Internship, Investing in Crypto (f/d/m)

Hey, you!  

We are Jan and Kee, part of HV's crypto task force, and we are hiring an intern for o a unique quest: how should HV approach investing in crypto?

We are both two Web3 enthusiasts. Kee bought her first Bitcoin in 2011 and sold it in 2013, and Jan bought his first in 2013 and kept it until 2017. We are both fascinated by the wild combination of cryptography, anarchy and advocacy to change the world. (full disclosure, we are also spending too much time on Telegram and dubious websites...)

Even before Kee joined us in 2022, she made crypto-investments at innogy Innovation Hub and runs a blockchain podcast, "To Infinity & Beyond". She has a nag for deep tech and spends much time on Messari.

As a fund, HV has already invested in crypto infrastructure (e.g. Upvest, originally asset tokenisation) and brokers enabling crypto trading (e.g. BUX, Scalable). Some additional investments in this arena are not yet disclosed. HV can invest in tokens (next to equity) and, therefore, aims to refine its crypto investment approach.

We want to bring some structure to our efforts and would want to involve an intern in the following challenges:

• Map the market. Where's the future? The existing thesis dominant in web3 was that of "fat protocols", which states that most of the value accrual of web3 will be through the underlying blockchain protocols like Ethereum. The "fat application" thesis is the opposite. It suggests that applications create stickiness and that value accrual will happen at this layer as the underlying protocols become commoditised. At HV, we believe blockchain has the superpower to solve civilisation-scale challenges at the application layer. Hence, our task force aims to map opportunities and relevant vertical players such as cleantech/ReFi, education, social, and science.
• What's the optimal structure for investments? Equity investments in crypto-related startups are easy. But what about tokens, especially if they're liquid quickly and don't fit the risk/return profile and timeline of our broader funds?
• Share these insights internally. Brief our (generally already knowledgeable) investment team with cutting-edge insights on crypto. Perhaps even create external content around this?

Interning with us is a fantastic opportunity for a future investor to learn more about an exciting market and how investing works from the inside.

For selecting our crypto interns, we take a different - and somewhat more inclusive- approach: Rather than asking you to upload a CV, we want you to share your thinking on the blockchain.

So your "application" is your answers to these questions (max 1k characters each):

1. Describe what reading most influenced your view on crypto.
2. What is your understanding of Web2 vs Web3?
3. Please develop three examples for real-world use cases using Web3.
4. Please share 1x project example with outstanding tokenomics?
5. What areas of blockchain would YOU find most promising for a generalist VC fund like HV? Please note HV is allowed to invest in both equity and tokens.

Best

Kee & Jan