Witnesses before the U.S. House of Agriculture Committee at a public hearing July 18 were unanimous in their view that digital assets complicate the hard and fast distinctions of existing regulatory frameworks. The hearing was chaired by Texas U.S. Representative Michael Conaway, who convened six eminent witnesses to give testimony — former Goldman Sachs partner and U.S. government regulator Gary Gensler, Andreessen Horowitz managing partner Scott Kupor, the CFTC’s Daniel Gorfine, law professor Joshua Fairfield, Clovyr CEO Amber Baldet, and Perkins Coie managing partner Lowell Ness. A key takeaway from the hearing was that a given digital asset may shift …

Blockchain cloud computing platform Oasis Labs announced July 9 that it has raised $45 mln from major investors as part of its plan to help companies adopt blockchain. In a press release, Oasis, which has University of California professor Dawn Song as its CEO and co-founder, described its plans to build a “decentralized internet” by resolving businesses’ “concerns” about implementing the technology. “Blockchains are poised to revolutionize much of the way we live, but many developers and organizations have understandable concerns about performance and privacy limitations that are currently hindering their ability to embrace the technology,” Song said. Oasis’ investors, …

Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has hired Katie Haun as its first female general investing partner to run the company’s newly formed $300 million cryptocurrency fund, according to an announcement published June 25. Haun, who is also a director on the board of Coinbase, served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice for ten years, where she focused on digital assets and cryptocurrency startups. She reportedly led investigations into Mt. Gox and took down the corrupt agents on the Silk Road task force. Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, said: “As I learned more about …

The US-based Blockchain project Basis (formerly known as Basecoin), which claims to provide a non-volatile cryptocurrency or stablecoin, has recently raised $133 mln in funding from big name investors, according to an official blog post published today, April 18. Basis announced today that they had raised $133 mln in private placement from a slew of major venture capital players, including Bain Capital Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Basis was launched in 2017 as a cryptocurrency startup that aims to provide a stablecoin by means of automated operations carried out by Blockchain-based "algorithmic central bank”. Though Basis co-founder Nader Al-Naji told Techcrunch …

Several high-profile investors have confirmed investing in a funding round that raised $28 mln for Harbor, a Blockchain company looking to remove legal barriers to securities trading, in press release today, April 17. Harbor, which already secured a $10 mln Series A round in February, has this time received fresh cash from moguls including Silicon Valley’s Andreessen Horowitz and Blockchain investment fund Pantera Capital. According to their press release, through a so-called R-Token system, Harbor will allow client businesses to smooth over trading of “a new wave of tokenized securities backed by real-world assets, such as real estate, company equity, …

Coinbase has appointed former PayPal and Facebook executive David Marcus to its board of directors as the second high-profile hire in a week. In a dedicated blog post Tuesday, CEO Brian Armstrong said Marcus’ “knowledge of both the payments and mobile space” was what would help “guide” the largest US Bitcoin exchange and wallet provider going forward. “David’s perspective and experience in bringing innovative and impactful products to market will be invaluable to Coinbase as we grow,” he explained. Growth at Coinbase has become no laughing matter this year as the company goes through a second hyper adoption phase which …

Andreessen Horowitz (AH) is a name that is usually whispered with awe in the cryptocommunity and not without a reason. Since the beginning of the last year the venture company has threw (warning, paywall!) approximately $50 million into cryptocurrency related products. How do they know? Some may call it reckless, investing so much money into something that volatile and unpredictable. However, I would not worry for Mark Andreessen and the second AH co-founder Ben Horowitz. Looking back at their latest and greatest investments it seems like we shouldn’t stay in doubt but quite the opposite – run to unload our …