Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is seeking to raise $2 billion for a new cryptocurrency fund despite a severe market downturn, according to sources. The planned fund from its blockchain arm, a16z Crypto, is smaller than its 2022 fund but reflects a strategy to adapt faster to shifting market narratives. This move comes as overall crypto venture funding has sharply declined.
Andreessen Horowitz is moving forward with a new crypto-focused fundraising effort amid a major market contraction. The firm’s a16z Crypto unit aims to close its fifth dedicated fund by mid-2026, according to a recent report.
This latest target is significantly smaller than its previous $4.5 billion fund from 2022. The company has shifted to a shorter fundraising cycle to remain flexible to ever-changing crypto narratives.
The crypto market has seen more than $2 trillion wiped from its total capitalization since its peak. This downturn follows the firm’s major investments in Web3, a vision promoted by a16z crypto chief Chris Dixon.
Many of those investments have not panned out as planned. Notably, decentralized social platform Farcaster returned $180 million to investors after selling its infrastructure in January.
Other venture firms are also adjusting their investment theses. Wall Street and venture capitalists have lately narrowed their focus to areas like stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization.
Some are exploring non-crypto technology entirely. Co-founder of Multicoin Capital, Kyle Samani, stepped down in February to explore new areas like AI and robotics.
Paradigm is reportedly expanding into artificial intelligence and robotics with its latest fund. a16z itself raised over $15 billion in January to invest in technologies it deemed critical, including AI and crypto.
The firm recently highlighted crypto and AI as major themes for 2026. It expected AI to automate cybersecurity and privacy to become the “most important moat in crypto.”
Overall crypto startup fundraising has declined markedly. Data from DeFiLlama shows startups raised $895 million in February, down almost 40% from the previous month.
