KEY POINTS

  • A lot of VCs will pull back from cryptos, says Shaun Maguire
  • Maguire says Sequia will not fall under this category
  • Decentralization is not a silver bullet that will solve all problems, Maguire says

Shaun Maguire, a cryptocurrency partner of Venture Capital firm Sequoia Capital, is not very optimistic about the future of VC firms investing in the crypto sector. According to him, companies that are now experimenting with crypto investments, will "pull back" in the near future.

This will happen because of the current market conditions and a misunderstanding of crypto as an investment, he said in a podcast with TechCrunch on Monday.

However, he made clear that Sequoia will not fall in this category due to the way in which these investments are made in the firm.

"Sequoia is very deliberate with everything we do and we spend huge amounts of time debating every strategy change, everything, we debate every seed investment to sometimes excruciating detail, but it helps us make really good decisions and make decisions as a team rather than as individuals," he said.

The firm, which has already invested in several companies in the sector like Polygon, launched a $500- $600 million fund in February to invest in “liquid” crypto assets.

Maguire further noted that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what crypto and Web3 might offer as new technologies, with some investors touting decentralization as a ”silver bullet.” Maguire declared:

"Decentralization is not a silver bullet that just solves all problems and is better for everything. You know for the vast majority of computing, you want it to be centralized," he said.

A representations of cryptocurrency  Monero is seen in front of a stock graph and U.S. dollar in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022.
A representations of cryptocurrency Monero is seen in front of a stock graph and U.S. dollar in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022. Reuters / Dado Ruvic