Editor’s Note, from Elizabeth:
Here’s a story I’m following:
Andreessen Horowitz, one of the biggest Silicon Valley venture funds, is undertaking a well-financed lobbying campaign to influence international regulations on digital currencies.
This is a much bigger deal than it sounds. Digital currencies, cryptocurrencies or “crypto” are having deep effects across finance. Bitcoin, for instance, is turning into an alternative asset class – you could think of it like gold, essentially untethered from any measure of productivity and thus very volatile. Blockchain technology has the potential to affect how transactions are cleared – this is the hidden, powerful work in the middle of the financial system. And cryptocurrencies like Ethereum are resulting in innovation in consumer finance, like the ability to do cross-border transactions without the cost that comes with national currency.
Sorry if I’m sounding in the weeds! The important thing to know is this is revolutionary technology. The question that regulators are grappling with is how to achieve the promise of digital currency to democratize finance and increase access for people around the world, while protecting the system from corruption and manipulation by bad actors.
In its lobbying campaign, Andreessen Horowitz is trying to position itself as an expert acting in the common interest. This is the firm that helped create Silicon Valley’s ruthless brand of capitalism, which builds companies that are incredibly profitable by virtue of their size and dominance. Silicon Valley’s libertarian, market-oriented mindset means that the consequences for society are rarely considered.
Andreessen Horowitz is an investor in Facebook (Marc Andreessen still sits on the board), Airbnb, Robinhood and Instacart – and dozens or hundreds of other companies, many in the crypto space. Coinbase, for instance, is a cryptocurrency exchange.
To do its crypto lobbying, Andreessen Horowitz has hired people including Tomicah Tillemann, who reached the inner circles of Washington elites with a combination of smarts and – usually more important in Washington — family connections. He’s the grandson of Tom Lantos, a former Congressman, friend of the Bidens, and a Holocaust survivor, who died in 2008. The family still runs the Lantos Foundation, a human rights advocacy organization.
Here’s his job description, which strikes a chill: “Tomicah Tillemann is a partner and Global Head of Policy for the a16z crypto team, where he builds public policy architecture to support the next generation of the internet.”
Someone asked me, what’s Andreessen Horowitz’s angle here? Based on the firm’s history, the angle is simple: How do we control the crypto regulatory system to benefit our companies, and therefore, ourselves? The self-interest is baked into the culture. Given the complexity of the topic and Andreessen Horowitz’s resources, it will be hard for regulators to stay one step ahead. If you want to look at Tilleman in action and get a sense of how important and how complicated the push-me-pull-you between crypto and the world’s financial regulators will be over the next few years, watch this session: https://www.brettonwoods.org/article/global-standards-for-digital-currencies-0
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1. Challenges Met
Times of Entrepreneurship is seeking proposals for topics and speakers for our first event, Jan. 26-28. Aimed at university entrepreneurship professionals, professors and open to students, we’re looking at topics including disruption in higher education, eco-depression and making the case for entrepreneurship to your university and community. Submit 300-500-word proposals to the email below.
📅 Date: Jan. 26-28, 2022
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2. The Next Challenge Is Awarding $100K to Media Startups
The Next Challenge for Media & Journalism is a national startup competition seeking groundbreaking for-profit and nonprofit startups that will reinvent media in the coming decade. Early Stage Media Startups and Student-Led Ventures are invited to apply. The Next Challenge will create innumerable opportunities for media startups and student-led ventures to hone their pitches, strengthen their business plans, and connect with industry mentors and strategic partners. The competition is committed to promoting racial and gender equity in media, embracing the demographic shift occurring in our communities and supporting startups with diverse teams.
📅 Date: December 2021 to February 2022
📝 Registration Deadline: November 7th
🔗Link: www.thenextchallenge.com
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The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) is a national nonprofit working to advance economic opportunities across rural America. CORI partners with rural community leaders and advocates who are committed to building prosperous digital economies that support scalable entrepreneurship and tech job creation.
📅 Date and Time: November 10th, 5:30 to 8.00 p.m. Eastern Time
🔗Link: https://bit.ly/30OG78h
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🔗Link: https://medium.com/village-global/village-global-is-hiring-join-the-team-7248fc2147f7
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