Former WeWork CEO Neumann to launch digital wallet that stores crypto: Forbes

Flow, a new residential real-estate startup founded by former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, is planning to launch a digital wallet that can store cryptocurrency, following an investment from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). 

The venture capital firm decided to invest in Neumann thanks to his “direct strike” as “a visionary leader” on the US housing problems, Marc Andreessen wrote in a blog post on Monday. 

The planned digital wallet, which also will store fiat currencies such as the US dollar, cannot be used to pay rent for apartments managed by the real estate startup, Flow spokesperson Davidson Goldin said to Forbes. The wallet can be used for outside transactions and that a rewards program could include crypto, the spokesman said. 

Neumann received a $350 million investment from a16z for his real estate management software venture, The New York Times first reported on Monday, but only few details of the deal were revealed. Neumann left WeWork in 2019, a company he co-founded in 2008, following pressure from investors. 

After he left WeWork, Neuman was known for buying properties in secondary markets like Nashville, Tennessee, and Norwalk, Connecticut, while also investing in property management software company Alfred, according to Forbes. 

Forbes first discovered the digital wallet plan from a job ad posted by a recruiter, who promoted a role at a “ground breaking venture that will be one of the largest implementations of blockchain in the economy, involving a multi-faceted approach that will be spearheaded by Adam Neumann.” 

Neumann is building a “next generation multi-family property management system with a propriety payment system” which will include “a full financial services wallet, a tokenized reward program and crypto payment methods,” the ad further said, according to Forbes.  

While confirming the digital wallet plan, Goldin called the job description largely false. He provided an alternative description that did not mention “crypto” or “blockchain,” but a task to “analyze the technology ecosystem and services in the multifamily industry.” The recruiter later admitted that they "made a mistake and misrepresented the job."

Neumann has previously worked in crypto by founding crypto startup Flowcarbon. The company raised $70 million to develop its blockchain-based carbon trading tools in a funding round also led by a16z's crypto unit. But roughly two months after the funding round, Flowcarbon announced the postponement of its token launch and slowing operations, citing market turbulence.