Andreessen Horowitz chose London as an international base for his crypto activities. The move comes as US regulators crack down on big players in the nascent industry.
Andreessen Horowitz, aka a16z, announced on Monday the opening of its “first international office” in the United Kingdom to conduct its cryptocurrency business.
The company’s crypto arm, which launched a $4.5 billion fund last year and manages more than $7.5 billion in total, also said the next phase of its crypto support program Startup School would take place in London.
The decision of the Californian fund comes as the police of the United States stock exchange recently launched lawsuits against the giants Binance and Coinbase. The regulator has also expanded its list of digital assets considered as financial securities (securities) with in particular ADA, SOL and MATIC, which have suffered heavy losses over the past 7 days.
After productive dialogue with the Prime Minister and months of constructive conversations with the UK Treasury, UK policymakers and the FCA, we are delighted to open our first international office in a jurisdiction that welcomes blockchain technology and is committed to creating a predictable trading environment,” said a16z crypto founder Chris Dixon.
In the spring of 2022, the United Kingdom announced that it was working on setting up a crypto-friendly regulatory framework, teasing the issuance of its own NFT. The surprise bankruptcy of FTX nevertheless calmed the ardor of the government which declared rather this year that it wanted to become a “safe jurisdiction” for crypto and canceled its plans to issue a non-fungible token.
The country, which has not yet rolled out its regulations in this area, is still considered today as a place of choice for crypto startups, like France, Dubai or Hong Kong.
As we cement the UK’s place as a science and technology superpower, we must embrace new innovations like the Web3. This success hinges on having the right regulations and safeguards in place to protect consumers and promote innovation,” commented British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, welcoming the arrival of a16z.
The fund’s new crypto office established by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2009 in Menlo Park will open by the end of the year and will be headed by Sriram Krishnan, the statement said.
This article is originally published on coins.fr
