DIGITAL CURRENCY GROWS UP

There’s an awful lot of froth, fraud, and sheer inanity surrounding bitcoins, blockchain, and everything cryptocurrency. But there’s also an awful lot of funding and talent working on new kinds of digital money: In June, Andreessen Horowitz launched a $300 million cryptocurrency-focused fund, and hired its first-ever female partner, Kathryn Haun, as its co-lead. Joseph Lubin, who co-founded the Ethereum platform and founded related software developer ConsenSys, is now trying to bring blockchain to industries including journalism and film production; and in Washington, D.C., high-profile crypto startups Coinbase and Circle have helped launch a lobbying group to teach lawmakers all about the industry. Circle, valued at $3 billion and led by co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, is a platform that allows users to buy, trade, and send one another all sorts of money, from traditional dollars and euros to the newer-minted bitcoins, ethereum, and U.S. dollar “stablecoins” (don’t ask). “Money should work the way the rest of the internet works, for data and content and communications,” says Allaire, a serial entrepreneur who’s raised $246 million for his company. “We have open global networks where we can connect our devices and share information freely and instantly all around the world, and we want the same thing for money and economic relationships.” —M.A.