Sometimes when you think about AI outcomes, you’re really just addressing issues of fairness and equity, and how we run our societies.

I think there’s an undercurrent of that in the places where we meet to discuss these things. For example, I thought about this listening to a recent talk by John Wu, president of Ava Labs.

Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF. Bloomberg News Wall Street Reporter Sonali Basak breaks down earnings from JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citi. Hagar Chemali, Founder and CEO at Greenwich Media Strategies, shares her thoughts on Israel bracing for an unprecedented attack by Iran. Rich Lesser, Global Chair of BCG, discusses risks and disruption concerning CEOs. John Wu, President at Ava Labs, talks about seeing a new wave of blockchain innovation. And we Drive to the Close with JJ Kinahan, CEO at IG North America. Bloomberg News Squawk Desk Reporter Bill Maloney also participates in the conversation. Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.

Real-world assets (RWAs) are on fire, with RWA governance tokens surging as institutions explore new use cases for on-chain finance.

The combined capitalization of RWA protocols’ governance tokens jumped 28% in 24 hours and 81% over the past seven days to tag $8 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Nearly 5.5 million businesses were launched in the United States last year, making 2023 the highest year on record for new startups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics. With the many elements involved in building a successful startup—from obtaining critical seed funding to scaling at a manageable pace—founders may not initially focus on things like team building, company culture and employee benefits. But they should. Considerable research shows that businesses that prioritize employee happiness have workers who are more engaged and productive. And the companies on this year’s list of America’s Best Startup Employers have figured this out.

John Wu is the president at Ava Labs. We discuss:

- Ava Labs overview

- What makes the Avalanche Blockchain unique

- Plan to scale to 100K TPS

- Avax staking

- JPMorgan utilizing Avalanche for tokenization

- Amazon Web Services partnership

- How to bring in the next 1 billion users to Crypto

- Bitcoin Spot ETF launch

- US Crypto Regulations

It’s been over a decade since the first application for a spot bitcoin ETF was filed. After a number of denials over the years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved all 11 applications from spot bitcoin ETF issuers, marking a potential watershed moment for the crypto industry and potentially opening the floodgates by making it easier for institutional investors and consumers alike to invest in the biggest digital asset.

It’s 2024, and a special week of Term Sheet. In a longstanding tradition for this newsletter, we ask readers to weigh in on what the new year will bring for the private markets. This year,we’ve dedicated the whole first week of January to the Crystal Ball, and today’s edition features a collection of predictions readers made ondata, cybersecurity, fintech, and crypto.

We’ve spent all of 2023 doubling down on the real crypto projects of substance — but 2024 is when they will really take off

After 2022’s market crash and the implosion of several notable blockchain companies, this has been a year of doubling down on projects of substance. Web3 has taken 2023 as its year of reflection and constitution.

That said, I firmly believe that 2024 will see builders’ hard work and grit pay off — next year, the public will see the fruits of our bear market labor.

“I'm always humbled by how Cornell has helped shape my life,” says blockchain entrepreneur John Wu ’92, president of Ava Labs and a graduate of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Recalling several instances when faculty, staff, and alumni opened doors for him, he draws a clear connection between his experiences as a student, his Wall Street career on the buy side as a tech investor, the Cornell connections that led to him becoming a tech entrepreneur, and why he’s happy to come back to campus to give students a practitioner’s perspective.

John Wu, President of the development firm AVA Labs, highlighted the transformative potential of NFTs in an interview with me: "NFTs provide a way for artists to establish ownership of their digital creations, create new revenue streams, and engage communities around artists' work".

Today’s property insurance industry stands at a crossroads. Process inefficiencies and the growing threat of fraud are making current business models increasingly unsustainable. And external developments like the extreme weather conditions caused by global warming are complicating matters even further.

Avalanche Foundation to invest $50M in asset tokenization on its blockchain

The Avalanche Foundation is allocating up to $50 million to purchase tokenized assets created on its layer-1 blockchain, the company exclusively told TechCrunch.

The initiative, Avalanche Vista, aims to highlight the value of tokenization in different sectors like equity, credit, real estate and commodities.

Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has reportedly hired lawyers to represent him personally as Binance faces multiple investigations from regulators.

Legal pressure on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has underscored the potentially “chilling” effect of a U.S. crackdown on crypto, legal experts have told Decrypt.

T. Rowe to Test Avalanche Blockchain in Renewed Push on Wall Street

Firms explore possible efficiencies of blockchain application

WisdomTree, Wellington and Cumberland included in partnership

Wisdom Tree, T. Rowe Price Among TradFi Firms to Test Avalanche's Blockchain Subnet

The subnet will offer the company's opportunity to make trade execution and settlements more efficient.

Doing things with blockchain: How Ty Haney is reimagining community building

The Outdoor Voices founder has a new vision for blockchain-powered relationships between brands and fans.

Ava Labs Hires New Heads in Asia as US Regulatory Concerns Grow

New York-based startup makes hires in Japan, South Korea

The news follows several similar moves among crypto firms
Ava Labs, the main developer behind blockchain project Avalanche, has become the latest digital-asset firm to expand its management teams in Asia as a regulatory pushback deepens in the US. New York-based Ava Labs said it hired Justin Kim, a former investment banker at the Korea Development Bank, and startup veteran Roi Hirata as the heads of its business in South Korea and Japan, respectively. 

'Everyone Is Freaking Out.' What's Going On With Silicon Valley Bank? Federal Government Takes Control.

Panic spread as the financial losses of one slightly obscure California bank rippled in the stock value of banks in the U.S. — and now, the federal government has stepped in.

The government is stepping in again — just don't call it a "bailout."

After Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) went under, marking the largest bank failure since the 2008 recession, the federal government announced on Sunday that all depositors in the failed Silicon Valley Bank would be covered in full.

What’s Going on With Silicon Valley Bank?

‘Stay calm’

Silicon Valley Bank was founded in 1983 and over the decades became the go-to financial institution for startups. Today, it’s a household name in the Bay Area, deeply enmeshed in tech companies’ networks and infrastructure. SVB isn’t just a bank — it makes equity investments, patronizes startups’ services and sponsors lavish industry parties.

Esports Giant TSM Forges Ahead With Web3 Gaming on Avalanche

Team SoloMid will host tournaments on Blitz Esports’ Avalanche Subnet.

Despite the collapse of FTX and a scrapped $210 million naming rights deal, Team SoloMid’s affinity for crypto hasn’t soured. In fact, the esports org also known as TSM is now building its own crypto sub-network on Avalanche to facilitate esports transactions and tournaments, TSM parent company Swift announced Tuesday.