Marc Andreessen: Ethereum and Web3 Lead Bitcoin on Tech Innovation

A16z founding partner admits that several of his crypto investments haven’t taken off, but he expects them to, eventually

article-image

Source: Joi, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

share

Marc Andreessen, best known for co-founding web browser Netscape and Silicon Valley venture capital fund a16z, is still invested in the crypto industry, even though his expectations around Bitcoin didn’t pan out. 

In 2014, Andreessen predicted that the world would be talking about Bitcoin the same way they did about the internet. The tech investor may have now changed his mind somewhat, but is still heavy on the industry as a whole.

He told Reason Magazine in an interview published Wednesday that, back then, he thought Bitcoin was a tech innovation that would develop to support several other applications just like the internet, but that it “basically stopped evolving.” He now has his sights set on Ethereum being at the core of transformation.

“What happened was a bunch of other projects emerged and took that place, and the big one right now is Ethereum. I would either say Ethereum instead of Bitcoin, or I would just say crypto or Web3 instead of Bitcoin,” he said.

According to the early Facebook investor, Web3 has all the features of the internet that people knew they wanted to have when the internet was originally built.

“[Web3] is all the aspects of basically being able to do business and be able to have money and be able to do transactions and have trust,” he said. “We did not know how to use the internet to do that in the 90s. And now, with this technological breakthrough of the blockchain, we now know how to do that, we have the technological foundation to be able to do that.”

A16Z launched a $4.5 billion crypto fund in 2022, which was touted as the largest-ever crypto-venture fund. The firm’s flagship crypto fund, launched in 2018, lost 40% in the first half of 2022 as they faced a battering. The VC’s portfolio counts projects like Alchemy, Aptos, Avalanche, Chia, Compound, Coinbase, Lido, Mysten Labs and Yuga Labs.

Andreessen didn’t touch upon the bear market that lasted most of 2022, but said the potential of the industry is “extraordinarily high” and that there are “tonnes of really smart entrepreneurs” pursuing various opportunities. 

“A lot of those things have worked, some of those things haven’t worked yet, but I think that they’re going to work,” he said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (1).jpg

Research

As AI supercharges surveillance, privacy becomes a prerequisite and the winning stack will combine confidentiality with selective disclosure. Zcash’s Tachyon, composable standards on Ethereum/Solana, and compliance-aware pools aim to make private rails the new norm.

article-image

Pipe’s testnet has delivered 60+ PB of data across ~290,000 Point of Presence (PoP) nodes

article-image

375ai will hold TGE at the end of the month, CEO Harry Dewhirst told Blockworks

article-image

Block’s subsidiary adds direct Bitcoin integration and AI-powered ordering tools for small businesses seeking streamlined transactions

by Blockworks /
article-image

The deal integrates Dinero’s staking suite into Plume’s real-world asset platform as it gains SEC transfer agent status

by Blockworks /
article-image

The state’s decision opens staking access to New Yorkers, signaling a regulatory shift toward broader crypto participation

by Blockworks /
article-image

The startup says it aims to rival Stripe and Worldpay by using stablecoins to speed merchant settlements from days to seconds

by Blockworks /