Crypto is a fundamental technological breakthrough, says the co-founder of a16z

Marc Andreessen, co-founder and basic companion of the enterprise capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z), sees cryptocurrencies and blockchain as the most important new architectural change in the expertise business.

In a Bloomberg Wealth interview with David Rubenstein, Andreessen rearranged the phrases of the debate and moved away from the dialogue of whether or not Bitcoin (BTC) – and cryptocurrencies in the broader sense – is a difficulty, a long-term funding or not.

“Crypto is like the fable of the blind man and the elephant. People touch it from different angles. They let themselves be distracted and carried away by these different topics and full of energy, ”joked Andreessen. For a16z, nonetheless, the most necessary side of crypto is that the firm sees it as a fundamental architectural change in the expertise business that is attracting many of the brightest minds in laptop science. .

“We watch it” [crypto] as technological change. A fundamental technological breakthrough has occurred. It is an space of ​​laptop science generally known as distributed consensus […] Money is an app […], but it surely’s only one of many. “

Rather than focusing on Bitcoin as an asset, Andreessen emphasizes the blockchain’s ability to enable agent-software interactions on the internet in order to build trusting relationships in a trusted environment. :

“These are new types of computers. It gets very subtle here. Bitcoin is an internet connected computer that includes hundreds of thousands of physical computers around the world. It is a transaction processing system that runs without a central location. […] It’s a new kind of financial system. “

For all these causes, the VC firm takes crypto very severely, mentioned Andreessen. Indeed, A16z has doubled its dedication to blockchain growth via 2021, saying the Crypto Fund III – a $ 2.2 billion enterprise fund led by Andreessen Horowitz basic companions Chris Dixon and Katie Haun – co- Leader in late June this 12 months. The fund will spend money on blockchain initiatives at each stage of growth, “from projects in the early phase to fully developed networks in the later phase”.

Related: Former BitGo staff will assist begin Andreessen Horowitz’s $ 2.2 billion crypto fund

A16z has made many necessary beneficial properties in the blockchain area, together with a private token sale price $ 314 million to Solana Labs in June. In earlier months, it led a $ 23 million funding spherical in March for the OpenSea non-eligible token market, a $ 28 million funding spherical at Aleo in April, and a $ 40 million enhance for Talos in May on. In 2018, a16z was behind Dfinity’s $ 105 million spherical of funding.

The massive US crypto change Coinbase counts a16z as their largest supporter. The VC firm owns roughly $ 9.7 billion in shares.