Andreessen Horowitz is taking the word crypto out of its crypto fund’s name.
The venture firm, known as a16z, told newsletter subscribers on Thursday that the fund will become a16z Frontier. Its remit will widen beyond crypto to include AI, autonomous machines, biology and medicine, and other long-term technologies.
The firm called it “an expansion” and said: “we will continue to invest in crypto and related ventures and advocate for sensible crypto regulation.”
Who runs it
General partner Chris Dixon, who has led a16z’s crypto team, will lead the fund with co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and general partners Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet.
The size of the renamed fund was not disclosed. The most recent figure on record is $2.2 billion, announced in May. In January, a16z said it had raised more than $15 billion across all its funds.
Why the name is changing
Dixon argues that blockchains have faded into the background of products now offered by Wall Street and fintech firms.
He said companies should be defined “by what they do rather than by the technologies they use.”
“Does that make them crypto companies? The label matters less now,” Dixon said.
He pointed to Solana and Uniswap among the firm’s past crypto investments, and said he sees crypto helping AI agents pay each other.
In a January post, Horowitz described the firm’s mission as starting with winning the key architectures of the future, naming AI and crypto.
What it means for crypto
Andreessen Horowitz has been one of the largest backers of crypto startups and one of the industry’s loudest voices on regulation. The rename does not mean it is leaving crypto, but crypto may now compete with other sectors for the same fund’s money.
What happens next
The signal to watch is how much of a16z Frontier’s future investing goes to crypto, compared with AI and other frontier technologies.
