Raising $2.2 billion for its sixth crypto-focused fund, the crypto-focused branch of venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz is now funding crypto startups.
The fifth Crypto Fund, according to a Tuesday blog post by a16z Crypto, will support entrepreneurs that are “turning new infrastructure into products people use every day.” This includes projects like stablecoins, prediction markets, perpetual futures, and tokenized assets.
Eddy Lazzarin, Guy Wuollet, Ali Yahya, and Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z Crypto, warned in a blog post that software is becoming more complicated and untrustworthy. More companies are putting their money into the internet’s backbone than in the past. The value of the qualities that crypto networks were intended to deliver actually increases in that setting, rather than decreasing, they noted.
Crypto Lucrative Despite AI Boom
The news that A16z has raised a new fund only one day after Haun Ventures announced a $1 billion fund for cryptocurrency and AI suggests that there is still a significant desire for crypto among venture capitalists, even if most of the money has gone toward AI.
According to a research published in April by Crunchbase, artificial intelligence (AI) companies received a record $242 billion in venture capital in the first quarter of 2026. The technology was responsible for 80% of the record $300 billion in worldwide venture capital investment during the same quarter.
Launched four years ago in May 2022, coinciding with the implosion of the Terra blockchain and triggering a domino effect of crypto firm bankruptcies and governmental crackdowns, Crypto Fund 5 is smaller than its predecessor, a16z Crypto, which had a record $4.5 billion crypto-focused fund.
“One of those quieter moments” in the cycle is upon crypto, according to A16z, and the market is looking for “what people keep using when the hype fades.”
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