A16z raises $515 million for its second crypto fund

Top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has announced a second crypto fund - worth $515 million.

Announcing the news on Thursday, a16z said the fund would invest in crypto and blockchain startups that are focused on payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), Web 3 and more.

“Payment blockchains could end up doing to banks what email did to the post office and what VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol] services did to long-distance carriers,” said Chris Dixon and Katie Haun, co-leaders of the fund.

On the potential of DeFi, they said protocols in the space could transform lending, derivatives, insurance, trading and more via blockchains. “We think the next wave of internet business models will come from crypto,” said Dixon and Haun.

A16z’s “Crypto Fund II” comes a few days after reports that said the firm is seeking to raise $450 million for a new crypto fund.

In 2018, A16z raised $350 million for its first crypto fund, and since then, it has invested in notable firms such as Coinbase, Libra, Maker, Compound and more.