A few years ago, Kickstarter tried to revive its troubled brand By turning to blockchain. At the time, “web3” was a relatively new and exciting concept, and company leaders seemed to hope that the new direction would revitalize their business. In December 2021, the company Announce It will migrate the entire platform to the blockchain protocol and seek new ways to make web3 a core part of its operations.
This idea is, for lack of a better term, a disaster.Many creators of the platform frightened.some people are worried environmental impact blockchain integration, while others worry that web3 adoption will allow cryptocurrency scams to take root on the site, tainting the association’s well-intentioned crowdfunding efforts. Ultimately, Kickstarter slowly moved forward with its plans.Soon after, Kickstarter CEO leaves company. Creators and investors breathed a collective sigh of relief when the new CEO announced that the company did not plan to continue the blockchain project.
Now we finally know how this scary idea came to be: a bizarre financial deal involving well-known venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). A new report Reports from Fortune magazine say the venture capital invested $100 million in Kickstarter, expecting the crowdfunding platform to shift its platform to web3 infrastructure in exchange for financial growth. The outlet noted that the partnership was partly due to ongoing ties between Kickstarter founder Perry Chen and venture capitalist Chris Dixon, who was leading a16z’s crypto division at the time. Dixon initially helped get the platform off the ground by investing in the platform in its late stages of Kickstarter.
According to Fortune, Chen and other Kickstarter board members proposed the idea of exchanging the money for web3 direction to Dixon in the summer of 2021. a16z’s capital injection is actually “Tender Offer” a16z essentially bought Kickstarter stock from employees in exchange for generous stock buyouts. Fortune reports that in return for the cash, Kickstarter is expected to become a web3 company:
The ambitious but unlikely plan calls for moving its entire platform to a blockchain called Celo, another a16z portfolio company, which would run as an open-source protocol (similar to HTTP or Bitcoin) instead of Tech companies that rely on proprietary code models that most people use. At the same time, users will be able to create their own mini-platforms around niche interests such as anime, attract more people and share profits through Kickstarter.
Ironically, Cleo, the blockchain project that Kickstarter plans to integrate, is considered environmentally friendly. Still, many in the Kickstarter community believe the move to web3 betrays the company’s environmental stance. Gizmodo reached out to Andreessen Horowitz and Kickstarter for comment, and we’ll update this story if they respond.
A16z does a lot Intelligent financial investment Over the years (it can count Twitter, Facebook, Github, Groupon and Airbnb as its financial triumphs), it’s also done a lot of bad things.Especially its cryptocurrency investments considered a relative disaster. To be honest, web3 is a stupid idea, and as of right now, it will never work. Its proponents can hardly explain it.But that didn’t stop a16z from loving Continue to invest in this areawhich just goes to show that despite the constant intrusion of reality, some dreams may never die.