A16z’s blockchain arm reportedly eyeing $2B raise for fifth crypto fund

Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm is reportedly preparing another major investment vehicle as venture funding across the digital asset sector slows.

According to a Wednesday report by Fortune, A16z Crypto is seeking roughly $2 billion for what would become its fifth dedicated crypto fund.

Sources familiar with the matter told the publication the firm aims to close the raise by the end of the first half of 2026.

The planned fund would be significantly smaller than the firm’s previous $4.5 billion “Crypto Fund 4,” launched in 2022, but the venture firm is said to be shortening its fundraising cycles to better adapt to how quickly narratives and technologies evolve in the blockchain sector.

Andreessen Horowitz has played a central role in shaping venture investment in digital assets over the past decade. 

The firm first entered the sector in 2013 with an early investment in Coinbase.

It later launched its first dedicated crypto fund in 2018 with $300 million in committed capital.

Since then, the company has raised at least $7.6 billion across crypto-focused funds, with its 2022 vehicle allocating $1.5 billion toward seed investments and $3 billion toward venture-stage deals.

However, the latest fundraising effort comes as activity in the crypto venture market has cooled significantly.

Industry data shows capital flowing into the sector has dropped sharply when compared to 2021 and 2022. 

Firms collectively raised more than $86 billion across 329 funds in 2022, a figure that later fell to $11.2 billion in 2023 and $7.95 billion in 2024.

Dealmaking activity has slowed as well.

Venture investments so far in Q1 2026 total 97 transactions, compared with 427 during the same quarter a year earlier and 724 deals in the first quarter of 2024.

Market conditions have also weighed on the broader crypto industry.

Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have fallen sharply since the sector reached a peak market capitalisation of roughly $4.4 trillion in early October, with more than $2 trillion erased during the subsequent downturn.

A16z bets on crypto and AI

Even with venture funding tapering off, A16z Crypto is still channelling investments into blockchain infrastructure and financial applications.

A16z identified crypto and AI as two of the most important themes in its Big Ideas 2026 newsletter. 

The firm expects AI to increasingly automate cybersecurity work and potentially evolve into platforms where models function like app stores. 

Within the crypto sector, it has highlighted privacy technologies, prediction markets, and stablecoins as areas likely to see continued expansion, particularly as digital assets become more intertwined with traditional banking and financial systems.

Meanwhile, the company’s crypto chief Chris Dixon has argued that the crypto industry’s increasing focus on financial use cases fits within the original Web3 framework. 

In a recent post on X, he wrote that blockchain technology has entered its “financial era,” adding that finance serves as “the foundation and proving ground for everything else.”

Recent investments from A16z Crypto reflect that transition toward financial infrastructure. 

The firm has backed Babylon, a protocol designed to turn idle Bitcoin into usable collateral for lending and other decentralised finance applications.

Through the deal, A16z purchased $15 million worth of Babylon’s BABY tokens.

Babylon initially launched as a Bitcoin staking protocol that allows BTC holders to earn yield without moving assets off the Bitcoin network.

The venture firm has also supported other blockchain infrastructure projects.

Last year, it announced a $50 million investment in Jito, a Solana-based staking and infrastructure protocol.

Last month, the firm disclosed it had raised more than $15 billion across multiple funds to support technologies it views as critical to the United States’ future. 

Investments included artificial intelligence and blockchain alongside sectors such as biotechnology, defence, public safety, health, education, and entertainment.