Ethereum Co-Founder Spotted Rubbing Shoulders with Chinese VCs and Internet Giants

Buterin is photographed alongside Neil Shen, founding partner of Sequoia Capital China; Bo Feng, a founding partner at Ceyuan Ventures and Dragonfly Capital; Wang Xing, the CEO of Meituan Dianping and Tao Zhang, the founder of Dianping.

Beijing today

Left to Right: 沈南鹏 Neil Shen Sequoia Capital China, 冯波 Bo Feng Ceyuan Ventures, @VitalikButerin Ethereum, 王兴 Wang Xing @meituan, 张涛 Tao Zhang Dianping pic.twitter.com/wrC1VevSxl

— 𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙒 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝙉𝙉𝘼𝙉 (@mbrennanchina) October 14, 2019

  The profile of these men, especially in a Chinese setting, is immense. Shen is ranked first on the Midas List of World’s Leading Tech Investors for both 2018 and 2019 while Meituan Dianping is China’s second-largest publicly-listed internet company. It is unclear what the men are discussing or what their purpose for coming together is but, from a little investigating into the nature of these companies, it is clear that they may have an interest in investing and nurturing something like Ethereum based on their blockchain persuasions.

Backing the Blockchain

For starters, Sequoia Capital China is a VC firm focused on seed-stage, mid-stage, late-stage, and growth investments in the fintech sector. With blockchain and cryptocurrency being some of the hottest commodities in fintech, a meeting with Buterin would make sense for Shen and his company. Sequoia is known for its investment in top cryptocurrency exchange Binance; however, that deal soured in 2018 when the company sued the exchange when the CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was accused of breaching the claimed exclusivity of their agreement. Ceyuan Ventures, on the other hand, is a relatively new (but big-spending) VC fund that has reportedly invested $36 million in six different blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses. Of these, the likes of Trip.io, Basis, and Mars Finance are the most recognizable. Last year, it was reported that Dragonfly Capital had raised $100 million for its inaugural fund to invest in cryptocurrency startups — with its focus on bridging the gap between East and West in the crypto economy.

An Ethereum Breakthrough?

While it makes sense that major VC firms could be circling around Ethereum as it builds towards a new scalable upgrade in the next few years, it is the interest from China’s largest on-demand food delivery firm, Meituan Dianping, that raised $4.2 billion through its initial public offering in Hong Kong last year, that is most interesting. Meituan Dianping has been heralded as one of the most innovative companies around as they push to become the Amazon of China. However, there has been little to no mention of their exploration of blockchain and cryptocurrency. The path that these two merged companies — Meituan and Dianping — are heading down sees them want to corner several markets that could be made much more efficient by the introduction of blockchain. Discussions and discoveries with Buterin and Ethereum could indeed help Meituan Dianping push their innovation to new heights — should this be the first step towards a blockchain breakthrough. What do you think these important Chinese investors and Internet moguls would be discussing with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin? Is Ethereum looking for more funding for 2.0 or are these companies looking to boost their blockchain offering? Let us know what you think!