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

cointelegraphPubblicato 2025-12-11Pubblicato ultima volta 2025-12-11

Introduzione

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

Letture associate

In Conversation with Ray Dalio: We Are Currently in an AI Bubble, with 1% of My Portfolio in Bitcoin

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warns in an interview that the current AI boom shows classic bubble characteristics, which could lead to significant economic downturns as seen in past cycles like 1929 or 2000. He explains that speculative enthusiasm, fueled by debt and overvaluation, often precedes a crash when rising rates or taxation force asset sales, causing widespread losses and recession. Dalio also outlines his "Big Cycle" theory, describing an approximate 80-year pattern where widening wealth gaps, massive government deficits, and shifting geopolitical power (like China's rise) create internal conflict and global instability. He emphasizes that we are in a late-cycle, transitional phase where traditional powers like the US and UK face decline. For personal wealth protection, Dalio advises diversification beyond cash into assets like stocks, bonds, real estate, and particularly gold, which he prefers over Bitcoin. While he holds about 1% of his portfolio in Bitcoin as a non-printable hard asset, he views gold as more secure from technological or governmental threats. Regarding AI's impact, Dalio believes it will disproportionately benefit capital owners, worsening inequality by replacing both physical and cognitive labor. He suggests that human intuition and emotional intelligence, combined with AI, will be key for future workers. On taxation, Dalio argues that wealth taxes are impractical and risk triggering asset sell-offs, reducing productive investment. He points to the UK as a cautionary example of debt, low productivity, and political strife. Geopolitically, Dalio foresees a more regionalized world, with the US showing weakness in prolonged conflicts like with Iran, akin to past imperial declines. The ideal outcome, he suggests, is coexisting powerful blocs (e.g., Americas, China-Asia Pacific) without major war.

marsbit1 h fa

In Conversation with Ray Dalio: We Are Currently in an AI Bubble, with 1% of My Portfolio in Bitcoin

marsbit1 h fa

Daily 7.2 Trillion KRW: Foreign Capital's Record Net Buying on Friday! Wall Street Says Headwinds for Korean Stock Fund Flows Have Subsided

South Korean stock market sees a dramatic shift in fund flows. On July 31, foreign investors made a record net purchase of approximately KRW 7.2 trillion in KOSPI stocks, marking a fundamental reversal from the persistent large-scale net outflows seen in previous months. This contributed to a significant narrowing of foreign net selling in July to KRW 9.8 trillion, down sharply from KRW 48.4 trillion in June and KRW 44.5 trillion in May. Simultaneously, domestic institutional pressure eased. South Korean pension funds and asset managers turned to a net buying position in July, purchasing KRW 1.0 trillion worth of KOSPI shares, contrasting with net sales in May and June. Market volatility is expected to be dampened by new financial regulations. Effective July 31, the Financial Services Commission tightened access for retail investors to single-stock leveraged ETFs by raising the minimum cash deposit requirement. Trading volumes for these products subsequently dropped to about 50% of their monthly average. Citigroup Research maintains its year-end KOSPI target of 10,000 points. The firm cites several supportive factors: the substantial easing of headwinds from capital outflows, a robust fundamental outlook for the semiconductor sector, historically low market valuations, strong economic fundamentals, and the potential for policy support from financial authorities if needed.

marsbit1 h fa

Daily 7.2 Trillion KRW: Foreign Capital's Record Net Buying on Friday! Wall Street Says Headwinds for Korean Stock Fund Flows Have Subsided

marsbit1 h fa

Breaking! OpenAI's Next-Gen AI Solves 10 Fields Medal-Level Problems

OpenAI's next-generation AI model Astra achieves breakthroughs in 10 long-standing mathematical conjectures. The results, including constructing the first known infinite, finitely presented non-sofic group—resolving a major question since 1999—and advancing the high-dimensional sphere packing problem beyond a 46-year-old barrier, are detailed in a 249-page paper. Key proofs have been formally verified using Lean 4. The AI also refuted a rigidity conjecture by Fields Medalist Alain Connes. According to OpenAI, generating these proofs cost under $2,000. Experts describe the findings as potentially Fields Medal-worthy and a landmark moment for both mathematics and AI, showcasing the model's ability to produce profound, human-like reasoning across diverse fields like group theory, geometry, and operator algebras.

marsbit3 h fa

Breaking! OpenAI's Next-Gen AI Solves 10 Fields Medal-Level Problems

marsbit3 h fa

How to Make Yourself Irreplaceable by AI Forever

This article argues that the primary threat from AI is not job replacement, but remaining trapped in "wage slavery"—financial dependence on employers. The path to becoming irreplaceable is not resisting AI, but becoming an "unemployable" individual who builds their own meaningful enterprise. The author identifies five key elements for this: Agency (acting without permission), Taste (judging what's worthwhile), Persuasion, Persistence, and Iteration. The solution is to stop being a "pawn" in someone else's game. To start, you must fundamentally change your identity and environment, then engage in rapid, real-world trial and error. While both coding and creating media (content) are powerful, content is more crucial. AI can generate assets, but true value lies in subjective, human-driven content that builds trust and narrative. The actionable advice is to carve out 15 minutes to answer foundational questions: 1) Uncover your "raw material"—what you know deeply or solve effortlessly. 2) Define your contrarian perspective—what common beliefs you think are wrong. The intersection of these answers is your direction. Finally, you must launch by publishing your first core idea immediately, using the feedback to iterate and develop the skills needed for a self-directed life and career.

marsbit3 h fa

How to Make Yourself Irreplaceable by AI Forever

marsbit3 h fa

Thanks to Dice Rolls, Bitcoin Keys Are Stored Offline, But Not Everyone Will Do It

The article discusses using dice rolls to generate secure Bitcoin wallet seeds, providing entropy independent of potentially flawed hardware random number generators. It explains that each fair dice roll offers about 2.585 bits of entropy, with around 50 rolls needed for a standard 12-word seed phrase and 99+ recommended for higher security. This method gained attention after a vulnerability was revealed in some Coldcard hardware wallets, where a faulty firmware RNG (dating back to 2021) compromised generated keys. The analysis notes that while a dice-generated main seed was safe from this specific flaw, other Coldcard functions (like creating paper wallets, backup keys, or passwords) could still be vulnerable if they used the defective RNG. The piece argues that while dice-based entropy is technically robust, the manual process is error-prone, tedious, and unrealistic for most new users, who might make mistakes in recording or inputting rolls. It concludes that while manual entropy generation should remain an option for advanced users, the long-term goal is to develop reliable, user-friendly hardware and software that securely generates randomness without requiring specialized knowledge. Coldcard users are advised to check their firmware version and replace any secondary secrets (like paper wallet keys) created with vulnerable devices, while also considering multi-signature setups with devices from different manufacturers for added security.

cryptonews.ru6 h fa

Thanks to Dice Rolls, Bitcoin Keys Are Stored Offline, But Not Everyone Will Do It

cryptonews.ru6 h fa

Trading

Spot