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Former North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry announced<\/a> Wednesday that he landed a job with VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. He will be a Senior Advisor. <\/p>\n His post on X said little about what the job entails, except to be advocating for startups (which a16z likes to call \u201clittle tech\u201d) with policymakers. A16z did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n McHenry spent 20 years in Congress before retiring in January. As Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee he was perhaps best known for dressing down then SEC chair Gary Gensler. <\/p>\n Gensler had particularly become a boogeyman in the crypto world, filing lawsuits against crypto exchanges like Coinbase<\/a>, and threatening to sue others like Robinhood. The current SEC is busy dropping those suits<\/a> and investigations.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder Chair Gensler, the SEC has become a rogue agency,\u201d said McHenry during a hearing in September<\/a>, accusing the SEC chair of \u201cregulation by enforcement.\u201d <\/p>\n Meanwhile, a16z, which has raised $7.6 billion in funds dedicated to crypto\/web3 tech as of 2022, has been embedding itself into all things policy and government lately. Earlier this month, Brian Quintenz, who leads policy for a16z\u2019s crypto team, said he\u2019s being appointed to head<\/a> the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).<\/p>\n Plus Sriram Krishnan, a former general partner at a16z, is also now a White House senior policy advisor; Scott Kupor, one of the firm\u2019s managing partners,\u00a0was tapped to lead<\/a>\u00a0the Office of Personnel Management; and Jamie Sullivan, another investor at the firm, is\u00a0said to be advising<\/a>\u00a0DOGE.\u00a0<\/p>\n a16z\u2019s burgeoning<\/a> American Dynamism practice, which backs startups in defense and government tech, is also doing a lot of hiring, most recently adding former Marine Daniel Penny<\/a> as an investor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n