a16z crypto show
The a16z crypto show explores how decentralized networks are reshaping money, ownership, and the architecture of the internet. It goes beyond the hype to look at what’s actually working, what isn’t, and what comes next as crypto continues to go mainstream and blockchains become core infrastructure. Each episode features conversations with founders, engineers, economists, policymakers, and researchers building at the frontier of finance, payments, AI, and distributed systems. The show covers stablecoins and global payments, tokenization of real-world assets, decentralized physical infrastructure, network design and governance, and practical tradeoffs behind decentralization. Produced and hosted by the a16z crypto team, the show combines reporting, analysis, and first-principles thinking to explain how crypto intersects with the economy and society.
Episodes
The 'Useless' Theory Behind Modern SNARKs (ft. Gödel Prize Winner Noam Nisan)
More than 30 years ago, Gödel Prize Winner Noam Nisan helped develop a proof technique that he never expected anyone to use in the real world.
At the center of that breakthrough was the sum-check protocol — an elegant technique that emerged from Noam Nisan’s early work on interactive proofs. At the time, even Nisan assumed ideas like these were far too theoretical to become practical technology.
How Zero-Knowledge Proofs Were Invented (ft. Co-Inventor and Turing Award Winner Shafi Goldwasser)
How can you prove that something is true without revealing why it is true?
That question gave rise to zero-knowledge proofs, one of the most important breakthroughs in modern cryptography. What began as an attempt to solve a seemingly playful problem — playing poker securely over the telephone — ultimately changed how computer scientists think about proofs, privacy, and verification. In this epi
Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon: Why America Needs CLARITY
a16z Cofounder and General Partner Marc Andreessen and a16z crypto Founder and Managing Partner Chris Dixon on why the CLARITY ACT matters.
Congress is debating once-in-a-generation market structure legislation that could determine where financial and internet infrastructure gets built. Chris and Marc join host Robert Hackett to discuss why regulatory clarity matters, what the current policy envir
How AI is Changing the Way We Build Companies (ft. Guy Wuollet and Noah Citron)
For the first time, companies can treat AI token spending almost like headcount: allocate more money, deploy more intelligence, and potentially get more work done.
That shift could change much more than engineering productivity. It could reshape how companies form, how teams are managed, how businesses are financed, and who is best positioned to build them.
In this episode, a16z crypto General Par
The Story Behind RSA: The Invention That Secured the Internet (ft. Turing Award Winner Ron Rivest)
Before the internet could become a place to bank or transact, it needed a way for strangers to know who they were talking to, and whether a message could be trusted.
Turing Award winners Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman helped invent it.
In this episode of First Principles, Rivest tells the story of how they developed RSA, the first practical public-key cryptosystem. Their breakthrough
Why auction design matters (ft. Nobel economist Paul Milgrom)
Long before onchain markets made mechanism design a daily engineering problem, Nobel Prize winner Paul Milgrom was asking how prices actually form — and how better auction rules could reshape actual markets.
His work helped transform auction theory from an elegant branch of economics into a practical toolkit for allocating scarce resources, from wireless spectrum to digital ads to financial market
Why markets fail — and how to fix them (ft. Nobel economist Alvin Roth)
Long before crypto made coordination programmable, Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth was designing markets where coordination could save lives.
In this episode of First Principles, Roth tells the story of how he helped build systems for some of the hardest matching problems in the world, from where doctors train and where students go to school to how kidney donors can reach the patients who need them
Leslie Lamport on the Science of Distributed Systems
Before blockchains could reach consensus, Leslie Lamport had to define what agreement even meant when computers fail, lie, or disappear.
In this episode of First Principles: The Scientific Roots of Blockchain Technology, Turing Award-winning computer scientist Leslie Lamport joins Tim Roughgarden Head of Research at a16z crypto and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, and a16z cr
Before Blockchains, There Was State Machine Replication (ft. Barbara Liskov and Tim Roughgarden)
Every blockchain today leans on replication ideas worked out in the 1980s, by a Turing Award winner who wasn’t thinking about how it might apply to money at all.
In this episode of First Principles, a16z crypto Head of Research and Columbia professor Tim Roughgarden speaks with Barbara Liskov, MIT professor, Turing Award winner, and one of the most influential computer scientists in programming l
How Bitcoin Rewired a Classic Computer Science Problem (ft. Tim Roughgarden and Ittai Abraham)
Bitcoin often gets credited with inventing trustless consensus. It didn’t.
The problem was named decades earlier — in the world of distributed computing — and researchers spent years studying how machines could reach agreement even when some participants were faulty, adversarial, or corrupt. What Bitcoin did was something different: It solved a classic Byzantine agreement problem in a radically n
How Stablecoins Are Reconfiguring the Financial System | ft. Eddy Lazzarin and Sonal Chokshi
Crypto has been walled off from the real economy for years — that's changing.
Sonal Chokshi and Robert Hackett sit down with Eddy Lazzarin, a16z crypto's newest General Partner, to break down why crypto is entering a completely different phase and what gets built once the rules finally catch up to the technology.
The discussion spans:
- what the CLARITY Act actually does and why it changes the
The Real Reason Behind Most DeFi Hacks
Following a string of major DeFi exploits, we unpack what’s driving the recent rise in hacks across crypto.
a16z crypto GP Eddy Lazzarin and security engineer Matt Gleason join host Robert Hackett to take a closer look. Their argument: AI is not introducing entirely new vulnerabilities. It is making existing weaknesses easier to identify and exploit. The question is whether defenders can evolve as
We Raised $2.2B. Here’s Why.
We're announcing a16z crypto's Fund 5: $2.2B in committed capital to back the startups and founders who are building the next era of crypto. All four GPs sat down to talk through where crypto is right now, what's changed, and where it may be headed next. Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya, Guy Wuollet, and Eddy Lazzarin join Robert Hackett to cover...
00:00 Open
01:31 Why raise Crypto Fund 5 now
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The end of ads? AI agents are about to change how we buy
Agents can now do almost anything a human can do with a computer. So what happens when they start spending money on your behalf?
Sam Ragsdale (founder and CEO of Merit Systems, a startup building infrastructure for the agentic economy) joins a16z crypto's Eddy Lazzarin, Noah Levine, and Robert Hackett on the open agentic commerce stack, and why the internet's business model is about to get rewired
Why AI is so centralized: How it's built, who controls it, and what comes next
A few big companies control most of the infrastructure behind AI.
Most people experience AI through a wide range of different apps that actually depend on a deeply centralized stack of data and compute. In this conversation, Ben Fielding and Harry Grieve — cofounders of decentralized machine learning protocol Gensyn — explain why this matters, and what it would take to rebuild AI as open infrastru
How Bots, Deepfakes and AI Agents Are Forcing a New Internet Identity Layer
The internet already has a bot problem — and it's just getting worse.
a16z's Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg speak with Alex Blania of Tools for Humanity. World is building the largest real human network, a proof-of-human layer for the AI era. They cover the technical challenge of proving human uniqueness at scale using iris biometrics, the privacy architecture behind World ID, and why platforms f
How DeFi lending actually works (with Paul Frambot, cofounder and CEO of Morpho Labs)
What if the future of lending doesn’t need banks at all?
Paul Frambot, cofounder and CEO of Morpho, explains what it means to build lending infrastructure without banks, and why DeFi’s real breakthrough isn’t “risk-free” loans, but open, onchain markets that make lending more transparent, competitive, and efficient.
In this conversation, Paul breaks down the biggest misconception in DeFi lending,
Why Solana keeps getting faster — and what's next (ft. Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder)
What if opening a trading account was as easy as downloading an app?
Lucas Bruder, CEO of Jito — a Solana-based liquid staking protocol — breaks down why he thinks all of finance is moving onchain, and what his small team is doing to make that happen.
During the 2022-2023 bear market, Jito was getting pitched constantly to jump ship to other chains. Lucas explains why they turned everything down
Vitalik Buterin vs Beff Jezos: AI Acceleration Debate (E/acc vs D/acc)
Should we push AI forward as fast as possible, or be more careful about how it develops?
Two competing views are emerging:
e/acc (effective accelerationism): go faster, progress is the only path forward
d/acc (defensive / decentralized acceleration): accelerate, but carefully, or risk losing control
In this episode of the a16z crypto show, Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum founder) and Guillaume Ver
AI Is Changing the Internet. What Does It Mean for Creators? (with Justin and Michael Blau)
What does the future of the creator economy actually look like? The economics of content creation are changing, what happens to copyright in a world of abundant generated content, and why human taste, curation, and connection may matter even more going forward.
In this episode, host Robert Hackett talks with Justin (CEO, Bond) and Michael Blau(Head of Product, Bond) about the changing relationshi
The Emmy Built on ETH: Emily Yang aka pplpleasr on the Future of Storytelling
Four years ago, artist Emily Yang aka pplpleasr began a creative journey that would help break new ground at the intersection of art, technology, and community.
In this episode, we sit down with Emily — founder of Shibuya — to talk about her evolution from illustrator to Emmy-winning storyteller.
Emily shares how Shibuya is pioneering “permissionless creativity,” using crypto rails to fund, buil
AI Just Gave You Superpowers — Now What?
A hot paper — "Some Simple Economics of AGI" — has been making the rounds, so we sat down with the author, covering:
Automation vs. verification: the key economic split
Why AI agents now feel like coworkers - What's happening to junior roles and the “codifier’s curse”
The “AI sandwich” structure for firms
The value of "meaning-makers," consensus, and status economies
Why crypto may beco
Why Tokenize? Fidelity on Onchain Assets and the Next Phase of Adoption
What does it actually mean to bring assets onchain — and why should investors care?
In this episode, Cynthia Lo Bessette, Head of Digital Asset Management at Fidelity Investments, breaks down Fidelity’s roadmap for digital market adoption — from Bitcoin ETPs to tokenized money market funds — and explains why tokenization is about far more than just putting assets on a blockchain.
We cover:
Th
When Bots Have Bank Accounts: The Rise of the Agent Economy (With Sean Neville, Catena Labs)
What happens when AI becomes the primary economic actor?
In this conversation, Sean Neville (cofounder of Circle, architect of USDC, and now cofounder of Catena Labs) shares his vision for the next phase of the internet: an agent-native economy powered by programmable dollars and AI banks.
As stablecoins put dollars on internet rails, a new question emerges: what happens when AI agents start ear
From Eater to Blackbird: Ben Leventhal on Restaurants, Loyalty, and Rebuilding Payments
Restaurants generated more than a trillion dollars in sales last year — but they don’t control the payment rails those dollars flow through.In this episode, Ben Leventhal (founder of Eater, Resy, and now Blackbird) joins Robert Hackett to explain why that’s a problem, how loyalty and payments have failed independent restaurants, and where crypto fits into fixing it.Ben breaks down:Why most restaur
Bridge CEO Zach Abrams: Stablecoins Are The Next Platform for Money
with @zcabrams @rhackettWhat happens when money moves 10x — or 100x — faster than it does today?In this episode, Zach Abrams, cofounder and CEO of Bridge (now part of Stripe), lays out a bold vision for the future of money: a world where stablecoins become the dominant payment rail, most transactions happen between non-human agents, and entirely new financial infrastructure is required to keep up.
Why Privacy Will Be the Biggest Moat in Crypto
with @alive_eth @rhacketta16z crypto General Partner Ali Yahya explains why privacy — not performance — will determine the long-term winners in crypto, and how it creates powerful network effects. In conversation with a16z crypto show host Robert Hackett, Ali lays out how privacy creates lock-in and winner-take-most dynamics — without sacrificing decentralization. They also dive into the technolog
From Oculus to Anduril: Palmer Luckey on Power, Technology, and the Future
with @PalmerLuckey @cdixonIn this special episode — our 100th on the a16z crypto show! — Chris Dixon interviews Palmer Luckey (founder of Anduril; founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift) to talk about the future of technology, belief, and building.What does it take to build hardware at scale? Where are many of today’s tech bottlenecks? And what's the case for optimism about the futur
Nobody's Gonna Trust Your Corp Chain
with @ccatalini @rhackettToday we’re talking about who — if anyone — should own the rails of global money.Our guest is Christian Catalini, cofounder and chief strategy officer of the global payments startup Lightspark, and a former architect of Meta’s shuttered Libra project — one of the most ambitious attempts to create a corporate-backed digital currency.In this episode, we talk about…why Bitcoi
The Obsession That Destroys Startups (with LayerZero CEO)
with @PrimordialAA @rhackettIn this episode, host Robert Hackett sits down with Bryan Pellegrino, cofounder and CEO of LayerZero, one of the core infrastructure projects that enables blockchains to talk to one another. We talk about why crypto went multichain, what it means for crypto to compete with legacy financial systems, and a lesson Bryan took firsthand from Elon Musk. We also get into Bryan
How Elite Athletes Perform Under Extreme Pressure
with @LairdLife @GabbyReece @AriannaSimpsonToday's episode features two people who’ve spent their careers performing at the highest levels in sport and business: big-wave surfing pioneer Laird Hamilton and former pro volleyball star Gabby Reece. They join a16z crypto General Partner Arianna Simpson for a conversation that explores what it takes to endure and excel over decades — how to get back up
What, How & Why We're Reading
with @smc90 @rhackett @stephbzinn @Tim_OrgIn a now-annual tradition, the a16z crypto editorial team discuss themes (and picks) from a16z crypto's latest reading lists, as well as books we keep re-reading, childhood favorites, classics, adaptations on adaptations — in book and movie form! — and much more.We cover:What genres are we reading now, how, and why?How is technology — from AI and ChatGPT t
From Wallets to Super Apps: The Internet's New Interface (with Phantom CEO)
with @BChillman @jay_drainjr @rhackettCrypto wallets are no longer just wallets. They’re the front door to a decentralized internet.In this episode, Phantom CEO Brandon Millman joins a16z crypto Investment Partner Jay Drain and host Robert Hackett to unpack how crypto wallets are evolving into full-blown consumer finance platforms — and why they may be the most credible candidates to become the in
Crypto's Killer App?
with @zcabrams @psneville @rhackettIn this episode, Robert Hackett sits down with Sean Neville, cofounder of Circle and co-creator of the USDC stablecoin, and Zach Abrams, founder of Bridge (now part of Stripe), for a deep dive into the real story behind stablecoins, finding product-market fit, and the future of payments infrastructure.They explore the earliest days of USDC — when stablecoins were
TradFi’s Tipping Point: Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson on Stablecoins, Bitcoin, and Innovation Bets
Every traditional financial institution faces the same dilemma: evolve or fall behind, build or buy. But when safety, predictability, and trust is paramount, how do traditional finance companies innovate? How do they place their innovation bets, and decide what to explore and not to explore? Fidelity Chairman and CEO Abigail P. Johnson shares an inside look into Fidelity’s decade of crypto experim
AI, Networks, and What Makes Consumer Products Win
with @cdixon @illscienceWelcome to web3 with a16z crypto. Today’s episode digs into the forces shaping the next generation of consumer software — from AI-driven tools to the new economics of apps.Joining is Chris Dixon, a16z crypto founder and managing partner and one of the firm’s original consumer investors. He sits down with a16z General Partner Anish Acharya to explore how exponential forces —
Pricing the Future (with Kalshi CEO)
with @mansourtarek_ @rhackettIn this episode of web3 with a16z crypto, host Robert Hackett talks with Kalshi Cofounder and CEO Tarek Mansour about how prediction markets are enabling people to trade directly on real-world events — from elections to inflation — and what this means for the future of finance and forecasting.Tarek explains why prediction markets aren’t gambling, how regulation has bee
Trump's Tech Czar on Crypto, AI, and American Innovation
with @DavidSacks @pmarca @bhorowitz @eriktorenbergToday’s episode features David Sacks, the Trump administration’s “AI and crypto czar," in conversation with a16z cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and General Partner Erik Torenberg.They dig into:how the U.S. is approaching AI and crypto policy,the fight over open source software,the status of tech regulation and legislation (like the CL
The Data Behind Crypto's Breakout Year
with @DarenMatsuoka @eddylazzarinToday, we’re bringing you something special: a presentation from our 2025 Founders Summit, which we just wrapped last week in beautiful Carlsbad, Calif. You’ll hear from Daren Matsuoka, our Head of Data and Fund Strategy, as he walks through the insights from this year’s State of Crypto report — our deep-dive into the data, themes, and signals shaping the industry
State of Crypto 2025: The Latest Data, Trends, and Themes Revealed
with @DarenMatsuoka @eddylazzarin @rhhackettEach year, the State of Crypto report analyzes the data — cutting through the noise — to track crypto’s evolution across markets, technology, policy, culture, and more. Now in its fourth edition, the 2025 State of Crypto report reveals how this once-fringe technology has hit recent all-time highs and gone mainstream — from stablecoins and tokenized asset
Prediction Markets -- Everything You Need to Know
Prediction markets are a hot topic again — even cartoon characters are talking about them (South Park). But beyond the buzz, what is a prediction market, exactly? How do they work, how are they designed, and what makes them work?We answer all these questions and more in this deep-dive featuring experts Alex Tabarrok (professor of economics at George Mason University) and Scott Kominers (a16z crypt
Surviving Market Cycles & Startup Lessons for Founders
with @AriannaSimpson @jacqmelinekCrypto is known for its high and low market cycles: What must founders know — and what can they do — to survive the swings?In this episode, we unpack the lessons of past crypto cycles and how they shape the current wave of building — from stablecoins to AI x crypto. We also dive into the founder journey: from raising money and staying committed in 2025, to handling
After the Foundation Era: Tokens, Policy, and Startup Structures
with @eddylazzarin @milesjennings @JasonYanowitzWelcome to web3 with a16z crypto. Today’s episode is on a super timely topic: How to design, govern, and grow decentralized networks in today’s changing policy landscape. It covers:Why the “foundation era” of crypto is ending — and what comes next with DUNAs and BORGsHow U.S. policy shifts are creating real rules of the roadThe difference between net
The antimemetics (and memetics) of making ideas happen -- in crypto and beyond
with @nayafia and @smc90 Ideas, memes, and vibes are some of the most important drivers of modern technology adoption, marketing, and much more -- and have been much-covered by everyone from Darwin to Dawkins to Girard to many others. Yet the topic of antimemetics -- self-censoring (vs. self-propagating) ideas -- whether something fringe, forgotten, or forbidden -- haven't been studied as much, es
GENIUS Becomes Law: What It Took to Pass the First Rules for Stablecoins in the U.S.
with @rhhackett @milesjennings @BenNapier & Michael ReedToday we're talking about the passage of the GENIUS Act — that's the "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act" — which provides clear rules of the road for stablecoins in the U.S. We cover the law's implications, the recent high-stakes vote in the House of Representatives, and the bipartisan efforts to pass this gr
11 Ideas for AI x Crypto
with @rhhackett @SamBroner @skominers @liz_harkavy @CarraWu @jay_drainjr @mg_486662Today's episode is a special one. It's a round table on some of the most compelling ideas at the intersection of AI and crypto, sourced from members of the a16z crypto team. You're going to hear from builders, researchers, and deal makers who are all wrestling with the big question: How will these two powerful techn
What We're Reading & Technology Changing Reading
with @rhhackett @smc90 @stephbzinn @tim_orgIn a now-annual tradition, the a16z crypto editorial team discuss themes (and picks) from a16z crypto's latest reading list, as well as books we keep re-reading, childhood favorites, classics, adaptations on adaptations -- in book and movie form! -- and much more.What genres are we reading now, how, and why? How is technology -- from AI and ChatGPT to the
5 Charts That Explain Crypto Right Now
with @DarenMatsuoka @rhhackettToday we've got a midyear market update and news episode for you. At the end of last year, our guest — and resident data weatherman — Daren Matsuoka put out a post on "5 metrics to watch in 2025." Most of the metrics that Daren picked measure how crypto's adoption: from mobile wallet usage and onchain transaction fees to volume across stablecoins, decentralized exchan
Wait — The Bank Froze Your Life Savings?
with @MinarikLaw @EMinSF @rhhackettImagine waking up one day to find your bank account frozen. No warning. No explanation. No recourse.This is not a thought experiment. It’s a real situation. And it’s happened not just to crypto companies and their founders, but to ordinary people who are just trying to live their lives. That includes our guest today, who learned firsthand what it means to be “deb
Inside the Solana Story: Near-Death Brushes and a Need for Speed (with Solana)
with @aeyakovenko @alive_ethToday’s episode features Solana cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko in conversation with a16z General Partner Ali Yahya, recorded live at our CSX Crypto Startup Accelerator program earlier this year.Anatoly shares the origin story of Solana — from a late-night eureka moment to thousands of investor meetings and several near-death startup experiences. He talks about what it took
With AI, Anyone Can Be a Coder (with Github CEO)
In this special episode from TED Tech, hear from GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on how AI is breaking the barrier to entry for coding. Who could a coder look like if you could code just by talking out loud? Learn how, thanks to AI, creating software is becoming as simple (and joyful) as building LEGO. In a live demo, he introduces Copilot Workspace: an AI assistant that helps you create code when you sp
AI vs. ID: Proof of human in a world of agents, bots, deep fakes, more
with @eddylazzarin @adrian_ludwig @remco @smc90Hi everyone, welcome to this week’s episode of web3 with a16z podcast, I’m Sonal, and today we’re talking about a hot topic which is also very evergreen because we’re entering a world where AI – including AI agents, bots, deep fakes, and so on -- are changing the internet, very drastically. And so we will need proof of who’s human, or not, online – ak
Marketing 101 for Startups: Token Launches, Memes, Reaching Devs & More
with @kimbatronic @amandatylerj @clairekartWelcome to web3 with a16z. Since our show covers both tech trends and company building, today’s topic is all about marketing — including differences between marketing in crypto and traditional tech.The conversation shares a candid look at what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to building reputation and community, attracting developers, hiring team
Everything Stablecoins: Big Picture, Deep Dive
with @cdixon @SamBroner @rhhackettStablecoins are quietly transforming how money moves — faster, cheaper, and more globally than ever before. In this episode, we take a deep look at why stablecoins have emerged as one of the most promising applications in crypto today — and how they could reshape global payments.I’m joined by Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z crypto and author of t
All the Stablecoin News: Stripe, Visa, Coinbase, Circle, More
with @rhhackett @smc90 @DarenMatsuoka @SamBronerWelcome to web3 with a16z, a show about the next generation of the internet. I'm Robert Hackett.There has been a flurry of stablecoin news lately, so we're doing a special bonus episode to cover everything that's been going on. Sonal and I are joined by a16z crypto’s Data Science lead Daren Matsuoka who shares the actual data behind the stablecoin tr
Quantum Computing: What, When, Where, How
with @danboneh @succinctJT @smc90This episode is all about quantum computing -- what it is, how it works, what's hype vs. reality, and how to prepare for it/ what builders should do.Specifically, we cover:What quantum computing is and isn't, and what people are really talking about when they worry about a quantum computer that can break cryptographic systems that are not secure against quantum att
Your Guide to Tokens: Types, Design, Uses, More
with @eddylazzarin @skominers @milesjennings @rhhackettToday we're diving deep into *the* defining concept in crypto: tokens. We're moving beyond conventional categories — like “governance tokens” or “utility tokens” or even “memecoins” — to present a full taxonomy that details what tokens are, what they aren’t, and what they're capable of becoming.Questions we'll explore include: What is a token?
AI and the End of Apps (with NEAR)
with @ilblackdragon @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m your host, Robert Hackett.In this episode, we're diving deep into one of the most intriguing intersections in tech today: AI and crypto.To help us unpack it, we're joined by Illia Polosukhin — co-founder of the crypto protocol NEAR and co-author of the groundbreaking 2017 "transformers" paper that kicked off the current AI boom. Ilia has
All About Airdrops
with @eddylazzarin @DarenMatsuoka @ahall_research @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m Robert Hackett.Today we’re talking about one of the most familiar — and most misunderstood — mechanics in crypto: the airdrop.We’ll explore the history of airdrops in and outside crypto, the challenges of incentive design, and learnings from airdrops to date. We’ll also answer questions like how do you avoid
Congestion Pricing? Economics, Theory, Reality
with @mostrovs @skominers @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m your host Robert Hackett, and today we’re talking about congestion pricing — an area of mechanism design that’s aimed at alleviating something everyone hates: traffic.Now you may have heard this term recently since New York adopted its own version of congestion pricing at the beginning of the year. This is the first program of its
You Better Have a 30-Year Goal (with Eigen Labs)
Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about a founder’s journey from academia to the tech startup world — and the many lessons he’s learned along the way. We dig into big ideas, like what people mean when they call blockchains "truth machines." We also share practical advice and insights, like how to go about deciding on your life’s work; what you can do to keep increasing — and compoundi
Blockchain Performance, Demystified
with @SashaSpiegelman @Tim_Roughgarden @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about the ins and outs of blockchain performance. How does the “speed” of one chain compare to another? What are the tricky ways that people talk about important metrics like throughput and latency? And how do design choices across things like consensus and execution result in performance tradeoffs? Our
Inside the Biggest Heist
with @mg_486662 and @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m Robert Hackett and today we’re talking about what is potentially the biggest heist of all time — a hack of the Dubai-based crypto exchange ByBit which took place last month for a total of $1.5 billion and which the Federal Bureau of Investigation has attributed to a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group.In this episode, we cover det
Creativity Across Industries, with Uniswap & KidSuper
with @haydenzadams @kidsuper @smc90This episode involves a special mix of guests:Hayden Adams, founder and CEO of Uniswap Labs, and inventor of the Uniswap Protocol a leader in decentralized finance (DeFi); they recently announced Unichain; andColm Dillane, the multimedia artist behind fashion brand KidSuper, CFDA award winner who has his own Warhol Factory-like creative studio and space; Dillane
Where AI x Crypto Converge
Welcome to web3 with a16z, today we’re running a special episode about the intersection of AI and crypto.Our guests are a16z crypto Founder and Managing Partner Chris Dixon & a16z Growth General Partner David George. They discuss the broken economics of the internet, new models for creative people, how to think through the first-, second- and third-order effects of big platform shifts, and more. T
Why blockchains need privacy
with @1HowardWu @SuccinctJT @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. Today’s show is all about privacy, why it matters, and how to achieve it technically onchain.It's fair to say that many blockchains today are quite… revealing. But that openness and transparency doesn’t work for everything — who would want anyone to have full-on X-Ray vision into your finances? That’s one reason why there’s been a gr
How This Foodie Founder Is Revamping Restaurants
with @benleventhal @AriannaSimpsonWelcome to web3 with a16z. How many of you are regulars at a favorite cafe, bar, or dinner spot? Probably a lot of you — but if you’re not, well, our guest today aims to make you one. This episode features Ben Leventhal — the founder and CEO of BlackBird, and formerly the founder of Resy and Eater. In it, he shares his journey as a serial entrepreneur in conversat
Social Media Secrets: How to Build Your Presence
with @0xgaut @ishverduzco @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about how to make social media work for you, rather than overwhelming you.Whether you’re a startup founder, creator, avid doomscroller, or longtime lurker, this show has tips and tactics you can use to attract attention, build a following, and level up your online presence.In this episode, we cover what to do and wh
Designing Beloved Brands
Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today's episode is all about design, creativity, and taste-making. Our special guest is Jason Mayden, the chief design officer of Jordan Brand at Nike — that's Jordan as in former NBA superstar Michael Jordan. In his role, Mayden is responsible for the look and feel of iconic products, like Air Jordan sneakers and related apparel. In this episode, Mayden speaks with Chri
Trends for 2025 (part 2): AI x Crypto - From Agents in Games & DePIN to Proof of Personhood and More
with @carrawu @eddylazzarin @0xkarmacoma and @smc90 @rhhackettWelcome to our special end-of-year episodes -- which also look ahead to 2025 -- covering our annual Big Ideas lists, where various a16z crypto team members share what they are personally excited about. (You can see the firmwide list, also including all the trends of the crypto team, here.)This episode is part 2 of 2 -- but you don't h
Trends for 2025 (part 1): Stablecoins, App Stores, UX, and More
with @sambroner @meigga @darenmatsuoka @jneu_net @chrislyons and @rhhackett @smc90Welcome to our special end-of-year episodes -- which also look ahead to 2025 -- covering our annual Big Ideas lists, where various a16z crypto team members share what they are personally excited about. (You can see the firmwide list, also including all the trends of the crypto team, here.)This episode is part 1 of
Prediction Markets and Beyond
with @atabarrok @skominers @smc90We've heard a lot about the premise and the promise of prediction markets for a long time, but they finally hit the main stage with the most recent election. So what worked (and didn't) this time? Are they better than pollsters, journalists, domain experts, superforecasters?So in this conversation, we tease apart the hype from the reality of prediction markets, fro
Government... By Lottery?
with @baileyflan @ahall_research @rhhackettToday we’re dusting off an ancient practice that has become trendy once again: the old-but-new idea of “sortition,” or selecting representatives by lottery.Sortition was used in ancient Athenian democracy to elect public officials. It’s also been lately revived by tech companies like Meta and AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic to tackle some of their t
AI Bots & Memecoins
with @pmarca @bhorowitzToday we’re running a special episode featuring a16z cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talking about AI bots and crypto. They discuss what happens when you mix postmodern theories and internet memes in an LLM. They also get into the sudden rise of a strange memecoin, the state of crypto regulation in the U.S., and more.This episode is a crossover from the Ben & Mar
State of Crypto 2024: Builder Energy, U.S. Election, Stablecoins, AI, More
with @DarenMatsuoka @eddylazzarin @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. Today we're taking you behind the scenes of our newly released, annual State of Crypto Report — a16z crypto's analysis of the latest data and trends that have defined the industry in 2024.This year's report features some brand new insights, from estimating the number of real crypto users globally, to understanding how much inte
Bridges: Out of the Mess, Into the Meshnet (with LayerZero)
Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today we explore the messy secrets of blockchain bridges. These cross-chain connectors are the go-betweens in today's multichain world, but their short history has been a checkered one, with prominent projects succumbing to major hacks and other hijinks.So we've brought on one of the builders who knows this world best to help disentangle the messiness. That’s Bryan Pelle
Games as Reality (with EVE Online)
with @HilmarVeigar @eddylazzarinOur featured guest today is Hilmar Pétursson, the CEO of CCP Games, maker of EVE Online, a massive multiplayer online role playing game. In this episode, Pétursson shares his unique world view and game-making philosophy, as well as a deep dive into the technology and economic design of his sci-fi simulation. He also touches on how niche cults can break into mainstre
How Blockchain Tech Advances Benefit Other Industries
with Dan Boneh @tim_roughgarden @smc90In this special 50th episode of the web3 with a16z podcast, we discuss how work in the blockchains/ crypto space has led to advances in several important technologies — which can be (and are being) used by many other industries beyond crypto.Tim Roughgarden (a16z crypto Head of Research and professor at Columbia University) and Dan Boneh (a16z crypto Senior Re
Governance Attack!?
with @ahall_research @eddylazzarin @0xShuel @smc90In this episode, we cover both recent events + evergreen governance questions in political systems: Specifically, we breakdown the recent Compound “governance attack”... as well as the broader topic of DAO governance and voting in general. We also discuss how to avoid, prevent, and respond to such governance attacks -- highlighting key differences
Token Do's and Don'ts
with @eddylazzarin @milesjennings @rhhackettToday’s episode covers all things tokens — that includes what tokens have to do with decentralized protocols, understanding the different types of tokens, and, of course, the Do's and Don'ts of designing and launching a token.Our guests are a16z crypto chief technology officer Eddy Lazzarin, as well as a16z crypto general counsel and head of decentraliza
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