In one blog post laying out a vision for the future of crypto, ranging from a “new financial system” to warnings about “opaque” artificial intelligence, a16z crypto announced a new $2.2 billion fund. This is the VC firm’s fifth fund and brings the total raised to date to $9.8 billion, he says.
Besides, the fund also promoted its CTO, Eddy Lazzarinto general partner, bringing the GP investment team to four people. Lazzarin joins Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya and Guy Wuollet. The fund has backed notable companies such as Coinbase, Kalshi and the Solana Foundation.
The timing of this news is a bit ironic, with crypto trading in such a slow period that Coinbase announced on the same day that it was laying off 14% of its workforce. March was the slowest month in trading volume among crypto exchanges since November 2023, crypto data and news site CoinGecko was mentioned.
VC investment in crypto startups has also cooled, reaching nearly $5 billion in the first quarter of 2026, compared to nearly $6 billion in the previous quarter. reports DLNewsciting statistics from crypto data site DefiLlama.
a16z crypto partners recognize this. They describe how crypto highs are drawing investment and startup excitement, but that “we’re in one of those quieter moments right now,” they write. However, they insist that much of what is built during a shutdown “is usually more useful than it looked at the top and more durable than it looked at the threshold.”
Hot market or not, there is VC money out there for blockchain-related startups that can attract VCs. The part that founders will have to overcome is that some of the biggest crypto VCs are now being lured away by AI startups. This is an area swimming in bullish valuations.
For example, Paradigm, one of the largest and most famous crypto funds, is reportedly working to raise a new $1.5 billion fund to expand its robotics and artificial intelligence thesis, The Wall Street Journal was mentioned in February. Plus Y Combinator, which has gotten away many crypto and blockchain related startups over the years, he hasn’t asked for any in the latest Start-up Requests list.
Earlier this week, former Andreessen Horowitz investor Katie Haun announced that her crypto-focused firm Haun has also raised a new $1 billion fund and will continue to invest in this market. But it’s also looking at AI agent technology as it intersects with crypto/blockchain and fintech.
The latest crypto fund a16z won’t be swayed by hotter markets, a spokesperson tells TechCrunch, promising that it will be “100% dedicated to crypto entrepreneurs.”
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