We are deeply saddened to hear the news of coaches passing. Hard to even know where to start with a man like Coach Wolford. One of a kind and total servant to others. A blessing to the lacrosse community for all that he gave and a legend here in central Ohio. He will forever be remembered for his passion for the game and even more importantly his dedication to developing young men. He has touched the lives of so many. Grateful for the time we shared over the past 25 years and for all that he has done for me, my two boys and everything he has given to the medicine game & Upper Arlington community. A legend that will be forever remembered! Much love coach ❤️ RIP
This week we posted four stories that point toward a future of open, programmable markets.
From tokenized securities to perps to onchain lending, financial infrastructure is being rebuilt to be more global, more liquid, and more software-driven.
Here’s what we published:
Huge win for DeFi today.
The SEC's guidance on DeFi frontends makes one thing abundantly clear –– securities laws don't apply just because users are transacting in securities.
Rather, what matters is whether the frontend is exposing users to the same types of intermediary risks that securities laws were designed to address.
The SEC's guidance explains exactly what that means –– providing a roadmap for developers and addressing ambiguities in broker-dealer regs that were inappropriately weaponized against the industry by the prior admin.
Critically, order routing isn't prohibited. But where it is done, apps need to be completely transparent so users aren't subjected to conflicts of interest risk. That makes sense and is an honest application of existing law.
This is what effective policy looks like. Huge thanks are owed to the SEC CTF for advancing this and bringing clarity for developers.
Moving the financial system onchain unlocks instant settlement, 24/7 markets, and cost reductions that TradFi simply can't match.
But fully realizing that vision requires clear rules for the blockchain applications that let investors transact peer-to-peer, without intermediaries.
Today former SEC Chief Economist and Division of Economic and Risk Analysis Director Craig Lewis has published an economic analysis of a16z's and the DeFi Education Fund's safe harbor proposal for those apps.
His conclusion: while there are tradeoffs, the economic case is compelling. The benefits of tokenized securities are real, and the proposal provides a sound framework for capturing them. Professor Lewis has drawn the map. We hope the SEC will follow it.
Almost everything you think you know about the history of technology and capitalism was warped by communist/luddite propaganda of the era. That's happening this time too.
Congrats to @pmarca and all the great technologists on this council who are pushing the frontier forward. Marc is deeply patriotic and believes technology is the lever that makes a better future possible. 🇺🇸❤️
“a16z is betting that it can help make that future bigger and better than it would otherwise be, sooner, through policy and platform and power, and help its portfolio companies win in the process.”
“Based on my conversations with a16z’s founders, this bet seems to be paying off today, and it is an unbelievably asymmetric one. Each win can pay for a lot of capabilities. The machine compounds.
The most interesting bet it’s making, in my opinion, in light of the first two, is the one that seems most obvious, when you put it like I’m about to put it:
That a VC firm can, like nearly every other type of company in the universe, get better with scale.”
Read more from Packy McCormick: https://t.co/YSi2m8Mwzt
Not an offer or solicitation. None of the information herein should be taken as investment advice; Some of the companies mentioned are portfolio companies of a16z. Please see https://t.co/zi0TIkmB2y for more information. A list of investments made by a16z is available at https://t.co/XoPcrepkYx.
We don’t need to choose between innovation and safety. America can build world-class AI products while protecting its citizens from harms.
Read the full piece on how we can protect Americans and win the future: https://t.co/4IiK2TVXYY
@jai_ramaswamy@Collin_McCune@MattPerault
Excited to announce that @a16zcrypto is expanding into Asia and opening our first office in Seoul, South Korea. As part of this, we’re thrilled to have @sungmo_apac16z join our team as Head of APAC go-to-market to lead the Seoul office and start building our presence in the region.
Our expansion will offer go-to-market support for portfolio companies seeking to accelerate growth, forge strategic partnerships, and build lasting communities across Asia. SungMo will work closely with the founders in our portfolio, and also in his corporate network, to strengthen market connectivity and accelerate crypto adoption across the continent.
@sungmo_apac16z brings deep experience and expertise across both enterprise and crypto-native ecosystems. Most recently, he was APAC Lead at Monad Foundation, where he built out their go-to-market and ecosystem strategies across East Asia, Greater China, South East Asia and India. Prior to Monad, he was Head of APAC Business Development at Polygon Labs, where he led enterprise partnerships and collaborations with emerging crypto projects. He speaks four languages: Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English.
Had a great conversation with @milesjennings at @BlockchainAssn Policy Summit yesterday. At the SEC, we’re working to advance clear rules of the road that encourage investment in our economy and provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets.