The Better Money Company. Investing in The Better Money Company. Stablecoins are one of the most important innovations and clearest product-market fits in crypto. They move faster than traditional payment rails, settle globally, and operate around the clock. But there's a gap in the infrastructure: Stablecoins aren't yet fungible with each other. Today, if a business receives USDC but needs USDT, or holds one issuer's stablecoin and needs to settle in another, the process involves decentralized exchange or DEX swaps with slippage, over-the-counter (OTC) desks with minimum sizes, or manual conversions through multiple intermediaries. For stablecoins to function as true money infrastructure, businesses need to move between these as easily as they move between dollars at different banks. The Better Money Company is building the clearing layer to make that possible. At its core, the company operates a stablecoin clearinghouse: Any stablecoin in, any stablecoin out, at predictable prices and speeds, with no slippage. Rather than routing through liquidity pools or OTC desks, The Better Money Company is building a clearinghouse with direct participation from banking partners and issuers, enabling stablecoin collateral to be exchanged at face value. This matters because stablecoins are only as useful as they are interoperable. As more issuers enter the market and more businesses adopt stablecoin payments, the fragmentation problem gets worse, not better. A neutral clearing layer that treats all major stablecoins as fungible is critical infrastructure for the next phase of adoption. The company was founded by Sam Broner and Adam Zuckerman. Sam spent over two years on the a16z crypto investment team focused on stablecoins, and before that worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on applied fintech. He is one of the sharpest thinkers we know on how stablecoins will reshape payments. Adam previously served as General Counsel at Eigen Labs, and previously worked under a16z crypto Head of Policy and General Counsel Miles Jennings at Latham & Watkins. Sam and Adam bring a rare combination of deep stablecoin expertise and regulatory fluency. We believe stablecoins will become the default way businesses move money. But that future requires infrastructure that makes stablecoins work together, not just individually. The team at Better Money is building that infrastructure, and we're thrilled to lead their $10 million seed round. The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. ("a16z") personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the current or enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Anchorage Digital ties in Puffer Finance for institutional Ethereum restaking. 1 hour ago The integration allows institutions to stake Ether held in Anchorage custody and receive Puffer's liquid restaking token while earning staking and restaking rewards. Cointelegraph in your social feed Anchorage Digital has integrated with Puffer Finance to give institutional clients access to Ethereum liquid restaking through its custody platform. According to Thursday's announcement, institutions can stake Ether held with Anchorage and receive Puffer's liquid restaking token, pufETH, directly into their accounts. The token represents a restaked ETH position that can be transferred or deployed across supported onchain applications while continuing to earn staking and restaking rewards. Institutions using the platform can participate in restaking without running validators or managing staking infrastructure themselves. The integration allows clients to access Puffer's restaking protocol while keeping assets within Anchorage's custody and governance framework, avoiding the need to move funds across multiple platforms. Anchorage said the integration is part of a broader effort to expand institutional access to onchain services through its platform, including staking, restaking, governance and settlement. Anchorage Digital is a crypto custody company headquartered in San Francisco that operates the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States. In January, the company was reported to be seeking between $200 million and $400 million in new funding as it explores a potential initial public offering sometime next year. Liquid restaking expands across Ethereum ecosystem. Restaking has emerged as a new layer of activity in proof-of-stake networks such as Ether, allowing already staked tokens to be reused to secure additional decentralized services while generating additional rewards. In liquid restaking systems, staked Ether is represented by a tradable token that can be reused through restaking protocols to help secure additional decentralized services. Much of the restaking ecosystem has developed around EigenLayer, a protocol launched by Eigen Labs that enables staked Ether or liquid staking tokens to secure additional onchain services beyond the Ethereum network. Over the past few years, liquid restaking has grown into a multibillion-dollar sector within the Ethereum ecosystem. According to data from DefiLlama, protocols offering liquid restaking collectively hold about $7.2 billion in total value locked (TVL). The sector is dominated by ether.fi with around $5.6 billion in TVL, followed by Kelp DAO with about $1 billion and Renzo with roughly $217 million. Puffer Finance, the protocol integrated by Anchorage Digital, currently manages around $62 million in restaked Ether. Ethereum treasury companies are also increasingly exploring these strategies to generate yield from their Ether holdings. In October, SharpLink Gaming said it planned to deploy $200 million worth of Ether from its corporate treasury across staking and restaking strategies through ether.fi and EigenCloud on Linea. Markets Outlook Get critical insights to spot investment opportunities, mitigate risks, and refine your trading strategies. Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph's Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read its Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy

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