🕺 DAT’s the way I like it

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Happy Friday!

I have some bittersweet news. 

This is my last Empire edition… for now. As I announced previously, I’m taking on a new role at Blockworks, so it’s not a permanent goodbye and I hesitate to say that it’s a goodbye at all. Instead, let’s call it a see you later. 

I’m going to be focusing on ramping up our scoops, investigations and breaking news so if you have tips, you know where to find me. 

I’m leaving you in the best of hands. David Canellis will once again be returning to Empire starting Monday, and I’m excited to read his data takes alongside the rest of you.

For now, I’ll see you all later.

Yesterday, when I spoke about funding, I noted that DATs are contributing heavily to funding right now. If you remember, my take is that I’m not sure the momentum for these vehicles can continue. 

I’m feeling pretty decent about that take after listening to this week’s Empire Round Up. 

“I’m seeing lots of silly games and lots of silly prizes,” Andrew Keys, who has his own experience with DATs thanks to his role at Ether Machine, told Jason Yanowitz, Rob Hadick, and Santiago Santos on the Empire Round Up this morning. 

Santos pointed out to Keys that the bull market has a “phenomenal way of hiding nonsense, including poorly structured vehicles.”

In response, Keys noted, “ I think that there's a bunch of liability in these shell companies, and it's not just the preexisting having to pay five bucks to the existing CEO of the dying biotech that doesn't know how to spell Ethereum.”

“I think that you've started to see the shell co’s have kind of gotten picked over, so there's not much left. So they start to cost more money and you're starting to see issues where now if you were gonna deploy capital into this vehicle, they're saving part of the capital that's invested to settle lawsuits.”

Keys, for those of you who may have missed the announcement, put $600 million into Ether Machine, so he’s clearly bullish on his own DAT at least. Prior to that, he was at Consensys and Darma.

For him, as the largest shareholder, it’s about generating the “most ether per share without diluting myself and holding management to that kind of north star,” he added. 

My takeaway from Keys — and something I’ve been quietly mulling — is the risk that some of these shell companies pose to DATs. His point about slim pickings is a valid one. If more folks are looking to launch these types of vehicles, then they may have no choice but to go for a less-than-ideal shell company and that, as Keys said, opens up a slew of risks for even the most bullish DAT fans. 

And now you know.

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It’s the summer of DATs and the party is going strong. 

But when October rolls around, everyone will be looking to DAS: London to hear from these meta-defining voices on where things stand and where they’re headed.

Get your ticket today with promo code: EMPIRENL

📅 October 13-15 | London