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For nearly a decade, Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm was one of venture capital’s biggest backers of blockchain. Now it is dropping the word from its name.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/andreessen-horowitz" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Andreessen Horowitz</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/silicon-valley" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Silicon Valley</a>&nbsp;venture firm known as a16z,&nbsp;<a href="https://a16z.com/a16z-frontier/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said on Oct. 22</a>&nbsp;that its crypto fund will now be called&nbsp;<a href="https://a16zfrontier.com/posts/article/a16z-frontier" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a16z Frontier</a>. The renamed unit will look beyond&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/blockchain" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">blockchain</a>&nbsp;to artificial intelligence, robotics and other new technologies.
The firm says it isn’t leaving crypto behind. “We will continue to invest in crypto and related ventures,” managing partner <a href="https://a16z.com/a16z-frontier/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Chris Dixon wrote in a post announcing the change</a>.
He made the case that blockchain technology now runs largely in the background.&nbsp;
“The label matters less now,” he wrote. “It makes more sense to define companies by what they do.”
The move still reverses what the firm said just five months ago. In May, a16z said its $2.2 billion fifth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/investing/cryptocurrency" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">crypto</a>&nbsp;fund would stay focused on crypto rather than move into AI or robotics.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/technology/ethereum-co-founders-network-lost-half-its-users-in-six-month" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Ethereum co-founder's network lost half its users in six months, plans new language</a>
<h2 id="a-350-million-start-grows-to-9-8-billion">A $350 million start grows to $9.8 billion</h2>
a16z launched its crypto unit in 2018 with a $350 million fund. It was built to buy digital assets and back blockchain projects. The firm has since raised about $9.8 billion across five funds.
Its portfolio includes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/coinbase" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coinbase</a>&nbsp;and Uniswap, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/decentralised-exchange" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">decentralized exchange</a>&nbsp;where people trade tokens straight from their wallets with no middleman.&nbsp;
It also co-led a funding round for Kalshi, a prediction market where users trade on the outcomes of real-world events.
Dixon will keep leading the fund alongside co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and general partners Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet.
General partner Ali Yahya, who joined in 2017 as the crypto team’s first full-time hire, is reportedly planning to leave and start his own company.
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<h2 id="ai-startups-and-crypto-tools-start-to-overlap">AI startups and crypto tools start to overlap</h2>
The shift already shows in its deals. In June, the fund led a $33 million seed round for Ornn, a startup building financial products for the market in AI computing power.
Rival firms are making similar moves. Paradigm, another crypto-focused venture firm, announced a $1.2 billion fund in July that reaches beyond crypto.&nbsp;
Haun Ventures, led by Katie Haun, raised $1 billion in May and is focusing on payments and <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/ai-agents" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI agents</a> that act on their own.
a16z has said that <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/stablecoins" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stablecoins</a>, or tokens pegged to the <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/us-dollar" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">U.S. dollar</a>, along with <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">tokenized assets</a> and <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/prediction-market" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">prediction markets</a>, are where blockchain already has practical uses.
<h2 id="the-roundtable-100">The Roundtable 100</h2>
If you follow our market coverage, don’t miss the <a href="https://roundtable100.com/tab/rankings" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Roundtable 100</a>. Updated every Friday, it's a power ranking of the 100 most investable tech stocks, including digital assets. Check out the latest <a href="https://roundtable100.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">RTB 100</a> rankings at <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">roundtable100.com</a>.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/blackrock-ceo-warns-one-move-could-sink-u-s-economy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: BlackRock CEO warns one move could sink U.S. economy</a>

Venture giant drops “crypto” from its $9.8 billion blockchain fund

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