A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC
Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space.<p>Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go.<p>Bitcoin Lightning network is growing. Ethereum has successfully navigated core upgrades and has a clear path to scalability. Other platforms are doing great innovative things.<p>But to the core of the argument that crypto has no use case. It's 2019. We've seen our internet rights to speech and expression violated by companies imposing their values on their user base. We've seen digital ghosting, deplatforming, fake news manipulation, propaganda and all kinds of insidious behaviors from corporate giants that are too big to be truly accountable anymore.<p>Bitcoin et al. are a very real promise that the future of banking and finance and money will be decentralized. Which as far as I'm concerned, is about freedom as much as speech is. You don't have any freedom if you have to beg VISA or PayPal for permission to spend your money. That alone should be enough to justify the existence of block chain technology and we should all be cheering on its eventual success.<p>But besides that, the tech is being used in novel ways. From gaming to loans to tokenized asset trading. Cryptocurrency is programmable in a way that is just not possible with dollars.