Venture Firm A16z Releases Jolt, a ‘Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machine’

But that’s not the only way Lazzarin thinks a16z’s research initiatives can help advance the firm’s bottom line. The code for Jolt has been open-sourced, meaning anyone can theoretically use or repurpose it without paying a16z. “Because we’re long-term investors, we don’t trade day-to-day, week-to-week, or even month-to-month,” said Lazzarin. “We benefit most if the space advances fastest over the next five to 10 years, and so our incentive is purely to advance everyone through public goods that we will never monetize.”