From Decrypt · By Jose Antonio Lanz
In brief
Andreessen Horowitz is renaming a16z Crypto to a16z Frontier, widening the fund's scope to AI and other long-horizon technologies while keeping crypto investing and regulatory advocacy.
Chris Dixon argues blockchains have receded into the background of products from Wall Street and fintech firms, so companies should be defined by what they do, not the technology they use.
Dixon will lead the fund with Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet.
Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm better known as a16z, is renaming its crypto fund “a16z Frontier” and widening its mandate to AI and other emerging technologies, according to an email shared with its newsletter subscribers on Thursday.
a16z is among the biggest backers of the crypto industry, and when a firm that size drops “crypto” from its name, it shows where it may expect the next wave of cash to go. Chris Dixon, a general partner who runs the crypto team, says the firm’s bets include Coinbase, the blockchain network Solana, and Uniswap, a platform where people swap tokens without a middleman.
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a16z calls the move “an expansion” and says crypto stays: “we will continue to invest in crypto and related ventures and advocate for sensible crypto regulation,” the firm wrote.
The argument is that blockchains—shared digital ledgers that record who owns what without a bank in the middle—have faded into the background of products people already use.
“Wall Street and fintech companies now regularly launch products built on blockchains. Does that make them crypto companies? The label matters less now,” Dixon wrote, adding that it makes more sense to define companies “by what they do rather than by the technologies they use.”
In January, a16z said it had raised more than $15 billion across its funds, and co-founder Ben Horowitz wrote in a firm post that the mission “starts with winning the key architectures of the future—AI and crypto.”
Dixon expects more “native use cases,” which he defines as “brand-new activities you couldn’t do before,” since AI so far has mostly made existing work like coding “faster, better, and cheaper.” Early versions, he says, “will look strange and unserious, like toys and hobbies,” before some grow into mainstream products.
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