A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC • Hacker News Board

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#181

Post by stale2002 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:37 AM UTC

googlemike wrote: post #4

seibelj wrote: post #2

A16Z’s unapologetic bet on cryptocurrency and blockchain companies is big for the industry. As crypto heats up again and blockchain 3.0 projects emerge (Cosmos, Polkadot, Ethereum Proof of Stake) VC will help legitimize the industry.

Can you provide a single problem where the right solution space is blockchain? Ive thought about this a good amount, and cannot come up with a single use case where current established centralized technology is not a better solution.

Censorship resistant financial transactions.

It is much more difficult to censor crypto payments than it is to censor credit card, paypal, or bank transactions.

Crypto payments being censored just isn't something that is happening, even though crypto has been around for 10 years. The evidence proves that it is more difficult to censor.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#182

Post by navigatesol » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:38 AM UTC

quickthrower2 wrote: post #145

dzhiurgis wrote: post #134

Of everyone I follow it seems it’s only a16z still believes in crypto.

What is there to believe or not believe in? It is what it is. Bitcoin is a perfectly functional means of financial exchange, and has use cases that beat regular cash, and other use case where it sucks compared to cash.

>Bitcoin is a perfectly functional means of financial exchange

Okay. So where is the Venture Capital going, and where will the returns stem from?

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#183

Post by raverbashing » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:40 AM UTC

Semaphor wrote: post #172

raverbashing wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calculate the full chain of costs then come back here with how it compares to Transferwise or other methods

Well… Cost: a) BTC-BTC Transfer: Only BTC transfer fee. Beats TransferWise by a large Margin. b) BTC-USD: Depends on many variables, including if the receiving country taxes BTC to fiat. Considering how expensive transferwise is, it's probably a wash. Speed depends on if GP literally meant Cash. If so, BTC is obviously far faster and easier as you still need to get you cash into your bank account. Otherwise… Transfer…

USD-BTC and BTC-USD (or any currency) have a cost and a delay as well

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#184

Post by simonebrunozzi » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:42 AM UTC

dzhiurgis wrote: post #134

Of everyone I follow it seems it’s only a16z still believes in crypto.

And USV, among the top ones.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#185

Post by simonebrunozzi » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:43 AM UTC

tanilama wrote: post #121

jakequist wrote: post #65

tl;dr - A16Z is reclassifying themselves as an "investment advisor", which will allow them to make riskier bets (crypto, real estate, etc). They'll still invest in startups like any other VC firm.

> crypto, real estate Crypto maybe, not real estate doesn't sound as risky as startups.

Maybe it depends on what type of real estate.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#186

Post by navigatesol » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:44 AM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #50

Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…

>You don't have any freedom if you have to beg VISA or PayPal for permission to spend your money. That alone should be enough to justify the existence of block chain technology and we should all be cheering on its eventual success.

Where is it you live that Internet service is provided by a free market, that can't be disabled?

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#187

Post by kchoudhu » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:48 AM UTC

Does this mean they are going to try to syndicate IPOs as well?

Get your portfolio companies coming and going.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#188

Post by Semaphor » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:54 AM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #183

Semaphor wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well… Cost: a) BTC-BTC Transfer: Only BTC transfer fee. Beats TransferWise by a large Margin. b) BTC-USD: Depends on many variables, including if the receiving country taxes BTC to fiat. Considering how expensive transferwise is, it's probably a wash. Speed depends on if GP literally meant Cash. If so, BTC is obviously far faster and easier as you still need to get you cash into your bank account. Otherwise… Transfer…

USD-BTC and BTC-USD (or any currency) have a cost and a delay as well

Yes, I mentioned that.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#189

Post by navigatesol » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC

floodyberry- wrote: post #171

chrisco255 wrote: post #50

Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…

How, exactly, does Bitcoin (and other shitcoins) being nominally 'decentralized', and whose main use after 10 years is still speculation and scams, relate to nazis and right wing trolls occasionally get kicked off twitter?

>How, exactly, does Bitcoin (and other shitcoins) being nominally 'decentralized', and whose main use after 10 years is still speculation and scams, relate to nazis and right wing trolls occasionally get kicked off twitter?

Perhaps because the people you label "right-wing trolls" are, sometimes, actually just people with different opinions, and deserve (at least in their minds) some protection? They aren't merely getting kicked off Twitter; in some cases they are being demonetized.

It's all well and good to sit back and say, "too bad for them", but it would be diligent to at least concede your "side" may not win this fight, and one day you might be getting the label.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#190

Post by kurtisc » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 11:08 AM UTC

beaner wrote: post #104

peteretep wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don’t you think companies can inflate the crypto money supply in the same way that they inflate the fiat money supply?

Companies don't own the blockchain. Not sure if you're familiar with crypto by this comment, but inflation control was the key feature that enabled Bitcoin (and the rest) to exist. The whitepaper is worth a read: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

A single entity at one point had over 50% of the mining power for Bitcoin, effectively owning its blockchain.