and SignalFire, with participation from Infinity Ventures and Pharsalus Capital.
The New York-based startup builds the deposit and withdrawal rails that let users move money in and out of crypto platforms, with the fresh round backing continued infrastructure scale on top of more than $18B in annual payments volume already flowing through customers like Polymarket, Lighter, and Aave.
Big win for John Robert Reed and the Multicoin team! LFG!
Fence secured $20M in a Series A round led by Galaxy Digital, with ParaFi Capital and Crane Ventures also participating.
The startup quietly leans on smart contracts and tokenization to automate the operational layer of structured credit deals, and the new round will fuel U.S. expansion and product development as it sets its sights on the back-end of the $6T asset-backed finance market.
Love the energy from CJ Huntzinger and the Galaxy Team. Keep the wins coming!
Belo closed a $14M Series A round led by Tether, joined by Titan Fund and The Venture City.
The Argentine fintech operates a digital wallet that bundles payments, FX, and cross-border transfers on stablecoin rails, with proceeds earmarked for regional expansion across Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil on top of an existing 3M+ user base in Latin America.
Super proud of Tether! Glad they are on our team!
Series A Extension
Blockworks announced a Series A extension at a $192M valuation, led by ParaFi and Reciprocal Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Advancit Capital.
The crypto-native data and research firm plans to put the proceeds toward rolling up the fragmented crypto data space through M&A, scaling toward its "Morningstar of crypto" ambition on the back of more than 500% ARR growth last year.
Coinbase always coming in clutch! Congrats to our member Pia Maria Szabo and the rest of Coinbase team!
Strategic
Squads brought in $18M of strategic funding led by Solana Ventures, with backing from Coinbase Ventures and Haun Ventures.
Proceeds are going toward scaling Altitude, Squads' stablecoin-native business finance platform, which has already pushed more than $200M in payments since its December launch for exporters, global agencies, crypto-native companies, and cross-border remote teams.
Solana Ventures and Coinbase are both members. Appreciate the inside scoop on the raise, guys!
Seed
Legend Trade raised $3.5M in seed funding led by Electric Capital, with Amber Group and GSR also participating.
The fresh capital will fund the build-out of Legend's "trader-to-trader" on-chain derivatives platform, where users square off against each other through perpetual contracts and which has already cleared more than $80M in volume within three weeks of its public beta.
GSR always seems to know whats good. Glad they are with us.
Acquisition
Sodot was acquired by MoonPay in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $100M, anchoring the launch of MoonPay Institutional.
The Israeli MPC and TEE-based key management firm has secured more than $50B in transactions across over 10 million wallets for clients like eToro and BitGo, with its infrastructure set to power MoonPay Institutional's push to serve banks, asset managers, and other regulated financial firms under the leadership of former acting CFTC chair Caroline Pham.
Shoutout to Halsey Huth and the MoonPay team! I believe this an introduction.com first for them!
Non-Member Activity
Acquisition
Block Street is being acquired by AI Financial Corp. (formerly ALT5 Sigma, NASDAQ: ALTS) in a deal worth up to $43M, structured through a mix of stock and performance-linked warrants.
AI Financial, the Trump-family-linked public company that signed on last year to hold World Liberty Financial tokens on its balance sheet as part of a $1.5B crypto reserve, is picking up a pre-revenue startup whose CEO and largest shareholder, Matthew Morgan, also happens to be an advisor to AI Financial.
Houdini Swap is being acquired by SOL Strategies (NASDAQ: STKE) for $18M in cash, shares, and a promissory note, plus up to $10M of additional earn-out tied to performance hurdles.
The non-custodial, privacy-focused cross-chain swap aggregator pulled in roughly $13M of revenue last year and has cleared more than $2.5B in cumulative volume across over 100 blockchains, with the deal deepening SOL Strategies' push beyond validator operations and into transaction routing and cross-chain liquidity.
Strategic
Capital B (formerly The Blockchain Group) raised €1.1M (approximately $1.28M) via a warrant issuance subscribed by Blockstream co-founder Adam Back.
The Euronext Growth Paris-listed firm, billed as Europe's first Bitcoin Treasury Company, currently holds 2,943 BTC and used the deal to reprice its B-04 convertible bonds previously held by Back, who now controls 9.97% of the company on a fully diluted basis.
The American Spirit ✈️
Spirit Airlines' descent into insolvency was not caused by one sudden crisis, but years of financial strain, operational inefficiency, and a business model that increasingly failed to align with shifting consumer preferences. The airline's stock collapse reflected that reality:
June 2022 → ~$23.84
December 2022 → ~$19.48
June 2023 → ~$17.16
December 2023 → ~$16.39
June 2024 → ~$3.66
December 2024 → ~$1.08 before delisting
While revenue remained relatively stable, profitability collapsed under rising fuel costs, elevated debt obligations, aircraft grounding issues, aggressive fare competition, and weakening demand for ultra low cost travel.
2022 Revenue → ~$5.07 billion
2023 Revenue → ~$5.36 billion
2025 Revenue → ~$4.95 billion
Q4 2023 Net Loss → ~$183.7 million
First Half 2024 Net Loss → ~$335.5 million
Spirit had already been warning investors for multiple quarters that margins were under pressure. Higher interest expenses, Pratt & Whitney engine related aircraft groundings, fare wars, and consumers shifting toward more comfort oriented carriers all compounded the company's deterioration.
The failed merger with JetBlue Airways became the defining turning point. Regulators blocked the deal in 2024 after arguing the acquisition would eliminate Spirit Airlines as a low cost competitor and ultimately raise fares for budget travelers. Once the merger collapsed, investor confidence and liquidity rapidly deteriorated.
By the time the Iran war triggered a massive spike in jet fuel prices through disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Spirit was already in severe distress. The airline had already filed for Chapter 11 restructuring multiple times across 2024 and 2025 before the conflict even began. The war and fuel shock were not the root cause of Spirit's collapse. They were simply the final blow to a heavily indebted, cash starved airline that lacked the balance sheet to survive another major macroeconomic shock.
Markets & Macro
Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged at Jerome Powell’s Final Meeting as Chairman
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady following Jerome Powell's final meeting as Chairman.
The decision cements his legacy of cautious monetary policy, leaving his successor to navigate sticky inflation and a shifting global liquidity landscape.
WLFI Races Toward 62 Billion Token Unlock With Near Unanimous Vote
The World Liberty Financial ecosystem is racing toward a massive 62 billion token unlock following a near unanimous governance vote.
This unprecedented release is expected to significantly alter the protocol's liquidity and market dynamics, drawing intense scrutiny from traders anticipating severe volatility.
Business & Adoption
GameStop's $55.5 Billion eBay Takeover Puts Its $368 Million Bitcoin Stash in the Crosshairs
GameStop launched a $55.5 billion takeover bid for eBay.
This aggressive M&A move puts the retailer's $368 million Bitcoin treasury in the spotlight, prompting analyst speculation on whether the digital assets will be liquidated to fund the acquisition or leveraged as collateral.
Meta and Visa Accelerate Mainstream Stablecoin Payment Rails
Mainstream stablecoin utility is hitting critical mass.
Visa’s settlement pilot reached a $7 billion annualized run rate and expanded to nine blockchains to handle surging demand, while Meta officially began paying select creators in stablecoins using Stripe's upgraded cross border payout infrastructure.
Polymarket Seeks $1.5B Valuation Amid Compliance Upgrades and Whale Dominance
Facing intense regulatory scrutiny, Polymarket partnered with Chainalysis to police insider trading while seeking new capital at a $1.5 billion valuation.
This push for institutional scale arrives alongside new onchain data revealing that fewer than 1% of active wallets, primarily sophisticated algorithmic traders, capture over half of all platform profits.
Regulation Roundup
United States 🇺🇸
Senate Banking Pushed for Markup as Industry Backs CLARITY Act Yield Compromise
Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) have released a bipartisan compromise resolving the last major sticking point in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, prohibiting stablecoin yield "economically or functionally equivalent to a bank deposit" while preserving rewards tied to bona fide product activity.
Coinbase, Circle, and the Blockchain Association endorsed the language within hours of release, applying renewed pressure on a Senate Banking Committee that had postponed markup of the bill since January.
Gemini Wins CFTC Clearing License to Challenge Kalshi and Polymarket
The Winklevoss twins' Gemini Space Station has secured Derivatives Clearing Organization approval from the CFTC, giving the exchange the in-house authority to clear and settle prediction market trades alongside the Designated Contract Market license its Gemini Titan affiliate received in December.
The move arms Gemini with a full regulatory stack to compete with Kalshi, Polymarket, and Hyperliquid in a sector that ballooned over 300% in 2025 to $63.5 billion in volume, with GEMI shares rallying on the news.
FINRA Approves Securitize as First Underwriter for Tokenized IPOs
FINRA has authorized Securitize to act as an underwriter, selling-group member, and custodian for tokenized securities, making it the first firm cleared to run a full on-chain public offering inside a regulated U.S. venue.
The approval creates a single regulated rail for atomic settlement between tokenized stocks and stablecoins, removing the multi-account friction that has historically blocked institutional issuance of blockchain-based equities.
NY AG Hits Uphold with $5M Settlement in First Crypto Yield Promoter Action
New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured a Martin Act settlement of more than $5 million against Uphold for promoting Cred's CredEarn yield product between 2019 and 2020, marking the first state enforcement against a platform for promoting another firm's crypto yield product rather than issuing one.
The action extends the legal theory used in the SEC's 2022 BlockFi case to distribution partners, with Uphold required to disgorge customer recoveries and adopt formal third-party due diligence going forward.
International 🌏
Brazil's Central Bank Bans Crypto Settlement in Cross-Border Payments
The Banco Central do Brasil has issued Resolution No. 561, barring electronic foreign exchange providers from using stablecoins, bitcoin, or other digital assets to settle overseas remittances.
The rule takes effect October 1, 2026, and forces fintechs operating in Brazil's $6–8 billion monthly crypto market — roughly 90% of which is stablecoin volume per Receita Federal data — to route cross-border flows through fully regulated FX channels rather than on-chain rails.
