$4.5bn a16z fund launches amid calls for crypto regulation
Fund brings total crypto and Web 3.0 capital raised by Andreessen Horowitz to $7.6bn
American venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, has announced its fourth crypto fund with a total investment pot of $4.5bn.
The crypto and tech firm – which has been investing in crypto since 2013 – said approximately $1.5bn would be dedicated to seed investments, while $3bn would got to venture investments – bringing a16z’s total crypto and Web 3.0 funds to more than $7.6bn.
“We think we are now entering the golden era of Web 3.0,” said Chris Dixon, who leads the a16z crypto unit. “Programmable blockchains are sufficiently advanced, and a diverse range of apps has reached tens of millions of users. More importantly, a massive wave of world-class talent has entered Web 3.0 over the last year. They are brilliant and passionate and want to build a better internet.”
The crypto turmoil and the ECB rush to regulation
The move came despite the turmoil sweeping across the crypto market following the depegging of algorithmic stablecoin UST from the US dolla, which resulted in investors losing $42bn.
The collapse of UST has prompted the European Central Bank (ECB) to urge the European Union to speed up regulations on cryptos.
“In the EU, the MiCA Regulation should be approved by the co-legislators as a matter of urgency to ensure it is applied sooner rather than later. However, MiCA is only a first step,” said the ECB in its report, Decrypting financial stability risks in crypto-asset markets, published as part of its May 2022 Financial Stability Review.
Among the consequences of the turmoil sweeping the crypto markets was also the devaluation of Ukraine’s Aid for Ukraine crypto fund, which had received $60m of cryptos and was now worth around $51m, CNBC reported today.
