Relevant: The Only Social Network Built On Trust

Tesla, Facebook, Google, Stocks Launch on the Solana Blockchain Over 50 tokenized stocks can now be traded across platforms built on Solana. In brief Tokenized stocks represent the underlying traditional financial assets such as Apple stocks. Digital Asset AG has launched free-floating tokenized stocks for trading on Solana, a blockchain supported by cryptocurrency exchange FTX, where it’s available for buying. Swiss-based company Digital Assets AG has launched tokenized stocks that can be transferred to any entity on the Solana blockchain. Popular stocks that will be immediately available for trading include Facebook, Google, Netflix, Nvidia, PayPal, Square, and Tesla. Stock tokenization lets you buy company shares as crypto tokens, which represent the value of the underlying asset, be it Apple, MicroStrategy, or Coinbase shares. Brandon Williams, corporate development lead at Digital Assets AG, told Decrypt that these transferable stock tokens will “bridge the traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi).” That’s because up until now tokenized stocks could only be traded on a singular entity like a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Binance or Bittrex, or a private blockchain. Users could open or close positions, but they wouldn’t be able to withdraw tokenized stocks, send them to an external party, or transfer across chains. But the transferable tokenized stocks launched on Solana will allow centralized and decentralized exchanges built on that public blockchain to add tokenized stock trading to their platforms. Hong Kong-listed cryptocurrency exchange FTX is the only exchange where customers can buy these transferable tokenized stocks—at least for now. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is also the main backer of Solana. Why buy free-floating tokenized stocks on FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, when you can buy stocks on trading apps like Robinhood? Williams explained that tokenized stocks have a few advantages over traditional alternatives. FTX Traders will be able to withdraw and subsequently deposit their stock tokens to their own crypto wallets—software programs that help store cryptocurrencies privately rather than on cryptocurrency exchanges. From there, they can move stock tokens to DeFi and trade them 24/7 on Solana-built decentralized exchanges like Serum. Traders can also use those tokens to create their own fund-like smart contracts on DeFi that reallocate the positions automatically—that’s useful for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which are collectives on DeFi with a shared investment portfolio. Williams said that the company has obtained the necessary green light from financial authorities to launch in Switzerland and the European Economic Area—EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Croatia— but customers in other countries such as the United States will have to wait until the regulatory complexity is tackled. DISCLAIMER THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, OR OTHER ADVICE. IPFS Read on the Decrypt App for the best experience. For the best experience, top crypto news at your fingertips and exclusive features download now. Recommended News ARK Invest Bought $29M Shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust During Crash ARK Invest, the investment firm headed by Cathie Wood, went big during Bitcoin’s drop below $30,000 on Tuesday, snapping up $29 million in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares. According t... NewsBusiness Andrew Asmakov Jun 24, 2021 2 min read Hong Kong’s Apple Daily Newspaper Immortalized on the Blockchain Apple Daily, the pro-democracy news outlet recently shut down by the Hong Kong government, has turned to blockchain technology to preserve its content. Activists supporting the newspaper are ... NewsBusiness Scott Chipolina Jun 24, 2021 3 min read Andreessen Horowitz Raises Mega $2.2 Billion Crypto Fund, Hires SEC Veteran Hinman In 2018, venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz made a big bet on crypto with a first-of-its-kind $300 million investment fund. Two years later, it doubled down by creating another $510 mil... NewsBusiness Jeff John Roberts Jun 24, 2021 6 min read All News NewsBusiness Andreessen Horowitz Raises Mega $2.2 Billion Crypto Fund, Hires SEC Veteran Hinman The firm's "Crypto Fund III" is the biggest yet and a watershed moment for Andreessen Horowitz and the crypto industry. By Jeff John Roberts 6 min read Jun 24, 2021 OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS RAISED FOR NEW CRYPTO FUND. IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK In brief The new fund shows a16z has gone all-in on crypto The appointment of former SEC honcho Bill Hinman shows regulation is a major concern In 2018, venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz made a big bet on crypto with a first-of-its-kind $300 million investment fund. Two years later, it doubled down by creating another $510 million crypto fund, and now—underscoring how the firm has gone all-in on crypto—Andreessen is launching "Crypto Fund III" backed by an additional $2.2 billion of investment capital. In announcing the news on Wednesday, Andreessen Horowitz (known in tech circles as a16z) also revealed a series of high-profile appointments, including that of prominent former SEC official Bill Hinman, who is best known in the crypto world for his ruling that Ethereum is not a security. All of this is likely to deliver a boost to the crypto industry, which has been limping through a recent downturn marked by a dramatic drop in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But the news will also bring new scrutiny of Andreessen Horowitz, whose controversial tactics have ruffled feathers in Silicon Valley and the media, and which is now poised to dominate the crypto industry for the foreseeable future. Crypto Fund III Andreessen Horowitz, already prominent in Silicon Valley for its early bets on tech giants like Facebook, launched a stand-apart unit in 2018 dedicated to crypto or what partner Chris Dixon describes as "Web 3.0." Like other firms of its kind, a16z invests money on behalf of deep-pocketed investors and distributes the returns years down the road. The firm's Crypto Fund III is by far the biggest fund dedicated to cryptocurrency to date. Investments from its first two crypto funds include well-known startups like Uniswap, Compound, Dapper, and Protocol Labs. The massive new fund will be allocated to projects of all stages, from new startups to established companies, and seek to validate a16z's thesis that crypto is a world-changing technology on the level of the Internet. "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," said a16z partners Chris Dixon and Katie Haun in a blog post announcing the new fund. The news comes as the broader crypto market has entered a major downturn following a bull run that peaked this spring and saw Bitcoin climb to around $62,000 and digital assets of all sorts soar to jaw-dropping values. Since then, the price of Bitcoin has slumped badly—briefly dropping below $30,000 this week–while many less established cryptocurrencies have dropped even more. This suggests a16z may be launching its new fund amidst a bear market. Is Bitcoin in a Bear Market? Experts Aren’t Sure Bitcoin, trading right now at around $32,000, is down 9.4% in the past 24 hours and 20% in the past week, according to Nomic. It's even down 2% since the beginning of the year. Ethereum, the s... NewsCoins Mathew Di Salvo Jun 22, 2021 3 min read The recent downturn is unlikely to give a16z jitters, however, as the firm launched its earlier two crypto funds amid a so-called "crypto winter." And in their blog post, Dixon and Haun declare, "The history of crypto shows that asset prices may fluctuate but innovation continues to increase through each cycle." Such blog posts are part of an elaborate media operation at Andreessen Horowitz that, over the years, has displayed a knack for generating publicity for the firm and its partners. This has led some other venture capitalists to view the firm as arrogant, and for competitors to snark when a16z's returns have suffered a downturn, as they did in 2019, or trailed other VC firms. According to veteran Silicon Valley journalist Eric Newcomer, who was first to report rumors of a16z's massive new fund in May, the firm also stands to make a pretty penny from fees on its new venture—which has also rankled competitors. "Andreessen Horowitz’s rivals snark that the firm is chasing management fees — those lofty payouts firms receive just for taking people’s money. I hear that the Crypto Fund plans to charge a 2.5% management fee for most of the first decade of the fund. On a $2 billion fund, that could mean $50 million a year in fees alone," wrote Newcomer. (Andreessen Horowitz did not publicly rebut these claims at the time, and a spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment from Decrypt as to whether they were accurate). The upshot is that the stakes are as high as ever for a16z, Dixon, and Haun, who have been given the keys to its crypto operations by founding partners Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. If the new mega-fund fails to deliver healthy returns, crypto skeptics and a16z rivals will be quick to sneer. Conversely, if some of the new fund's bets pay off—in a way that a16z's early bet on Coinbase did—the firm will be in pole position to dominate the crypto industry for years to come. 'Heavy hitters' join a16z crypto In their blog post, Dixon and Haun boasted of having a "powerhouse team" to support startup founders and others at the firm's portfolio companies, and disclosed the recent appointment of "heavy hitters." The most notable of the latest recruits is Bill Hinman, a former top official at the SEC who raised eyebrows in 2019 when he announced while at the agency that certain crypto projects could become exempt from securities laws if they were "sufficiently decentralized." Some in the legal community mocked Hinman for developing new legal tests on the fly but his finding that Ethereum had met this decentralization criterion endeared him to many in crypto. ETH -14.19%$1,988.94 24H7D1M1YMAX Jun 17Jun 19Jun 20Jun 21Jun 22Jun 23Jun 24$1600$1800$2000$2200$2400 ETH Price Buy Ethereum Hinman is joining a16z as an advisory partner on regulatory issues, as is Brent McIntosh, a former Under Secretary at the U.S. Treasury. Meanwhile, the firm also announced that Tomicah Tillemann, a former senior adviser to President Biden and speechwriter for Hillary Clinton, will become its new Global Head of Policy. This decision to hire top political and agency officials suggests a16z is girding itself for a potential regulatory onslaught at a time when governments around the world are getting more aggressive vis-a-vis the crypto industry. "As with any new computing movement, crypto has endured a variety of challenges and misconceptions," said Dixon and Haun, adding that the new additions will help "translate" crypto to the mainstream. Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz also announced Rachael Horowitz will run its marketing and communications operations. Horowitz is a veteran Silicon Valley operator who has done stints at Facebook, Twitter, and Google as well as leading communications at Coinbase at a time when the company was transforming into a crypto behemoth. Horowitz's job is going to be an interesting one in light of a16z's mercurial approach to the media. After years of charming journalists with private dinners and upscale cocktail parties, the firm has largely gone dark to outside news outlets and is instead building out its internal media unit. This approach has, predictably, proved unpopular with some in the media, and has been embraced by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who is a protege of Marc Andreessen. Finally, a16z announced it has brought on Alex Price, a longtime crypto executive and prominent investor in DeFi, as an advisory partner. The firm also promoted Andrew Albanese, a veteran of the New York Stock Exchange, to the role of Chief Operating Officer. These new appointments are set to have a front-row seat to the richest and most audacious bet on crypto in history.

0

Reply

Share

CRYPTO LOVER

@Rajonmia3031 • 3 Years Ago

...

Tesla, Facebook, Google, Stocks Launch on the Solana Blockchain Over 50 tokenized stocks can now be traded across platforms built on Solana. In brief Tokenized stocks represent the underlying traditional financial assets such as Apple stocks. Digital Asset AG has launched free-floating tokenized stocks for trading on Solana, a blockchain supported by cryptocurrency exchange FTX, where it’s available for buying. Swiss-based company Digital Assets AG has launched tokenized stocks that can be transferred to any entity on the Solana blockchain. Popular stocks that will be immediately available for trading include Facebook, Google, Netflix, Nvidia, PayPal, Square, and Tesla. Stock tokenization lets you buy company shares as crypto tokens, which represent the value of the underlying asset, be it Apple, MicroStrategy, or Coinbase shares. Brandon Williams, corporate development lead at Digital Assets AG, told Decrypt that these transferable stock tokens will “bridge the traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi).” That’s because up until now tokenized stocks could only be traded on a singular entity like a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Binance or Bittrex, or a private blockchain. Users could open or close positions, but they wouldn’t be able to withdraw tokenized stocks, send them to an external party, or transfer across chains. But the transferable tokenized stocks launched on Solana will allow centralized and decentralized exchanges built on that public blockchain to add tokenized stock trading to their platforms. Hong Kong-listed cryptocurrency exchange FTX is the only exchange where customers can buy these transferable tokenized stocks—at least for now. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is also the main backer of Solana. Why buy free-floating tokenized stocks on FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, when you can buy stocks on trading apps like Robinhood? Williams explained that tokenized stocks have a few advantages over traditional alternatives. FTX Traders will be able to withdraw and subsequently deposit their stock tokens to their own crypto wallets—software programs that help store cryptocurrencies privately rather than on cryptocurrency exchanges. From there, they can move stock tokens to DeFi and trade them 24/7 on Solana-built decentralized exchanges like Serum. Traders can also use those tokens to create their own fund-like smart contracts on DeFi that reallocate the positions automatically—that’s useful for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which are collectives on DeFi with a shared investment portfolio. Williams said that the company has obtained the necessary green light from financial authorities to launch in Switzerland and the European Economic Area—EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Croatia— but customers in other countries such as the United States will have to wait until the regulatory complexity is tackled. DISCLAIMER THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, OR OTHER ADVICE. IPFS Read on the Decrypt App for the best experience. For the best experience, top crypto news at your fingertips and exclusive features download now. Recommended News ARK Invest Bought $29M Shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust During Crash ARK Invest, the investment firm headed by Cathie Wood, went big during Bitcoin’s drop below $30,000 on Tuesday, snapping up $29 million in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares. According t... NewsBusiness Andrew Asmakov Jun 24, 2021 2 min read Hong Kong’s Apple Daily Newspaper Immortalized on the Blockchain Apple Daily, the pro-democracy news outlet recently shut down by the Hong Kong government, has turned to blockchain technology to preserve its content. Activists supporting the newspaper are ... NewsBusiness Scott Chipolina Jun 24, 2021 3 min read Andreessen Horowitz Raises Mega $2.2 Billion Crypto Fund, Hires SEC Veteran Hinman In 2018, venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz made a big bet on crypto with a first-of-its-kind $300 million investment fund. Two years later, it doubled down by creating another $510 mil... NewsBusiness Jeff John Roberts Jun 24, 2021 6 min read All News NewsBusiness Andreessen Horowitz Raises Mega $2.2 Billion Crypto Fund, Hires SEC Veteran Hinman The firm's "Crypto Fund III" is the biggest yet and a watershed moment for Andreessen Horowitz and the crypto industry. By Jeff John Roberts 6 min read Jun 24, 2021 OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS RAISED FOR NEW CRYPTO FUND. IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK In brief The new fund shows a16z has gone all-in on crypto The appointment of former SEC honcho Bill Hinman shows regulation is a major concern In 2018, venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz made a big bet on crypto with a first-of-its-kind $300 million investment fund. Two years later, it doubled down by creating another $510 million crypto fund, and now—underscoring how the firm has gone all-in on crypto—Andreessen is launching "Crypto Fund III" backed by an additional $2.2 billion of investment capital. In announcing the news on Wednesday, Andreessen Horowitz (known in tech circles as a16z) also revealed a series of high-profile appointments, including that of prominent former SEC official Bill Hinman, who is best known in the crypto world for his ruling that Ethereum is not a security. All of this is likely to deliver a boost to the crypto industry, which has been limping through a recent downturn marked by a dramatic drop in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But the news will also bring new scrutiny of Andreessen Horowitz, whose controversial tactics have ruffled feathers in Silicon Valley and the media, and which is now poised to dominate the crypto industry for the foreseeable future. Crypto Fund III Andreessen Horowitz, already prominent in Silicon Valley for its early bets on tech giants like Facebook, launched a stand-apart unit in 2018 dedicated to crypto or what partner Chris Dixon describes as "Web 3.0." Like other firms of its kind, a16z invests money on behalf of deep-pocketed investors and distributes the returns years down the road. The firm's Crypto Fund III is by far the biggest fund dedicated to cryptocurrency to date. Investments from its first two crypto funds include well-known startups like Uniswap, Compound, Dapper, and Protocol Labs. The massive new fund will be allocated to projects of all stages, from new startups to established companies, and seek to validate a16z's thesis that crypto is a world-changing technology on the level of the Internet. "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," said a16z partners Chris Dixon and Katie Haun in a blog post announcing the new fund. The news comes as the broader crypto market has entered a major downturn following a bull run that peaked this spring and saw Bitcoin climb to around $62,000 and digital assets of all sorts soar to jaw-dropping values. Since then, the price of Bitcoin has slumped badly—briefly dropping below $30,000 this week–while many less established cryptocurrencies have dropped even more. This suggests a16z may be launching its new fund amidst a bear market. Is Bitcoin in a Bear Market? Experts Aren’t Sure Bitcoin, trading right now at around $32,000, is down 9.4% in the past 24 hours and 20% in the past week, according to Nomic. It's even down 2% since the beginning of the year. Ethereum, the s... NewsCoins Mathew Di Salvo Jun 22, 2021 3 min read The recent downturn is unlikely to give a16z jitters, however, as the firm launched its earlier two crypto funds amid a so-called "crypto winter." And in their blog post, Dixon and Haun declare, "The history of crypto shows that asset prices may fluctuate but innovation continues to increase through each cycle." Such blog posts are part of an elaborate media operation at Andreessen Horowitz that, over the years, has displayed a knack for generating publicity for the firm and its partners. This has led some other venture capitalists to view the firm as arrogant, and for competitors to snark when a16z's returns have suffered a downturn, as they did in 2019, or trailed other VC firms. According to veteran Silicon Valley journalist Eric Newcomer, who was first to report rumors of a16z's massive new fund in May, the firm also stands to make a pretty penny from fees on its new venture—which has also rankled competitors. "Andreessen Horowitz’s rivals snark that the firm is chasing management fees — those lofty payouts firms receive just for taking people’s money. I hear that the Crypto Fund plans to charge a 2.5% management fee for most of the first decade of the fund. On a $2 billion fund, that could mean $50 million a year in fees alone," wrote Newcomer. (Andreessen Horowitz did not publicly rebut these claims at the time, and a spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment from Decrypt as to whether they were accurate). The upshot is that the stakes are as high as ever for a16z, Dixon, and Haun, who have been given the keys to its crypto operations by founding partners Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. If the new mega-fund fails to deliver healthy returns, crypto skeptics and a16z rivals will be quick to sneer. Conversely, if some of the new fund's bets pay off—in a way that a16z's early bet on Coinbase did—the firm will be in pole position to dominate the crypto industry for years to come. 'Heavy hitters' join a16z crypto In their blog post, Dixon and Haun boasted of having a "powerhouse team" to support startup founders and others at the firm's portfolio companies, and disclosed the recent appointment of "heavy hitters." The most notable of the latest recruits is Bill Hinman, a former top official at the SEC who raised eyebrows in 2019 when he announced while at the agency that certain crypto projects could become exempt from securities laws if they were "sufficiently decentralized." Some in the legal community mocked Hinman for developing new legal tests on the fly but his finding that Ethereum had met this decentralization criterion endeared him to many in crypto. ETH -14.19%$1,988.94 24H7D1M1YMAX Jun 17Jun 19Jun 20Jun 21Jun 22Jun 23Jun 24$1600$1800$2000$2200$2400 ETH Price Buy Ethereum Hinman is joining a16z as an advisory partner on regulatory issues, as is Brent McIntosh, a former Under Secretary at the U.S. Treasury. Meanwhile, the firm also announced that Tomicah Tillemann, a former senior adviser to President Biden and speechwriter for Hillary Clinton, will become its new Global Head of Policy. This decision to hire top political and agency officials suggests a16z is girding itself for a potential regulatory onslaught at a time when governments around the world are getting more aggressive vis-a-vis the crypto industry. "As with any new computing movement, crypto has endured a variety of challenges and misconceptions," said Dixon and Haun, adding that the new additions will help "translate" crypto to the mainstream. Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz also announced Rachael Horowitz will run its marketing and communications operations. Horowitz is a veteran Silicon Valley operator who has done stints at Facebook, Twitter, and Google as well as leading communications at Coinbase at a time when the company was transforming into a crypto behemoth. Horowitz's job is going to be an interesting one in light of a16z's mercurial approach to the media. After years of charming journalists with private dinners and upscale cocktail parties, the firm has largely gone dark to outside news outlets and is instead building out its internal media unit. This approach has, predictably, proved unpopular with some in the media, and has been embraced by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who is a protege of Marc Andreessen. Finally, a16z announced it has brought on Alex Price, a longtime crypto executive and prominent investor in DeFi, as an advisory partner. The firm also promoted Andrew Albanese, a veteran of the New York Stock Exchange, to the role of Chief Operating Officer. These new appointments are set to have a front-row seat to the richest and most audacious bet on crypto in history.