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Blockchain-Based Startups Empower Individuals to Identify Fake News

Back in 2017, a man named James McDaniel confessed that he had created a fake news website to test how gullible Internet readers could be. “As I continued to write ridiculous things they just kept getting shared and I kept drawing more viewers,” he told Politifact. In under two weeks, more than 1 million people had viewed and shared his inventions on social platforms, contributing to the vast spread of misinformation that characterized the 2016 US presidential election.

US citizens haven’t been the only ones affected by fake news. It’s been widely documented that misinformation also played a role in the UK Brexit vote and the 2018 Brazilian elections, which is why individuals, organizations, and governments around the world are starting to pay close attention to what’s true—and what’s not.

Cracking Down on Clickbait

Enter tech startups like Blackbird.AI, a San-Francisco-based company that seeks to ensure content is truthful and credible. Misinformation, the founders explain on their Medium page, “creates a cause and effect that will change everything from a political election to a social belief system.”

They seek to empower publishers, campaigns, businesses, governments, and citizens to catch fake news before it has a chance to take off. Their strategy: to introduce labels that evaluate content based on “credibility signals” such as who the author is, how the content was funded, and its ad quality score.

The labeling system is like a nutrition label for news, meaning that it allows readers to quickly and accurately evaluate how trustworthy a piece of online content is. By quickly helping people figure out what’s trustworthy and what’s not, it may cut down on the sharing and clicking on of false but shocking headlines.

To assign each piece of content a label, Blackbird.AI uses artificial intelligence to analyze millions of articles, track patterns, and classify news based on the credibility signals. Their technology scans articles, references, websites, social media pages, and memes—all in real-time. And, once the content is verified, it’s inscribed into the blockchain ledger for eternity.

Photo Evidence

Startups aren’t the only ones putting trust in the blockchain. Established publishers like the New York Times, for instance, are experimenting with blockchain as a way to validate their online content.

Their research and development team is planning to use Hyperledger Fabric’s permissioned blockchain to store important information about where the photo was taken, who the photographer was, and details about how it was edited.

Social Butterflies

Even social media sites are trying to do their part, as they should: 68% of Americans rely on them for their daily news. Google is debuting new fact-checking tools and promoting high-quality content, as well as donating a lot of money to global initiatives that help kids tell the difference between real and fake or misleading news. And Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have all removed huge numbers of bogus accounts from their platforms.

But according to Civil, another blockchain-based news startup, still just 23% of people say trust news on social media, which means that it might be up to the blockchain disruptors to reform the system entirely.

There’s a rising wave of support for exactly that. Rather than scoff at their efforts, traditional, well-known publishers are giving a nod to what these startups are doing. “As the footprint of traditional newspapers is shrinking,” CBS News notes, “Civil’s is growing.”

The Columbia Journalism Review chimes in: “[Creating a new form of money] has the potential to help realign the incentives that underlie the journalism business.”

It’s true that the fight against misinformation has only just begun. Hackers and writers of fake news steadily evolve their tactics, and nothing beats good old critical thinking. As fake-news writer James McDaniel notes, visible disclaimers on his web pages explaining that his posts were “fiction, and presumably fake news” went largely unnoticed and unread by the millions who shared them.

Yet with startups like Blackbird.AI and Civil making it easier for Internet readers to identify and discount fake and misleading content, there’s hope for the future.

As Civil puts it: “You’ll have access to the news you need and can trust what you read.”

Image via SuperRGB on Unsplash

Beyond Startups—Championing for an Ecosystem to Drive Blockchain Forward

Tribe Accelerator is Singapore’s first government-backed blockchain accelerator, on a mission to bridge the gap between blockchain startups and the traditional world. Yi Ming Ng, the Managing Director at Tribe Accelerator, believes that blockchain is beneficial to a lot of businesses from different industries. However, there has been a lot of fear and speculation around cryptocurrencies in the traditional corporate world.

“That’s the reason we wanted to bridge the gap between the traditional world as well as the blockchain world on a single platform; to give more opportunities to startups to showcase their solutions to corporate and government agencies and the other blockchain leaders in the space,” explained Ng.

Ng elaborated on the startups that Tribe Accelerator supports, including startups that are already using blockchain technology, and companies that are looking to explore how blockchain can provide efficiencies in their businesses.

SgCarMart, Singapore’s largest second-hand car marketplace, has been testing out blockchain to see the benefits of the technology. “They have more than 95% of the market share, what they want to do is that they want to look at how blockchain can help solve their problems with used cars, to get parties to submit data. The data they collect can allow SgCarMart to publish reports on how a car’s maintenance record has been completed.”

Another startup success, as Ng mentioned, was Mighty Jaxx, a collectibles company. Mighty Jaxx has been working with Tribe Accelerator to protect the authenticity of its products using blockchain technology. “Through our program, we’ve helped them to start using blockchain and also to work with the Singaporean government to use open cert technologies to embed it into their blockchain solution. They have inserted IoT (internet of things) chip into their collectibles, and this provides a tracking function that allows them to offer and capture the secondary market share.”

The four different groups of stakeholders the accelerator works with, including government agencies, corporates, startups, and technical partners, including IBM, ConsenSys, R3, VeChain, Ziliqua, Intel, Microsoft, and many others. “What we do is we bridge these technical partners to the startups that require technical support.”

OpenNodes – Encouraging engagement in the blockchain industry

Tribe Accelerator announced the launch of its digital media and engagement platform, OpenNodes in August 2019. Founded by 25 founding members and led by Tribe Accelerator, OpenNodes is also supported by the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), as well as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Temasek. Ng added, “All the stakeholders in the ecosystem have come together to collectively drive this blockchain ecosystem for more mass adoption to happen.” OpenNodes allows for more engagement and collaboration between the stakeholders in the blockchain ecosystem, allowing for a better reach of the audience, showcasing the use cases in the blockchain ecosystem.

OpenNodes hosted the first Singapore Blockchain Landscape Report published by ConsenSys with the support of the IMDA, MAS, and Temasek.

“Singapore has always been seen by the world as a place where collaboration and innovation happens. Similarly, for new technologies, we’re often championing for frontier technologies – there’s, of course, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and there’s also blockchain. I think we form a very collaborative ecosystem where we have governments, large corporations, startups, associations, and educational institutions coming together to see how we can work together to drive technology forward,” said Ng.

An international ecosystem for a global reach

Startups from all over the world, including from Hong Kong, Korea, Cambodia, Indonesia, meet with Tribe Accelerator to take part in the international program. “I think this makes it international as well as we’ve recently started to talk to more different government and blockchain equivalent initiatives in different parts of the world, wanting to cross-share resources in other parts of the world. We want to support our startups to get into other markets, so having this leverage is extremely important for the ecosystem,” he added.

“With our strong corporate network, I think this is something we want to support the startups with because a lot of startups need buyers for their solution that they are solving. Once in a while, we might come across a problem that a corporation needs to solve as well. They can provide their solutions to the corporate, and with the strong corporate network we work with, including BMW, Intel, PwC, EY, and others, we believe that having this strong, robust corporate network will enable more startups to get their solution to be mass adopted. This will benefit the ecosystem as a whole.”

Ng suggested that the Tribe Accelerator is looking to continue to connect with more stakeholders in the ecosystem, as well as reaching out to more corporates and promising startups to showcase solutions to large companies, government agencies, and to educate the general public about the misconceptions and fear that they about blockchain technology. “This technology can bring something good to the world,” Ng concluded.

India’s Telangana State Keeps the Ball Rolling with Blockchain-Centered Incubator

The administration of Telangana, a Southern Indian State, has announced the set of a startup incubator for blockchain technology developers. As reported by The Times of India on Feb 4, the incubator progam will be established in collaboration with reputable educational institutions in the state, such as IIIT-Hyderabad and the Indian School of Business.

Telangana’s notable stride in blockchain

During the rollout of a blockchain accelerator dubbed T-Block, Rama Devi, a senior state official in the Information Technology, Electronics & Communications (ITE&C) department, revealed the kickoff of the blockchain-centered incubator.

She noted, “We have developed 12 use-cases wherein Blockchain technology can be used to solve some of the issues faced by citizens… in the coming days, we are coming up with multiple initiatives such as setting up incubators.”

She added, “For this purpose, we are soon going to set up multiple incubators in IIIT-H and ISB. These incubators will be physical spaces that will provide the startups’ access to relevant tech support and mentorship.”

Expressly, the T-Block accelerator comprises a four-month program presented by the Telangana government in collaboration with IBC Media, Microsoft, and Tech Mahindra. It seeks to bridge the gap endured by Indian startups as they only reap 0.2% from blockchain investments.

Upon joining the accelerator, startups will be instructed through a one-week boot camp followed by a month-long training event spearheaded by gurus in the blockchain space.

The Principal Secretary for the ITE&C department, Jayesh Ranjan, acknowledged, “T-Block Accelerator will be a torch-bearer to multiple future Blockchain accelerators in the country, and we are excited to partner with Tech Mahindra to identify and promote innovative Blockchain-based solutions to solve real-world problems.”

Telangana State has been making considerable strides in the blockchain arena. For instance, in November 2019, it revealed that it was to deploy blockchain to stamp out fraudulent academic certificates following distress calls by the US Embassy that some students and employees were using them for application purposes.

Image via Shutterstock

UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund Invests in Tech Startups Fighting COVID-19 in Emerging Economies

Eight technology companies in developing and emerging economies will receive investment from the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund (CryptoFund) to solve local and global challenges.

In an email shared with Blockchain.News, UNICEF announced that its CryptoFund will invest 125 ETH into eight tech startups from seven different developing nations. The companies—Afinidata, Avyantra, Cireha, Ideasis, OS City, StaTwig, Somleng and Utopic—will be awarded the Ethereum cryptocurrency to fund the development of prototypes, pilots, or scale their technologies over six months.

All of the above investees have previously been the recipients of UNICEF’s Innovation Fund and are now receiving cryptocurrency to continue the development of their open-source and digital public goods.

UNICEF’s Innovation Fund

UNICEF’s Innovation Fund is the first of its kind within the UN and offers financial support of up to $100,000 USD, as well as technical advice and mentorship, to worthy startups that are innovating to improve the world through open-source technology.

Christina Lomazzo, Blockchain Lead at UNICEF told Blockchain.News, “There are different ways to actually explore how these new exponential technologies may have an impact on UNICEF and one of those ways is through a venture fund, because it actually widens the amount of exposure that we have to the tech.”

UNICEF does not take any equity away from these startups and exclusively invests in open-source projects, that are based in UNICEF program countries. Lomazzo said, “These projects are typically in emerging or developing economies—the thing that is so fantastic is that they are building solutions for local challenges.”

According to Lomazzo, one of the difficulties within the tech space is the assumption that new technology built in places like San Francisco or New York will automatically translate to every single geography’s needs, which she asserts is “absolutely not the case.” This is why UNICEF invests in local innovation and exclusively open-source technology that can be accessed by everyone. Lomazzo said. “Open source software can reach the most people and the beneficiaries of our venture fund are solving local challenges which will also have a greater impact. When you start building for those who are in low connectivity areas, or those who are not literate—those types of tech applications will also work in developed economies.”

Investees Fighting COVID-19

The investees of the CryptoFund come from seven different emerging or developing economies. Several of the startups benefitting from the CryptoFund are working to mitigate the hardships of COVID-19 on children and youth around the world. They are collaborating with national governments and local partners to send vital messages on COVID-19, track the effectiveness of rice delivery to vulnerable communities, improve children’s literacy through remote learning, treat pandemic and isolation-related anxieties, and other vital solutions.

“We are seeing the digital world come at us more quickly than we could have imagined – and UNICEF must be able to use all of the tools of this new world to help children today and tomorrow,” says Chris Fabian, Senior Adviser, co-Lead, UNICEF Ventures. “The transfer of these funds – to eight companies in seven countries around the world – took less than fifteen minutes and cost us less than five dollars. Almost instant global movement of value, fees of less than 0.000015% of the total amount transferred, and real-time transparency for our donors and supporters are the types of tools we are excited about.”

Besides funding, investees receive business growth mentorship, product, and technical assistance, open-source and UX and UI development, access to experts and partners, as well as opportunities to showcase their solutions.

The UNICEF Innovation Fund and CryptoFund currently have an open call for blockchain solutions to apply for funding (up to $100,000 and cryptocurrency combined) and mentorship.

Digital Asset Firm Castle Island Ventures Raises $250M to Target Web3 Crypto Startups

Digital asset company Castle Island Ventures completed the largest financing in history, up to $250 million to invest in startups focused on building currency networks, financial services and Internet architecture, such as web3.

Castle Island Ventures is a venture capital firm founded by Fidelity alumni Nic Carter and Matt Walsh, focused on public blockchains. They invest in infrastructure and application companies that will enable these transformative protocols to power services for the next billion users.

Castle Island Ventures has raised a total of $30M across 2 funds.

Walsh expressed his hope that in addition to leading the pre-seed stage investment of excellent blockchain startups, he also hopes to lead more excellent web3 companies in Series A investment.

Walsh said in a phone interview with Bloomberg：

“The market opportunity and the wave of entrepreneurs that are actually starting things is just a lot bigger. The way we’ve reacted to the explosion in the space is to beef up our team and give ourselves the ability to go out and be a lot more aggressive in deploying capital in some of these companies.”

As reported by blockchain.News on January 21, Wallet Street Venture Capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz (a16Z) is rallying investors for a $4.5 billion dual fund targeted at making strategic investments in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

$3.5 billion is billed to be earmarked for its newest cryptocurrency enterprise fund, while $1 billion will be reserved for strategic investments in crypto startups seeking seed funding.

Investments pumped into blockchain startups topped $30 billion in 2021, a figure that surpasses funding received in 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined.

Swiss Crypto Firm Launches Venture Fund, Supporting African Early-Stage Blockchain Startups

Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CV VC), a Switzerland-headquartered private venture capital company, announced on Monday that it has launched African Blockchain Early-Stage Fund that targets blockchain startups from across the continent.

The venture capital firm also published its initial African Blockchain Report, paring with Standard Bank for the partnership which shows how Africa’s use of blockchain technology has become a norm.

The report highlighted how Africa has self-accelerated blockchain as a transformative force for society and the economy and how pioneers continue reinforcing the need for more unified action on regulation and infrastructure.

As per the report, blockchain funding in the continent far outpaced all other sectors eleven times. The development is evidence indicating that African countries and stakeholder capitalists are starting to step in and embrace the continent’s self-determining participation in the fourth industrial revolution.

While African countries are amongst the fastest crypto adopters worldwide, the CV VC report moves past cryptocurrency. It examines the underlying revolutionary blockchain movement, set to enable Africa to transact and interact for the well-being of its economies and citizens.

CV VC has been proactively participating in Africa. As a result, the firm has been amazed and humbled by the determination of Africa’s brilliant founders who are changing the future of their industries, country, and the world.

According to CV VC, in Africa, there is a mindset that complements Switzerland’s determination and a will to create well-being for its people and the future of humanity. CV VC plans to lend its renowned expertise to enable Africa to achieve its true potential.

Together with its public-private partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), CV VC plans to develop the first-ever, blockchain-focused accelerator for Africa. The accelerator aims to invest in 100 blockchain startups from the continent over the next 4 years. To date, CV VC has invested in 12 startups where blockchain applications go far beyond cryptos to drive Africa’s future. CV VC also intends to continue participating as a leading enabler through its African Blockchain Early Stage Fund launch.

Gideon Greaves, the Managing Director of CV VC Africa, talked about the development and said: “As a Swiss headquartered company, CV VC holds great value in precision and knowledge sharing as drivers of innovation. Our objective with the African Blockchain Report is to share a data-driven account of blockchain in Africa and begin an annual collation of benchmarkable venture data and solidly referenced African insights. We are also very proud to give an assessment of the regulatory landscape and a magnetic introduction to some of the greatest blockchain minds on the continent. We are already active in Africa, have invested in 12 startups, and are very excited about launching an African Blockchain Early-Stage Fund”.

The Rise of Crypto

Africa is the second biggest continent globally, with about1.5 a billion people and still growing. The continent has a big history with several events that impacted the way it has been developed into a regional block nowadays.

As a result of natural barriers, civil wars, colonialism, and the difficult terrain, some parts of the continent lack adequate infrastructure. For this reason, citizens living in such areas suffer from a lack of proper access to financial services. Such a continental-wide problem has led to over 50% of the population is unbanked. Thanks to this lack of infrastructure, Africa has become an excellent place for crypto coins. The cryptocurrencies only demand the use of smartphones and online connectivity towards the blockchain network.

Cointelegraph has launched an Accelerator program for innovative Web3 startups

New York, United States, 10th January, 2023, Chainwire

The program aims to help Web3’s rising stars boost their media presence, community growth and brand awareness in exchange for project tokens.

The Web3 space is growing rapidly and new startups are emerging daily, with investment into Web3 projects skyrocketing to $30 billion in 2021 and around $36 billion in 2022.

While many Web3 founders have great ideas and a strong value proposition to bring to the space, this is a challenging field riddled with competition and a lack of trust from the broader audience.

Founded in 2013, Cointelegraph has grown to become a world leader in the digital assets, metaverse and emerging technologies media space, with over 20 million readers worldwide.

The company is now looking to help other rising stars reach their full potential and is delighted to introduce its Accelerator program — a startup booster leveraging the company’s capabilities as a strong media and strategic partner, including content, branding, network, marketing, investor relations and much more.

What is the Cointelegraph Accelerator program?

Cointelegraph Accelerator will leverage the expertise of the global Cointelegraph team, which consists of over 150 professionals working across and developing global media products in 11 different languages.

The program focuses on decentralized finance, nonfungible tokens, GameFi, Web3 social, cross-chain and layer 2 solutions, as well as other segments of the broader Web3 industry. It has already onboarded over a dozen companies and publicly opened the application process for new candidates.

While many accelerator programs focus on advisory, followed by monetary investments, Cointelegraph takes a different route. Participants will be able to receive contributions from Cointelegraph in the form of media products available in our ecosystem including advertorials, individually tailored special projects, educational materials, native content integrations and much more.

One of the program’s key features is that it will be run by a separate commercial arm independent of Cointelegraph’s editorial team. Startups will be able to participate in the program in exchange for their projects’ native tokens or equity, subject to specific conditions. By doing so, Cointelegraph will align its interest in the project’s success and growth in token value with supported teams.

Strategic support in the program will typically run from nine to 24 months and will be based on the participating startup’s roadmap milestones, marketing and strategic goals. With long-term success in mind, Cointelegraph will leverage its vast partner network to offer a comprehensive, 360-degree marketing strategy to support the program’s portfolio of projects.

This support comes in various shapes and forms, depending on each individual project’s needs. Cointelegraph can offer support in marketing, branding and introductions to investors, exchanges, mentors, market makers, technological partners and online and offline events.

Paul Solntsev, Head of Cointelegraph Accelerator, said: “We are excited to expand our product suite with the Accelerator program, bringing more knowledge and education to our worldwide audience, especially regarding emerging tech startups and evolutions in Web3.”

Paul continued: “We welcome companies with strong convictions and innovative projects to apply for the program and join our partner network to bring long-lasting value to the industry.”

How to participate

Cointelegraph is looking to support projects in their early stages of development that have already designed a product ready for market, usually between pre-seed and Series A stage. A well-outlined roadmap and project documentation with clearly defined utility for the token are also required.

To become part of the Cointelegraph Accelerator program, projects should visit the official Accelerator program website, where they can familiarize themselves with Cointelegraphs offers as a recognized media leader and brand establishment partner. From there, they can also apply.

For more information or additional comment, please contact:accelerate@cointelegraph.com

Contact

Alexandra Kayalexandra.kay@cointelegraph.com

The Development of Blockchain Chips

The use of blockchain technology is on the increase, and the majority of businesses are investigating the technology in some form. As blockchain technology grows more widespread, users of all stripes will want access to the possibilities offered by this platform in the most effective manner possible.

The development of blockchain chips as energy-efficient accelerators is one of the measures that have been taken as a result of this. Chain Reaction, a blockchain chip business located in Tel Aviv, said on February 23 that it has funded $70 million in order to grow its technical staff in preparation for the development of its next chip.

According to Alon Webman, co-founder and CEO of Chain Reaction, the new chip will be a “completely homomorphic encryption” device. This kind of chip would allow the user to continue working on data even while the chip is in the process of encrypting it.

“Today, if you have data (which) is encrypted into the cloud, and in order to perform any data operation or data analytics, or do A.I., you need to decrypt the data,” said the researcher. “This is a must.”

He went on to explain that governments and big companies, such as the military industry, that may use cloud services but are now barred from doing so owing to worries about security.

“As soon as the data is encrypted, it is vulnerable to assault by a hostile person who may read it, steal it, or even modify it.”

A chip that is encrypted and also provides access to data that is encrypted might be helpful in this situation. According to Webman, Chain Reaction anticipates releasing that chip as soon as the year 2024 comes to a close.

According to Webman, Chain Reaction plans to begin mass manufacturing of its existing blockchain chip, Electrum, in the first quarter of 2023. This information comes from Webman. The chip was developed to facilitate hashing in a speedy and effective manner. Additionally, it has applications in the mining of several cryptocurrencies.

The software maker Intel also introduced a blockchain chip created by Nvidia in February 2022. This chip was meant to speed up energy-intensive blockchain operations that demand enormous quantities of computational power.

Additionally, Nvidia has a dedicated processor designed just for the mining of Ethereum.

Web3 Revolutionizes Startup and Investor Landscape

At Paris Blockchain Week 2023, a panel of experts in Web3 gathered to discuss the ways in which this new paradigm is transforming the startup and investor landscape. The panel discussion titled “Crypto, Culture, and Capital: How Web3 is Changing the Game for Startups and Investors” focused on the opportunities and challenges that come with the emergence of Web3.

Web3 represents a fundamental shift from the traditional Web2 paradigm, with new opportunities for startups and investors. The panelists discussed how Web3 startups are different from Web2 startups, with different cultures shaping and affecting the various ecosystems.

Laurenz Apiarius, founder and managing partner of Blockwall Digital and Blockwall Capital, noted that there are positive and negative effects of the Web3 revolution. While there have been awesome milestones achieved by Web3 entrepreneurs, there are also negative effects resulting from entrepreneurs who take advantage of the Web3 narrative. Some entrepreneurs overestimate their valuation, failing to deliver on their promises, which harms investors who lose money in the process.

Amos Meiri, founding partner of Node Capital, emphasized the need for investors to understand the technical, legal, and marketing aspects of the projects being built. Meiri stated that it is crucial for investors to support entrepreneurs in the right way, helping them navigate the challenges of the Web3 landscape.

Igneus Terrenus, head of partner relations of BitDAO, spoke about the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) model of Web3 startup governance. DAOs are organizations that operate through rules encoded as computer programs, with decisions made through a consensus mechanism. Terrenus noted that while the DAO is not a perfect model, it offers exciting opportunities for startups and investors. DAOs can help to reduce the need for intermediaries, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

However, the success of DAOs depends on incentivization and education of stakeholders. DAO stakeholders need to be incentivized to participate in the decision-making process, and educated about the rules and processes involved.

The panelists also discussed the challenges that entrepreneurs face in navigating the Web3 landscape. Web3 startups require a deep understanding of technology and legal frameworks, which can be daunting for many entrepreneurs. In addition, the lack of clear regulatory frameworks for Web3 startups can make it difficult for entrepreneurs to operate in a compliant manner.

Despite these challenges, the panelists were optimistic about the potential of Web3 to transform the business landscape. With its disruptive potential and new opportunities for startups and investors, Web3 represents a major shift in the way we think about business and innovation.

The emergence of Web3 has also led to a renewed focus on building community resilience to crises through mutual aid. The Web3 paradigm emphasizes decentralized, peer-to-peer networks that enable individuals and organizations to collaborate and support each other. This can be seen in the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that allow individuals to lend, borrow, and invest in a decentralized manner, without the need for intermediaries.

Overall, the panel discussion highlighted the exciting opportunities and challenges that come with the Web3 revolution. With its potential to disrupt traditional business models and provide new opportunities for startups and investors, Web3 is set to transform the way we think about innovation and entrepreneurship.

"Tim Draper's Bitcoin Diversification Advice"

American venture capitalist and entrepreneur Tim Draper has advised business founders to diversify their cash holdings in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In a report directed at business founders, Draper suggests that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can serve as a hedge against a “domino run” on banks and overbearing government intervention. He notes that businesses can no longer rely on a single bank or governing body to manage their cash, and that diversification is essential.

To that end, Draper recommends that business founders keep at least six months of short-term cash in two separate bank accounts: one with a local bank and another with an international bank. In addition, he advises keeping at least two payrolls worth of cash in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Draper believes that these preventative steps are necessary because, for the “first time in many years,” governments are seizing control of banks, and governments themselves are “at risk of becoming insolvent.”

Draper’s advice comes at a time when the collapse of SVB has caused significant uncertainty in the tech industry. SVB, which was once known for its support of startup companies, has recently faced a number of challenges, including a significant data breach and an investigation into its lending practices. This has left many startups scrambling to find alternative sources of funding and cash management solutions.

According to Draper, many startups have already sought emergency relief from him after SVB and other banks shut down. He believes that the collapse of SVB serves as a warning to businesses that they need to be prepared for any eventuality. By diversifying their cash holdings and embracing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, businesses can ensure that they are not overly reliant on any one institution or government.

Draper has long been an advocate for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and his recent advice to business founders reflects his belief that these digital assets are the future of finance. He has previously predicted that the price of Bitcoin could reach $250,000 by 2023, and he has invested heavily in a number of Bitcoin-related startups.

Overall, Draper’s advice serves as a reminder to businesses that they need to be proactive in managing their cash holdings and prepared for any eventuality. By diversifying their cash holdings and embracing cryptocurrencies, businesses can protect themselves against the uncertainty and volatility of the current financial landscape.