The venture capital firm – Andreessen Horowitz – announced it will form a cryptocurrency research unit encompassing various talents from the space. The team’s main goal will be to solve important problems related to the emerging Web3 ecosystem.
The leading VC firm – Andreessen Horowitz (known as “a16z”) – has been active on the digital asset scene for years now. In a recent blog post, it disclosed a new project in the field – a crypto research team that aims to fix arising issues in the Web3 universe:
“Today, we’re excited to announce the creation of a16z crypto research, a new kind of the multidisciplinary lab that will work closely with our portfolio and others toward solving the important problems in the space and toward advancing the science and technology of the next generation of the Internet.”
The company is a firm believer in Web3, claiming it “has unlocked an extremely rich design space for innovation.” Moreover, Web3 applications are able to “uncover fresh research challenges that are fundamental to how this technological movement will play out,” the organization added.
Tim Roughgarden will be the man spearheading the newly designed unit as Head of Research. Andreessen Horowitz described him as a “brilliant researcher, communicator, and educator who could also assemble and lead a world-class team.” Roughgarden is a computer scientist at Stanford and Columbia and has previously led the development of Algorithmic Game Theory.
Dan Boneh will serve as Senior Research Advisor. He is a distinguished cryptographer and could be of great help to the entire unit with his expertise and knowledge about the world of crypto and Web3.
Apart from them, the team will consist of many other members who have dedicated their careers to the digital asset sector and have made “outstanding contributions to Web3.”
“Both Dan and Tim have made countless contributions to their fields, but great researchers never work alone,” a16z concluded.
Several months ago, the venture capital firm raised $9 billion to double down on its crypto and tech endeavors. Specifically, $1.5 billion of the total amount were designated for a Bio fund, while $5 billion and $2.5 billion were meant to support the Growth Fund and the Venture fund.
“We will continue to invest across the entire spectrum of stages, writing checks as small as $25,000 and up to hundreds of millions of dollars,” the company stated back then.
It is also worth mentioning that the organization’s Co-Founder – Marc Andreessen – is among the strongest proponents of bitcoin. Last year, he described the primary digital asset as a “fundamental technological transformation.”