a16z crypto show

with @zcabrams @rhackett
What happens when money moves 10x — or 100x — faster than it does today?
In this episode, Zach Abrams, cofounder and CEO of Bridge (now part of Stripe), lays out a bold vision for the future of money: a world where stablecoins become the dominant payment rail, most transactions happen between non-human agents, and entirely new financial infrastructure is required to keep up.
Zach explains why stablecoins are the next evolution of fintech, much like credit cards were decades ago — and why we’re still in the very early innings. We dig into agentic payments, AI-to-AI commerce, micro-transactions on the open internet, and what Stripe is building by assembling stablecoin infrastructure across the stack.
Along the way, we cover:
Why cards succeeded — and what stablecoins must learn from them
How AI agents could drive the majority of future payments
What breaks when the velocity of money increases 10x
Stripe’s long-term strategy behind Bridge, Privy, and Tempo
The case for open, decentralized payment infrastructure
Zach’s unconventional views on management, productivity, and product-market fit
If you’re curious about the future of payments, fintech, crypto, AI agents, or the economic foundations of the next internet, this conversation offers a look several steps ahead.
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Stablecoins: The next platform for money
01:38 Credit cards had a moral panic too
03:29 What stablecoin infrastructure still needs to be built
05:22 The use cases no one predicted
11:11 Why Stripe is building with crypto
13:08 Why payments infrastructure must stay open
15:12 Lightning round: Bad advice, great books, and deep work
Follow a16z crypto for more...
X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pMZvsNXEnb0CYcPiDQywE
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto
📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/
🎙️ Like, subscribe, comment, share the show: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/
***
As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with @alive_eth @rhackett
a16z crypto General Partner Ali Yahya explains why privacy — not performance — will determine the long-term winners in crypto, and how it creates powerful network effects. 
In conversation with a16z crypto show host Robert Hackett, Ali lays out how privacy creates lock-in and winner-take-most dynamics — without sacrificing decentralization. They also dive into the technologies making privacy possible today, from zero-knowledge proofs to trusted execution environments, and why financial use cases will drive mainstream adoption first.
They cover:
Why blockspace is becoming a commodity
Why users tolerate surveillance in social media—but not in finance
How anonymity sets work and why secrets are hard to migrate
The real trade-offs between privacy, composability, and decentralization
The four privacy technologies shaping the next generation of blockchains
Highlights:
00:00 — Introduction
01:41 — Blockspace is becoming commoditized
03:11 — Privacy as lock-in: why secrets are harder to move than assets
06:01 — Do people actually care about privacy?
08:51 — Beyond finance: social, gaming, and private onchain apps
11:55 — Privacy zones, anonymity sets, and network effects
18:46 — Winner-take-most dynamics, explained
20:22 — What it means for crypto’s decentralization ethos
23:06 — Is privacy lock-in different from web2 lock-in?
28:31 — The privacy tech stack: ZK, MPC, TEEs, and FHE
32:13 — What this means for builders and investors
33:18 — Future considerations: Quantum computing and AI
Follow a16z crypto for more...
X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pMZvsNXEnb0CYcPiDQywE
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto
📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/
🎙️ Like, subscribe, comment, share the show: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/
***
As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with @PalmerLuckey @cdixon
In this special episode — our 100th on the a16z crypto show! — Chris Dixon interviews Palmer Luckey (founder of Anduril; founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift) to talk about the future of technology, belief, and building.
What does it take to build hardware at scale? Where are many of today’s tech bottlenecks? And what's the case for optimism about the future despite growing geopolitical turmoil, regulatory constraints, and other blockers to innovation? The candid, wide-ranging conversation covers crypto, banking, and stablecoins, as well as modern warfare, the U.S.–China technology race, AI and manufacturing, and much more. 
Dixon also digs into company building in good times and bad with Luckey; the conversation was recorded live at our Founders Summit. 
Highlights:
0:00 — Introduction
2:08 — Early Oculus: Why VR was hard
8:02 — Bitcoin & early crypto days
9:49 — The Facebook acquisition
13:36 — How successful was VR, really?
18:59 — Starting Anduril
20:01 — Hiring for mission ("Don't Work at Anduril")
23:59 — How Anduril works (product dev, org design)
27:47 — How Palmer stays ahead of the curve
33:00 — The US-China technology race
34:40 — What Putin understood early about AI
39:45 — Stablecoins & banking risk
45:00 — Politics as bottleneck
47:00 — Future of technology: AI, fusion, quantum
50:23 — Automation, abundance, and optimism
53:23 — Ukraine, drones, and the reality of war
Follow a16z crypto for more...
X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pMZvsNXEnb0CYcPiDQywE
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto
📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/
🎙️ Like, subscribe, comment, share the show: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/
***
As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with @ccatalini @rhackett
Today we’re talking about who — if anyone — should own the rails of global money.
Our guest is Christian Catalini, cofounder and chief strategy officer of the global payments startup Lightspark, and a former architect of Meta’s shuttered Libra project — one of the most ambitious attempts to create a corporate-backed digital currency.
In this episode, we talk about…
why Bitcoin is more than “digital gold,” 
what Christian learned from his time at Facebook, and 
why he believes openness — not corporate control — will ultimately win
Christian also wrote a feature for us expanding on his argument, which you can read by subscribing to a16z crypto on Substack. Check it out and let us know what you think.
This episode is part of a special series of interviews we recorded live at our Founders Summit in October. 
Follow a16z crypto for more...
X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pMZvsNXEnb0CYcPiDQywE
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto
📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/
🎙️ Like, subscribe, comment, share the show: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/
***
As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with @PrimordialAA @rhackett
In this episode, host Robert Hackett sits down with Bryan Pellegrino, cofounder and CEO of LayerZero, one of the core infrastructure projects that enables blockchains to talk to one another. We talk about why crypto went multichain, what it means for crypto to compete with legacy financial systems, and a lesson Bryan took firsthand from Elon Musk. We also get into Bryan’s background as a professional poker player, and how that has shaped his views on competition, conviction, and focus.
We go deep on founder psychology:
– When founders must replace early leadership — and why no one talks about it
– Why conviction matters more than advice
– And why the hardest decisions are the ones no playbook prepares you for
Highlights
0:00 – Introduction
0:47 – The need for interoperability
1:04 – How crypto went multichain
2:51 – The institutional adoption of crypto
6:56 – Focus and conviction
13:19 – The nature of competition
14:43 – Elon Musk's game-changing advice
18:48 – The importance of self-disruption
20:08 – Lightning round
22:56 – Challenges in scaling a company
26:46 – Book recommendations and productivity hacks
28:19 – Core principles and company culture
This episode is part of a special series of interviews we recorded live at our Founders Summit in October. 
Follow a16z crypto for more...
X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pMZvsNXEnb0CYcPiDQywE
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto
📩 Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/
🎙️ Like, subscribe, comment, share the show: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/
***
As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.