Chris Dixon says a16z doesn’t sell its crypto tokens — portfolio disagrees
Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), recently appeared on the New York Times podcast Hard Fork where he defended his investment thesis and the investments of his firm.
At one point during the interview, while defending Helium, Dixon made the claim, “No company we’re involved with — nor would we allow them to do this — sells tokens to the public.”
However, a review of the a16z investment portfolio raises serious questions about this claim.
Andreessen Horowitz invested in DFINITY, the firm behind internet computer tokens (ICP). Tokens were distributed to those who ‘donated’ to the DFINITY foundation.
It also invested in Fei, an algorithmic stablecoin protocol that failed the day it launched. Fei sold both the FEI token and the TRIBE governance in its Genesis Event. Since then, a court settlement has found that this was a sale of unregistered securities.
A16z invested in Sky Mavis, the developer behind Axie Infinity, which sold the AXS token on Binance Launchpad.
Dixon says NFTs aren’t tokens
Dixon apparently also does not consider Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to be tokens because several companies that a16z has invested in have sold them to retail. These include VeeFriends, the firm Gary Vee uses to sell his NFTs.
Andreessen Horowitz also invested in PROOF, behind the PROOF Collective, and it auctioned those NFTs.
Read more: Helium insiders owned majority of crypto tokens, Forbes reveals
Yuga Labs, the firm behind Bored Apes, also sells NFTs to the public.
It’s not clear what Dixon meant when he claimed that A16z investments would never be allowed to sell tokens.
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