Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_61d8aeffcdb02" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“We fundamentally believe that in the distant future, everybody will become a crypto person,” Meritverse co-founder Jacob Claerhout said </li>
 <li>To make a profile on Meritverse, users must put in their wallet address or ENS to ensure authenticity and proof that they’ve worked on certain projects </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Meritverse, advertised as the “professional network of the metaverse,” launched on Thursday, aiming to become a more crypto-friendly LinkedIn, co-founders Jacob Claerhout and Boris Gordts told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“Basically, the product we&#8217;re trying to build is sort of a Google Maps for Web3 that makes it easy to navigate this new era [of the internet],” Gordts said.



To make a profile on Meritverse, users must put in their wallet address or Ethereum name service (ENS) to ensure authenticity and proof that they’ve worked on certain projects. Profiles display a users’ connections, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) they’ve contributed to and their participation in various crypto communities.&nbsp;



“[Similar to] LinkedIn, you are able to see where someone has worked before or who they know. People should be able to map out those relationships in order for collaboration [and] hiring to go a lot easier,” Claerhout said.&nbsp;



However, Meritverse has an edge over LinkedIn because users can ensure their work experience on-chain while centralized networks do not have this capability yet, according to Claerhout.&nbsp;



“We allow people, in a verifiable way, to showcase who they are as a professional, their talents and their skills,” Claerhout said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The platform, which just launched on <a href="http://producthunt.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Product Hunt</a>, comes with rising interest and engagement with DAOs. There are over 180 DAOs with $10.3 billion in assets under management (AUM) and nearly 2 million contributors, according to data from <a href="https://deepdao.io/#/deepdao/dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeepDAO</a>.



DAOs are a new governance structure made possible through the internet and cryptocurrencies. Think of a DAO as an online community with a shared bank account, a group chat and often a mission statement.&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/constitutiondao-shutting-down-after-raising-49m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ConstitutionDAO</a> raised $48.9 million from over 17,000 investors, in an effort to buy a copy of the US Constitution from Sotheby’s Auction House in November. Members of the DAO were given governance tokens for contributing to its fund, giving each person a vote on what would happen with the historic document.&nbsp;



Although the group ultimately lost the bid to hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin, the ConstitutionDAO put the concept of decentralized governance structures briefly in the limelight.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Our thesis is basically that these DAO workers or people contributing to DAOs are living the future of work. We believe that if we build a product for them the rest of the world will get in, and will catch up in the next 15 years,” Gordts said.&nbsp;</blockquote>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘The highs and lows’</h3>



Meritverse’s co-founders previously made <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fantasy-startup-investing-nft-marketplace-shutdown-a-day-into-beta-launch-heres-why/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">headlines</a> after their first startup together shut down less than 24 hours into its beta launch last year.&nbsp;



Visionrare, self-branded as a “fantasy startup investing game,” allowed users to buy synthetic shares— in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-nfts/">NFT</a> form — of startups players believed would be fiscally successful. The project received criticism over whether their core product offering was legal, many questioning if its shares were considered securities.&nbsp;



Visionrare later said they “underestimated the legal complexities” of the project once they launched, according to a <a href="https://app.visionrare.com/dealflow" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> by the company. Claerhout said the decision to close Visionrare “wasn’t an easy decision, [but] it was also not a major decision.”&nbsp;



“We did get it more press attention than maybe we should in the sense that we were a two-month-old project,” he said. “It’s obviously a huge privilege to build in public and to become part of the global discussion.”



“The main thing we learned [from Visionrare] was that we&#8217;re a great team. We can build and ship things fast. We move fast and sometimes break things. But we learned that we love working together through the highs and the lows,” Claerhout said.



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This Startup Is Building a Crypto-Friendly LinkedIn; Here’s How

<div id="highlights-block_6160d9b5fa760" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Visionrare said they would refund all users who put money into the game and relaunch the platform in the coming days</li>
 <li>The company said they “underestimated the legal complexities” once they launched, according to a released statement</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



It was potentially one of the quickest pivots in startup history, a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace with all of the eye-catching topics to draw in users — money, fandom and the potential to follow the fiscal journey of wildly accelerating startups — but it lasted less than one day.



<a href="https://app.visionrare.com/dealflow" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Visionrare,</a> self-branded as a platform for “fantasy startup investing,” temporarily shut down its operations less than 24 hours into the beta launch of its core product, TechCrunch first <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/07/fantasy-startup-investing-nft-platform-visionrare-shuts-down-paid-marketplace-after-a-day-in-open-beta/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> on Thursday.



Founded by Jacob Claerhout and Boris Gordts, Visionrare launched with the idea of giving users the chance to bid on NFT shares of real-world startups at auction.



Comparable to a fantasy sports league, the game ideally enables users to bet and buy fake shares dubbed VisionShares — in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-nfts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFT</a> form — of startups they believe will be successful, according to the company’s <a href="https://app.visionrare.com/dealflow" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">white paper.</a>



Users then compete against others with their quasi-portfolio of synthetic shares. Success in the game correlates to the various companies’ legitimate fundraising cycles. Therefore, whoever builds the most profitable portfolio of shares comes out on top. If the actual startups rake in cash in real life, Visionrare’s users could do the same.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Legal complexities</h3>



However, it was an intriguing idea that quickly (and temporarily) came to halt on Thursday.&nbsp;



Criticism and pushback ensued over Visionrare’s platform, including questions about whether their product offering was legal, whether its shares were securities and more. The company said they “underestimated the legal complexities” once they launched, according to a released <a href="https://app.visionrare.com/dealflow" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement.</a>



Braden Perry, a former CFTC enforcement attorney and a partner at Kennyhertz Perry, said when users have to pay for a virtual investment it “adds massive regulatory complexity and scrutiny.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“When you start charging retail customers for a product, traditional theories of fairness and deception are in play. Visionare was using ‘virtual’ stocks from real companies without their approval, which asks for legal challenges,” Perry told Blockworks. “[Purchasing] fake shares in any company can only lead to confusion, with the potential for wrongdoing on many levels.” </blockquote>



Additionally, the company didn’t get approval from several of the startups they were selling synthetic shares for, TechCrunch previously <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sFWVeWnlwXnY8HRwWplefw6rZ8VaFe6bGTaoyUjiVog/edit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Visionrare quickly responded to the pushback, stating that users would be fully refunded for the money they spent in-game, according to the company’s Discord channel. Additionally, they plan to relaunch as a free-to-play game in the coming days.



Joseph Lizyness, a user who registered for Visionrare’s beta launch, remains optimistic about the startup following the controversy. 



“Regardless, the ability to buy and sell NFTs of actual startups is awesome,” Lizyness told Blockworks. “[Visionrare] blends venture capital [and] gives retail investors an eye into something they normally wouldn&#8217;t be able to have, until a future IPO could be bought through Robinhood.”



Although the marketplace is temporarily shut down, Visionrare’s founders maintain that they aren’t done with the idea, but will have to pivot the structure of its platform.



In a statement to Blockworks, the company shared that “the overwhelming majority of founders reacted very positively to what we are doing,” adding that certain execs even asked if they could invest in the company.&nbsp;



“We feel empowered by a growing and encouraging community of people that want Visionrare to succeed, and are honoured to have fuelled a global debate on how to democratise startup investment through crypto,” the company said.