A few weeks ago, we asked about the future of Consensys, a major cryptocurrency company tied to Ethereum – after layoffs in December, it was unclear what the future of the firm would be.
However, today we have news that the founder of Consensys, Joe Lubin, is moving into another new initiative on a Board of Directors of a startup called ErisX that’s going to be help offer regulated trading spaces for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin.
“The company highlighted Lubin’s expertise and ‘extensive background working in the digital asset space,’” writes Ana Alexandre. “ConsenSys’ CEO further projected that ‘2019 is likely to be a breakthrough year for digital assets.’”
A timeline on the ErisX website shows the history of Eris Exchange, the platform in its prior incarnation as a means of trading cash-settled swap futures. Ten years after derivatives helped lead to the financial crisis, ErisX is diversifying and getting involved in cryptocurrencies. With an impressive list of partners, ErisX is likely to be a significant player in tomorrow’s cryptocurrency markets.
It also has an impressive executive lineup, including Chris Conde, and Matt Trudeau as CSO.
In other Consensys news, the company itself is backing new startups.
“Despite recent belt-tightening at Brooklyn-based ethereum venture studio ConsenSys, the company’s investment arm is ramping up outreach to independent startups,” wrote Leigh Cuen at Coindesk Jan. 17. “ConsensSys Ventures, headed by managing partner Kavita Gupta, announced two new investments on Thursday: $1 million in the Paris-based crypto wallet and trading platform Coinhouse and an undisclosed amount in the encryption-centric browser Tenta.”
With its $50 million venture capital fund, Consensys moves into early stage projects facilitated by an accelerator program called Tachyon.
All of this suggests that the fundamental entity of Consensys is alive and well, and that the company will pivot further to remain on the vanguard of crypto currency work.
“We have been helping a lot of VC funds to think through their investment thesis and introduce them to the ecosystem,” Gupta said, as quoted by Cuen. “In a lot of our investment deals lately, we have invited a lot of our friends and other funds who we respect, and they have participated.”
That’s all good news for anyone who is interested in propping up Ethereum and going for a position related to this classic top crypto coin. With hard fork possibilities, traders are looking gingerly at ETH right now. Look for an entry point, but do your research on Constantinople and Metropolis and all of the changes planned for the coin.
