The venture firm that spent eight years telling the world crypto would eat finance just took the word off its door. On 22 October, Andreessen Horowitz announced that a16z Crypto is now a16z Frontier, and that its $2.2 billion fifth fund will also back artificial intelligence, autonomous machines and other “frontier” technologies. The firm insists it is not leaving crypto. The market is reading it differently.

What exactly did a16z announce?

Managing partner Chris Dixon published the change in a post on 22 October. The unit that has backed blockchain startups since 2018 and raised roughly $9.8 billion across five funds now trades as a16z Frontier. Fund 5, closed in May at $2.2 billion, keeps investing in crypto but adds AI-native…