1. Crypto is primarily preferred due to early liquidity and being able to dump the bags on someone else. Old school startup models lock up too much capital.
2. Under the table deals mean that privately (kept a secret) some well known VCs have exited coins long before the ICO
I got into computers because I could help people by making software. Since then "value for value" has done a lot to guide how I spend my time. Seeing them and so many others get sucked into anything that makes money, no matter how poisonous, feels like such a loss.
To me, I am just appalled at how deeply cynical the whole crypto/web3 thing ended up being. I was always bearish on it but I assumed at least the people investing in it were true believers.
Marc Andreessen: 'False and Misleading Accusations' Made Against Me - WSJ https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/03/03/marc-andreessen-f...
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"The NCSA at the University of Illinois claimed that Andreessen and Bina had stolen Mosaic from the university and demanded the product’s name be changed. They were also told to quit distributing their product.
Andreessen decided that he would not quit offering the software, but he did agree to change the name to Netscape Communications Corporation. The University of Illinois was not completely satisfied until an agreement was reached on December 21, 1994. The University of Illinois received a financial settlement that cost Netscape around $3 million."
Who is Marc Andreessen, Silicon Valley’s Billionaire Kingmaker? [2022] https://history-computer.com/marc-andreessen-complete-biogra...
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I'm sensing a pattern.
I've gotten in debates here on HN before about this, but a VC's job is literally to multiply capital. Crypto has been extremely good for business (and, more key, for the numbers). I honestly don't see how anyone takes issue with a16z dumping on crypto bros any more than a16z over-funding a startup which, in turn, completely obliterates their competition. Not to mention SPACs that have been doing basically the exact same thing, as well. I have as much sympathy for degenerate crypto gamblers as I did for Citadel Capital.
One of these is securities fraud.
No, they won't. Non-profits were gladly taking donations from Pablo Escobar, and you're telling me startups are going to say "no" to early funding rounds because a16z is too "unsavory."
That's literally everyone's job in investing. You think a pension fund or an ETF serves a different purpose?
Venture Capital's job is to do that by providing capital for risky ventures (it's in the name), not by financing pump and dump schemes.
> Crypto has been extremely good for business
So were subprime mortgages, until the moment they weren't.
Yeah, if you completely ignore risk profiles. VCs have extremely high risk appetites and comparing them to pension funds is in bad faith.
My understanding was that until the ICO, the coin isn't available for purchase by the public. Who is providing the exit liquidity in a pre-ICO exit?
Ava Labs is the company, Avalanche is the blockchain, Avax is the token.
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ava-labs/
They launched a series A in 2019. The Series A was $6million and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Initialized Capital and Polychain Capital, in addition to angel investments from Balaji Srinivasan and Naval Ravikant.
Two private token sale in June and July 2020 for $12m and $42m. Are the VC’s and insiders getting a cut?
Then finally a public ICO in sept 2020 to raise $240 million.
They also had a funding round of $350million in April 22.
Ample time for early VC’s to make money. It’s valuation is $5billion. That’s the same as Coinbase which is a legit org with billions in revenue.
It's no less of a "legit org" than Uber. Comparing with Uber rather than Coinbase because they've been exposed to have engaged in similar anti-competitive practices which many deem unethical. There's a good chance Coinbase has too, they just haven't had a scandal blow open because of it.