Gm. The Kardashian's vs Instagram, Coinbase vs the SEC...we got a combative edition of Homescreen for you all today.

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

CRYPTO

Coinbase and the SEC gear up for round 2

Coinbase is heading back towards the coinbasement after the SEC launched a probe this week to see if the company has been letting users trade digital assets that haven’t been registered as securities. The stock fell as much as 15% yesterday.

• The probe is reportedly separate from the other SEC’s investigation into an alleged insider trading scheme conducted by an ex-Coinbase product manager, though the timing of the two certainly raises some eyebrows.

The backstory

Believe it or not, Coinbase and the SEC used to be quite chummy: Four years ago the SEC actually praised Coinbase for its securities framework and gave its blessing for the crypto exchange to move forward with its IPO.

But after the recent bankruptcies of Celsius and Voyager, regulators are beefing up measures to protect consumers in the crypto space. The crypto industry’s reaction to more regulation? It’s about damn time.

• The two US statutes that are typically used to determine whether a financial instrument is considered a security were written in the early 1930s. Coinbase has long pushed for more modern regulations to reflect the rise of cryptographic assets.

Though Coinbase is eager for regulation, it wants consistency above all else. Watching the SEC go from praising its securities framework to investigating it for securities fraud has Coinbase more than a little ticked off.

Looking ahead…if the SEC proves any of the 150 crypto assets listed on Coinbase to be securities, it will have to register with the regulator as an exchange bringing it under its jurisdiction.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram’s existential crisis

Kylie Jenner once tweeted "Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore?” It caused Snap’s market cap to plunge $1.3 billion in a matter of hours. Jenner pulled a similar stunt recently, but this time, it was Instagram in her crosshairs.

On Monday, Jenner and her No. 2 most followed IG account shared a screenshot on her story of another user’s post longing for the good ole days of Instagram.

• “Make Instagram Instagram again,” the post read, speaking to the widespread frustration users are feeling around IG’s steady creep towards mimicking TikTok.

This isn’t new

Zuckerberg and co. have been very transparent about prioritizing video to try and compete with TikTok. But, between last week’s news that all posted videos on IG will automatically become Reels and a new test that has some users seeing more full-screen videos, people are fed up.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri posted a video yesterday that did nothing to quell people’s fears. “I need to be honest. I do believe that more and more of Instagram is gonna become video over time,” Mosseri said.

Bottom line: Kylie may be peeved, but IG isn’t backing down from its mid-life crisis. Whether consumers like it or not, video appears to be the future.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: What if we told you that early-stage unicorns (defined as seed, Series A, or Series B) are being minted at the same pace as last year? Feels far-fetched given the current state of the market, but it’s true. According to Crunchbase, 50 early-stage unicorns have been minted in the first half of this year, almost right on pace to match the 109 companies to reach unicorn status last year.

Story we’re watching: Struck Capital, a venture fund with $220 million in AUM, is rolling out a new $15 million venture studio to spin up its own companies. The “anything you can do, I can do better” approach has its risks: Are founders going to want to share information with a fund that has the ability to turn around and spin up a copycat company of its own? Struck Capital founder Adam Struck told TechCrunch that “We never steal ideas” and that they learn more from “the pitches we do not receive than the ones we do,” but, still, it’ll be interesting to see how Struck’s new studio affects its venture fund.

Rabbit hole: How the brain allows the deaf to experience music (Nautilus)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• GM is set to receive a $2.5 billion loan from the US government to support its EV battery production plans.

• Chipotle is running a week-long “Buy the Dip” promo giving away $200,000 in crypto and $2 million in guacamole and queso dip.

• Russia is leaving the International Space Station in 2024 to focus on building its own.

• Google fired the engineer who believed its AI was sentient.

THREE HEADLINES AND A LIE

Believe it or not, one of these headlines actually corresponds to a real news story, while three are from the satirical news publication The Onion. Can you separate the real from the fake?

1. “Struggling company rebrands as ‘good’”

2. “Airbnb host sends renters friendly reminder to avoid using or touching anything on property”

3. “Study finds joggers burn up to 200 calories from repeatedly pulling down bunched-up shorts.”

4. "Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli—now free from prison—has launched a crypto business aimed at disrupting the pharmaceutical drug industry.”

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week:

Shopify: 1,000 people (10%)

AID Genomics: 400 people

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

🎇 How to reach your first 1,000 users.

✂️ How to split equity among co-founders.

🤝How to know if you’re actually hiring a good engineer.

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

D. Martin Shkreli really is diving back into the pharma game.