The Venture Capital Firm Behind Big Tech Wants to Break Big Tech's Monopoly

Venture capital group Andreessen Horowitz zeroed on crypto to destroy the excessive concentration of Big Tech power that the firm was instrumental in creating, the Financial Times reports.
Chris Dixon, the founder of Andreessen's crypto arm, said the internet had led to power concentration among a handful of companies, including Meta Platforms Inc META Facebook, and Twitter Inc TWTR, which the venture capital group backed.
He acknowledged the unexpected level of concentration, undesirable from societally and from a business point of view.
Andreessen explored a new investment strategy built around crypto and digital tokens to replace the traditional equity investments made by VC firms.
Proponents of the Web3 movement claim decentralization will shift the balance of power away from centralized platforms and towards users.
However, critics warned against Andreessen and others' exploiting new technology to create a new generation of internet gatekeepers.
Dixon believes blockchain technology safeguards against anti-competitive activity by building rules into computer-coded smart contracts.
Andreessen has raised over $7.6 billion since its crypto fund launch in 2018.
Dixon found crypto as an opportunity for new entrepreneurs and start-ups, as Amazon.com Inc AMZN and Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Dixon acknowledged that the crypto meltdown had made Web3 investments more appealing.
Metaverse avatar platform Ready Player Me raised $56 million in Andreessen-led funding.
Amazon shelled out $4.98 million, up 2.5% year-on-year, on lobbying during Q2, driven by a possible enactment of a ruling to crack down on tech giants.

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