Akash Pasricha
The Information
New York, NY, United States
Contact Akash
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Akash:
The Year That Crypto Shattered
It really has been a monstrous year for crypto. The sector climbed to stunning heights with check sizes swelling beyond comprehension. But now, a string of blowups—and crypto’s once-wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried charged with wire fraud and money laundering—have plunged markets into a cold and ... → Read More
Tech Companies Brace for the Strongest Dollar in Decades
Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and volatility. But the story of the U.S. dollar is much simpler: Since the start of 2021, it has inched up, and up, and up. Today, it’s trading at its highest point in roughly 20 years. And while the venture ... → Read More
Kraken’s Incoming CEO Wants to Reel in Retail Traders
Kraken is going after smaller, retail crypto traders. That’s where David Ripley, the company’s incoming CEO, sees the future of the crypto exchange.I spoke with him Wednesday afternoon shortly after Jesse Powell, the company’s outspoken founder and CEO, said he was stepping down. Right now, much ... → Read More
Chamath’s Pullback is a Sign of What's to Come for SPACs
The debate is done: the SPAC fad is over. Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the biggest promoters of special purpose acquisition companies in recent years, is shuttering two of his SPACs and will be returning the money to investors. Palihapitiya, who merged SPACs with businesses such as Virgin ... → Read More
For Crypto VCs, the Ethereum Merge Means Business As Usual
In crypto land, everyone and their uncle is talking and tweeting about the Ethereum merge, the major software update slated to happen shortly after midnight tonight. (We fielded the most pressing technical questions about the merge in our August 24 newsletter.) Much of the chatter is nervous ... → Read More
Public Stock Held by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen and Bessemer Fell 44% in Second Quarter
Public stocks held by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners lost 44% of their value, or $18.3 billion, between March 31 and June 30 as the venture capital firms held on to sizable stakes in tech companies they had backed as startups, though they have recovered ... → Read More
Why Galaxy Digital May Be Backing Out of BitGo
The crypto world may get its own Elon Musk vs. Twitter-esque legal battle! Well, it might not be quite as grand, but here it is: BitGo, a crypto custodian and financial services platform for institutional investors, is threatening to sue a much larger crypto financial services firm, Galaxy ... → Read More
Why B2B Blockchain Startups May Fare Better in a Bear Market
Stablecoins and decentralized finance have all dominated headlines in the past month. But ultimately, finance and payments still represent just one category of crypto startups. Founders are working on applying blockchain in several other ways, too. Here are just a few examples, most of which are ... → Read More
The NFT Market May Not Be Doomed After All
Coinbase opened its NFT marketplace to the general public on Wednesday, after amassing a waitlist totaling nearly 2.8 million people. The launch coincided with the announcement by crypto exchange Kraken that it was opening a waitlist for its own NFT marketplace. All of these are meant to compete ... → Read More
Sam Bankman-Fried Would Be ‘Excited’ to Help Elon Musk Decentralize Twitter
If Elon Musk gains control of Twitter, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried would be “excited” to help him decentralize the social network and move it to a blockchain, if that were Musk’s vision, he told me in an interview Thursday.“Would I be tempted to take part in it financially as well?” Bankman-Fried ... → Read More
Circle’s SPAC Deal Gets More Circuitous
Circle’s road to a SPAC listing just keeps getting more circuitous.The issuer of U.S.-dollar pegged cryptocurrency USD Coin said Tuesday it had closed a $400 million private fundraising round led by prior investor Fidelity Management and Research that included new participant BlackRock and hedge ... → Read More
FTX’s European Expansion by the Numbers; Another Mega NFT Startup Valuation
FTX is expanding into Europe. The cryptocurrency exchange, which ranks as the third largest globally based on daily spot-trading volume, opened its trading platform to Europe on Monday. To learn why FTX is heading to Europe despite the current geopolitical climate, I calculated how big this ... → Read More
Introducing the Crypto Power List, the Industry’s 30 Most Influential People
Money alone doesn’t buy you power in crypto, nor does having the largest social media following. But the $32 billion that flowed into crypto startups last year—plus the $1.9 trillion in combined cryptocurrency value—can make it hard to cut through the noise. The Information’s inaugural Crypto ... → Read More
No, Warren Buffett Didn’t Just Invest $1 Billion in Crypto; Snoop Dogg’s NFT Record Label
Warren Buffett once famously calledbitcoin “rat poison squared.” And despite the frenzy of media coverage this week about Berkshire Hathaway upping its stake in Nubank, a Brazilian digital bank, Buffett probably hasn’t changed his tune as much as people think.With a market capitalization of more ... → Read More
Ryan Calkins, Stephanie Bowman, Peter Steinbrueck hold leads for Port of Seattle Commissioner; 2 races still tight
Two of three races remain close in the contests for Port of Seattle Commissioner. As of Tuesday night, Ryan Calkins led in the race for Position No. 1 with 73.04... → Read More
Seattle reaches $1 million settlement with Postmates over alleged violations of gig worker rules
The city of Seattle reached a $1 million settlement with Postmates over claims it violated gig worker rules. → Read More
Mayor Durkan urges Seattleites to ‘re-create and rebirth’ downtown, its neighborhoods during ‘Welcome Back Weeks’
Mayor Durkan announces actions to attract residents back into downtown core as the city and state recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. → Read More