The United States-based venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has picked T-Systems MMS validator group, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, to delegate its native Celo assets. According to a notice on Deutsche Telekom's website on Tuesday, T-Systems MMS is running the validator nodes via the company's Open Telekom Cloud, which reportedly delivers robust security capabilities. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Deutsche Telekom invested in Celo back in April, becoming the first telecommunications firm to join the Celo Alliance for Prosperity. At the time, the company also purchased a significant amount of the mobile decentralized finance platform's native token, CELO. T-Systems …

Cryptocurrency venture capital funds have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Solana Labs to support further development and execution of decentralized applications and platforms building on Solana. Solana Labs, the blockchain development studio devoted to incubating Solana projects, announced Wednesday that it had raised $314.15 million through a private token sale — marking one of the largest private sales of the year. The funding will be used to bootstrap existing and forthcoming decentralized applications and platforms building on Solana. It will also be used to establish a venture investing arm and trading desk dedicated to the Solana network. Anatoly …

Talos, an up-and-coming institutional technology provider for cryptocurrency trading, has secured $40 million in Series A funding from some of the biggest venture capitalists in the digital asset market. The raise, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz, also had participation from PayPal Ventures, Fidelity Investments, Galaxy Digital, Elefund, Illuminate Financial and Steadfast Capital Ventures. Talos said the Series A funding will help bootstrap the expansion of its institutional trading platform. The company provides fund managers and other institutions with liquidity sourcing, direct market access, and clearing and settlement services. Its clients include buy-side institutions and financial service providers such as …

Zurich-based Dfinity Foundation has announced a fund worth CHF 200 million, or around $223 million, to support development on the Internet Computer — a blockchain-based decentralized network with wildly ambitious plans to one day “replace” much of the internet. The non-profit scientific research organization announced “The Developer Ecosystem Program” on May 26, and is now accepting applicants for development grants. These grants will operate separately from the $14.5 million Beacon Fund, which was announced in September 2020, and is a dedicated venture fund that backs developers creating open internet services on the platform. In a blog post announcing the new …

Building on its previous crypto involvement, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is now reportedly gathering thunder for another fund, according to an article from the Financial Times, or FT. “The new fund, Andreessen’s third that is focused on cryptocurrency investments, is aiming to raise between $800m and $1bn from investors, according to four people with knowledge of the process,” FT wrote on Friday. A Venture Capital, or VC, firm, Andreessen Horowitz also operates under the name a16z. The entity is active in the crypto and blockchain sector, and has invested in a number of projects. It plans to aim the new …

Aleo, a privacy-focused blockchain, has secured $28 million in investments to bring its zero-knowledge applications to a wider market. California-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the private investment round. Notable contributions also came from Coinbase Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Variant Fund, Polychain Capital and the Joseph Lubin-led Ethereal Ventures, among others. Described as the “first platform for fully private applications,” Aleo uses a cryptography technique called zero-knowledge proofs to achieve scalability, privacy and interoperability for off-chain transactions. Perhaps the most notable blockchain use case for zero-knowledge proofs is Zcash (ZEC), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that rose to prominence for its special …

OpenSea, one of the largest digital collectible marketplaces, has secured backing from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and others in a new funding round. According to Andreessen Horowitz, the firm is leading a $23 million Series A round for OpenSea alongside a16z’s Cultural Leadership Fund, as well as angel investors Ron Conway, Mark Cuban, Tim Ferriss, Belinda Johnson, Naval Ravikant, Ben Silberman, and others. “OpenSea makes NFTs searchable, usable, and organized,” said a16z general partner Katie Haun. “But it goes further and provides a marketplace that brings all platforms together and eases transactions among all parties, the way …

Optimism, a company providing Layer 2 scaling solutions for Ethereum, has secured backing from venture capital firm and Coinbase investor Andreessen Horowitz, or A16z. Andreessen Horowitz, which manages a portfolio worth roughly $16.6 billion, announced it is leading Optimism’s $25 million Series A investment round on Feb. 24. The demand for Layer 2 scaling solutions has escalated amid Ethereum’s surging fees, with average transaction costs pushing as high as $40 on Feb. 23. To achieve lower fees, lower latency, and greater throughput compared to transacting on Ethereum’s Layer 1 main net, Optimism uses “rollups” to bundle transactions together using smart …

Major venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, is the latest crypto-related form to oppose a recently proposed regulation in the United States. According to a blog post by a16z general partner Kathryn Haun, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has issued "a rushed, non-vetted rule under the cloak of the holidays that violates the government’s own established rulemaking procedures." FinCEN, which operates under the purview of Steven Mnuchin's Department of the Treasury, introduced a proposed regulation late last month that would restrict money services business, as well as U.S.-registered cryptocurrency exchanges, from transacting with so-called "self-hosted" wallets. Effectively, …

On Friday Coinbase Inc. announced the appointment of former Google Senior Legal Director Milana McCullagh as deputy general counsel for product and commercial legal. McCullagh, who worked for more than 13 years at Google, will work across functions at Coinbase on product legal support, helping the firm to streamline legal compliance for new product launches. McCullagh's appointment is part of both a Coinbase campaign to attract legal talent that started last year, as well as a broader industry-wide movement of top-tier attorneys joining crypto firms. Between August and October, Coinbase appointed former general counsel at Dyson Ltd., Katherine Minarik, as …

A senior regulation executive at the world’s largest stock exchange is moving into the cryptocurrency industry. Anthony Albanese, a former chief regulatory officer at the New York Stock Exchange, is reportedly leaving his position to join Andreessen Horowitz, a major venture capital firm focused on investments in crypto and blockchain developments. A spokesperson for Andreessen Horowitz told The Wall Street Journal that Albanese will leave NYSE to enter his new role in mid-November. In his new position at Andreessen Horowitz, Albanese will focus on building the company’s regulation strategy for cryptocurrency projects and cooperation with regulators. Andreessen Horowitz is known …

Showing continued digital asset growth in Africa, Nigeria-based crypto exchange, Yellow Card, has secured over $1 million in investments from a number of players in the crypto industry, including Polychain, which actively manages the Celo Ecosystem Fund. "Yellow Card has raised $1.5 million from investors to help further our expansion and solidify ourselves as the #1 place to buy and sell Bitcoin in Africa," Chris Maurice, the exchange's CEO, told Cointelegraph. Noting the seed round as finished, Maurice added: "We raised $1.5 million from Polychain, Andreessen Horowitz, and Celo through the Celo Ecosystem Fund. The goal of the raise is …