Molly WhiteMar 11, 2024

Kickstarter's bizarre blockchain announcement in December 2021 makes so much more sense now that we know Andreessen Horowitz secretly promised them $100 million to pivot to a blockchain-based product built on the also-a16z-backed Celo blockchain.

At the time, I wondered why COO Sean Leow was so insistent on the move despite being apparently very confused about the whole concept.

https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/03/11/kickstarter-blockchain-a16z-crypto-secret-investment-chris-dixon/
(archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240311124253/https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/03/11/kickstarter-blockchain-a16z-crypto-secret-investment-chris-dixon/)

#AndreessenHorowitz #crypto #blockchain #kickstarter

The untold story of Kickstarter’s crypto Hail Mary—and the secret $100 million a16z-led investment to save its fading brand

Inside the once-hot startup’s struggle to regain relevance despite a massive check from the crypto arm of venture giant Andreessen Horowitz.

Fortune
Show threadJohn M. GambleMar 11, 2024

@molly0xfff

Hmph. I wondered how they got roped into that. I dropped Kickstarter after I discovered the announcement.

I see Celo has taken a leap up in price today on Coinbase. I presume the Forbes story was taken as a positive sign by the believers.

Show threadMolly White
@jgamble I suspect that's more to do with separate news that the Tether stablecoin is launching on Celo
Mar 11, 2024 at 4:59pmWeb
Show threadJohn M. GambleMar 11, 2024

@molly0xfff

Ah, I missed that.

For a long while I had wondered when Kickstarter would announce Whoops, our bad, we're not going to base our system on blockchain after all. I'm guessing from the article that it would be more than awkward to do so.