a16z crypto raises $2.2B as firm bets on statscoins, AI agents and tokenized markets.

Andreessen Horowitz has raised $2.2 billion for its fifth crypto fund, giving one of Silicon Valley's most powerful blockchain investors new capital to back startups in crypto infrastructure and consumer products.

The new vehicle, Crypto Fund 5, brings together nearly $9.8 billion of 16z crypto dedicated investment vehicles. The amount matches the size of a16z's third crypto fund in 2021, but is less than the $4.5 billion fund raised in 2022, split between $1.5 billion for seed investments and $3 billion for further platform opportunities.

According to a16z, the founders of the new fund aim to turn crypto infrastructure into everyday products. The company points to stablecoins, perpetual futures, prediction markets, onchain lending, real-world assets and AI agents as areas where blockchain networks are moving beyond speculation and into practical use cases.

Stablecoins were a central pillar of the enterprise. a16z People's use of digital dollars to save, send and make payments across borders continues to grow amid market downturns. The firm framed that growth as a sign of network adoption rather than a simple cost estimate.

The increase extends the multi-cycle crypto strategy that started before the last major bull market. a16z crypto launched its first dedicated fund in 2018, followed by a $515 million second fund in 2020 focused on crypto and blockchain startups. While that second fund backs companies and holds some crypto assets, the firm described its strategy as investing rather than active token trading.

The firm raised $2.2 billion for a third crypto fund in 2021 before closing a record $4.5 billion fourth fund in 2022, the largest venture capital fund dedicated to Web 3 startups and projects at the time.

a16z crypto has supported major industry companies and protocols including Coinbase, Solana, Uniswap and Kalshi. The company's broader crypto thesis now appears to be focused on market segments that survived the last cycle: dollar-backed payments, always-on trading platforms, tokenized assets, and infrastructure for software agents doing online transactions.