Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz, is undoubtedly a fan of ‘alternative finance’. If his investments in the space weren’t enough to convince you, Andreessen’s comments to Bloomberg Businessweek might.
Here’s what he said (in part):
[blockquote style=”2″]The startups chasing disruptive technology aren’t working within the existing system. This is the cryptocurrency phenomenon. If it works, we can re-implement the entire financial system as a distributed system as opposed to a centralized system. We can reinvent the entire thing.[/blockquote]
With reference to bitcoin, in particular:
[blockquote style=”2″]Bitcoin is clearly in this category. With bitcoin, there are advantages to decentralizing the financial system in order to do commerce. For instance, you can make payments in all but four countries. So, on day one, you can use it all over the world. Forget about all the different currencies and banking systems; it’s a truly universal way to transfer value.[/blockquote]
He adds:
[blockquote style=”2″]That also means we have the chance to radically lower fees. Most consumer transactions are weighted with a 3 percent fee; remittances run up to 10 percent, which I think is a moral crime. There’s a big opportunity to take those fees out.[/blockquote]
One of the more notable company Andreessen Horowitz has invested in is San Francisco-based Coinbase, which stands as a popular hub for buying and selling bitcoin in the United States, in addition to the merchant services they offer.
You can read the whole interview with Bloomberg Businessweek here.