PANews reported on May 5th that, according to CoinDesk, venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced the launch of a new crypto fund, "Crypto Fund 5," with a size of $2.2 billion. The fund will continue to be deployed over the next decade, covering all stages of investment in the crypto space.

a16z stated that this round of fund investment will focus on application-oriented projects with "real-world value," including areas such as payments, financial services, and decentralized systems. The core judgment is that the current market is more suitable for building "long-term sustainable infrastructure and products," rather than projects driven by short-term narratives.

In specific sectors, stablecoins have become a key focus. a16z points out that the stablecoin market has grown to approximately $320 billion and continues to expand its use in cross-border payments, savings, and daily transactions, offering lower costs and higher efficiency compared to traditional financial systems. Furthermore, perpetual contracts, on-chain lending, prediction markets, and tokenized assets are also seen as growth areas.

Against the backdrop of the AI ​​investment boom diverting venture capital, a16z believes that crypto is returning to its position as an "infrastructure and coordination layer," especially in the context of increasingly complex and opaque AI systems, where its network trust and settlement capabilities are becoming increasingly important.

It is worth noting that the size of this fund is smaller than its fourth fund of $4.5 billion launched in 2023, but still higher than the fundraising levels of some similar institutions recently, such as Haun Ventures' $1 billion fund and Dragonfly Capital's $650 million fund.

An a16z partner stated, "Despite low market sentiment, we believe the fundamentals of the crypto industry are at all-time highs."