A16z | Crypto

Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto investment arm said its new fund would seek to back projects that “people keep using when the hype fades.” The crypto-focused arm of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has raised $2.2 billion for its fifth fund dedicated to backing crypto projects. In a blog post on Tuesday, a16z Crypto said its latest fund, Crypto Fund 5, would back founders “turning new infrastructure into products people use every day,” including stablecoins, perpetual futures, prediction markets and tokenized assets. “Software is getting more complex and harder to trust,” a16z Crypto general partners Eddy Lazzarin, Guy Wuollet, Ali Yahya and founder and managing partner Chris Dixon wrote in the blog post. Read more

John Palmer, a developer and brand adviser, agreed, said it "feels like a bug" to call them stablecoins and that they should have a self-defined and non-reactionary name. Stablecoins, the name given to cryptocurrencies pegged to the price of a stable asset such as the US dollar or gold, have outgrown their label as they become part of the global financial system, said Robert Hackett, head of special projects at a16z crypto.  Hackett said in a report on Friday that the term “stablecoins” was coined in crypto’s early years, when wild volatility defined the space and the tokens were created to maintain stable value and encourage their use for everyday financial activity. “The name was straightforward, if slightly defensive: not a volatile coin, but a stable one. It described the problem it solved perfectly. But the technology has since outgrown the label,” he said. Read more

Venture capital firm a16z argues that state crackdowns on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket conflict with federal law and hurt market access for ordinary users. A16z has thrown its weight behind the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a growing federal-state standoff over prediction markets, opposing state regulators that try to shut down platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. The venture capital heavyweight submitted the letter on Thursday in response to the CFTC’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking on prediction markets. It argues that state-level crackdowns, ranging from cease-and-desist letters to criminal charges, are creating barriers that undermine the federal agency’s mandate to provide “impartial access to its markets and services.” In recent weeks alone, the CFTC has filed lawsuits against Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin, claiming that those states overstepped by trying to regulate markets that fall under federal jurisdiction. A16z backed that position, arguing...

The crypto venture giant has launched a fifth fund with plans to close by mid-2026, according to sources. Crypto venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on crypto despite a major market downturn, seeking $2 billion for a new crypto fund. A16z Crypto, the blockchain arm of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is raising a fifth crypto-focused fund, with plans to close by mid-2026, Fortune reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. The latest round is significantly smaller than its previous $4.5 billion fund from 2022, but the company has shifted to a shorter fundraising cycle to remain flexible to ever-changing crypto narratives.  Read more

A16z has predicted a major 2026 pivot as stablecoins surge, AI agents multiply, and on-chain finance challenges outdated banking infrastructure.