US-based investor Andreessen Horowitz has announced that it will open its first international office in London later this year and amongst other activities, wants to work closely with universities throughout the UK to help foster blockchain activities and curriculum.
Headed up by general partner Sriram Krishnan, the London office will be by no means the firm’s first foray into the UK-based web3 sector, having invested in Arweave, Aztec, and Improbable, and announced today, leading a $43 million Series A round investment in London-based Gensyn.
The timing of a16z’s UK announcement coincides with two major crypto industry players, Binance and Coinbase (a since IPO’d Andreessen portfolio company) both coming under scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
On the 5th of June the SEC leveled 13 charges, including those involving unregistered offerings and sales of tokens, and failing to register as an exchange or broker-dealer against Binance, with Coinbase seeing much the same the following day.
Chris Dixon, founder and managing director of Andreessen’s crypto fund explained, “Following a productive dialogue with the Prime Minister, and months of constructive conversations with HM Treasury, UK policymakers, and the Financial Conduct Authority, we’re thrilled to open our first international office in a jurisdiction that welcomes blockchain technology and is committed to creating a predictable business environment by pursuing regulations that both embrace web3 and protect consumers. We look forward to helping foster the growth of the UK web3 ecosystem while the proper regulations come online.”
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