Crypto venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on crypto despite a major market downturn, seeking $2 billion for a new crypto fund.
According to Fortune, A16z Crypto, the blockchain arm of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is launching a fifth crypto-focused fund and plans to close by mid-2026.
The latest round is significantly smaller than the previous $4.5 billion fund from 2022, but the company switched to a shorter fundraising period to remain flexible to the ever-changing crypto narrative.
The move comes amid a crypto bear market that has lost more than $2 trillion in total market capitalization from its peak of nearly $4.4 trillion in early October.
Web3 Philosopher Chris Dixon, head of crypto A16z, envisions a decentralized internet with applications built on blockchains in 2024, according to his book. “Reading writes itself.”
But many of those investments haven’t panned out, notably X’s (Twitter) decentralized competitor Farcaster, which returned $180 million to investors after selling its infrastructure in January.
Crypto VCs explore non-crypto technology
Wall Street cryptocurrency enthusiasts have recently narrowed their focus to stablecoins, tokenization of real assets, and financial products, and many venture capitalists have followed suit. Others looked at other areas of technology.
The founder of venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, Kyle Samani, stepped down in February to explore new areas of technology such as AI, longevity and robotics.
Meanwhile, crypto venture firm Paradigm is expanding into artificial intelligence and robotics, with its latest fund looking to raise $1.5 billion, as reported in late February.
related to: Crypto slides, but RWAs and tokenized VC continue to advance
A16z raised more than $15 billion in January to invest in companies and technologies deemed critical to securing America’s future, citing AI and crypto, and including technologies in “key areas that generate human development,” such as biology, healthcare, defense, public safety, education, and entertainment.
A16z sees opportunity in AI, crypto in 2026
A16z recently highlighted crypto and AI as key themes for 2026, stating that AI is expected to automate cybersecurity, AI models will become app stores, privacy will become the “most important crypto pool,” prediction markets will become “bigger, broader, and smarter,” and more stable with traditional banks.
According to fundraising aggregator DeFiLlama, crypto startups raised $895 million in February, which is about 40% less than the $1.47 billion raised last month, and slightly less than $1 billion in February 2025.
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