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 threadErin PtahMar 11, 2024

@molly0xfff Appreciate all the inside details about who got paid what, but oof, not impressed that the writer still seems to think "using a blockchain could do something about #Kickstarter fraud."

All the transactions on Kickstarter are accurately recorded already, and perpetually accessible afterwards! They're not getting secretly edited. That's not where the fraud comes in!

"Putting the records on a different type of database" does nothing to stop a project creator from giving up on their promised comic/movie/widget/etc and using the funds to buy themself a house.

Show threadJohn Panzer
@ErinPtah @molly0xfff Ok, but, it is “doing something”. Specifically, artificially pumping up the value of both companies.
Mar 14, 2024 at 2:53amIvory for iOS
Show threadErin PtahMar 14, 2024

@jpanzer @molly0xfff That's only general "doing something", not specifically "doing something about fraud."

And I don't believe KS got a net financial benefit. A lot of creators, including some heavy hitters, took their projects to KS competitors specifically because of the blockchain nonsense. Brandon Sanderson has a BackerKit campaign right now that's at $18 million and climbing -- that alone is at least $900K that KS lost out on.