Podcast
a16z crypto show
Hosted by a16z crypto, Robert Hackett, Sonal Chokshi · EN
The a16z crypto show explores how decentralized networks are reshaping money, ownership, and the architecture of the internet. We go beyond the hype to look at what’s actually working, what isn’t, and what comes next as crypto continues to go mainstream and blockchains become core infrastructure.
Each episode features conversations with founders, engineers, economists, policymakers, and researchers building at the frontier of finance, payments, AI, and distributed systems. We cover stablecoins and global payments, the tokenization of "real-world" assets, decentralized physical infrastructure, network design and governance, and the practical tradeoffs behind decentralization — along with lessons from past technology shifts.
Produced and hosted by the a16z crypto team, the show combines reporting, analysis, and first-principles thinking to explain how crypto intersects with the economy and society — and why it matters now.
Learn more at a16zcrypto.com.
***
Posts should not be considered investment advice or an advertisement for investment services. Reposts of third-party content are not attributable to a16z; see disclosures for more information: https://a16z.com/disclosures/.
28episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Real Reason Behind Most DeFi Hacks
3w ago00:35:28Tap to summarizeFollowing a string of major DeFi exploits, we unpack what’s driving the recent rise in hacks across crypto. a16z crypto GP Eddy Lazzarin and security engineer Matt Gleason join host Robert Hackett to take a closer look. Their argument: AI is not introducing entirely new vulnerabilities. It is making existing weaknesses easier to identify and exploit. The question is whether defenders can evolve as quickly as attackers. They also cover: - why “AI-powered hacking” is difficult to measure - how geopolitical tensions may be influencing cyber activity - why defenders should be aggressively stress-testing their own systems - how AI could eventually outperform humans at resisting social engineering - what users can do today to protect themselves online Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 00:57 - The surge, explained 01:37 - Did attackers use AI 04:19 - How AI can help defend against attacks 09:16 - The doomsday marketing debate 17:17 - DeFi transparency: opportunities and challenges 21:00 - Social engineering and how to stay safe Follow along here: Eddy Lazzarin: https://twitter.com/eddylazzarin Robert Hackett: https://twitter.com/rhackett Matt Gleason: https://twitter.com/mg_486662 Follow a16z crypto: X: https://twitter.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →We Raised $2.2B. Here’s Why.
May 501:00:31Tap to summarizeWe're announcing a16z crypto's Fund 5: $2.2B in committed capital to back the startups and founders who are building the next era of crypto. All four GPs sat down to talk through where crypto is right now, what's changed, and where it may be headed next. Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya, Guy Wuollet, and Eddy Lazzarin join Robert Hackett to cover... 00:00 Open 01:31 Why raise Crypto Fund 5 now 02:10 The GENIUS Act and what regulatory clarity unlocks for builders 04:32 Why stablecoins are crypto's WhatsApp moment 08:54 Why the next era of crypto founders will be pragmatic, not ideological 11:49 From cypherpunk revolution to crypto's "collared shirt era" 15:02 Programmable money meets AI 21:15 Onchain capital markets for compute, energy, and credit 25:57 Why finance is the foundation, not the ceiling 28:48 AI agents as first-class economic actors 38:19 Why privacy is the only moat 41:26 Jevons paradox and the future of blockspace demand 43:20 Jolt and the zero-knowledge breakthrough 58:15 Writing the next chapter of Read Write Own Resources: Chris Dixon: https://x.com/cdixon Ali Yahya: https://x.com/alive_eth Eddy Lazzarin: https://x.com/eddylazzarin Guy Wuollet: https://x.com/guywuolletjr Robert Hackett: https://x.com/rhackett Follow a16z crypto: X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ *** As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →The end of ads? AI agents are about to change how we buy
Apr 2700:57:09Tap to summarizeAgents can now do almost anything a human can do with a computer. So what happens when they start spending money on your behalf? Sam Ragsdale (founder and CEO of Merit Systems, a startup building infrastructure for the agentic economy) joins a16z crypto's Eddy Lazzarin, Noah Levine, and Robert Hackett on the open agentic commerce stack, and why the internet's business model is about to get rewired. 00:00 – Intro 01:33 – Two flavors of agentic commerce 04:30 – What is an agent, actually? 12:57 – The headless merchant thesis 17:17 – What happens to existing friction? 24:45 – The economic contract of the web is broken 27:46 – Will agents get distracted by ads? 35:152– Stablecoins vs. credit cards 41:54 – Sam's bear case on interchange 49:11 – The killer app for agentic commerce Sam Ragsdale on X: /samrags_ Eddy Lazzarin on X: /eddylazzarin Noah Levine on X: /nlevine19 Robert Hackett on X: /rhackett Follow a16z crypto: /a16zcrypto Subscribe for more news and updates: a16zcrypto.substack.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →Why AI is so centralized: How it's built, who controls it, and what comes next
Apr 2200:17:23Tap to summarizeA few big companies control most of the infrastructure behind AI. Most people experience AI through a wide range of different apps that actually depend on a deeply centralized stack of data and compute. In this conversation, Ben Fielding and Harry Grieve — cofounders of decentralized machine learning protocol Gensyn — explain why this matters, and what it would take to rebuild AI as open infrastructure instead. From unused global compute to the philosophical implications of machine intelligence, they argue that the next evolution of AI must be owned, coordinated, and verified in a fundamentally different way. Highlights 00:00 – Intro 00:29 – The biggest misconception about AI infrastructure 01:20 – Why centralization in AI is a deeper problem than people realize 04:19 – Why AI needs crypto 05:51 – How AI models are trained 08:15 – The rise of autonomous AI agents with onchain identities 10:37 – Lightning round Ben Fielding on X: https://x.com/benfielding Harry Grieve on X: https://x.com/harrygrieve Gensyn on X: https://x.com/gensynai Follow a16z crypto on X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto Subscribe for more news and updates: a16zcrypto.substack.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →How Bots, Deepfakes and AI Agents Are Forcing a New Internet Identity Layer
Apr 1700:42:13Tap to summarizeThe internet already has a bot problem — and it's just getting worse. a16z's Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg speak with Alex Blania of Tools for Humanity. World is building the largest real human network, a proof-of-human layer for the AI era. They cover the technical challenge of proving human uniqueness at scale using iris biometrics, the privacy architecture behind World ID, and why platforms from social networks to dating apps to video conferencing will soon require proof of human verification. Timestamps: 0:00—Introduction 4:07—Three Big Ideas People Were Interested In 9:05—The Orb Verification Piece 15:20—Social Media Bots: PSYOPs and Propaganda 29:18—We Had Proof of Personhood for the Longest Time 36:44—Next Year Go-to-Market Is Focused on the US 40:09—Different Levels of Verification Resources: Follow Alex Blania on X: / alexblania Follow Ben Horowitz on X: / bhorowitz Follow Erik Torenberg on X: / eriktorenber Follow a16z crypto for more... X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Substack: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →How DeFi lending actually works (with Paul Frambot, cofounder and CEO of Morpho Labs)
Apr 800:18:25Tap to summarizeWhat if the future of lending doesn’t need banks at all? Paul Frambot, cofounder and CEO of Morpho, explains what it means to build lending infrastructure without banks, and why DeFi’s real breakthrough isn’t “risk-free” loans, but open, onchain markets that make lending more transparent, competitive, and efficient. In this conversation, Paul breaks down the biggest misconception in DeFi lending, how to think about risk onchain, why institutions are learning faster than expected, and where banks, asset managers, fintechs, and stablecoins fit into the next wave of adoption. He also shares his long-term vision for finance: a world where open blockchain infrastructure replaces siloed financial systems, access to capital gets broader, and financial products become cheaper, more personalized, and easier to build. Highlights: 0:00 Intro 0:36 What Morpho actually does 1:22 DeFi’s biggest misconception 5:26 Why Wall Street is paying attention now 6:46 Who’s adopting onchain finance first: Banks or asset managers? 9:57 The race for a Euro stablecoin 10:49 The future of finance, 5–10 years out 11:16 Why finance is still broken 13:30 What open mortgage and credit markets could become on open blockchains 15:14 The worst advice Paul's received as a founder 17:17 What's wrong with an $8 croissant (besides the obvious) Follow a16z crypto for more... X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Substack: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ *** As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →Why Solana keeps getting faster — and what's next (ft. Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder)
Apr 300:18:01Tap to summarizeWhat if opening a trading account was as easy as downloading an app? Lucas Bruder, CEO of Jito — a Solana-based liquid staking protocol — breaks down why he thinks all of finance is moving onchain, and what his small team is doing to make that happen. During the 2022-2023 bear market, Jito was getting pitched constantly to jump ship to other chains. Lucas explains why they turned everything down, doubled down on Solana, and chewed a lot of glass. We also cover how Jito acts like a Cloudflare for Solana, why cheap transactions create surprising problems, what convinced Lucas that the Solana engineers were in it for the right reasons, and his vision for a financial system anyone can access with just a phone. Follow Jito: https://www.jito.network/ Follow Lucas: https://x.com/buffalu__ Highlights 0:00 — Intro 0:49 — What is Jito and why does it exist 1:11 — Why Solana transactions are less than a penny 2:00 — What attracted Lucas to Solana from Ethereum 2:39 — How Jito is like Cloudflare for blockchains 5:02 — The $1,500 Ethereum transaction fee problem 7:21 — The vision: all of finance onchain 7:46 — Onchain vs. opening a Robinhood account 8:37 — Lucas's journey from robotics to crypto 9:55 — Solana's rate of improvement and Anatoly's Law 10:44 — The pitch for people new to crypto 15:00 — Staying lean at 21 people 15:17 — Nicotine as a productivity hack 15:58 — Sleep, alcohol, and the Oura ring 16:40 — Smallest hill you'll die on: littering and shopping carts Follow a16z crypto for more... X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Substack: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →Vitalik Buterin vs Beff Jezos: AI Acceleration Debate (E/acc vs D/acc)
Mar 2501:37:39Tap to summarizeShould we push AI forward as fast as possible, or be more careful about how it develops? Two competing views are emerging: e/acc (effective accelerationism): go faster, progress is the only path forward d/acc (defensive / decentralized acceleration): accelerate, but carefully, or risk losing control In this episode of the a16z crypto show, Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum founder) and Guillaume Verdon aka "Beff Jezos" (Extropic founder & CEO,) join Eddy Lazzarin (a16z crypto CTO) and Shaw Walters (Eliza Labs founder) for a deep debate about these two perspectives and what they mean for AI, crypto, and the future. They discuss: Whether acceleration is something we can control The biggest risks of AI, from surveillance to concentration of power Why open source and decentralization may shape who benefits Whether slowing down AI is realistic or even desirable How humans stay relevant in a world of increasingly powerful systems What the next 10, 100, and 1,000 years might look like At its core, this episode asks: Can acceleration be steered, or is that beyond our control? Highlights: 00:00 Opening 07:02 Thermodynamics and first principles 16:04 Acceleration, entropy, and civilization 28:29 The core disagreement 32:42 Comparing and contrasting e/acc and d/acc 36:20 Open source, open hardware, and local intelligence 54:18 Should AI be slowed down? 1:02:35 Autonomous agents and artificial life 1:21:07 Crypto as the trust layer between humans and AI 1:35:37 Closing arguments Follow a16z crypto for more... X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto 📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ *** As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →AI Is Changing the Internet. What Does It Mean for Creators? (with Justin and Michael Blau)
Mar 1700:37:22Tap to summarizeWhat does the future of the creator economy actually look like? The economics of content creation are changing, what happens to copyright in a world of abundant generated content, and why human taste, curation, and connection may matter even more going forward. In this episode, host Robert Hackett talks with Justin (CEO, Bond) and Michael Blau(Head of Product, Bond) about the changing relationship between creators, audiences, platforms, and technology. They unpack how today’s platforms shape creator behavior, why audience relationships are often trapped inside algorithms, and what a more direct creator-fan connection could look like. They also explore broader questions around crypto infrastructure, stablecoins, and whether blockchain can enable new kinds of internet-native products without needing to be the focus of the user experience. Along the way, Justin reflects on his path from music into crypto, Michael talks about how magic shaped the way he thinks about originality and performance, and both share thoughts on NFTs, digital ownership, productivity tools, books, and creative inspiration. Highlights 0:00 Intro 0:47 The biggest misconceptions about creator monetization 1:04 Why creators still don’t know their audience 1:34 Trading, speculation, and the limits of past creator crypto models 2:31 Why creator-fan relationships could move onchain 4:41 Stablecoins and global internet products 6:55 Justin Michael’s journey from DJ to crypto builder 8:12 What artists still don’t get from platforms 10:09 Subscription models, fan support, and alternative mechanics 17:57 AI, content abundance, and the future of creativity 18:57 Why human curation still matters 19:36 Copyright, IP, and a world shaped by AI 25:00 The difference between AI and crypto products 25:38 What magic teaches about creativity and originality 28:23 Inspirations: John Mayer, Zedd, Brian Chesky, David Blaine 35:06 Why NFTs still matter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →The Emmy Built on ETH: Emily Yang aka pplpleasr on the Future of Storytelling
Mar 1300:11:08Tap to summarizeFour years ago, artist Emily Yang aka pplpleasr began a creative journey that would help break new ground at the intersection of art, technology, and community. In this episode, we sit down with Emily — founder of Shibuya — to talk about her evolution from illustrator to Emmy-winning storyteller. Emily shares how Shibuya is pioneering “permissionless creativity,” using crypto rails to fund, build, and co-create original IP with global communities. Her breakout project, White Rabbit, became the first crypto-native project to win an Emmy (Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media), proving that grassroots storytelling can reach mainstream acclaim. We dive into: How White Rabbit crowdfunded alternate story endings What it means to turn audiences from passive viewers into active participants Why efficient capital formation is a game-changer for creatives Building outside traditional studio systems The creative tension between community input and artistic vision Plus, Emily's biggest inspirations (Ghost in the Shell, Miyazaki, David Lynch, and more). 00:00 Behind the Fortune Magazine Cover 01:46 Founding Shibuya, and “Permissionless Creativity” 02:13 Winning an Emmy for White Rabbit., the First Crypto Project to Win an Emmy 03:14 What Is White Rabbit? (Interactive + NFT Model Explained) 05:53 From Passive Viewing to Interactive Storytelling 07:19 Opportunities for Creatives 08:27 Creative Inspirations (Miyazaki, Black Mirror) 09:25 Going With Your Gut, And the Advice Should Founders Ignore Follow a16z crypto for more... X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: / posts YouTube: / @a16zcrypto 📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subsc... *** As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribe →