By
Temitope Olatunji
April 18th, 2024
It has become known that Jack Dorsey has started to unfollow Web3 proponents.
In what can only be taken as an unexpected turn of events, co-founder of the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz Marc Andreessen has blocked former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on his Twitter account. This action was the culmination of jabs from both quarters about Web3 projects. Earlier on, Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk had in different statements expressed their dissatisfaction with the projects. Dorsey and his supporters had claimed that there was nothing decentralized about Web3 projects.
Elon Musk, in particular, labeled the projects to be ‘more marketing than reality.’ This is contrary to what proponents of Web3 like Andreessen Horowitz have been pushing.
Not taking the accusations lightly, Marc Andreessen, moved to block Dorsey on Twitter. In effect, this means that Jack will not be able to see Andreessen’s tweets or communicate with him on the platform. Interestingly, Jack seemed nonplussed about the block. Rather, he equated the block to being blocked from Web 3. This isn’t far from the truth as Andreessen Horowitz is the biggest investor in the new space.
In response to the block, @BigTechAlert noted that Jack Dorsey has been unfollowing Web3 proponents. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss are two prominent names. While unfollowing an account may not be as rash a decision as a block, it makes it clear that Jack Dorsey and his merry band of supporters aren’t happy.
Growing Gulf between Leading Crypto Figures May Affect Web3
These kinds of spats between executives are rather common in Silicon Valley. However, the current altercation between these top crypto executives underlines the division rising between bitcoin enthusiasts and Web 3 advocates.
Recently, the CEO of Bitcoin payments firm Strike also tweeted that Chris Dixon, the intellectual leader of Web3 at Andreessen Horowitz, had blocked him.
What Dorsey’s interest is, is anybody’s guess. However, it may not be unconnected to their potential to threaten his two companies, Square and Twitter. Also, it may be because of his love for Bitcoin. Dorsey is famous for being a Bitcoin maximalist. While he was CEO of Twitter, he had advanced a ‘payments and NFT strategy’ that had Bitcoin at its core. This decision, despite the better use cases of Ethereum and Solana, was considered curious.
It remains to be seen whether both parties will reach a settlement soon or if the gulf will worsen the rift between bitcoin lovers and Web 3 projects.