Introducing Fourth Revolution Capital (2024)

Fourth Revolution Capital (4RC) is an alternative investment firm focused exclusively on blockchain technology and digital assets. Our thesis is centered on the belief that decentralized computing and web3 networks will become the digital infrastructure of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Technology is once again at the core of a global transformation:

• The First Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century as the steam engine transformed society from agriculture-based villages to factory-based cities
• The Second Industrial Revolution spurred by the invention of electricity and combustion engines expanded the market scale from cities to countries and continents
• The Third Industrial Revolution powered by computers gave rise to the internet, allowing the democratization of information and emergence of digital business models
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution is only just beginning as the technology at its core, including Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence, has reached only a small fraction of its full potential. As each revolution before it changed the face of the earth and fate of humanity, we believe Blockchain Technology will achieve a similar scale of disruption through the disintermediation of global industries from finance and healthcare to e-commerce and entertainment

Power of Blockchain

“DLT [Distributed Ledger Technology aka Blockchain] refers to a novel and fast-evolving approach to recording and sharing data across multiple data stores (or ledgers). This technology allows for transactions and data to be recorded, shared, and synchronized across a distributed network of different network participants.” — World Bank Report

We believe Blockchain represents the next major paradigm of computational technology:

• Distributed Ledger Technology amends the prerequisite of trust to transact
• Immutable records provide superior transparency, traceability, and security
• Smart Contracts streamline transactional agreements to prevent arbitration
• Tokenized business models create incentive alignment to facilitate economic coordination
• Cryptocurrencies enable censorship-resistant value transfer with customizable parameters

Rise of DeFi

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a blockchain-based financial system built on trustless protocols (open-source code), rather than centralized institutions like governments and banks. The first goal of this financial revolution is to offer the same products that power today’s modern economies (currencies, payments, lending/borrowing, investing/trading, derivatives, insurance, governance, etc.) without rent-seeking intermediaries. The second goal is to build brand new products altogether.

Advantages over Traditional Currency and Finance:

• Enables global access to financial services for anyone with an internet connection
• Reduces costs for end users by eliminating profit-seeking financial institutions
• Optimizes yield for depositors by sharing interest on liquidity proportionately
• Automates transactions with self-executing contracts for optimal efficiency
• Catalyzes innovation with open source code to decentralize development
• Empowers users to participate in the governance of their monetary policy

For more information on, see our article on The DeFi Narrative.

The DeFi Landscape

The DeFi Ecosystem is a combination of “Money LEGOs.”

• Every product is a combination of legos and every developer is free to design their own, play with each others pieces, or connect combinations to create new and more robust features.
• DeFi composability allows developers to focus on core business logic by leveraging permissionless products and infrastructure to accelerate innovation, iteration, and integration.
• As the number of pieces in the lego bin grows, the number of possible combinations (decentralized financial products) multiplies exponentially.

For more information, see our article on The DeFi Ecosystem.

Composable Components

DeFi is comprised of interoperable and dynamic components that present opportunities for symbiotic growth and value across the sector. While the ICO boom of 2017 was predicated largely on whitepapers and future roadmaps, today there exists an ecosystem of interconnected protocols live on mainnet with billions of dollars flowing through their contracts and real value being delivered to their users:

• Money Market Protocols (MMPs): Lending and Borrowing (Aave, Compound, dYdX, Maker)
• Automated Market Makers (AMMs): Decentralized exchange to minimize slippage & incentivize liquidity (Curve, Uniswap, mStable, Balancer)
• Automated Asset Managers (AAMs): Algorithmic allocation and trading of deposits to maximize yield (Yearn, Set, Zapper)
• Derivatives: Synthetic Exposure, Insurance, Options & Futures, Prediction Markets (Synthetix, dHedge, Nexus Mutual, Opyn, FutureSwap, Augur)
• Decentralized Infrastructure: Critical building blocks for efficient, scalable, trustless smart contract networks (Chainlink, IPFS, The Graph, 0x, 1inch, Edgeware)

Investing in Emerging Opportunities:

While DeFi is our current focus, our mandate maintains flexibility to support teams and projects pursuing longer-tail primitives that we see as fundamental to the realization of the broader Fourth Industrial Revolution vision. Such primitives include but are not limited to:

• Fixed Income & Volatility Tranche Products (BarnBridge)
• Decentralized Web (dWeb) Applications
• Social Attestation & Alternative Credit Models
• Decentralized Identity & Governance Protocols
• Tokenized Real World Assets (NFTs)
• Ethereum Layer2 & Scaling Solutions
• Cross-Chain Infrastructure

For more information on our Token Valuation Methods and Passive Income Strategies, see our series of articles on The DeFi Opportunity.

Enter 4RC

We’re hands-on, stage-agnostic partners focused on long-term product-market fit and sustainable utility. We invest in digital assets and teams building the web3 future by contributing to early-stage tokenomic design, providing institutional liquidity, engaging in governance, and supporting ongoing operations with marketing and developer resources.

The potential of decentralized cryptonetworks and the coordination mechanisms they unlock is virtually limitless. We’re firmly convicted that these systems — once interconnected and proliferated at scale — hold the key to a more inclusive, democratized, and progressive future. That is the future we wish to be a part of, and we couldn’t be more excited to contribute to the inspiring and talented community working to realize this vision.

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach us via:

• Twitter: @4RCapital
• Email: Contact@FourthRevolution.Capital

Disclaimers:

• All of the information (above and linked) is for entertainment purposes only and is not to be taken as investment or financial advice.
• 4RC may hold long positions in the projects mentioned and abides by a no trade policy 3 days before and after publishing of this article.
• This presentation is not an offer to sell securities of any investment fund or a solicitation of offers to buy any such securities.