Leading venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has recently announced the launch of its new $2.2 billion cryptocurrency fund.
According to a Thursday report by CNBC, the new fund will be geared toward investing in several blockchain and crypto-focused startups.
The company’s partners who run the crypto fund, Katie Haun and Chris Dixon, noted that cryptocurrencies have the potential to completely change the world’s financial systems.
They likened it to the internet and pointed out that although the market is highly volatile, adding that they are “radically optimistic about crypto’s potential.”
In a statement, they said:
“The size of this fund speaks to the size of the opportunity before us: crypto is not only the future of finance but, as with the internet in the early days, is poised to transform all aspects of our lives… We believe that the next wave of computing innovation will be driven by crypto.”
Andreessen Horowitz raised funds from several large institutional investors earlier in 2020 to create crypto-focused funds.
Andreessen Horowitz’s Crypto Ventures
This is not the first time that the Silicon Valley firm has created a crypto fund. The new fund is the third of its kind, as Andreessen Horowitz already has two earlier funds.
The company already manages more than $800 million on those two earlier funds. With this new fund, Andreessen Horowitz now has over $3 billion total AUM dedicated to crypto.
Andreessen Horowitz is one of the most popular venture capital firms known for its early stakes in several multinational companies like Facebook and Instagram.
The firm is also notable for being one of the earliest investors in the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase.
It has also made huge investments in NFT-focused firms and marketplaces, including OpenSea and Dapper Labs, and has declared its intentions to venture into the DeFi space.
The company plans to make its crypto investments long-term, as long as ten years
New Additions
Along with the announcement of the new fund, Andreessen Horowitz also revealed that it will be hiring some top policy and regulatory experts in the crypto space for the fund.
Notable names on the list include the former director of the SEC’s Corporation Finance Division, Bill Hinman, who will be joining the firm as an advisory partner.
Another notable name on the list is Rachael Horwitz, who will be joining the firm as an operating partner.
