Jack Dorsey isn't holding any punches when it comes to the future of the internet. The former Twitter CEO has irked web3 evangelists by suggesting that their blockchain-powered vision of the internet will not be the decentralized crypto utopia of their dreams.
Instead, it will just be another digital space centrally controlled and owned by venture capitalists, Dorsey tweeted on Monday.
A day later he elaborated.
"The VCs are the problem."
By Wednesday morning, Marc Andreessen replied in kind by apparently blocking Dorsey on Twitter.
"I’m officially banned from web3," Dorsey tweeted alongside a screenshot of the blocked account.
Web3 proponents believe that blockchain and cryptocurrencies will transform our digital lives just like the personal computer and the world wide web did in the late 20th century. Everything from gaming to commerce to finance will become decentralized and more transparent, in their view.
Prominent Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz has been making headlines for its push into web3. In October, the firm sent a small team of representatives to Washington, D.C., to advocate for favorable regulations around cryptocurrency.
A16z is the largest crypto investor in the world and holds a major stake in Coinbase, the nation's largest cryptocurrency exchange. After the firm's D.C. blitz, the New York Times reported that the firm was pitching draft legislation to exempt "related entities from certain tax reporting, consumer protection and anti-money-laundering requirements."
Since 2018, a16z has raised more than $3 billion to fuel its crypto and web3 investments. And the firm's head crypto partner, former federal prosecutor Katie Haun, is leaving to launch her own crypto-focused venture firm next year funded by a16z.
Dorsey is far from a cryptocurrency naysayer, though. He just rebranded his other company, Square, to Block as a nod to a future powered by blockchain. And while at Twitter he launched a decentralized internet project called BlueSky.
The conflict over web3 appears to be a fight over which blockchain protocol will reign supreme.
"At stake is the shape of the future of the crypto economy. This fight is pitting Bitcoin maximalists like Mr. Dorsey, who believe the original crypto is the only way forward, against supporters of the Ethereum blockchain network, which runs on the popular Ether token, and ventures based on other tokens," Ephrat Livni wrote at the NYT.
On Monday evening, a16z partner Chris Dixon tweeted a paraphrased quote that is often misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi.
Dorsey took the bait and replied:
"You’re a fund determined to be a media empire that can’t be ignored…not Gandhi."
