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PlaceholderWe’re a capital partnership based in New York City that invests in decentralized information networks.Placeholder Menu Street Address City, State, Zip Phone Number Your Custom Text Here Placeholder is a venture capital firm. Partners Joel Monegro and Chris Burniske manage the firm with Brad Burnham as venture partner. Mario Laul is our Head of Research and Shelly Gogol is our General Manager. Since 2017, we have invested in over 75 early-stage companies and networks, including: Aleo Avantgarde Arx Backpack Botanix Celestia Eclipse Ethereum Gearbox Gyroscope Jito Kamino Magic Monad Movement Obol Orca Pocket Polymer Saga Solana Solend Squads Tensor Tally WeatherXM Zerion zkSync and more. Learn about our investment thesis and how we invest, follow us on twitter @placeholdervc. You can also find open roles across the portfolio at jobs.placeholder.vc. Latest Blog Posts Recent Blogs Sep 15, 2025 Gurnoor Narula Leveling the Stakes on Solana Sep 15, 2025 Gurnoor Narula Authored by Gurnoor Narula (Placeholder) and Mustafa Qazi (Volt Capital)The process of updating Solana has waterfall effects on Solana’s incentive design, validator economics, and therefore, validator set equity. Certain proposals, such as Alpenglow, are inevitable upgrades given their performance, engineering, and user experience benefits. Under the assumption of these proposals and their economic side effects, we found that a modified version of SIMD-228 and a lower VAT fee of 0.135 SOL/day would be optimal for validator decentralization, pending a more formal discussion of Alpenglow’s reward schemes.  Read More → Sep 15, 2025 Gurnoor Narula Jun 30, 2025 Mario Laul Revisiting L1 Tokens as Money: A Critique of ‘Monetary Premium’ Jun 30, 2025 Mario Laul One of the oldest debates in crypto focuses on the relationship between the adoption of L1 blockchain networks and the value accrual of their native tokens. The debate is unresolved but it is generally believed that, as long as the L1 token is the preferred asset for transacting on the network, the most widely adopted networks will also end up hosting the most valuable tokens. While the details of the exact argument are network- and token-specific, there is one additional idea that has been echoing in these discussions for at least 10 years. For many, it is the most important distinguishing factor between a handful of L1 ’blue chips’ and the evergrowing long tail of the cryptoasset universe at large. That idea is known as ’monetary premium’ and it is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of money. Read More → Jun 30, 2025 Mario Laul Apr 16, 2025 Mario Laul Combined Metrics for Tracking Smart Contract Networks Apr 16, 2025 Mario Laul One of the key advantages of blockchain networks over other digital platforms is that data about assets and transactions hosted on a blockchain is publicly available. This allows for close to real-time tracking of how different networks compare across a variety of metrics. The most reliable method for assessing the usage of a particular blockchain is to zoom in on individual measures, ideally at the level of specific applications or user groups. However, that’s not always feasible. As the number of networks and the amount of data grows, various forms of aggregation are required to simplify the tracking process without losing the ability to identify when and where a closer look at the underlying data is warranted. This post provides an overview of one such attempt at metrics aggregation. Read More → Apr 16, 2025 Mario Laul Blog Archive 2025 Sep 15, 2025 Leveling the Stakes on Solana Sep 15, 2025 Jun 30, 2025 Revisiting L1 Tokens as Money: A Critique of ‘Monetary Premium’ Jun 30, 2025 Apr 16, 2025 Combined Metrics for Tracking Smart Contract Networks Apr 16, 2025 Feb 19, 2025 Introducing the Sequencing Value Accrual Simulator Feb 19, 2025 Feb 13, 2025 A Visual Guide to Sequencing Mechanisms Feb 13, 2025 2024 Dec 16, 2024 The Cryptopreneur’s Dilemma Dec 16, 2024 Nov 18, 2024 David and Goliath: How Web3 Can Compete in AI Nov 18, 2024 Jul 30, 2024 Eclipse: the Best of Solana, Ethereum, and Celestia Jul 30, 2024 Jul 10, 2024 Stable Coins, Stable Growth Jul 10, 2024 Apr 25, 2024 Is it time to Move beyond Solidity? Apr 25, 2024 Apr 18, 2024 Saga: Open Blockspace for the Multiverse Apr 18, 2024 Apr 15, 2024 Onchain Finance is Thriving; What’s Next? Apr 15, 2024 Feb 23, 2024 Introducing Gurnoor Singh Narula Feb 23, 2024 2023 Dec 19, 2023 Institutionalization = Network Success Dec 19, 2023 Nov 22, 2023 Rollups as Virtual Blockchains in The Modular Era Nov 22, 2023 Oct 23, 2023 AI Belongs Onchain Oct 23, 2023 Oct 10, 2023 Ethereum and Solana Oct 10, 2023 Sep 28, 2023 Placeholder is Hiring an Analyst Sep 28, 2023 Sep 20, 2023 Progressive Compliance Sep 20, 2023 Apr 23, 2023 Internet Financial System: Infinity Exchange and Beyond Apr 23, 2023 Mar 9, 2023 Across Thesis Mar 9, 2023 2022 Nov 14, 2022 Moving on from FTX Nov 14, 2022 Oct 27, 2022 Gyroscope Thesis Oct 27, 2022 Feb 3, 2022 Middlemachines Feb 3, 2022 2021 Oct 20, 2021 How Crypto Is Shaping the Digital Revolution Oct 20, 2021 Jul 21, 2021 Scaling Ethereum with zkSync Jul 21, 2021 Jun 16, 2021 Element Thesis Jun 16, 2021 May 20, 2021 Isomorphism in DAO Governance May 20, 2021 Apr 1, 2021 The Original Sin Apr 1, 2021 Mar 25, 2021 Replicating Market Makers Mar 25, 2021 Mar 11, 2021 Systemic Risk Mitigation in DeFi Mar 11, 2021 Mar 2, 2021 A Note on Privacy in Constant Function Market Makers Mar 2, 2021 Feb 25, 2021 Re-Decentralizing Git with Radicle 🌱 Feb 25, 2021 Jan 19, 2021 Optimal Fees for Geometric Mean Market Makers Jan 19, 2021 Jan 13, 2021 When Does the Tail Wag the Dog? Curvature and Market Making Jan 13, 2021 2020 Dec 11, 2020 The Great Automaton Dec 11, 2020 Dec 2, 2020 Can one hear the shape of a CFMM? (Part 1) Dec 2, 2020 Sep 30, 2020 Ten Theses on Decentralized Network Governance Sep 30, 2020 Sep 17, 2020 Stop Burning Tokens – Buyback and Make Instead Sep 17, 2020 Sep 15, 2020 Zcash Thesis Sep 15, 2020 Jul 20, 2020 Balancer Thesis Jul 20, 2020 Jul 14, 2020 FOSS Governance and Blockchain Networks Jul 14, 2020 Jun 25, 2020 Why Stake When You Can Borrow? Jun 25, 2020 Jun 17, 2020 Liquidity Provider Returns in Geometric Mean Markets Jun 17, 2020 Jun 15, 2020 A Superior Financial System Jun 15, 2020 Jun 13, 2020 Institutional Participation in Token-Weighted Network Governance Jun 13, 2020 May 29, 2020 Magic Authentication May 29, 2020 May 22, 2020 Proof of Liquidity May 22, 2020 May 7, 2020 Aragon DAOs May 7, 2020 Apr 9, 2020 Erasure Thesis Apr 9, 2020 Apr 6, 2020 On Autonomous Software Apr 6, 2020 Mar 6, 2020 Aragon (ANT) Economics Mar 6, 2020 Jan 30, 2020 Thin Applications Jan 30, 2020 Jan 7, 2020 How Much Does a Crypto-Vote Cost? Jan 7, 2020 2019 Dec 14, 2019 The DeFi Déjà Vu Dec 14, 2019 Dec 3, 2019 Zerion Dec 3, 2019 Nov 29, 2019 Zcash's Network Upgrade 4: The Final Stretch of Decisions Nov 29, 2019 Oct 26, 2019 The Bookkeeping View of Money Oct 26, 2019 Oct 25, 2019 How To Think About Value Oct 25, 2019 Oct 22, 2019 Fire before Growth: The Likely Fate of Ethereum Killers Oct 22, 2019 Oct 6, 2019 Protocols as Minimally Extractive Coordinators Oct 6, 2019 Sep 3, 2019 Ethereum and The Seven Dwarfs Sep 3, 2019 Aug 19, 2019 Web vs. Crypto Service Models Aug 19, 2019 Aug 7, 2019 Cryptonetworks and Governments Aug 7, 2019 Jul 31, 2019 Sovereign Cryptonetworks Jul 31, 2019 Jul 10, 2019 Resources, Governance, and Legitimacy in Zcash's 2020 Network Upgrade Jul 10, 2019 Jul 10, 2019 Risk Management in MakerDAO Jul 10, 2019 Jun 26, 2019 3Box Thesis Jun 26, 2019 Jun 19, 2019 The Full Circle Hypothesis Jun 19, 2019 May 6, 2019 Blockchains are Bureaucracies par Excellence May 6, 2019 Apr 26, 2019 Value Capture and Quantification: Cryptocapital vs Cryptocommodities Apr 26, 2019 Apr 10, 2019 DeFi Liquidity Models Apr 10, 2019 Mar 13, 2019 Mario Laul Mar 13, 2019 Mar 1, 2019 Maker Network Overview Mar 1, 2019 Feb 25, 2019 FOAM Thesis Feb 25, 2019 Feb 19, 2019 Cryptonetwork Governance as Capital Feb 19, 2019 Feb 14, 2019 The Defensibility of Middleware Protocols Feb 14, 2019 Feb 2, 2019 Crypto Hedge Funds Vs. Venture Funds Feb 2, 2019 Jan 23, 2019 Maker Thesis Jan 23, 2019 Jan 9, 2019 Funding Cryptonetworks Jan 9, 2019 Jan 5, 2019 The Cryptoeconomic Circle Jan 5, 2019 2018 Nov 30, 2018 Cryptonetworks are not Companies Nov 30, 2018 Nov 13, 2018 Theory Follows Price, Price Follows Theory Nov 13, 2018 Nov 6, 2018 Productive Capital in Cryptonetworks Nov 6, 2018 Nov 6, 2018 The Nouriel in All of Us Nov 6, 2018 Aug 13, 2018 Resource Distribution and Power Dynamics in Decentralized Networks Aug 13, 2018 May 12, 2018 Decred Thesis May 12, 2018 Apr 7, 2018 Cryptoassets: Flow & Reflexivity Apr 7, 2018 Feb 20, 2018 Information Technology Market Cycles (A Brief History) Feb 20, 2018 Feb 13, 2018 Investment Thesis Summary Feb 13, 2018 Browse by Author Joel Monegro 24 Chris Burniske 23 Mario Laul 23 Alex Evans 10 Gurnoor Narula 5 2 2 1 You have reached the end. Subscribe Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. 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