Two Facebook Crypto Engineers Jump Ship For Andreessen Horowitz

Two engineers working for the past two years to co-create Facebook’s Novi digital wallet — formerly called Calibra — left the company to work with the cryptocurrency team at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Riyaz Faizullabhoy will join the VC firm’s a16z Crypto as chief technology officer and Nassim Eddequiouaq will serve as chief information security officer, according to an Andreessen Horowitz blog post. The company announced the launch of a $2.2 billion cryptocurrency-focused fund four months ago.

See also: Facebook’s Novi To Take A Bow; Challenges Loom

Andreessen said that as Web3 moves closer to building the internet of the future on decentralized protocols, trust and confidence are central to mainstream acceptance.

“Central to this effort is security; if we are to build and scale the internet of value, people need confidence that their assets are protected,” said Anthony Albanese, a16oz Crypto COO.

“Crypto is growing and adapting so quickly that it’s difficult for even the most technically-savvy founders to ensure they’re following the latest security best practices,” he added, noting that the hiring of Faizullabhoy and Eddequiouaq was part of a worldwide search to find the best security talent in the space.

Read more: Parsing Andreesen’s Newest Big Bet On Crypto

Albanese also said that the duo are “phenomenal engineering and security leaders with a proven track record in blockchain and infrastructure” who have worked together for many years at several firms developing security systems while facing daunting regulatory requirements.

As part of a16z Crypto’s operating team, the two will work on portfolio projects to ensure high-level security measures and extend technical guidance and oversight.

Albanese met Faizullabhoy and Eddequiouaq for the first time when the two worked at Anchorage where they explored the blockchain in several applications and use cases and developed a security-first product. Before that, the two worked on the security team at Docker, creating authentication systems.

Their departures from Facebook are the latest of several exits by top-level talent as the social media giant’s foray into crypto continues to be rebuffed by regulators around the globe.