Bank of London bids to acquire Silicon Valley Bank’s UK arm

March 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banks

The global clearing bank is leading a consortium of private equity firms seeking to purchase SVB's British arm.

Global clearing institution Bank of London has submitted a formal proposal to acquire the Silicon Valley Bank's subsidiary in the United Kingdom, according to a statement disclosed by Reuters on March 12.

As per the statement, the purchase is an effort from a consortium of private equity firms:

"A consortium of leading private equity firms, led by The Bank of London, confirms it has submitted formal proposals to His Majesty’s Treasury, The Prudential Regulation Authority at The Bank of England and the Board of Silicon Valley Bank UK."

Reuters earlier reported that other U.K. financial institutions were reviewing similar moves, including the SoftBank-owned lender OakNorth Bank. Abu Dhabi Investment vehicle ADQ were also interested in the SVB's arm.

A plan to rescue startups and tech companies affected by SVB's collapse has been drafted by British authorities. The emergency plan will include a cash lifeline to a number of businesses.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government is working "at pace" to deliver a plan in the coming hours that would secure "operational liquidity and cash-flow needs" for Silicon Valley Bank's UK clients.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

U.S. authorities preparing ‘material action’ to curb SVB contagion

March 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banks

The White House assessed the impact of Silicon Valley Bank's failure over the weekend with a keen attention to venture capital firms and regional banks.

United States authorities are working on "material action" over the weekend in an attempt to limit the ripple effect across the country's banking system after the Silicon Valley Bank abruptly collapsed on March 10.

According to a Reuters report citing unnamed sources, officials in the Joe Biden administration assessed the impact of the bank failure over the weekend with a keen attention to venture capital firms and regional banks.

"This will be a material action, not just words," a source told Reuters.

During a speech on March 6, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chairman Martin Gruenberg spoke about the risks related to raising interest rates in the United States. "The current interest rate environment has had dramatic effects on the profitability and risk profile of banks’ funding and investment strategies," he noted before adding that:

"The total of these unrealized losses, including securities that are available for sale or held to maturity, was about $620 billion at year end 2022. Unrealized losses on securities have meaningfully reduced the reported equity capital of the banking industry."

According to Gruenberg, the "good news" about the billions of unrealized losses is that "banks are generally in a strong financial condition."

"On the other hand, unrealized losses weaken a bank’s future ability to meet unexpected liquidity needs. That is because the securities will generate less cash when sold than was originally anticipated, and because the sale often causes a reduction of regulatory capital"

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) may affect regional banks across the United States, putting trillions of dollars at risk of a bank run, Cointelegraph previously reported. The U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is working with regulators to address Silicon Valley Bank's collapse and protect investors, but not considering a major bailout.

According to Yellen, regulators are "very aware of the problems that depositors will have, many of them are small businesses that employ people across the country. And of course, this is a significant concern, and working with regulators to try to address these concerns."

A report from Bloomberg claims that the FDIC began auctioning the bank on March 11 night. According to reports, bids are open only for a few hours, before the process closes later this Sunday.

FDIC bidding for Silicon Valley Bank is in progress: Report

March 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banks

The FDIC has reportedly started an auction process on late Saturday for Silicon Valley Bank. Bids are open for just a few hours.

The United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) started an auction process on March 11 night for Silicon Valley Bank, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources. Bids are allegedly open for just a few hours, before the process closes later this Sunday.

According to Bloomberg sources, the FDIC is seeking a buyer for the California bank over the weekend, ahead of the markets open on March 13. However, a final decision has not been made, and a deal may not be reached.

Earlier today, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during an interview that she is working with regulators to address the Silicon Valley Bank collapse and protect investors, but is not considering a major bailout. She noted that regulators "want to make sure that the troubles that exist at one bank don't create contagion to others that are sound.”

According to Yellen, the FDIC is considering "a wide range of available options", including acquisitions from foreign banks. "We certainly are working to address the situation in a timely way," she noted.

Trading platform in bankruptcy cases Cherokee Acquisition told the Financial Times that some clients are offered between 55 cents and 65 cents per dollar for their unsecured deposits. A second source said other customers received offers of 70 to 75 cents per dollar for deposits held at the bank.

"I've had a few companies sell 90 cents on the dollar to make sure they make payroll. All of these companies have the SVB effect," a venture capital investor told the Financial Times.

Founder and Managing Partner of Ripple Ventures Matt Cohen said on Twitter that financial firms are offering affected companies "aggressive lending terms" under receivership certificates as collateral:

Getting shopped some pretty aggressive lending terms from people spinning up lending facilities to affected companies, with receivership certificates as collateral (0.30 / dollar range, 18m, 12%+ equity)

As you know else seeing these offers???
— Matt Cohen (@mattybcohen) March 11, 2023

It's unclear if Ripple has exposure to SVB collapse. Ripple's CTO David Schwartz said on Twitter that an official statement would be released soon regarding a potential Ripple's exposure to Silicon Valley Bank. Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple but did not receive an immediate response.

A Castle Hill audit report listing depositors went dark on March 12. Cointelegraph previously reported that assets from Web3 venture capitalists exceed more than $6 billion at the bank, including $2.85 billion from Andreessen Horowitz, $1.72 billion from Paradigm and $560 million from Pantera Capital.

Silicon Valley was shut down by California’s financial watchdog on March 10 after announcing a significant sale of assets and stocks aimed at raising $2.25 billion capital to shore up operations.

UK regulators moving “at pace” to deliver a plan for tech firms hurt by SVB collapse

March 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bank of England

An emergency plan to rescue startups and tech companies affected by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse is underway in the United Kingdom.

A plan to rescue startups and tech companies affected by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse is underway in the United Kingdom, according to multiple reports on March 12. The emergency plan will include a cash lifeline to a number of businesses.

“We will bring forward immediate plans to ensure the short-term operational and cash flow needs of Silicon Valley Bank UK customers are able to be met.”

The plan aims to “avoid or minimize damage to some of our most promising companies.” The chancellor's update also noted that the government is "treating this issue as a high priority, with discussions between the Governor of the Bank of England, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor taking place over the weekend."

The Bank of England (BoE) halted operations of SVB branches in the U.K. (SVB U.K.) on March 10, stating that it has a “limited presence” in the U.K. and no “critical functions” supporting the financial system.

According to the BoE, a bank insolvency procedure would mean that “eligible depositors” are paid out by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to the “protected limit” of £85,000 (approximately $102,288) or up to £170,000 (approximately $204,577) for joint accounts, as “quickly” as possible.

Over 200 founders and CEOs of UK tech companies signed a letter on March 11 calling for government intervention. Addressed to the U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the letter claims many fintech firms managed all of their banking operations through SVB, and will "therefore go into receivership imminently unless preventative action is taken".

Silicon Valley was shut down by California’s financial watchdog on March 10 after announcing efforts to raise $2.25 billion capital to shore up operations. The bank is one of the biggest lenders in the United States, providing banking services for over 40,000 small businesses and many crypto-friendly venture capital firms. According to a Castle Hill audit report, assets from Web3 venture capitalists totaled more than $6 billion at the bank, including $2.85 billion from Andreessen Horowitz, $1.72 billion from Paradigm and $560 million from Pantera Capital.

Over 100 VCs, investors voice solidarity with Silicon Valley Bank

March 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banks

Approximately 125 VCs and investors signed a statement supporting Silicon Valley Bank as a way to limit the fallout of the bank’s collapse and subsequent extinction of tech companies.

As the 40-year-old banking institution, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), winds down operation, numerous venture capitalists and investors joined hands and decided to cushion the impact in case the bank “were to be purchased and appropriately capitalized.”

Approximately 125 VCs and investors signed a statement supporting SVB as a way to limit the fallout of the bank’s collapse and subsequent extinction of tech companies. The venture firms included Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst.

Several VC leaders met today to discuss the aftermath of SVB’s downfall. This is a joint statement from all of us. @Accel @altcap @BCapitalGroup @generalcatalyst @eladgil @GreylockVC @khoslaventures @kleinerperkins @lightspeedvp @MayfieldFund @Redpoint @RibbitCapital @upfrontvc pic.twitter.com/7OtHq0zwT1
— Hemant Taneja (@htaneja) March 11, 2023

A group of investors for high-profile firms met over Zoom in a series of meetings, disclosed a Bloomberg report. Hemant Taneja, the CEO of General Catalyst, initially revealed the joint statement from several VCs, showing support for the bank. It read:

“In the event that SVB were to be purchased and appropriately capitalized, we would be strongly supportive and encourage our portfolio companies to resume their banking relationships with them.”

In parallel, startup incubator Y Combinator, too, posted a petition demanding “depositors to be made whole, and for regulation to prevent this catastrophe.”

Now about 2800 founders who have over 180,000 employees have signed.

About 44% of them are based outside of California.
— Garry Tan 陈嘉兴 (@garrytan) March 12, 2023

According to Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan, the petition — directed toward regulators including Secretary Janet Yellen and Chairman Martin Gruenberg — scored signatures from roughly 2800 founders and 180,000 employees at the time of writing.

“Everyone understands that we have a role to play in trying to calm the situation,” Taneja told Bloomberg. However, disputing this drive to save SVB, prominent Indian entrepreneur Ashneer Grover reminded Taneja that banks don’t get saved by passing bureaucratic, UN-type joint resolutions — taking a dig at the typical VC mindset of pouring money to fix a problem. “It requires intent and balls of steel!” he concluded.

Hours after USD Coin (USDC) lost its peg to the US dollar, unconfirmed reports about a resolution momentarily brought back the token’s prices to nearly $1.

*7-day chart of USDC/USD price. Source: CoinMarketCap*

Although the reports are currently unverified, multiple sources confirm that many different tracks to resolution are being worked on and that depositors will get back "at least 50% of their deposits" in the coming week.

CoinGecko reveals the US state most interested in Bitcoin and Ethereum

September 1, 2022 Coin Telegraph

California

Behind this western U.S. state, Illinois and New York were the next states most interested in the two major cryptocurrencies.

The Golden State of California may be America’s most inquisitive state about Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), new data from CoinGecko has revealed.

In a report shared by CoinGecko, internet users from California accounted for a whopping 43% of all Bitcoin and Ethereum web traffic searches on the crypto tracking website. This is despite the entire state population only accounting for 11.9% of the United States population.

Bobby Ong, chief operating officer and co-founder of CoinGecko, said it was “unsurprising” that California took the crown in the blue-chip cryptocurrency interest, given its place as a “major technological hub.”

California is also home to Silicon Valley — one of the largest technology and innovation hubs in the world.

Among the largest companies situated in Silicon Valley to have invested in blockchain-based applications and crypto startups include Apple, Google, Meta, PayPal and Wells Fargo.

Centralized exchange Coinbase was one of the first major crypto companies to be headquartered in California, despite no longer having a headquarters today. The Graph, Helium, MakerDAO and dYdX are among some of the latest Web3 projects with a presence in the Golden State.

Many prestigious universities with excellent engineering and technology departments are also located in California, such as Stanford University, California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley.

CoinGecko also noted that other states with a strong interest in the two cryptocurrencies include Illinois, New York, Florida and Washington, followed by Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Georgia and Arizona.

*Top 10 U.S. states with the most Bitcoin and Ethereum web page traffic. Source: CoinGecko*

Across the top 20 states, most searches on the website appeared to be weighted toward Bitcoin. However, the data found that four particular states saw more searches for Ethereum than its competitor.

“What’s especially notable is Colorado, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Florida’s interest in Ethereum over Bitcoin,” explained Ong.

“It remains to be seen how these rankings and market shares will play out in the coming months, with Ethereum’s Merge around the corner.”

The data was collected between May 2 to Aug. 21, 2022, and only collected web traffic data from the United States. The data was indexed on a scale of 0-100, with 100 representing the highest point of web traffic (California) relative to the other states.

The findings come as a recent Study.com survey revealed that over 64% of U.S.-based parents and college graduates with a sufficient understanding of blockchain technology want crypto to be taught in school classrooms.

On the global scale, the U.S. has shared the top spot with Germany when it comes to crypto-friendly regulation and legislation, sharing the top spot with Germany and beating out Singapore, Australia and Switzerland, according to crypto data aggregator Coincub.

‘Pig slaughtering’ crypto scams reap millions on Silicon Valley dating apps

June 3, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

“I never thought it could happen to me because I use tech. I’ve written software,” a victim of the pig slaughtering scam noted.

Lonely hearts in Silicon Valley are reportedly falling prey to a wave of "pig slaughtering” crypto scams via dating apps.

An investigator for cybersecurity company Sift found that one in 20 people who approached her on dating apps in San Francisco was working the scam.

Pig slaughtering, or butchering, is a type of scam in which an individual/group puts in weeks or months of work to build a fake relationship with the victim, metaphorically fattening them up. The end goal is to get the victim to invest in crypto via either a duplicated version of a legitimate website, or by transferring funds to a dodgy wallet address.

The scammers often shift the conversations over from dating apps or social media to encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp, and put in countless hours of daily conversation to make their fake personas seem realistic, without ever actually meeting in person in most cases.

A June 2 report from the San Francisco Examiner detailed the accounts of two relatively tech-savvy individuals, referred to as Cy and R for anonymity purposes, who lost a combined $2.5 million to the scam. Both are now members of an online support group hosted by the Global Anti Scam Organization that sees “at least two or three new members” every week.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that such cases are part of “a rising trend” in the local area .

The FBI sent out a general warning over crypto-romance scams and pig slaughtering in April, noting that its Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 4,300 complaints in 2021 resulting in more than $429 million in losses. It stated the scam first originated in China in late 2019, but has since become more prevalent in the U.S.

R’s case in particular is notable as she is an IT manager from the Bay Area who lost around $1.3 million to the scam after first being approached via LinkedIn.

Despite being well versed in computer tech, R stated that the scammer’s professional profile managed to win her trust by being listed as an alumni of the same top tech university that she graduated from in China.

After the conversation moved over to WhatsApp, the scammer worked for a month before finally persuading R to invest in crypto via a dubious website that swiped her funds.

“I never thought it could happen to me because I use tech. I’ve written software."

Cy, a real estate analyst lost $1.2 million over two months and ended up in psychiatric care after suffering suicidal thoughts.

“I lost more than just money. I lost my self-confidence,” said Cy. “I have ruined my family’s lives.”

The Global Anti-Scam Organization believes Silicon Valley workers are increasingly falling victim to these scams due to overconfidence in tech-savviness, loneliness as a result of the pandemic and an interest in gaining crypto exposure.

Netscape creator says Web3 really is like the rise of the early internet

June 2, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Andreessen Horowitz

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen says that the current proliferation of Web3 and blockchain technology looks just like the internet in the late 1990s.

Billionaire tech entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen says that Web3 and its underlying blockchain technology reminds him of the rise of the early internet.

Andreessen, better known today as the co-founder of the blockchain-focused venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), originally found success by developing the first widely used web browser called Mosaic, and then founded Netscape Navigator which dominated the browser market throughout much of the 1990s.

Appearing on the Bankless podcast alongside investment partner and colleague Chris Dixon, Andreessen said that increasing adoption and a flurry of development in Web3 appears remarkably similar to the rush of activity that marked his early years in tech.

Andreessen stressed that he would not make this sort of sweeping comparison idly and that it was the first time he’d ever made such a claim.

“This is the only time I’ve ever said this [Web3] is like the internet. If you go back through all my historical statements, one could imagine that with my experience I could have said this like 48 times. I’ve never made the comparison before.”

“I’ve never said it about any other kind of technology, because I just wanted people to know like I don’t take the comparison lightly.”

While the parallels between the adoption path of blockchain-tech and the early internet have often been made by crypto-enthusiasts (to the chagrin of crypto critics), Andreessen’s front line experience lends him unique authority to make such statements.

He added that the current Web3 landscape is attracting the world’s smartest people.

“The easiest way to think about it is, when you get something like this that has a movement, that has this sort of collective effect and has a movement behind it, and is attracting many of the world’s smartest people to work on it, basically the criticisms play out differently than the critics think."

Pushing back against the “long list” of criticisms leveled at crypto and digital assets, Andreessen said that Web3 entrepreneurs see these “problems” as opportunities.

“The critics make this long list of all of the problems, but you’re getting these genius engineers and entrepreneurs [who] flood into the space. What happens is, they look at that list of problems as a list of opportunities”

“It’d be like if you had a house project [that] was going sideways and you get all these complaints, and then all of the world’s best architects and master builders showed up the next day to fix your house," he said. "All of a sudden you’ve got the best house in the world. This can actually happen.”

Andreessen said that Web3 is the “missing” link for the internet, bringing trust, sovereignty and financial utility to the ecosystem.

“We were…missing trust, authority, permission. We were missing the ability to transact with people for trusted relationships, transact, send money, store money, and then have all the other economic arrangements that the world wants to have [such as] loans and contracts and insurance and all these all these other things.”

Previously known for its early investments in Instagram and Slack, a16z first entered the crypto industry with an investment in Coinbase in 2013 and has since backed major cryptocurrency-related businesses, including Polychain Capital, OpenSea, Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX) and Yuga Labs.

A week ago it announced the launch of its fourth cryptocurrency fund at $4.5 billion, bringing the total amount of capital invested by Andreessen Horowitz into crypto businesses to just over $7.6 billion.

According to a letter penned by Managing Partner Chris Dixon, a16z launched the latest fund to capitalize on what Dixon calls the “golden era” of Web3 development.

Andressen concluded the podcast with a succinct explanation for why a16z is tipping so much money into the industry.

“We could actually imagine the entire global economy running on the blockchain like 30 or 50 years from now.”

Crypto advocate mounts challenge to longtime Silicon Valley Congresswoman

April 26, 2022 Coin Telegraph

California

Greg Tanaka is an entrepreneur and DeFi developer who wants to make crypto a legal tender.

In terms of policy, Greg Tanaka calls himself a legislator for the digital age and possibly the most pro-crypto person running in this election cycle. Now a Palo Alto City Council member, he has set his sights on the United States House of Representatives seat for California’s 16th: the Silicon Valley district. In an interview with Cointelegraph, the self-described nerd exuded enthusiasm and spoke with an unwavering smile about crypto and the financial system.

Legal DAOs and crypto tax holidays

“It’s the first form of truly better money,” Tanaka said of crypto. “More benefit goes to the people creating the value versus with traditional finance.” He envisioned a future where everyone would have their own token. That “will create a lot more economic equity,” he said.

In addition to his political career, Tanaka is the Mozaic Finance decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol developer, which is set to run on Avalanche after testing. Mozaic Finance describes itself as specializing in “automatic yield aggregation and fund management.” Tanaka is also the founder and CEO of Percolata, a machine learning-based retail staffing optimization service that has received funding from Google Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Tanaka characterized crypto as “an early technology that needs a chance.” He said he is in favor of making crypto legal tender and giving decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) — “a better version of the corporation” — the same rights as C Corps or LLCs. As a runup to that, Tanaka proposed a crypto tax holiday, seeing a clear precedent for this type of aid for new technology. “E-commerce had no sales tax for decades,” he observed. “Legislators couldn’t figure out how to tax online sales, and that helped ecommerce become what it is today.” He also favors a moratorium on the capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies.

From municipal service to a Congress bid

Tanaka has been on the Palo Alto City Council since 2017. On the council, he has been “frequently […] the lone vote against excessive staff raises,” according to his website. He rose from president of a neighborhood association in 2006 to city planning and transportation commission chair before being elected to the city council.

Tanaka said he was inspired to run for Congress by the unreasonable crypto reporting requirements written into the original version of the bipartisan Infrastructure bill. “So many of our elected leaders don’t support or understand technology,” he said. “They throw rocks in the road in front of it.” Now is “a great time to be in crypto,” he added, noting:

“We were given a big gift when China banned crypto mining and trading — it was a big mistake for them.”

Tanaka was unimpressed with President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets. “It’s not negative,” he said, “but it’s not necessarily positive.”

“I think regulation should be more centralized,” he said. “It’s spread across agencies and it’s conflicting. There should be a crypto czar.”

Tanaka said he is an advocate of “separation of money and state,” taking pains to point out the allusion to the country’s founding fathers’ separation of church and state. Before crypto, the state had to control the money supply to create the currency and prevent counterfeiting. With crypto, however, all of that is done automatically in software.

Far from a single-issue candidate, Tanaka takes positions on a wide range of issues, some of which, such as improving the voting method, might be considered somewhat esoteric. Others, such as research and development amortization and foreign-derived intangible income, are comparatively technical. He opposes excessive regulation of major internet and tech companies.

Other issues Tanaka is passionate about are education because the future of the country depends on tech and nuclear energy, which he sees as a carbon-free and safe alternative to fossil fuels.

When asked about the energy consumption of crypto, he said the energy use associated with crypto has to be weighed against that of fiat currency to have a fair comparison, factoring in the energy used by fiat systems to print, mint and secure the fiat money supply with police, bank vaults, armored trucks to move money around, secret service for anti-counterfeiting and more. In that light, the energy usage of crypto software is “modest,” he said.

The District’s landscape

Tanaka, a democrat, is not the only candidate in the district race to take a pro-crypto stance on his platform, but he is clearly the most ardent. He has been endorsed by Forward Party and Lobby3DAO founder Andrew Yang, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and Bitcoin Foundation board member Bobby Lee, among others.

Tanaka is one of seven candidates facing off against incumbent Democrat Anna Eshoo in a nonpartisan primary election. Eshoo has held her seat since 1993 and is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, among many other caucuses.

Eshoo is well funded. According to campaign contributions tracking website Open Secrets, Eshoo’s campaign had raised $1,303,776, of which 33.35% was political action committee (PAC) contributions, as of March 31. Ballotpedia lists health, finance, insurance and real estate, and communications and electronics as the top industries contributing to her campaign in 2018.

Open Secrets shows that the Tanaka campaign has raising $95,352 by the end of March with no PAC money. He placed fourth among the eight candidates by that indicator. He has created the TanakaDAO for the sake of the transparency of contributions and to increase participation through nonfungible tokens (NFTs). He accepts contributions in seven cryptocurrencies. He seemed to take the financing gap quite in stride. “We have people,” he said. “Our campaign’s all volunteers. I think that is a more authentic way to win the race.”

Eshoo did not respond to a query from Cointelegraph sent through her website.

Andreessen Horowitz aims to raise $4.5 billion to invest in crypto funds

January 20, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Andreessen Horowitz

Last week, A16z reportedly said it would raise $3.5 billion for its VC fund, as well as another $1 billion for Web3 seed investments.

A16z, a VC company with investments in Protocol Labs, Polychain Capital and Opensea among others, is now planning to raise $4.5 billion for its latest fund, which is focused solely on cryptocurrencies, according to a report by U.K newspaper Financial Times.

Last week, Andreessen Horowitz’ venture capital firm reportedly said it would raise $3.5 billion for its VC fund, as well as another $1 billion for Web3 seed investments, with the plans to be announced in March. The firm is ready to eclipse the $2.2 billion it raised in June 2021, which was the crypto industry's largest at the time.

The first fund will be used for investment in crypto start-ups and projects that are seeking investment for initiatives, while the second fund will be focused on investing in digital tokens and currencies.

Andreessen Horowitz, with almost $30 billion in assets under management, is one of Silicon Valley's top venture capital companies. The venture fund was one of the first major investors in companies like Skype, Facebook, Twitter and Coinbase. If a16z is successful in attracting investors to raise $4.5 billion, it would become the industry's largest, surpassing Paradigm's $2.5 billion in November 2021.

A16z has backed a number of crypto-friendly gaming platforms, most recently Carry1st, which is the firm's first investment in a startup on the African continent. In October 2021, a high-powered delegation from the VC firm engaged with members of Congress and administration officials in the United States to discuss crypto rules.

Silicon Valley

Legal DAOs and crypto tax holidays

From municipal service to a Congress bid

The District’s landscape

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