- Despite a severe crypto downturn, Andreessen Horowitz is raising a new $2 billion crypto fund, signaling continued conviction in the sector.
- Many crypto venture firms are diversifying into AI, robotics, and other technologies as market narratives and opportunities shift.
- Crypto startup funding has plummeted, with February’s raise of $895 million down almost 40% from the previous month and 77% since its peak.
- The venture giant recently highlighted crypto and AI as major themes for 2026, expecting stablecoins to become more integrated with traditional finance.
Andreessen Horowitz is preparing to raise $2 billion for a new crypto-focused venture fund, Fortune reported on Wednesday. This ambitious move comes despite $2 trillion being wiped from the total crypto market capitalization since its peak in early October. However, this planned fund is significantly smaller than its previous $4.5 billion vehicle from 2022.
Many blockchain investments have not succeeded, exemplified by decentralized social platform Farcaster returning $180 million to investors. Consequently, Wall Street investors and venture capitalists have narrowed their focus to stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization. Others are now actively exploring non-crypto technologies like Artificial Intelligence and robotics.
Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani, for instance, stepped down in February to explore AI and other new tech areas. Meanwhile, rival firm Paradigm is reportedly expanding into AI and robotics with its own $1.5 billion fund. A16z itself recently raised over $15 billion to invest in what it deems critical technologies, including AI, crypto, and biology.
The firm recently highlighted crypto and AI as major themes for 2026 in a blog post. It expects AI to automate Cybersecurity and for stablecoins to become more intertwined with traditional banking. This long-term optimism persists even as startup funding has sharply declined.
According to DeFiLlama data, crypto startups raised just $895 million in February. This represents a nearly 40% drop from January and is marginally less than the total raised in February 2025. Overall, crypto venture funding has collapsed by 77% since the market peak.
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