Crypto Biz: Smart Money is betting big on Web3, layer 2, May 19-25

cointelegraph.com:

Billions and billions. That’s what venture capitalists are spending to get ahead of the curve in crypto. Their latest fixation is Ethereum layer-2 scaling solutions and Web3, an umbrella term that describes the next stage of the internet’s evolution. So, while the cryptocurrency market is in a state of extreme fear, smart money investors — TradFi folks who invest with expert knowledge — continue to pour countless sums into the space. 

This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter gives you the latest funding stories from the world of blockchain and explores interesting developments surrounding Google and Sam Bankman-Fried.

The crypto market selloff of 2022 hasn’t deterred Andreessen Horowitz from pledging additional billions to crypto startups. This week, the venture capital giant, which also goes by the name a16z, announced the closing of its fourth cryptocurrency investment fund. Valued at $4.5 billion, a16z’s new fund is focused heavily on Web3 startups. Clearly, Andreessen is getting the money from interested parties who believe blockchain technology will transform the internet. So, you can keep reading doom-and-gloom headlines about the end of crypto as we know it. Or you can simply follow what the smart money is doing.

Announcing our fourth crypto fund, totaling $4.5B, to invest in promising web3 startups at every stage. This brings our total crypto/web3 funds raised to over $7.6B.General Partner @cdixon shares more on https://t.co/xIezLlyDiC. https://t.co/Xc696Fu8UT

Speaking of smart money, venture capital investors have given $100 million to Ethereum layer-2 developer StarkWare. Many crypto observers are excited about Ethereum’s chronically delayed Merge, but investors seem to think the network won’t be able to scale without a