Geraldine Le Meur

I’m a lucky man

Introducing Universal, uAssets, and our $9M round led by @a16zcrypto. Universal brings the tokens you want to trade (think SUI, XRP, and DOGE) to the chains you already trade on (think Base and Solana) – and uAssets have already seen $850M+ in volume since going live. If you do most of your trading onchain, you know how painful it is. Want to trade spot coins like DOGE or XRP, but your money's on Base or Sol? Well...you can't. DeFi protocols are similarly constrained to whichever assets are available and liquid on their chain. We built Universal to make every crypto trade back on crypto rails. uAssets are 1:1-backed wrapped tokens that let you trade native assets without leaving your chain. No bridges, no CEXs, no fragmented liquidity. How this works: open universal.xyz, connect your wallet, and trade over 80+ assets previously unavailable on your chain. uAssets are minted and redeemed on-demand via the Universal relayer. You get near-instant, capital-efficient trading. This becomes really powerful when you use it for DeFi integrations. Take your uXRP and provide liquidity on @AerodromeFi, or lend it on @MorphoLabs. uAssets work anywhere ERC-20 tokens do. Developers: we've made it ridiculously easy to bring 80+ assets to your protocol. Our Relayer API gives you access to offchain liquidity and cross-chain settlement in a few lines of code. Reach out to us for access. We're live on Base, Polygon, and Arbitrum. Many more chains coming soon. Try it yourself at universal.xyz. Builders: docs.universal.xyz

@geraldine @Frenchfounders "Pour qu'il y ait scalabilité, le playbook est indispensable. Une première question à ce poser : est-ce que ce que je construit aujourd'hui pourra être réplicable facillement, et dans d'autres pays ? Et pour y répondre, il faut y aller étape par étape."

@geraldine @Frenchfounders "- Comment savoir si on est un vrai pionnier ou trop en avance pour son marché ? - Je ne crois pas que la notion de "pionnier" est importante dans l'entrepreneuriat, ce qui compte, c'est l'exécution, la conviction et les équipes."

I’m excited to announce our lead investment in @universaldotxyz (formerly Alongside), which is building a protocol to make all cryptoassets available on all chains. Over the last few years, performant L1s and Ethereum L2s have transformed onchain activity and created new opportunities for broader DeFi adoption, such as near-instant transactions and improved UX. But many of the largest cryptoassets aren’t easily tradeable on crypto rails or are siloed to just one blockchain. These assets are much harder to access and integrate into DeFi protocols. As a result, users have had to rely on bridging solutions, multiple wallets, or centralized exchanges. This friction creates capital inefficiency and frustration, but even more importantly, it makes it harder for unsophisticated users to enter DeFi and hinders innovation by reducing DeFi’s composability. In order for crypto to play a larger role in global finance, we need a way to bring any asset onto any chain in an inexpensive, verifiable, and composable way. With Universal’s wrapped tokens, you can trade, borrow, lend, or stake any asset from your preferred wallet on any chain. Think of Universal as a “Circle for cryptoassets.”: you request a wrapped version of your preferred asset on your preferred chain, and, once verified in reserves, it’s minted 1:1 on the destination chain. Universal has started by launching on @Base with integrations into DeFi protocols @AerodromeFi and @MorphoLabs, allowing DeFi borrowers to use popular assets from non-smart contract L1s as collateral for lending on Base. We’ve known Universal’s cofounders @AustinLDiamond, @0xgaut, and Jun for over two years since we led their seed round. Not only are they brilliant, but they have an exceptional ability to translate ambitious ideas into real working products. Their combination of crypto knowledge and operational excellence is what we need to help unlock crypto’s full potential. We’re excited to continue supporting Austin, Gaut, Jun, and the Universal team.

I'm excited to announce @universaldotxyz, and our $9M round led by @a16zcrypto. Universal fundamentally improves how assets move and trade onchain. You can now trade spot assets like SUI, DOGE, and XRP directly on your preferred chain without bridges or centralized exchanges. The problem is simple: crypto is fragmented. So many chains, so many assets. If you're trading on Base but want exposure to something like SOL, DOGE, or XRP, you have to bridge or find your way back to a CEX. This creates unnecessary friction for users and severely limits which assets developers can use. Universal solves this with uAssets - wrapped tokens that are backed 1:1 by verifiable reserves held in Coinbase Prime. Each uAsset can be natively minted and redeemed on-demand across any supported chain. Since going live, uAssets have already seen over $850M in trading volume. Traders: this means you can finally trade 80+ new assets without leaving your preferred chain. No bridges, no CEXs, no fragmented liquidity. Plus, you can put your uAssets to work in DeFi. Provide liquidity on @AerodromeFi, lend on @MorphoLabs, and much more. Builders: You can now integrate those 80+ assets that were previously unavailable on your chain in a few lines of code through our Universal Relayer API. We’re actively working on dozens of new integrations. Reach out. As of today, we support Base, Polygon, and Arbitrum, with Solana, World, Monad and many more coming soon. Try Universal now at universal.xyz, or build with us at docs.universal.xyz.

Reflecting on the profound impact of my dear friend and Salesforce board member Susan Wojcicki. Susan was a trailblazer in the industry, an exemplary mother, and a cherished friend. We shared so many fun family events and elegant programs celebrating her incredible success. She had a remarkable ability to lead with grace and vision, lighting up every interaction with her wisdom and warmth. Her kind heart, wise counsel, and philanthropic spirit touched countless lives. My thoughts are with her surviving mother Esther, sisters Janet and Anne, her husband Dennis Troper, and her beloved children. Susan's legacy of leadership and love will forever inspire us. May the One who brings Peace bring Peace to All. ❤️

We're excited to announce the launch of Universal Mainnet Beta, first on @base. Universal enables exposure to assets previously not available on @base (think SOL, DOGE, and BTC), with CEX-like performance and price execution. Read on to get access today ↓

Excited to finally reveal Universal! A simple way to get exposure to cross-chain assets on your favorite chain. Read on for details and access to the Universal Preview. x.com/UniversalAsset…

look what they took from us

Give the intern a raise

AI in retail…

Last quarter, we had to write off a $150k investment with on paper a 25x multiple on invested capital. We had to write off another one today. The two companies had raised close to $75M each & were valued in the 300M+ range. More of these bad news to come in the near future.

Very excited to share @alongsidefi's 2023 Crypto Report TL;DR - Crypto isn't going away just yet 👀 alongside.xyz/2023-in-crypto

Ok... @0xgaut

@fred_montagnon @picardsurgeles @ArianeeProject 😂

Pour les fondus de NFT, @picardsurgeles sort les siens. nft.picard.fr Les gagnants pourront s'écrier "gelé mon NFT !" ps "loi influenceurs": ce post n'est pas sponsorisé et ils n'utilisent pas (encore ?) @ArianeeProject :)

Life is a roller coaster 🎢 and as an entrepreneur, it can feel like playing the game of life on hard mode. But if it's your life's work, it's worth it! 🌟 One of my fav quotes: 'In life, the challenge is not so much to figure out how best to play the game; the challenge is to figure out what game you're playing.' — Kwame Anthony Appiah

I remember when eBay was the terrifying thing: "Someone is selling their baby on eBay!". I remember when Wikipedia was the terrifying thing: "OMG there's an error in Wikipedia." Now, ChatGPT is the terrifying thing. And...

The Industrial Revolution was all about tools to augment and automate manual labor. The AI Revolution is the equivalent for mental labor, but this time around the compounding innovation and progress will be significantly greater.

Breaking Plug-ins in ChatGPT Wow, this changes the playing field completely. What plug-in will you build?