with @AriannaSimpson @jacqmelinek Crypto is known for its high and low market cycles: What must founders know — and what can they do — to survive the swings? In this episode, we unpack the lessons of past crypto cycles and how they shape the current wave of building — from stablecoins to AI x crypto. We also dive into the founder journey: from raising money and staying committed in 2025, to handling copycat competitors, cofounder disputes, growing too fast (or slowly), and more. You'll hear from...
Aug 29, 2025•49 min•Ep. 86
with @eddylazzarin @milesjennings @JasonYanowitz Welcome to web3 with a16z crypto . Today’s episode is on a super timely topic: How to design, govern, and grow decentralized networks in today’s changing policy landscape. It covers: Why the “ foundation era ” of crypto is ending — and what comes next with DUNAs and BORGs How U.S. policy shifts are creating real rules of the road The difference between network tokens vs. company tokens (and why it matters for investors, builders, and other partici...
Aug 22, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 85
with @nayafia and @smc90 Ideas, memes, and vibes are some of the most important drivers of modern technology adoption, marketing, and much more -- and have been much-covered by everyone from Darwin to Dawkins to Girard to many others. Yet the topic of antimemetics -- self-censoring (vs. self-propagating) ideas -- whether something fringe, forgotten, or forbidden -- haven't been studied as much, especially in the context of modern networks. So in this special book-launch episode, we cover the imp...
Aug 07, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 84
with @rhhackett @milesjennings @BenNapier & Michael Reed Today we're talking about the passage of the GENIUS Act — that's the "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act" — which provides clear rules of the road for stablecoins in the U.S. We cover the law's implications, the recent high-stakes vote in the House of Representatives, and the bipartisan efforts to pass this groundbreaking bill. We also touch on the CLARITY Act — a major new “market structure” bill that ...
Jul 22, 2025•24 min•Ep. 83
with @rhhackett @SamBroner @skominers @liz_harkavy @CarraWu @jay_drainjr @mg_486662 Today's episode is a special one. It's a round table on some of the most compelling ideas at the intersection of AI and crypto, sourced from members of the a16z crypto team. You're going to hear from builders, researchers, and deal makers who are all wrestling with the big question: How will these two powerful technologies collide, and what happens when they do? First, Investment Partner Sam Broner makes the case...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 82
with @rhhackett @smc90 @stephbzinn @tim_org In a now-annual tradition, the a16z crypto editorial team discuss themes (and picks) from a16z crypto's latest reading list , as well as books we keep re-reading, childhood favorites, classics, adaptations on adaptations -- in book and movie form! -- and much more. What genres are we reading now, how, and why? How is technology -- from AI and ChatGPT to the internet and audio -- changing reading? And why are certain themes in the zeitgeist right now? I...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 81
with @DarenMatsuoka @rhhackett Today we've got a midyear market update and news episode for you. At the end of last year, our guest — and resident data weatherman — Daren Matsuoka put out a post on " 5 metrics to watch in 2025 ." Most of the metrics that Daren picked measure how crypto's adoption: from mobile wallet usage and onchain transaction fees to volume across stablecoins, decentralized exchanges (or DEXs), and exchange traded-products. Now that we're about midway through 2025, it's a gre...
Jun 20, 2025•29 min•Ep. 80
with @MinarikLaw @EMinSF @rhhackett Imagine waking up one day to find your bank account frozen. No warning. No explanation. No recourse. This is not a thought experiment. It’s a real situation. And it’s happened not just to crypto companies and their founders, but to ordinary people who are just trying to live their lives. That includes our guest today, who learned firsthand what it means to be “debanked.” In this episode, we talk about the unseen algorithms that monitor people’s accounts, the r...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 79
with @aeyakovenko @alive_eth Today’s episode features Solana cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko in conversation with a16z General Partner Ali Yahya, recorded live at our CSX Crypto Startup Accelerator program earlier this year. Anatoly shares the origin story of Solana — from a late-night eureka moment to thousands of investor meetings and several near-death startup experiences. He talks about what it took to get the network off the ground, how his engineering background at Qualcomm shaped its design, ...
Jun 05, 2025•50 min•Ep. 78
In this special episode from TED Tech, hear from GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on how AI is breaking the barrier to entry for coding. Who could a coder look like if you could code just by talking out loud? Learn how, thanks to AI, creating software is becoming as simple (and joyful) as building LEGO. In a live demo, he introduces Copilot Workspace: an AI assistant that helps you create code when you speak to it, in any language. Timestamps: (0:00) Introduction (0:28) Personal Journey into Coding (2:3...
Jun 02, 2025•15 min•Ep. 77
with @eddylazzarin @adrian_ludwig @remco @smc90 Hi everyone, welcome to this week’s episode of web3 with a16z podcast, I’m Sonal, and today we’re talking about a hot topic which is also very evergreen because we’re entering a world where AI – including AI agents, bots, deep fakes, and so on -- are changing the internet, very drastically. And so we will need proof of who’s human, or not, online – aka “ proof of human ” (as Tools for Humanity and World app call it). The theme is actually represent...
May 30, 2025•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 76
with @kimbatronic @amandatylerj @clairekart Welcome to web3 with a16z. Since our show covers both tech trends and company building, today’s topic is all about marketing — including differences between marketing in crypto and traditional tech. The conversation shares a candid look at what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to building reputation and community, attracting developers, hiring teams and agencies, launching tokens, raising founder profiles, and more. Our experts are: ... Amanda ...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 75
with @cdixon @SamBroner @rhhackett Stablecoins are quietly transforming how money moves — faster, cheaper, and more globally than ever before. In this episode, we take a deep look at why stablecoins have emerged as one of the most promising applications in crypto today — and how they could reshape global payments. I’m joined by Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z crypto and author of the New York Times -bestselling book Read Write Own , and Sam Broner, a deal partner at a16z crypto...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 74
with @rhhackett @smc90 @DarenMatsuoka @SamBroner Welcome to web3 with a16z, a show about the next generation of the internet. I'm Robert Hackett. There has been a flurry of stablecoin news lately, so we're doing a special bonus episode to cover everything that's been going on. Sonal and I are joined by a16z crypto’s Data Science lead Daren Matsuoka who shares the actual data behind the stablecoin trend. Then we have Sam Broner — who is a Deal Partner here and our frequent author on stablecoins —...
May 15, 2025•24 min•Ep. 73
with @danboneh @succinctJT @smc90 This episode is all about quantum computing -- what it is, how it works, what's hype vs. reality, and how to prepare for it/ what builders should do. Specifically, we cover: What quantum computing is and isn't, and what people are really talking about when they worry about a quantum computer that can break cryptographic systems that are not secure against quantum attacks. When is it happening/ what are the "timelines" for quantum computing becoming a reality -- ...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 72
with @eddylazzarin @skominers @milesjennings @rhhackett Today we're diving deep into *the* defining concept in crypto: tokens. We're moving beyond conventional categories — like “governance tokens” or “utility tokens” or even “memecoins” — to present a full taxonomy that details what tokens are, what they aren’t, and what they're capable of becoming. Questions we'll explore include: What is a token? Is it a form of money? A piece of data? Something else? How many types of tokens are there — and ...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 71
with @ilblackdragon @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z . I’m your host, Robert Hackett. In this episode, we're diving deep into one of the most intriguing intersections in tech today: AI and crypto. To help us unpack it, we're joined by Illia Polosukhin — co-founder of the crypto protocol NEAR and co-author of the groundbreaking 2017 "transformers" paper that kicked off the current AI boom. Ilia has been early to some of the biggest recent tech trends, and today he brings us a rare, panoramic ...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 70
with @eddylazzarin @DarenMatsuoka @ahall_research @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z . I’m Robert Hackett. Today we’re talking about one of the most familiar — and most misunderstood — mechanics in crypto: the airdrop. We’ll explore the history of airdrops in and outside crypto, the challenges of incentive design, and learnings from airdrops to date. We’ll also answer questions like how do you avoid Sybil attacks and professional airdrop farming? Should your drop be big or small, one-time or o...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 69
with @mostrovs @skominers @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z . I’m your host Robert Hackett, and today we’re talking about congestion pricing — an area of mechanism design that’s aimed at alleviating something everyone hates: traffic. Now you may have heard this term recently since New York adopted its own version of congestion pricing at the beginning of the year. This is the first program of its kind in the U.S. — and it’s got supporters and detractors. We’ll talk about that, and we’re also ...
Mar 29, 2025•58 min•Ep. 68
Welcome to web3 with a16z . Today we’re talking about a founder’s journey from academia to the tech startup world — and the many lessons he’s learned along the way. We dig into big ideas, like what people mean when they call blockchains "truth machines." We also share practical advice and insights, like how to go about deciding on your life’s work; what you can do to keep increasing — and compounding — your leverage; plus, how a bungled interview question can change your life. Today’s episode fe...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 67
with @SashaSpiegelman @Tim_Roughgarden @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about the ins and outs of blockchain performance. How does the “speed” of one chain compare to another? What are the tricky ways that people talk about important metrics like throughput and latency? And how do design choices across things like consensus and execution result in performance tradeoffs? Our guest today is Aptos Labs’ Head of Research Sasha Spiegelman, who is helping build out and develop...
Mar 14, 2025•30 min•Ep. 66
with @mg_486662 and @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z. I’m Robert Hackett and today we’re talking about what is potentially the biggest heist of all time — a hack of the Dubai-based crypto exchange ByBit which took place last month for a total of $1.5 billion and which the Federal Bureau of Investigation has attributed to a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group. In this episode, we cover details of how the attack went down, the state of crypto security across different types of wallets a...
Mar 08, 2025•44 min•Ep. 65
with @haydenzadams @kidsuper @smc90 This episode involves a special mix of guests: Hayden Adams, founder and CEO of Uniswap Labs , and inventor of the Uniswap Protocol a leader in decentralized finance (DeFi); they recently announced Unichain; and Colm Dillane, the multimedia artist behind fashion brand KidSuper , CFDA award winner who has his own Warhol Factory-like creative studio and space; Dillane started out selling t-shirts in his highschool cafeteria, and then went on to present his colle...
Mar 01, 2025•35 min•Ep. 64
Welcome to web3 with a16z, today we’re running a special episode about the intersection of AI and crypto. Our guests are a16z crypto Founder and Managing Partner Chris Dixon & a16z Growth General Partner David George. They discuss the broken economics of the internet, new models for creative people, how to think through the first-, second- and third-order effects of big platform shifts, and more. Today’s episode is a crossover from a16z’s AI Revolution conversation series — and it’s especial...
Feb 22, 2025•41 min•Ep. 63
with @1HowardWu @SuccinctJT @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today’s show is all about privacy, why it matters, and how to achieve it technically onchain. It's fair to say that many blockchains today are quite… revealing. But that openness and transparency doesn’t work for everything — who would want anyone to have full-on X-Ray vision into your finances? That’s one reason why there’s been a growing appreciation for — and trend toward — more blockchain privacy. Our guest today argues that t...
Feb 01, 2025•41 min•Ep. 62
with @benleventhal @AriannaSimpson Welcome to web3 with a16z. How many of you are regulars at a favorite cafe, bar, or dinner spot? Probably a lot of you — but if you’re not, well, our guest today aims to make you one. This episode features Ben Leventhal — the founder and CEO of BlackBird, and formerly the founder of Resy and Eater. In it, he shares his journey as a serial entrepreneur in conversation with a16z crypto General Partner Arianna Simpson. Ben shares hard-won lessons learned in compan...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 61
with @0xgaut @ishverduzco @rhhackett Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about how to make social media work for you, rather than overwhelming you. Whether you’re a startup founder, creator, avid doomscroller, or longtime lurker, this show has tips and tactics you can use to attract attention, build a following, and level up your online presence. In this episode, we cover what to do and what not to do, how much of your authentic self to bring to the table vs. merely playing to the alg...
Jan 13, 2025•41 min•Ep. 60
Welcome to web3 with a16z . Today's episode is all about design, creativity, and taste-making. Our special guest is Jason Mayden, the chief design officer of Jordan Brand at Nike — that's Jordan as in former NBA superstar Michael Jordan. In his role, Mayden is responsible for the look and feel of iconic products, like Air Jordan sneakers and related apparel. In this episode, Mayden speaks with Chris Lyons, a16z crypto's president of web3 media, about the interdisciplinary nature of industrial de...
Dec 30, 2024•37 min•Ep. 59
with @carrawu @eddylazzarin @0xkarmacoma and @smc90 @rhhackett Welcome to our special end-of-year episodes -- which also look ahead to 2025 -- covering our annual Big Ideas lists , where various a16z crypto team members share what they are personally excited about. (You can see the firmwide list, also including all the trends of the crypto team, here .) This episode is part 2 of 2 -- but you don't have to listen to them in any particular order -- covering the intersection of crypto & AI: age...
Dec 21, 2024•40 min•Ep. 58
with @sambroner @meigga @darenmatsuoka @jneu_net @chrislyons and @rhhackett @smc90 Welcome to our special end-of-year episodes -- which also look ahead to 2025 -- covering our annual Big Ideas lists , where various a16z crypto team members share what they are personally excited about. (You can see the firmwide list, also including all the trends of the crypto team, here .) This episode is part 1 of 2 -- but you don't have to listen to them in any particular order -- covering the trends and theme...
Dec 20, 2024•34 min•Ep. 57
