BitCoin Is Gold 2.0: Venture Capitalist

By: Cadie Thompson Technology Editor, CNBC.com
May. 01, 2013

The bitcoin boom is just getting started, two venture capitalists said Monday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

Get ready for a wave of new bitcoin start-ups, said Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

Bitcoin start-ups are a "very interesting area" and present an opportunity for the creation of a range of new businesses, including companies focused on merchant services--like PayPal--bitcoin exchanges and companies with banking models that focus on storing the digital currency.

"What the critics are underestimating is that you had a first wave of bitcoin start-ups and people were interested in it and it was kind of cool," Dixon said. "But now what I think you are seeing--if you just talk to the smartest people in Silicon Valley now--is that some of the best entrepreneurs are going to start getting into it, so I think you are going to see another wave."

Dixon, who said he has a "fair amount" invested in bitcoins, said that tech entrepreneurs have historically struggled to get into the financial tech space because of its massive size and the rigid regulations related to the finance industry. But the anonymous payment network that bitcoin provides helps avoid these obstacles and that has entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley excited, Dixon said.

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