As crypto prices fall, a16z crypto raises $2.2 billion fund

In a blog post offering a vision for the future of cryptocurrencies, from a “new financial system” to warnings about “opaque” artificial intelligence, a16z crypto announced a new $2.2 billion fund. This is the venture capital firm’s fifth fund, and the total amount raised so far reaches $9.8 billion, she says.

In addition, the fund has also promoted its CTO, Eddie Lazarin, to general partner, bringing the general investment team to four people. Lazarin joins Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya and Guy Woollett. The fund has backed prominent companies such as Coinbase, Kalshi, and Solana Foundation.

The timing of this news is a bit ironic, as cryptocurrencies have been trading 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 terms of trading volume across cryptocurrency exchanges since November 2023, cryptocurrency data and news site CoinGecko reported.

Venture capital investments in cryptocurrency startups have also slowed, falling to nearly $5 billion in the first quarter of 2026, compared to nearly $6 billion in the same quarter last year, DLNews reports, citing statistics from cryptocurrency data site DefiLlama.

a16z crypto partners acknowledge this. They describe how crypto rallies are attracting investment and startup enthusiasm, but “we are in one of those quieter moments now,” they write. However, they insist that much of what is built during downtime is “usually more beneficial than it appeared at the peak, and more sustainable than it appeared at the bottom.”

Hot market or not, there are venture capital funds available for blockchain-related startups that can attract venture capital. The part that founders will have to overcome is that some of the largest crypto venture capital firms are now being lured by AI startups. This is an area swimming in high ratings.

For example, Paradigm, one of the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency funds, is reportedly raising a new $1.5 billion fund to expand its thesis to include robotics and artificial intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported in February. Additionally, Y Combinator, which has created numerous cryptocurrency and blockchain-related startups over the years, did not request any of them in its recent “startup requests” list.

Earlier this week, former Andreessen Horowitz investor Katie Haun announced that her cryptocurrency-focused firm, Haun, has also raised a new $1 billion fund and will continue to invest in this market. But it is also looking at AI agent technology as it intersects with cryptocurrency/blockchain and fintech.

A spokesperson told TechCrunch that the latest a16z cryptocurrency fund will not be lured away by hotter markets, promising that it will be “100% dedicated to crypto entrepreneurs.”