Felecia Davis 
Theoretical laptop scientist and Columbia University professor Tim Roughgarden has been appointed the top of Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) new crypto analysis unit.
Roughgarden’s resume consists of greater than three years as a professor of laptop science at Columbia University in New York, together with a 14-year stint at Stanford. He has additionally served as a analysis associate at a16z since February final yr.
a16z is likely one of the most energetic enterprise capital companies in crypto, with its funds reportedly price round $9 billion. Partly guided by the agency’s new unit which was introduced earlier at the moment, Roughgarden has said that its funding into crypto analysis will develop by “many multiples of the next couple of years.”
“We’re currently in a particular moment in time, witnessing a new multidisciplinary field (spurred by web3) blossom before our eyes. There are enormous opportunities to shape this field through research and education.”
8/ As a analysis lab inside a VC agency, a16z crypto analysis represents a brand new funding mannequin for fundamental analysis—one which appears apparent in hindsight (with the long-term focus crucial for elementary analysis already hard-wired into the agency’s enterprise mannequin).
— Tim Roughgarden (@Tim_Roughgarden) April 21, 2022
The agency highlighted Roughgarden’s expertise in laptop science, analysis and economics, alongside together with his crypto and blockchain course at Columbia as one of many “best and most popular” introductions to crypto on-line. Roughgarden was one of many first to offer a proper evaluation on the charge mechanism for Ethereum’s EIP-1559 improve.
According to a16z, the analysis workforce will type a multidisciplinary lab that may work with the businesses in its portfolio and others to resolve “the important problems in the space,” enhance consumer adoption and advance Web3 science and expertise.
Stanford University professor of laptop science and electrical engineering Dan Boneh may also be becoming a member of Roughgarden because the senior analysis advisor. Boneh has labored with a16z for the previous 4 years as a portfolio analysis advisor and in addition teaches utilized cryptography on the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research.
Major announcement from us at the moment: we’re launching a16z crypto analysis to advance the science and expertise of the following era of the web, led by the incomparable @Tim_Roughgarden https://t.co/KtvmP7fSkh
— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) April 21, 2022
The agency famous that “new entrepreneurial idea for a Web3 application or protocol tends to uncover fresh research challenges” which might be extraordinarily necessary to resolve so as to solidify the way forward for blockchain and crypto.
Such challenges embody the scaling and improvement of infrastructure, tokenomics that profit all members, and strategies to construct token economies in Web3 functions resembling social media and gaming.
“With the advent of Ethereum and other blockchains that are fully programmable, web3 has unlocked an extremely rich design space for innovation. It’s a space that we’ve only just begun to explore.”
Related: a16z’s Chris Dixon tops ‘Midas List’ by turning $350M into $6B in 2021
