A16z Crypto opens office in South Korea as it bets on Asia

cointelegraphОпубліковано о 2025-12-11Востаннє оновлено о 2025-12-11

Анотація

Crypto venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is opening its first Asia-based office in Seoul, South Korea, as part of a broader strategy to expand its presence and portfolio across the region. The firm highlighted Asia's strong concentration of onchain users, with nearly a third of South Korean adults owning digital assets. According to Chainalysis, 11 of the top 20 countries for crypto adoption are in Asia, with significant growth, high ownership rates in countries like India, Japan, and Singapore. The expansion aims to support portfolio companies with growth, partnerships, and community building. Anthony Albanese, a16z Crypto managing partner, stated this is just the beginning, with plans to further grow their regional footprint. The Seoul office will be led by SungMo Park, formerly of Polygon Labs. A recent survey also found that 87% of affluent Asian investors hold crypto, with about half allocating more than 10% to digital assets.

Crypto venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is opening its first Asia-based office in South Korea with plans to expand its portfolio in the region.

The firm stated that there was a “particularly strong concentration” of onchain users in Asia, and the expansion aims to support portfolio companies with growth, partnerships, and community building across Asia.

“Our expansion will offer go-to-market support for portfolio companies seeking to accelerate growth, forge strategic partnerships, and build lasting communities across Asia,” said a16z Crypto managing partner and chief operating officer, Anthony Albanese.

Albanese said the region represents a significant share of global crypto activity, with nearly a third of South Korean adults owning digital assets.

India also leads global adoption rankings, Japan has seen onchain activity grow 120% in the past year, Singapore has one of the world’s highest rates of crypto ownership, and 11 of the top 20 countries for crypto adoption are Asian, according to Chainalysis.

A16z to expand further into Asia

“This is just the beginning,” said Albanese. “Over the coming years, we plan to grow our presence in Asia, add new capabilities to support our crypto companies operating there, and keep exploring new ways to expand our geographic footprint,” he added.

The move signals where one of the industry’s largest investors sees future growth; it is not just about capital deployment, but being embedded where the users and builders are.

Asian region has strong crypto adoption

The new Seoul office is being led by SungMo Park, who brings experience from Polygon Labs.

“Through the network, experience, and relationships I’ve built over the years in this industry, I’ll help a16z Crypto’s founders access not just a new market, but the regional context and knowledge they need to scale,” said Park on X.

Related: Robinhood set to enter Indonesia, targeting 17M crypto traders

This week, Sygnum reported that 6 in 10 surveyed Asian high-net-worth individuals were prepared to increase their crypto allocations based on a strong long-term outlook.

The survey also revealed that 87% of affluent Asian investors already hold crypto, and around half have an allocation of more than 10%

Magazine: XRP’s ‘now or never’ moment, Kalshi taps Solana: Hodler’s Digest

Пов'язані матеріали

Strategy Watch #4

Strategy Watch #4 provides a monthly institutional analysis of digital asset fund performance and allocation trends. The report covers six sections. Key findings for April show mixed capital flows: Bitcoin outflows eased significantly, nearing neutral, while stablecoin inflows surged to multi-month highs, indicating a defensive rotation into dollar instruments. Ethereum remained in persistent net outflow. ETF and DAT flows were positive for Bitcoin, while Ethereum flows staged a notable late-month reversal from deep outflows to meaningful inflows. However, DeFi TVL on Ethereum reversed its March stabilization, with accelerated outflows suggesting sustained allocator caution toward on-chain yield strategies. CME basis yields for both BTC and ETH deteriorated sharply, turning deeply negative as futures moved into backwardation, removing carry opportunities. Across strategies, all sub-strategies posted gains for the month, a rare alignment. Despite a more constructive market backdrop, manager cash levels climbed to multi-year highs, indicating selective and cautious positioning. The report also includes a DeFi/Yield strategy deep dive, on-chain vault performance analysis, and updates on institutional allocations, including rising pension fund activity.

insights.glassnode23 хв тому

Anthropic Major Release: "The Founder's Playbook" - All 4 Stages of Entrepreneurship, Completely Reimagined with AI

**Anthropic Releases "The Founder's Playbook," Reimagining the Four Stages of Startups with AI** The logic of entrepreneurship is being fundamentally reshaped by AI. Anthropic's new handbook, "The Founder's Playbook: Building an AI-Native Startup," defines the AI-native startup as a new species: not a traditional company with AI tools, but a venture driven by AI from day one. The founder's role is transforming from a hands-on builder to a conductor or architect, orchestrating AI agents for execution while focusing on high-level judgment and strategy. Anthropic outlines a product matrix of Claude tools for different tasks: Claude Chat for interactive research, Claude Code for generating production-ready code, and Claude Cowork for automating knowledge-intensive workflows. The handbook structures the startup lifecycle into four stages, detailing core goals, pitfalls, and AI applications for each: 1. **Idea Stage**: Focuses on validating a real problem. The core challenge is avoiding confirmation bias. AI practices include using Claude as a "structured devil's advocate" to challenge assumptions and for automated market/competitor research. 2. **MVP Stage**: Aims to gather early signals of Product-Market Fit (PMF). Key risks are technical debt and scope creep due to rapid AI-assisted development. Recommended AI uses include maintaining project memory documents (e.g., CLAUDE.md), using Claude Code for structured coding, and automating user feedback analysis. 3. **Launch Stage**: Centers on establishing scalable growth, operations, and compliance. Challenges include accelerating technical debt and founders becoming bottlenecks. AI should be used to build an "operating system" for launch—automating routine tasks (scheduling, reporting, content) and code audits—freeing founders for critical decisions. 4. **Scale Stage**: Focuses on achieving sustainable business operations. The main challenge is delegating operational control. AI should be leveraged for differentiated marketing, operational optimization, and building competitive moats through data network effects. The handbook concludes that in the AI era, "Can we build it?" is no longer the primary constraint. The advantage shifts back to foundational strengths: **insight, judgment, and a deep understanding of a specific problem and audience.**

marsbit1 год тому

Anthropic Major Release: "The Founder's Playbook" - All 4 Stages of Entrepreneurship, Completely Reimagined with AI

marsbit1 год тому

Eight Departments Launch Severe Crackdown on Cross-Border Securities Firms, How to Interpret This?

China's top financial regulators, including the CSRC and seven other ministries, have launched a sweeping crackdown on unlicensed cross-border securities operations. The core action involves a joint enforcement plan and the issuance of administrative penalties against major offshore internet brokers like Futu and Tiger Brokers for conducting unauthorized securities business in mainland China without a domestic license. The primary legal basis is China's requirement for securities businesses to operate with proper, locally issued licenses. The crackdown aims to eliminate a major regulatory gray area, plugging channels that allowed massive, unmonitored capital outflows which posed risks to financial stability, currency controls, and foreign exchange reserves. It also seeks to protect mainland investors who previously lacked legal recourse when dealing with offshore platforms and to secure sensitive financial data. The immediate impact is severe for the targeted brokers, including a complete ban on new mainland business, forced liquidation of existing mainland client positions over two years, and the confiscation of illegal profits estimated in the billions. Their U.S.-listed shares plummeted in response. Market analysts warn that the forced sell-off of an estimated 250-280 billion RMB in assets, concentrated in U.S. tech stocks, Chinese ADRs, and Hong Kong equities, could create sustained selling pressure on these markets over the next two years, potentially lowering valuations. For mainland investors, legal cross-border investment channels will become extremely constrained. The high asset threshold for the Stock Connect program and the severe shortage of QDII fund quotas—leading to chronic high premiums on popular U.S.-focused ETFs—mean retail access to overseas markets like the U.S. will be sharply limited. Conversely, some of the returning capital may flow into domestic A-share sectors like AI, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing. However, this could further inflate valuations in these already elevated sectors. In conclusion, regulators frame this move not as closing off cross-border investment, but as a necessary step to enforce compliance, manage systemic risk, and steer investors toward regulated, protected channels like QDII and Stock Connect for the long-term health of the financial system.

链捕手1 год тому

Eight Departments Launch Severe Crackdown on Cross-Border Securities Firms, How to Interpret This?

链捕手1 год тому

General Tensor and Talisman Joining Forces To Build Financial Rails for Decentralized AI

General Tensor and Talisman Wallet have partnered to build advanced financial infrastructure for the Bittensor decentralized AI network. The collaboration combines Talisman's secure wallet and institutional multi-signature technology with General Tensor's validator operations, mining infrastructure, and trading platform ecosystem. The goal is to move beyond basic wallets to create a seamless "agent-ready" stack that connects user or AI agent intent directly to on-chain execution for activities like custody, trading, and staking. This addresses the growing need for sophisticated financial tools as institutional participants like funds and DAOs engage with decentralized AI, shifting focus from mere token speculation to operational infrastructure. The partnership aims to lay the groundwork for future autonomous AI agents to interact with decentralized networks.

TheNewsCrypto2 год тому

General Tensor and Talisman Joining Forces To Build Financial Rails for Decentralized AI

TheNewsCrypto2 год тому

XRP Ledger Hits No. 4 In RWA Rankings In Less Than A Year

The XRP Ledger has rapidly risen to fourth place in RWA.xyz's network rankings for tokenized real-world assets in less than a year, now holding a total distributed RWA value of $4.1 billion. This positions XRPL behind only Canton, Ethereum, and Provenance, and ahead of networks like BNB Chain and Solana. The ledger's 30-day growth rate of 45.97% is the highest among the top ten, starkly contrasting with declines seen on other major networks. RippleX highlighted this as one of the fastest-growing RWA ecosystems, now hosting a diverse range of tokenized assets including US Treasuries, money market funds, and commercial paper. While Canton dominates the sector with an 83.73% market share ($313.6 billion), XRPL's ascent signals its emergence as a notable player in the competitive institutional tokenization market. Broader sector data shows distributed asset value at $33.87 billion, with US Treasury debt as the largest tokenized category at $15.3 billion.

bitcoinist2 год тому

XRP Ledger Hits No. 4 In RWA Rankings In Less Than A Year

bitcoinist2 год тому

Торгівля

Спот

Ф'ючерси