a16z

a16z crypto released an analysis report titled "The New Stack of Global Finance: The Stablecoin Edition." The report points out that stablecoins have evolved from niche trading tools into fundamental financial pipelines, giving rise to a new type of "banking as a service" model that is driving the reconstruction of the financial system. The report believes that the transition to on-chain finance has "crossed the point of no return."The report categorizes blockchains into three types: general-purpose chains (such as Solana, Ethereum, and L2), payment-specific chains (such as Stripe's Tempo), and institutional networks (such as Canton). It also notes that the bottlenecks in the banking industry are easing, with a number of crypto-friendly banks actively connecting on-chain infrastructure with traditional fiat systems. The competition for stablecoin issuance has shifted to regulatory positioning, with issuers vying to obtain OCC national trust charters.The report states that payments are the "first act," while credit may be the more important "second act." The large-scale issuance of stablecoins will give rise to a new on-chain credit market, allowing capital to form outside the traditional banking system. The report also emphasizes that stablecoins not only enhance the dominance of the dollar but also provide emerging market users with access channels to the dollar.

a16z released the latest research indicating that stablecoins are gradually evolving from their initial role as transaction settlement tools and stores of value into global financial infrastructure. Data shows that following the regulatory clarity driven by the U.S. GENIUS Act, the stablecoin market has accelerated its growth, with adjusted trading volumes reaching approximately $4.5 trillion.The report shows that consumer-to-business (C2B) stablecoin transactions grew by 128% year-on-year, reaching 284.6 million transactions. The monthly collateral deposits for stablecoin card projects also increased from nearly zero at the end of 2024 to over $300 million by early 2026, reflecting the rapid expansion of stablecoin payment scenarios. Meanwhile, the velocity of stablecoins has increased from 2.6 times to 6 times since early 2024, indicating a shift from being "held" to being "frequently used." a16z believes that the focus of stablecoin applications is shifting from cross-border payments to local payment infrastructure, particularly evident in markets such as Asia and Brazil.

According to Fortune magazine, in the context of a downturn in the crypto market in 2025 and the distribution of profits to investors, the portfolio values of crypto venture capital firms such as Paradigm and a16z crypto have significantly shrunk.According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the total assets under management (AUM) of four crypto funds under a16z crypto dropped nearly 40% from 2024 to 2025, falling to $9.5 billion. Part of the reason is that the firm began returning capital to investors from earlier funds, and the timing of the returns coincided with the market peak in 2025, with a net DPI (distributions to paid-in capital) of 5.4 for its first crypto fund.Multicoin Capital's AUM has more than halved, dropping to about $2.7 billion. Paradigm's holdings also slightly decreased by about 6%. Meanwhile, the total size of a16z crypto's parent company, Andreessen Horowitz, has exceeded $100 billion.The report points out that the shrinkage in assets under management reflects the decline in portfolio value due to the market downturn, and is also a sign of normal exits by VCs and the return of funds to limited partners (LPs). Some firms, such as Haun Ventures, have seen their AUM grow by over 30%, reaching around $2.5 billion.Currently, Paradigm is seeking to raise a new fund of $1.5 billion, and a16z crypto is also raising up to $2 billion for its fifth fund.

On-chain lending platform Votre announced the completion of a $3.75 million seed round financing, led by a16z's crypto startup accelerator a16z CSX, with participation from MaC Venture Capital and a group of angel investors.The company currently operates a non-custodial cryptocurrency lending platform based on the Base Layer 2 network, helping cryptocurrency holders obtain liquidity without having to sell their assets. The new funds will be used to expand Votre's technological infrastructure and enhance the functionality of its lending platform.

Artificial intelligence startup Hilbert has completed a $28 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.Hilbert aims to help businesses automate decision-making that drives commercial growth, thereby changing the current situation where companies invest heavily in artificial intelligence but may not see returns.

The AI model evaluation platform Yupp.ai's CEO Pankaj Gupta posted on the X platform stating that the platform will soon cease operations, and access will be maintained for the next 15 days, during which users can download their data. Existing users will not be able to create new conversations starting today, and new users will also be unable to register.Yupp.ai launched in June 2025 and raised $33 million in seed funding last June, led by a16z. The platform allows users to compare various AI models for free; users can input prompts and view responses generated by multiple AIs in parallel. After selecting the best result, a "preference data package" is formed, which is used for the post-training and evaluation of AI models. The platform combines blockchain technology to achieve transparency in the evaluation process, allowing users to provide feedback in exchange for corresponding rewards, while AI developers obtain verifiable training data.

According to Fortune, former a16z crypto investor Sam Broner announced the co-founding of The Better Money Company with his college friend Adam Zuckerman, completing a $10 million seed round financing, led by a16z crypto, with participation from BoxGroup and Sunflower Capital, along with angel investors such as Circle co-founder Sean Neville and former Microsoft executive Charlie Songhurst.The company aims to establish a stablecoin clearinghouse, providing customers with low-cost services to exchange different dollar-pegged tokens. Broner previously worked at a16z crypto for over two years, focusing on investments in the stablecoin sector. Zuckerman worked at Latham & Watkins law firm before serving as General Counsel at Eigen Labs.The two founded the company last November and have already secured commitments from several issuers, including Paxos, Bridge under Stripe, and MoonPay, planning to support all tokens that comply with the signed and effective Genius Act, excluding USDT, while its U.S. version USAT is unaffected. The product has not yet been publicly launched and is expected to be open to customers in the coming weeks.

Guy Wuollet, a partner at a16z crypto, stated in Fortune's Crypto Playbook that the crypto industry is maturing and is currently in the "shirt era," not yet fully formalized but having moved beyond the early stages. He pointed out that the dominant trend in the current crypto industry is Wall Street's rapid adoption of blockchain, with traditional financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity not only offering Bitcoin ETFs but also embracing blockchain technology in the areas of stablecoins and tokenized stocks.Wuollet also noted that the integration of blockchain and AI is laying the groundwork for on-chain agency commerce. He mentioned that a large number of talents from the consumer AI sector are entering the crypto industry because they believe that the first agency payments will occur on-chain, and Stripe also discussed agency payments in its annual letter. Regarding the issue of fragmentation that different payment standards might cause, Wuollet believes that AI models are good at understanding different systems, so this is unlikely to slow down the adoption rate.