In the blockchain primary market where large orders are frequently appearing, there is a track that cannot be ignored, that isBlockchain Data Service. This track has been favored by capital since the beginning of 2021, and many unicorn companies have emerged.

Data is the oil of the new age. In the web2 world, the largest companies have the largest amount of data. It wouldn't be surprising if Facebook and Google knew you better than you did. Their business models depend heavily on their ability to amass vast amounts of data and put it to good use.

When it comes to investing, it's a similar story.Large financial institutions are relying on data to help make decisions.Whoever has the greatest amount of data and the ability to analyze it will make the best investment decisions.Again, much of this information is classified and inaccessible to ordinary people.

But the data of the blockchain is open, transparent and unchangeable. In the web3 era, the data is recorded on the public ledger, and anyone can obtain the data.secondary title

Is 1 billion valuation expensive?

Is it expensive for a blockchain data service company with a valuation of billions or even billions of dollars?

If we use traditional financial data companies as an analogy, in 2019, Bloomberg’s annual revenue will reach 10 billion U.S. dollars, and in 2020, the total amount paid for financial data in the global market will be around 30 billion U.S. dollars.

At present, these blockchain data companies have not disclosed their financial status. In the financing statement in June 2021, Nansen once stated that his revenue had increased by more than 1,000 times. If the benchmark for this doubling is the initial few hundred dollars, it meansNansen's income at that time was about several million dollars。

Unlike most data service organizations that try to obtain alpha benefits for users,Chainalysis, which has the highest valuation in this track and has reached the ninth round, mainly receives orders from the government, and its volume is also larger.In 2020, Coindesk reviewed 82 federal procurement contract records and calculated that since the establishment of Chainalysis, federal agencies have spent at least $10 million on Chainalysis tools, services, and training, which may reach $14 million if contracts that may be extended are included. Dollars, and that's just the U.S. government. However, such a business model has also made Chainalysis controversial. For example, Bitcoin supporter Andreas Antonopoulos once bombarded Chainalysis as "immoral" and "in an arms invasion of privacy." in competition".

But in any case, if we assume that encrypted finance will eventually fully penetrate traditional finance, even with a price-to-sales ratio of 10-20 times, the valuation of these companies should be quite impressive,As cryptocurrencies gain further mainstream institutional acceptance, the need for data will only increasesecondary title

Which venture capital institutions favor this track?

Compared with the original investment institutions in the encryption circle, many traditional investment institutions have placed multiple bets on this track. For example, Coatue led the investmentChainalysisTiger Global led the round E of Dune Analytics and the B round of Dune AnalyticsThe Graph, also participated inNansenIn the latest round of financing, Accel led Nansen’s round and followed Chainalysis’s round last June.

The blockchain data service track is quite popular with traditional investors. Needless to say, institutions like Coatue that live in the world of traditional finance and encryption, Tiger Fund is also well-known, and Accel is even older, established in 1984.

This track has also witnessed some "old money" investment debuts in the crypto world: Billionaire investor Steven Cohen's Point72 Venture led the investmentMessariA round, this is the fund's first investment in the blockchain world.

In addition, Goldman Sachs led theCoin MetricsIn the B round, Prosus Venture (formerly Naspers Ventures, Tencent's largest single shareholder) led the investmentDappRadarIn the A round, Sequoia China made a moveDebank, leadEllipticEvolution Equity is an investment institution founded in 2008 that focuses on network security and enterprise software. It also sold with Softbank's Vision Fund.

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Nansen to the left, Dune Analytics to the right

In the field of on-chain data services, Nansen and Dune Analytics should be the most contacted and talked about by ordinary users at present. They also represent two different business models, and there is no conclusion about which one is better.

Some people think that although Nansen canRelying on the high unit price of customers and the accumulated label and address feature values, making a lot of money in an encryption market that is still growing at a high speed, but because the data on the chain itself is transparent, the larger the user base, the smaller the asymmetric information advantage paid users enjoy,Since the data is transparent, Dune Analytics can essentially do all the products that Nansen can produce. For example, corresponding to Nansen’s token god board, Dune Analytics also has a token god lite board created by users’ independent contributions.Since the data is transparent, Dune Analytics can essentially do all the products that Nansen can produce. For example, corresponding to Nansen’s token god board, Dune Analytics also has a token god lite board created by users’ independent contributions.

But some people think that although the spirit of Dune Analytics is very web3, products like this cannot be sold to institutional users, Just imagine that in a highly competitive market, are institutional users willing to choose a high-availability product, or choose a high-threshold product that requires writing SQL by themselves? The target customers of this type of data service are precisely institutional users. Dune Analytics began to cooperate with infrastructure providers to provide exclusive data API services for Binance Smart Chain, which itself shows that Dune Analytics is also moving closer to Nansen.

If the data itself cannot build a moat,Maintaining the ability to continuously introduce new products has become the top priority, and Nansen has performed particularly well in this regard。

Taking the NFT sector as an example, Nansen has been fully engaged since the second half of 2021, closely following this wave of NFT outbreaks and continuously improving its products. In June, it announced the launch of NFT Paradise, NFT God Mode, NFT Wallet Profiler and NFT Item Profiler. Track the trading volume, market value, highest price and floor price of well-known projects in the past 24 hours, as well as the buying and selling trends and positions of top collectors, etc. In July, NFT Leaderboards was launched, and the "profit" indicator was introduced to give investors better Investment reference, launched the Smart NFT Trader board in November, listing the top 100 addresses in terms of NFT profits and the top 100 addresses based on internal trader scoring indicators, and announced in December that it will cooperate with Rarity to launch an in-depth analysis of 650+ NFT projects cover.

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Privacy issues that cannot be ignored

Although this track is currently booming, it inevitably attracts doubts, the biggest of which is:Is it reasonable that such a group of companies that seek high profits through data analysis have grown in the web3 world, which claims to return data sovereignty to individual users and should abhor the use of user privacy?

The blockchain has indeed returned data to users. In the matter of using data on the chain, whether it is the government, institutions or individuals, they all stand on a fair starting line. Full visibility and tracking of their movements allows them to discover the identity of criminals over time. Companies are able to have full visibility into transactions with suppliers or third parties and ensure their legality. Individuals are able to see where the "smart money" is going to make more informed decisions. In theory. The environment is more equitable.

And once the information on the chain is associated with the user's personal identity, the leakage of privacy will be permanent: which NFTs have you collected, which activities have you participated in, which web2 accounts have you linked to, which currencies and profits and losses have you invested in, and It is clear at a glance who has interacted on the chain.

If we still can't escape the tracking of big data, targeted airdrops, pushes, and advertisements, is this really what web3 users want to see?How to provide data services under the premise of protecting privacy should be an issue that must be considered in the next step of this track.