1/ M&A in token economies is fascinating and under-discussed. Any other space with massive capitalization followed by a bear market would see significant consolidation. No so in crypto. Thread below curates some of the best thinking about what’s going on.
3/ In the exchanges and services space, this has certainly been the case, with @circlepay acquiring @Poloniex and @Coinbase going on a spree including @CipherBrowser, @earndotcom, broker-dealer Keystone Capital Corp, and decentralized exchange @ParadexIO.
4/ By and large, however, these aren’t protocol-layer projects. A more curious set of M&A dynamics relate to crypto networks and token economies where capital, coders and community are all extraordinarily liquid and not subject to centralized decisions (like "join this new co").
5/ @KyleSamani argued that protocol mergers are nearly impossible in practice. The IP is open source; the talent doesn’t work for token holders; and the value of the tokens is in the network - which an acquisition would eliminate. multicoin.capital/2017/10/16/cry…
6/ A piece published on @Coinmonks this May called “The Potential Of Crypto M&A” examines three types of prospective deals - the “Old school” deal; the coin “buy out” and the "hard fork" M&A. All theoretical, so far. medium.com/coinmonks/the-…
7/ In this essay @Chris_Herd speculates about how blockchains could be subject to hostile takeovers through individual infiltration. "Think of each coin as a target for acquisition. Imagine each individual as an entity who can join a new conglomerate” medium.com/@ChrisHerd/how…
8/ @Andy_Bromberg from @Coinlist also wrote a detailed piece about what the first token network hostile takeover might look like, including using airdrops to incentivize network users to burn old tokens to get new. medium.com/@andy_bromberg…
9/ One M&A notion that rings particularly true to me is the idea that token projects will start using their large post-ICO war chests to buy up non-tokenized companies. @CremeDeLaCrypto called these companies “Cash-Flush Business-Lights” or CFBLs. medium.com/blockchain-cap…
10/ One incredibly interesting idea from the CFBL piece is the concept that certain crypto acquisitions would effectively be “free," as news of the deal raises the price of the token, and consequently, increases the value of the project's token reserves. 
11/ There are two recent examples that provide some evidence that Spencer is right. The first is @Tronfoundation / @justinsuntron’s acquisition of @BitTorrent. The second is @StellarOrg’s acquisition of @chain.
12/ The @StellerOrg @chain acquisition is particularly interesting because the ~$500m value deal will be executed in Stellar’s token #XLM. This Reddit thread exemplifies the conversation about what that might do to the price. reddit.com/r/Stellar/comm…
13/ I think it’s highly likely that @CremeDeLaCrypto is correct and that we see this sort of M&A emerge as a major use of ICO funds. From a time and talent acquisition perspective, it could actually make sense for token projects to just buy out dev shops and marketing agencies.
14/ Speaking of what I think, if you’re interested in this topic of crypto M&A (and if you’re not, how did you make it this far?) I wrote a piece about it in @21Cryptos this month. Preview below and available here: 21cryptos.com
15/ Finally, just this morning as I was prepping this thread, @Andy_Bromberg published another piece about token network mergers, this time focused on how a network that wished to be acquired could get its community bought in. medium.com/@andy_bromberg…
16/ The reason why this article is so exciting to me is that M&A is not only a business strategy but an example of the human propensity to form alliances in competition. It seems crazy that crypto wouldn’t experiment with that deeply social process, even if it looks v. different.
17/ When it comes to crypto M&A, we’re not even at inning one but still imagining what the rules of the sport might be. What other pieces are out there that should be in this list? Who is doing the most exciting thinking in this space?
