In order to encourage entrepreneurs to embrace decentralization, venture capital juggernaut Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) chose London as the location for its first office outside of the United States.A16z, based in Menlo Park, California, wants to use the office, which will open later this year and be run by Sriram Krishnan, to invest in the startup and cryptocurrency ecosystem in the U.K. and Europe, it announced on Sunday.The company also mentioned its recent investments in British businesses, including leading a $43 million Series A funding round for blockchain-based computing resources for artificial intelligence (AI) platform provider Gensyn, which was also disclosed on Sunday.
A16z’s decision comes as the U.K.’s regulatory future for cryptocurrencies is becoming more clear.The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Crypto Assets supports the government’s plan to integrate cryptocurrencies within the framework of already-existing financial services regulation.The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee disagrees, arguing that cryptocurrency should be treated like gambling. The industry has reacted negatively to such plan.
Although there is still work to be done, we think the U.K. is headed in the right direction for becoming a leader in cryptocurrency regulation, according to a16z.“It is home to highly sophisticated, world-class regulators, some of the largest financial markets and capital pools in the world, and more ‘unicorns’ than Germany, France, and Sweden put together.”The move was praised by Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, who said, “We must embrace new innovations like Web3, powered by blockchain technology, which will enable start-ups to flourish here and grow the economy.”
A privately held startup with a valuation of at least $1 billion is called a unicorn.A16z stated that it is still very substantially invested in the United States and that it will keep advocating for regulatory clarity for cryptocurrency entrepreneurs.