Haun Ventures and a16z made their moves within 48 hours, with nearly identical directions for their $3.2 billion bets.

Written by: Sanqing, Foresight News

From May 4 to 5, less than 48 hours apart, two highly influential venture funds in the crypto space announced the completion of new fundraising rounds. a16z Crypto completed a $2.2 billion Fund 5 raise, while Haun Ventures completed a $1 billion Fund II raise, totaling $3.2 billion. The focus of both funds overlaps significantly: stablecoins, on-chain finance, and AI agent economies.

This news comes against the backdrop of a deep contraction in the crypto VC market. According to data from Cryptorank, total venture capital in the entire industry dropped to $659 million in April 2026, with 63 rounds of financing—down 74% from $2.6 billion in March—marking a new monthly low since July 2024.

The best endorsement is to make your competitors pay to buy your company

Haun Ventures dares to speak up at this moment thanks to the exit records from its first fund.

Haun Ventures' first fund had two iconic exits. Stripe acquired Bridge for $1.1 billion, at which time Haun's entry valuation was about $100 million; Mastercard acquired BVNK for $1.8 billion, with Haun's entry valuation at $678 million.

The buyers in both transactions are not crypto-native institutions but traditional payment giants. This indicates that stablecoin infrastructure no longer relies on "narrative" support, as there are those willing to value it based on real business logic.

Katie Haun herself stated, "We are not transforming into an AI fund." Fund II has already invested in the digital bank Erebor, founded by Anduril's founder Palmer Luckey, with Peter Thiel's Founders Fund also participating. It received FDIC deposit insurance approval by the end of 2025, with a valuation of $4.35 billion. Erebor’s clients are not consumers but tech companies building AI agents.

a16z's five exclusive crypto funds have collectively pledged $9.8 billion, encompassing core assets across cycles like Coinbase, Uniswap, Solana, and Kalshi.

Fund 5 is sized at $2.2 billion, about half the size of Fund 4 in 2022 ($4.5 billion), leading to speculation about a cooling fundraising environment, while a16z explains, "Shorter fundraising cycles allow us to keep pace with market changes." Fund 5 will focus 100% on crypto, without touching AI or robotics.

Machines need money, but have no accounts

The intersection of the two funds' investment directions lies in stablecoins and AI agent economies. The former is already validated infrastructure, while the latter reflects a current demand.

According to DeFiLlama, as of early May 2026, the total market capitalization of stablecoins has surpassed $322.5 billion. Dune Analytics reports that the total on-chain transaction volume for 2025 will be $33 trillion, with 56% of the traffic coming from DeFi liquidity pools, where cross-border payments, corporate settlements, and on-chain lending constitute the main usage scenarios.

Growth has not declined alongside prices, which is the clearest distinction between this round and the last. Chris Dixon wrote in the announcement, "A new financial system that operates continuously, settles almost instantly, has nearly zero costs, and is open to everyone who can access the internet is taking shape." This statement, two years ago, was a vision; today, it feels more like a confirmation of the status quo.

And AI agents making decisions, placing orders, and procuring services on behalf of humans need money but lack bank accounts and cannot pass KYC. Weekdays and time zones represent systemic barriers rather than optimizable friction for them. The traditional financial system is designed with the premise that humans are the customers; machines have never been part of this design.

The stronger and more opaque AI becomes, the more valuable the transparency and verifiability of crypto networks become. Crypto is not a tool to fight AI, but rather a foundation that allows AI to be trusted.

Stripe previously collaborated with Paradigm to launch MMP (Machine Payment Protocol) aimed at inter-agent trading; Erebor, backed by Haun, is specifically designed as a federal regulatory bank for tech companies and AI agents.

Timing during a winter is never a coincidence

a16z's Fund 4 was raised in May 2022, the same month that TerraUSD collapsed, followed by the FTX explosion, an industry liquidity crisis, and a complete trust reckoning.

That $4.5 billion entered the market at the worst possible timing, gradually realizing its book value during the recovery cycle in 2025. They have been doing the same thing: voting with money at the moment when sentiment is most fragmented.

This time, the structural background is somewhat similar to 2022. Monthly industry financing has hit bottom, and many generalized VCs are shifting to AI. Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani left in February this year to invest in other fields, and crypto is nowhere to be seen in the latest Requests for Startups from Y Combinator.

However, during the same period, Paradigm is raising a new fund of up to $1.5 billion that covers multiple domains (crypto, AI, robotics, etc.), Dragonfly just completed a $650 million Fund IV, and Blockchain Capital is now raising approximately $700 million for two funds. Top funds are concentrating, while overall industry financing is still hitting the bottom; smart money never waits for consensus to arrive first.

Regulation is also filling in the final gaps at this point. The GENIUS Act has become a landmark legislation for the clarification of stablecoin regulation, and a16z maintains a clear optimistic outlook on the final passage of the Clarity Act. Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno publicly stated that it will enter the markup process next week, aiming for completion before July 4.

They are betting that when the bull market arrives, the stablecoin settlement layer, on-chain finance, and financial channels for AI agents... these will no longer be "under construction" infrastructure but ready-made entrance tickets. As for whether their judgment is correct, we will only know after the next exit season.