Crypto Fund III

We believe that the next wave of computing innovation will be driven by crypto. We are radically optimistic about crypto’s potential to restore trust and enable new kinds of governance where communities collectively make important decisions about how networks evolve, what behaviors are permitted, and how economic benefits are distributed. That’s why today we’re pleased to announce a new $2.2 billion fund to continue investing in crypto networks and the founders and teams building in this space. This represents the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the a16z crypto team.

This fund allows us to find the next generation of visionary crypto founders, and invest in the most exciting areas of crypto. We invest in all stages, from early seed-stage projects to fully developed later-stage networks.

Expanding our team to provide unrivaled regulatory and operational capabilities alongside our crypto-native data science and research services.

When we started a16z crypto, our ambition was to bring together a highly specialized and crypto-native team that had never existed in venture capital to support the companies and projects we invest in, help them navigate the complexities of this space, and help projects design crypto protocols and mechanisms. We’ll continue to deepen our focus on the kind of behaviors our entrepreneurs expect from a crypto investor including staking, delegating, running nodes, actively participating in governance and designing mechanisms. We’re expanding our data science and research teams to support this effort.

As with any new computing movement, crypto has endured a variety of challenges and misconceptions. That’s why we are also bringing together heavy-hitters across several functions to help translate crypto to the mainstream. Our team now includes experts in marketing, public relations, policy, regulatory affairs, recruiting, as well as general startup management. We are promoting Anthony Albanese, who joined us last year from the New York Stock Exchange, to Chief Operating Officer to lead operations.

Here are the new additions to a16z crypto we’re announcing today:

• Bill Hinman, the former Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance joins as an advisory partner. Bill spearheaded the SEC’s early work with digital assets, and made critical contributions that provided clarity to companies operating in the space. Bill will provide valuable insights to us and our portfolio companies as well as play a key role in shaping the future regulatory environment in which we and they operate.
• Alex Price, an investor, entrepreneur and computer scientist, joins as an advisory partner. Alex was co-founder and CEO of a quantitative research and trading firm, which was acquired by Digital Currency Group’s Genesis Capital. Alex directly invested in and advised a number of the technology ventures that have become foundational to the DeFi, NFT, and crypto-social ecosystems.
• Tomicah Tillemann joins as our Global Head of Policy. Tomicah served as a senior advisor to now-President Joseph Biden and two Secretaries of State, as Hillary Clinton’s speechwriter, and has decades of experience at the highest levels of Washington and international policymaking. He was Chairman of the Global Blockchain Business Council and has held advisory roles with the United Nations, World Bank, World Economic Forum, and numerous blockchain companies. He’s an internationally recognized leader in applying new technologies to big opportunities.
• Brent McIntosh, who joins as an advisory partner, has led U.S. government efforts to encourage responsible financial innovation and address policy issues presented by digital assets. Most recently, Brent served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, where he managed the international Financial Stability Board’s initiative to adapt financial regulation to the rise of digital assets and coordinated the G7’s work on crypto.
• Rachael Horwitz has joined as operating partner leading marketing and communications. Rachael is a Silicon Valley veteran who has led communications strategies at Twitter, Google, and Facebook, all during periods of intense scrutiny. She was Coinbase’s first Vice President of Communications, building the marketing and communications function from the ground up and supporting the company as it nearly tripled in size. We got to know Rachael while she was at Coinbase and worked closely with her as she built campaigns that grew awareness and trust for the space.

We’ve also added a slate of deeply talented people to our ranks who will help support the founders and teams we work with including: Justin Gregorius as Protocol Specialist, Mason Hall as Deal Analyst, Kindra Mason as Chief of Staff, James Rathmell as Counsel, and Carra Wu as Deal Analyst.

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We’ve been investing in crypto assets since 2013 and are more excited today about what comes next than ever before. 

This has been an exciting period for crypto as awareness and adoption of crypto brands and products exploded. From the Coinbase direct listing (a first for crypto, and one of the biggest public offerings in tech history) to the way NFTs broke through the zeitgeist, to the number of crypto projects that launched in the last year—it’s clear that crypto is here to stay. Despite this momentum, we are still at the very early stages of what is possible. 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.

The history of crypto shows that asset prices may fluctuate but innovation continues to increase through each cycle. We’ve never been more excited about where crypto is headed and we’re going all in on the talented, visionary founders who are determined to be part of crypto’s next chapter. If you’re one of them, we’d love to hear from you.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

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