Chris Dixon says a16z doesn’t sell its crypto tokens

Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), recently appeared on the New York Times podcast Hard Fork where he defended his investment thesis and the investments of his firm.

At one point during the interview, while defending Helium, Dixon made the claim, “No company we’re involved with — nor would we allow them to do this — sells tokens to the public.”

However, a review of the a16z investment portfolio raises serious questions about this claim.

📂 A16z’s crypto portfolio is a joke

We got @BennettTomlin to examine every crypto project the VC firm invests in so you don’t have to.

Read 👉 https://t.co/6qUZnVC3h8 pic.twitter.com/e8RG7wBP3B

— Protos (@Protos) April 14, 2023

Andreessen Horowitz invested in DFINITY, the firm behind internet computer tokens (ICP). Tokens were distributed to those who ‘donated’ to the DFINITY foundation.

It also invested in Fei, an algorithmic stablecoin protocol that failed the day it launched. Fei sold both the FEI token and the TRIBE governance in its Genesis Event. Since then, a court settlement has found that this was a sale of unregistered securities.

Fei Protocol Genesis has officially ended! Thank you to everyone who contributed to a successful Genesis period in bootstrapping the $FEI stablecoin and $TRIBE governance token 🌲

Lets recap ➡️

— Fei Protocol (@feiprotocol) April 3, 2021

A16z invested in Sky Mavis, the developer behind Axie Infinity, which sold the AXS token on Binance Launchpad.

Dixon says NFTs aren’t tokens

Dixon apparently also does not consider Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to be tokens because several companies that a16z has invested in have sold them to retail. These include VeeFriends, the firm Gary Vee uses to sell his NFTs.

Andreessen Horowitz also invested in PROOF, behind the PROOF Collective, and it auctioned those NFTs.