Andreessen Horowitz triples crypto funding with $2.2 billion

Today, Anderson Horowitz (a16z), one of the most famous venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, announced a new $2.2 billion crypto fund. This tool is the third of its kind for the venture capital giant headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The company has already managed US$865 million through two early funds and combined its total assets under management (AUM). More than 3 billion U.S. dollars are dedicated to cryptocurrencies.

In the joint statement announcing the salary increase, general partners Chris Dixon and Katie Haun stated that this fund allows them to find the next generation of visionary cryptocurrency founders. They will invest in All stages, from early seed stage projects to fully developed later-stage networks.

The time and scale of this round are remarkable for two reasons.

First, it will allow a16z to continue participating in the later stages of well-known crypto companies, becoming more and more expensive. In 2021 alone, the seven rounds of financing completed by Bitso, Blockchain.com, BlockFi, Circle, Dapper Labs, Ledger, and Solana Labs raised more than US$2 billion in total.

Second, the new fund shows that the recent price reversal and regulatory review focuses on Bitcoin’s role in ransomware payments. Despite that, venture capital firms and their investors still firmly believe in the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchains.

Part of the announcement today includes hiring a group of policy and regulatory experts with cryptographic experience.

Earlier this year, the five-year plan drafted by the Chinese government mentioned blockchain. It is a decentralized digital ledger technology that supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

China is fully committed to cryptocurrency

Haun announced China’s complete commitment to the crypto industry on the “Squawk Box,” despite the recent crackdown on Bitcoin mining and encryption services.

However, she emphasized that Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials “are paying attention to their crypto brand, which is a closed licensing system. It is a bit inconsistent with the open and decentralized protocol we see as the future of cryptosystems.”

China has recently restricted Bitcoin mining and pressured financial services companies to ban cryptocurrency-related services, putting pressure on the sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.

Shortly after Andreessen Horowitz announced that it would launch a $2.2 billion fund focused on cryptocurrencies, Haun issued a statement.