What happened
Andreessen Horowitz, the Menlo Park venture firm better known as a16z, said Tuesday it closed Crypto Fund IV at $2. 2 billion, according to reporting from Decrypt that cited the firm's own disclosure. The fund is a16z's fourth crypto-dedicated vehicle and its largest.
Chris Dixon, the general partner who has run a16z's crypto practice since its 2018 launch, leads the new fund alongside the existing crypto investing team. The previous vehicle, Crypto Fund III, closed at $4. 5 billion in May 2022 at the peak of the last cycle, meaning Fund IV is roughly half that size in headline terms but still the largest crypto-only raise of the current cycle.
The firm has not yet named anchor LPs publicly, though Fund III drew commitments from endowments at Yale, Brown, and the University of Michigan, per filings reported at the time.
Why it matters
Crypto venture funding collapsed after the 2022 cycle peak. Galaxy Research data through Q1 2026 has shown deal counts running well below the 2021-2022 highs, with seed rounds bearing most of the cut. A $2.
2 billion close from the most visible name in the category is the clearest signal yet that institutional LPs (the pension funds, endowments, and family offices that ultimately back venture firms) are willing to underwrite crypto risk again. It also re-anchors expectations for the rest of the field. Paradigm, Polychain, Multicoin, and Pantera all have funds aging into their investment-period tail.
A16z setting a $2. 2B mark gives those firms cover to raise into a market that suddenly looks less hostile. The downside read: a16z is also the firm with the most exposure to the last cycle's worst calls, and Fund IV's size still trails Fund III.