Why open networks win

After working on one of the most ambitious corporate-backed digital currency projects at Facebook, Christian Catalini has strong views on how money should move.

Christian is the cofounder and chief strategy officer of the global payments startup Lightspark, and a former architect of Meta’s shuttered Libra project — one of the most ambitious attempts to create a corporate-backed digital currency. In this episode, we explore Bitcoin as infrastructure, lessons from building blockchains at a tech giant, and the case for open financial networks.

• why Bitcoin is more than “digital gold,”
• what Christian learned from his time at Facebook
• why he believes openness — not corporate control — will ultimately win

Christian also wrote a feature for us expanding on his argument, which you can read by subscribing to a16z crypto on Substack. Check it out and let us know what you think.

This episode is part of a special series of interviews we recorded live at our Founders Summit in October.

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As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.