Coinbase is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, providing a platform for millions of users to buy, sell, and trade top digital currencies. This exchange also has a corporate venture capital arm known as Coinbase Ventures.
Coinbase Ventures has a mission of creating more economic freedom in the world, and in line with their mission, they have invested in hundreds of teams building everything from layer 1 protocols, Web3 infrastructure, centralized on-ramps, decentralized finance, NFTs, Metaverse technologies, developer tooling, and more.
Amidst their numerous investments, here are the top 11 Coinbase Ventures Portfolio Projects to watchlist in 2024.
Top 11 Coinbase Ventures Portfolio Projects to Watchlist in 2024
Polygon
A scalability solution for Ethereum that uses side chains to process transactions off the main chain. Previously known as “Matic Network,” Polygon is reported to be the first “well-structured and easy-to-use for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. This project aims to stimulate mass adoption of cryptocurrencies by resolving the challenges of scalability on many blockchains. The $MATIC token will continue to exist and will play an increasingly relevant role in the world of cryptocurrencies and on the Ethereum chain. You might want to add it to your watchlist for 2024.
Uniswap
A leading decentralized exchange on Ethereum that allows for automated token swaps. It is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on the Ethereum blockchain, which is known for its role in facilitating the automated trading of decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. It is an automated liquidity protocol that allows for the decentralized exchange of ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum without intermediaries.
Uniswap aims to keep token trading automated and completely open to anyone who holds tokens, while improving the efficiency of trading versus that on traditional exchanges. UNI is the governance token of Uniswap and gives holders a vote on protocol upgrades and decisions.
Axelar
Axelar is a decentralized interoperability network that allows assets and messages to be sent across different blockchains. One thing that sets Axelar apart is its secure cross-chain communication over a dynamic validator.
Axelar uses a decentralized network of validators to securely relay assets and information between blockchains that are normally disconnected. AXL is the native token of the Axelar network, which is used to pay transaction fees and secure the network through staking. Axelar has raised capital from top-tier investors, Coinbase Ventures.
Sei
Sei is the token for the Sei Network. An open-source Layer 1 blockchain that is said to be the fastest blockchain in the industry. Sei’s unique chain-level optimizations enable decentralized exchanges and trading apps in NFTs, gaming, social, and DeFi to offer the best user experience. Sei aims to unlock a wide array of application possibilities for developers that were not previously possible on EVM chains, from complex decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to high-performance gaming and interactive web applications.
Arbitrum
Arbitrum is a layer 2 scaling solution designed to improve transaction speed, reduce costs, and scale Ethereum. It is an optimistic rollup that runs computations off-chain and posts transaction data on L1 Ethereum. This helps reduce congestion on the mainnet. Arbitrum also has a vibrant ecosystem of DApps, wallets, tools, and partners that make it one of the leading scaling solutions for Ethereum. Arbitrum’s native token is called ARB and is used for governance.
Sui
A new layer 1 blockchain that is designed for high performance and scalability. It is designed to make digital asset ownership fast, private, secure, and accessible to everyone. Sui is a first-of-its-kind platform on which developers can build amazing, user-friendly experiences.
Avalanche (AVAX)
Avalanche is a layer 1 blockchain. An open, programmable smart contract platform that is able to achieve high transaction throughput thanks to its unique consensus mechanism. With a native token called AVAX.
It allows developers to build and deploy dApps and custom blockchain networks. Avalanche aims to process a higher transaction output of up to 6,500 transactions per second while not compromising scalability.
Graph
The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying data from blockchains. Developers use The Graph to create apps that use open applications. The network is made up of indexers, curators, and delegators. Indexers operate nodes to index blockchain data and process queries.
Curators allocate work and manage indexers. Delegators delegate tokens to indexers and curators to earn rewards. GRT will be an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, used to allocate resources in the network.
Arweave
Describing itself as “a collectively owned hard drive that never forgets,” Arweave is a decentralized storage network that aims to offer a permanent and censorship-resistant archive of data. The network primarily hosts “the permaweb,” a permanent, decentralized web with a number of community-driven applications and platforms.
The native token of the Arweave network is AR, which is used to pay miners to indefinitely store the network’s information. The AR tokens are also used to pay for storage and participate in network staking. The tokens are minted when miners verify storage transactions.
Arweave received $8.3 million in funding from investors, including Coinbase Ventures.
Rocket Pool (RPL)
Rocket Pool is a decentralized Ethereum staking protocol that allows users to earn staking rewards on their ETH without needing to run validator nodes themselves. Rocket Pool offers smart nodes, a custom node software that allows anyone to run a node on its network with a minimum of 16 ETH. “rETH is a tokenized version of the staked ETH in Rocket Pool, which allows stakers to engage from 0.01 ETH to up to 32 ETH.
By staking their Ether, users receive rETH in return, which automatically accrues staking rewards based on the performance of the entire network of node operators.” Rocket Pool provides what is called liquid staking, which allows users to benefit from an increasing exchange rate instead of adding on to their initial staked collateral.
Immutable X
Immutable X is a layer 2 scaling solution designed for NFTs on Ethereum. It unlocks the potential for NFT adoption by solving scalability issues while retaining Ethereum’s underlying security guarantees. Users benefit from instant trading and massive scalability while enjoying zero gas fees for minting and trading NFTs without compromising user or asset security. Users will also not have to switch networks when connecting their wallets.
IMX is the native token of Immutable X used for staking, governance, and payment of fees. It aligns incentives around usage and the growth of the network.
Conclusion
In line with Coinbase Ventures’ mission of creating more economic freedom in the world, the arm supports exceptional projects, ideas, and founders working to advance the crypto and Web3 ecosystems. So far, Coinbase Ventures has backed hundreds of promising projects in their early and seed stages.
Note that this is just a list of the top-performing Coinbase Ventures portfolio projects and not financial advice for anyone to invest in.
To know more about where the big crypto exchanges are investing, read our list of Top 17 Binance Lab Projects to Watchlist in 2024.