Andreessen Horowitz, a leading U.S. venture capital firm and cryptocurrency investor, announced on Sunday that it would open its first international office in London later this year.
The move comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny of the crypto sector in the U.S.
The London office will be part of the firm’s a16z crypto fund, launched in 2018 and invested in companies such as Coinbase, Facebook’s Diem, and OpenSea.
The office will be led by Sriram Krishnan, one of the firm’s general partners, who recently advised Elon Musk on Twitter.
The firm chose London because of its supportive regulatory environment for blockchain technology and strong academic and entrepreneurial talent.
The firm also said it had been in talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other authorities for months.
“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,”
Chris Dixon, founder and managing director of A16z Crypto
Sunak stated that he was “determined to unlock opportunities” for blockchain technology and “turn the U.K. into the world’s Web3 centre”. Web3 is a vision of a future internet built on blockchain.
The announcement comes when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been cracking down on the crypto industry, suing cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance last week for allegedly breaching its rules.
Andreessen Horowitz said it remains a U.S. firm and hopes lawmakers will change their minds on the need for crypto regulation, as they did with early internet legislation.
