Rune Christensen, founder and CEO of MakerDao, explains what Andreessen Horowitz's $15 million investment in its Maker token means for the ecosystem and why they chose to work with a16z and its general partner Kathryn Haun. He also responds to criticism that the process took place behind closed doors despite the fact that MakerDao has a notably open, transparent system otherwise, and concerns about the seeming discount of 40% that the a16z team got. He also talks about whether or not MakerDao could amass too much power in the Ethereum ecosystem, thereby centralizing power around the Dai stablecoin.

If you're interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed, reach out to Raelene at laurashinpodcast@gmail.com!

Episode links:

Rune Christensen: https://twitter.com/runekek

MakerDao: https://makerdao.com

Announcement about investment from a16z: https://medium.com/makerdao/a16z-crypto-purchases-6-of-mkr-backing-stablecoin-vanguard-makerdao-ff410a692393

Rune's comments about why MakerDao wants to work with a16z and Kathryn Haun: https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/9ihwz0/big_news_az16z_buys_6_of_makerdao/e6jque0/

Critiques from Meltem Demirors about the process for deciding upon this investment: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem/status/1044217806043181057

MakerDao being ready to move to multi-collateralized Dai: https://medium.com/makerdao/the-code-is-ready-2aee2aa62e73

A previous episode of Unchained with Rune: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable

A previous episode of Unconfirmed with Katie Haun:

http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/sxsw-episode-former-doj-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-what-the-sec-subpoenas-and-fincen-letter-likely-mean

A previous episode of Unchained with Katie Haun, when she was a federal prosecutor:

http://unchainedpodcast.co/federal-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-how-criminals-use-bitcoin-and-how-she-catches-them