Andreessen Horowitz launches $2.2 billion crypto fund

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Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is launching a new, $2.2 billion fund to invest in cryptocurrency, stating that they are "radically optimistic about crypto's potential."

Silicon Valley venture capital firm launches $2.2 billion crypto fund


The firm, founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, is known for being an early investor in companies such as Facebook and Instagram. It now plans on investing in cryptocurrency, which it sees as the future of finance and a highly influential technology.

"We believe that the next wave of computing innovation will be driven by crypto," firm partners Katie Haun, Ali Yahoo, and Chris Dixon wrote in a blog post.

The post outlines the firm's reasoning for investing in cryptocurrency, and names new experts it has brought on board to help determine where best to invest the funds. Among the names is Rachael Horwitz, Coinbase's former Vice President of Communications.

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $60,000 in April before losing nearly half its value in the following months. Yet, Andreessen Horowitz remains optimistic.

"We've been investing in crypto assets since 2013 and are more excited today about what comes next than ever before," the blog post continues. "The history of crypto shows that asset prices may fluctuate but innovation continues to increase through each cycle."

While Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies saw widespread adoption in 2020 and 2021, cryptocurrency markets have been especially volatile in recent months.

In May, Tesla stopped accepting BitCoin as a method of payment and was believed to drop the market as much as 15%.

The Chinese government continues to crack down on crypto as well, banning cryptocurrency from institutional use in mid-May of 2021.

The U.S. government has also begun taking steps to mitigate potential problems relating to cryptocurrency, announcing plans to tighten regulations on cryptocurrency markets and holders.

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patchythepirate

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    mark fearingmark fearing Posts: 420member
    Little boys with too much money. Of all the things you could do in the world this is about the most worthless way to ‘spend’ billions. 
    DAalsethdavgreg
  • Reply 2 of 10
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,037member
    Bitcoin is a digital tulip bulb.

    There is currency and then there is money.

    Hard assets like gold and silver are money. The US Dollar is currency.

    The only reason a Dollar is accepted is because of law and broad social acceptance. It is nothing but a piece of paper. The same is true of the Euro and other paper currencies.

    Hard assets have intrinsic value.

    Bitcoin is has no intrinsic value and is not backed by any government as a fiat currency.

    OctoMonkey
  • Reply 3 of 10
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    I hope they lose it all.
    OctoMonkey
  • Reply 4 of 10
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,885member
    $3.6 Billion of BTC just disappeared from owners' accounts into thin air in South Africa.  People who think "it can't happen here" are fooling themselves.

    https://www.coindesk.com/founders-of-south-african-crypto-investment-firm-along-with-3-6b-in-bitcoin-are-missing
    edited June 2021 OctoMonkey
  • Reply 5 of 10
    OctoMonkeyOctoMonkey Posts: 311member
    he-he-he...

    Suckers!
  • Reply 6 of 10
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,031member
    Nassim Nickolas Taleb of Black Swan fame and other books, has a paper out "Bitcoin, Currencies, and Bubbles" which argues BTC has the exact value of 0. 
    OctoMonkey
  • Reply 7 of 10
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    My bank account in USA is protected by FDIC for upto $250,000. Similarly for US brokerage companies, But, do regulations in each country make crypto currency exchange or brokerages responsible to pay back in case of hack/fraud like South Africa where billions of $ were wiped out from customer's account ? Who will pay back to those who lost their life savings without their own fault.
    People think Crypto is a stored value like Gold,Silver,Platinum,Diamond,etc but it is not.
    edited June 2021
  • Reply 8 of 10
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    davgreg said:
    Bitcoin is a digital tulip bulb.
    There is currency and then there is money.
    Hard assets like gold and silver are money. The US Dollar is currency.
    The only reason a Dollar is accepted is because of law and broad social acceptance. It is nothing but a piece of paper. The same is true of the Euro and other paper currencies.
    Hard assets have intrinsic value.
    Bitcoin is has no intrinsic value and is not backed by any government as a fiat currency.
    I agree with a few of the points, but I think some form of crypto (or a few) will end up falling solidly into that currency state of things. The reason the USD is accepted is because the USA has a very powerful military. Once that's over and the USA collapses socially, so will the USD.

    I tend to think of something like Bitcoin as uber or meta currency. It's a layer above other forms of currency which has both utility and a bet-hedging aspect. (Note, I have very little so I'm not saying this because I want to maintain its value, etc.).

    A form of the utility can be seen with what Adam Curry is doing with Podcasting 2.0 ( PodcastIndex.org ). They are using Lightning Networks' 'ledger' type system to get around the high transaction cost, but enabling a direct funding (with splits) direct from consumer to producer. It could apply to nearly anything, not just podcasting. Think of it as an ultimate form of crowd-sourcing / Patreon, with the added benefit of being nearly impossible to censor or deplatform.

    And, while governments can certainly make it tough via regulations, this stuff rides on a layer above their control. Someone can pay me or I can pay them regardless of what the powers that be want. Gold and silver have that to some extent, but aren't as utilitarian.

    wood1208 said:
    My bank account in USA is protected by FDIC for upto $250,000. Similarly for US brokerage companies, But, do regulations in each country make crypto currency exchange or brokerages responsible to pay back in case of hack/fraud like South Africa where billions of $ were wiped out from customer's account ? Who will pay back to those who lost their life savings without their own fault.
    People think Crypto is a stored value like Gold,Silver,Platinum,Diamond,etc but it is not.
    Oh yeah, it's complex and risky... but you're still thinking in terms of a stable world. That won't be around much longer, I fear.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    rundhvidrundhvid Posts: 124member
    davgreg said:
    Bitcoin is a digital tulip bulb.

    There is currency and then there is money.

    Hard assets like gold and silver are money. The US Dollar is currency.

    The only reason a Dollar is accepted is because of law and broad social acceptance. It is nothing but a piece of paper. The same is true of the Euro and other paper currencies.

    Hard assets have intrinsic value.

    Bitcoin is has no intrinsic value and is not backed by any government as a fiat currency.

    —are you familiar with the Zeitgeist documentaries?
    The first Zeitgeist film presents a view of what currency is and what the primary function of national banks are (i.e. to issue currency), that challenges most laymen’s understanding of these institutions.
    Spoiler: Currency is not about assets (that is: your assets) but a representation of your debt! (and so: assets belonging to the other guys).

    The US Dollar was uncoupled from the gold reserves a long time ago—was it during the Reagan administration?—and thus no longer holds any intrinsic value.

    The Zeitgeist-view is unsettling and I will now revert to the default drone-state: oblivious to the economic realities and concern myself only with what I should buy next! 🤭


    Wikipedia: Zeitgeist


  • Reply 10 of 10
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    rundhvid said:
    —are you familiar with the Zeitgeist documentaries?
    The first Zeitgeist film presents a view of what currency is and what the primary function of national banks are (i.e. to issue currency), that challenges most laymen’s understanding of these institutions.
    Spoiler: Currency is not about assets (that is: your assets) but a representation of your debt! (and so: assets belonging to the other guys).

    The US Dollar was uncoupled from the gold reserves a long time ago—was it during the Reagan administration?—and thus no longer holds any intrinsic value.
    Hopefully better than their completely idiotic views on religion, LOL.

    But, yeah, the USD is essentially propped up by the US military. If that support crumbles, so will the USD, and it won't be pretty.
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