Crypto enterprise capital big Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on crypto regardless of a significant market downturn, in search of $2 billion for a brand new crypto fund.
A16z Crypto, the blockchain arm of enterprise capital agency Andreessen Horowitz, is elevating a fifth crypto-focused fund, with plans to shut by mid-2026, Fortune reported on Wednesday, citing nameless sources.
The newest spherical is considerably smaller than its earlier $4.5 billion fund from 2022, however the firm has shifted to a shorter fundraising cycle to stay versatile to ever-changing crypto narratives.
The transfer comes amid a crypto bear market that has seen greater than $2 trillion wiped from complete market capitalization since its peak of round $4.4 trillion in early October.
A16z crypto chief Chris Dixon’s Web3 philosophy envisioned a decentralized web with purposes constructed on blockchains, based on his 2024 e book, “Learn Write Personal.”
However lots of these investments haven’t panned out, notably decentralized X (Twitter) competitor Farcaster, which returned $180 million to buyers after promoting off its infrastructure in January.
Crypto VCs exploring non-crypto tech
Wall Avenue crypto buffs have recently narrowed their focus to stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and monetary merchandise, with many enterprise capitalists following go well with. Others have began to look in the direction of different areas of expertise.
Co-founder of enterprise agency Multicoin Capital, Kyle Samani, stepped down in February to “discover new areas of expertise,” corresponding to AI, longevity, and robotics.
Crypto enterprise agency Paradigm is reportedly increasing into synthetic intelligence and robotics with its newest fund in search of to boost $1.5 billion.
Associated: Crypto slides, however tokenized RWAs and VC push forward
A16z raised over $15 billion in January to spend money on corporations and applied sciences it deemed essential to safe America’s future, mentioning AI and crypto and together with applied sciences in “key areas that generate human flourishing,” corresponding to biology, well being, protection, public security, schooling, and leisure.
A16z sees alternative in AI, crypto in 2026
A16z lately highlighted crypto and AI as main themes for 2026, stating that it anticipated AI to automate cybersecurity work, AI fashions to turn out to be app shops, privateness to turn out to be the “most necessary moat in crypto,” prediction markets to get “larger, broader, and smarter,” and stablecoins to turn out to be extra intertwined with conventional banking and finance.
In keeping with DeFiLlama’s fundraising aggregator, crypto startups raised $895 million in February, down virtually 40% from the $1.47 billion raised the earlier month and marginally lower than the $1 billion raised in February 2025.
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