By
Steve Muchoki
April 24th, 2024
Andreessen Horowitz has made a new investment in the developing crypto industry. a16z has committed a total of $15 million to the MakerDAO project.
As it has been recently revealed, despite the recent serious downtrend in the crypto market, one of the major venture capitalist firms in the world Andreessen Horowitz is continuing investing in the growing crypto industry.
Earlier, this American venture capital firm invested in such crypto startups as CryptoKitties and OpenBazaar, and now it has purchased 6 percent of the total supply of MKR tokens through its $300 million crypto fund named a16z. Calling its move a “strategic purchase”, the company has invested a sum of $15 million in the MakerDAO project that algorithmically adjusts the supply of coins to keep their value stable.
Let us also remind that the company announced the launch of its new a16z crypto fund in June this year. The fund is focused on investing in cryptocurrency and blockchain-based projects and startups and already has a long-term goals spanning to over a decade.
Speaking about the benefits that are received by a16z through this investment, we can name the fact that thanks to holding MKR tokens, the firm will have the rights to govern MakerDAO and the Dai Credit System which is considered to be the world’s first decentralized autonomous stablecoin organization.
Maker is a comparatively new project that has already managed to achieve good results. It offers the first fully-fledged decentralized stablecoin that is called DAI. DAI is backed by a system with first formally verified smart contracts on Ethereum or any other blockchain. As in the case with the majority of other stablecoins, the value of DAI is tied to USD.
Due to its nature, DAI’s value won’t change in the course of time, it will stay stable. So, investing in DAI doesn’t look like a great idea. That’s why a16z has taken a decision to invest into MKR tokens and, as we have already mentioned, to obtain the rights to take part in the governance system of MakerDAO and the DAI Credit System.
This investment has become the first one managed by Katie Haun, a16z general partner, who has joined the company this summer. Haun is an ex-federal prosecutor who worked with cases related to cryptocurrencies and even participated in the investigations into Mt. Gox and Silk Road. Moreover, now she is a member of the Board of Directors of Coinbase.
Commenting a16z’s move, Katie Haun said:
“As a first mover and innovator in stablecoins, MakerDAO represents a very compelling opportunity in the crypto space. MakerDAO’s technology, ecosystem and talent have put theory into action to deliver a decentralized stablecoin that we believe will help drive the future of the crypto economy.”
According to CEO and co-founder of MakerDAO, Rune Christensen, thanks to funds received from a16z and operational support from more than eighty a16z team members, the project will get a chance to boost the development, evolution and adoption of the Dai Credit System.