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Andreessen Horowitz is closing its London workplace and pulling again from its much-touted enlargement into the UK, because the Silicon Valley investor seeks to refocus on the US cryptocurrency trade following the election of Donald Trump.
The group made a high-profile entry into the British capital in 2023, opening its first workplace exterior the US with a deal with the UK’s crypto trade amid a crackdown on digital property by American regulators.
The Monetary Instances reported on Friday that the enterprise capital agency had signalled to native entrepreneurs and policymakers that it might reduce the money and time it meant to put money into the nation.
Quickly after, Anthony Albanese, a managing director on the group who helps to guide its crypto investments, introduced the agency would shut its UK places of work altogether.
“We’re excited by the passion for crypto constructing and adoption within the UK and are inspired by the latest constructive coverage bulletins and actions. Nevertheless, we’ve got chosen to deal with the US given the brand new administration’s sturdy coverage momentum and can subsequently be closing our UK workplace,” wrote Albanese on X.
“This doesn’t change our confidence within the UK’s rising function in crypto and blockchain. We are going to proceed to put money into nice entrepreneurs regardless of the place they’re on the planet, together with the UK. We additionally stay prepared to assist the UK with its ongoing crypto efforts.”
The companion initially tapped to guide the UK effort, Sriram Krishnan, stepped away from his London-based function final 12 months earlier than leaving the corporate altogether to affix the Trump administration in latest weeks.
Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the agency’s founders, have change into supporters of Trump, whereas advising him on expertise coverage.
The change comes as Trump signed an government order on Thursday geared toward selling cryptocurrencies within the US and dealing in the direction of probably growing a nationwide digital asset stockpile.
Costs in tokens resembling bitcoin have soared since Trump’s election, underneath the idea that the brand new administration will advocate light-touch regulation of the crypto sector.
Andreessen Horowitz opened its London workplace with official fanfare two years in the past, with then prime minister Rishi Sunak saying he was “thrilled” on the group’s arrival, and that the transfer was a “testomony to our world-class universities and expertise and our sturdy aggressive enterprise surroundings”.
On the time, Andreessen Horowitz, which has $43bn of dedicated capital, made a lot of its push into the UK, having invested in quite a few UK-based crypto firms together with Arweave, Aztec and Unbelievable.
“London is a significant monetary hub, it’s a significant tech hub and albeit it’s a really engaging place for individuals to reside,” Chris Dixon, who leads Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto investments, mentioned to the FT in 2023.
One UK official downplayed the US investor’s decreased ambitions within the nation, saying: “They had been by no means actually right here.”
