Arianna Simpson Sees Bargains in the Beaten-Down Crypto Space

Private U.S. venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) recently raised $4.5 billion to take advantage of the slump in the cryptocurrency market. One of its partners, Arianna Simpson, talked to CNBC about how she likes the market's long-term prospects. She sees the down market as one of the best opportunities to “focus on building technology rather than getting distracted by short-term price activity.” What's Arianna Simpson’s net worth?

Simpson, one of the top women in the crypto sphere, has been an investor in the space since its early days. She has been encouraging investors to look at the beaten-down crypto space and assuring them that they shouldn't worry about a16z’s bets.

Arianna was born in and grew up in Milan, Italy. Her mother is Italian and her father is American. After completing an international baccalaureate diploma at the American School of Milan, she moved to the U.S. and earned dual degrees in international politics and Spanish from Penn State's Schreyer Honors College.

Simpson started her professional career as head of boutique operations for Shoptiques.com. In 2013, she left Shoptiques to work in global marketing solutions at Facebook.

Simpson got a start in crypto in 2014 when she took a trip to Zimbabwe during her tenure with Facebook. After witnessing the devastating effects of hyperinflation, she started researching cryptocurrencies.

As she puts it, she was “blown away” after reading Bitcoin’s white paper and thought it was “the most important innovation” of her lifetime. She then tried to convince Facebook to start a crypto project before it made its foray into the space with Libra/Diem. As her interest in cryptos grew, she joined BitGo in 2014. She was one of the earliest employees at the start-up.

She eventually launched a crypto and digital-asset focused hedge fund, Autonomous Partners, in 2017. Simpson raised money in the “lower eight digits” from investors, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Union Square Ventures, Craft Ventures, and Cohen Private Ventures.

Currently, she's a general partner at a16z, where she invests in crypto. She was promoted to the job after managing the company’s $2.2 billion crypto fund.

According to 50minds.com, Simpson has a net worth of $5 million–$10 million. Her crypto investments have been the main source of her net worth. She isn't known to be dating one right now and seems to be focusing on her career.