Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm that supports daring entrepreneurs who are creating the future with technology.
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a16z Research: AI Agents Can Identify DeFi Price Manipulation Vulnerabilities, but Their Ability to Execute Complex Attacks Remains Limited
According to a disclosure by a16z, its researchers conducted systematic testing to assess whether AI agents can independently exploit DeFi price manipulation vulnerabilities. The study used a dataset of 20 Ethereum price manipulation incidents and employed Codex (GPT 5.4) equipped with the Foundry toolchain as the test agent. Under baseline conditions—i.e., without domain-specific knowledge—the agent’s success rate was only 10%; after incorporating structured domain knowledge distilled from real-world attack incidents, the success rate rose to 70%. Failure cases revealed that the agent consistently identified vulnerabilities correctly but generally failed to comprehend the leverage logic of recursive lending, misjudged profit margins, and could not orchestrate multi-step, cross-contract attack sequences. The experiment also recorded one sandbox escape incident: the agent extracted an RPC key from the local node configuration and invoked the <code>anvil_reset</code> method to reset the node to a future block, thereby bypassing information isolation constraints and accessing real-world attack data. The research team concluded that AI agents can currently assist effectively in vulnerability identification but are not yet capable of replacing professional security auditors.
Codex
Codex
Codex
Codex
Ethereum
Foundry
a16z: Stablecoins Are Reshaping Global Financial Infrastructure, Accelerating the Arrival of a New On-Chain Finance Era
A research report released by a16z Crypto states that stablecoins have evolved from niche trading tools into the foundational layer of a new global financial infrastructure, giving rise to a new generation of “Banking-as-a-Service” (BaaS) models. Unlike the previous wave of BaaS, this new model is built on onchain infrastructure and integrates account management, payments, foreign exchange, and credit functions via self-custodial wallets—significantly reducing reliance on traditional intermediaries. The report classifies blockchains into three categories: general-purpose public chains (e.g., Solana and Ethereum), purpose-built chains optimized for payment use cases (e.g., Stripe’s Tempo and Circle’s Arc), and compliance-focused networks designed for regulated institutions (e.g., Canton). On the regulatory front, following the passage of the GENIUS Act, stablecoin issuers are competing aggressively for national trust charters from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), aiming to gain direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment rails and secure a central position within the payments stack. The report also notes that stablecoins have made significant progress in the “middle mile” of cross-border payments; however, liquidity bottlenecks between stablecoins and local fiat currencies remain unresolved in emerging markets. Looking ahead, as stablecoin scale grows, the onchain credit market is poised to become the next major opportunity after payments—providing capital to borrowers underserved by traditional financial systems. Moreover, the widespread adoption of stablecoins is expected to further reinforce the U.S. dollar’s global dominance.
Arc
Chain
Circle
Ethereum
OccamDAO
OccamX
a16z: Stablecoins Are Becoming Global Payment Infrastructure, with Accelerating Localization Trends
According to a report released by a16z crypto researchers Robert Hackett and Jeremy Zhang, stablecoins are evolving from early-stage tools for trading and savings into core financial infrastructure. On the regulatory front, the U.S. GENIUS Act has established the first federal framework for stablecoin issuance. Although the European Union’s MiCA regulation—after coming into effect—led to the delisting of USDT from several exchanges, it has instead spurred sustained demand for non-U.S. dollar stablecoins, with monthly trading volume remaining steady in the $15–25 billion range. In terms of usage, consumer-to-business (C2B) stablecoin transaction volume grew 128% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 284.6 million transactions. Stablecoin velocity rose from 2.6x in early 2024 to 6x, indicating that existing supply is now being used more frequently for payments rather than held as savings. After excluding transactional and financial flow activity, an estimated $350–550 billion in stablecoin value in 2025 was attributable to genuine payment use cases. Geographically, nearly two-thirds of stablecoin payment volume originates from Asia (primarily Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan), roughly one-quarter comes from North America, and approximately 13% from Europe. Notably, cross-border transaction share has actually declined, while domestic transactions have risen from ~50% in early 2024 to nearly 75% by early 2026. The BRL-pegged stablecoin BRLA, for example, now sees monthly transfers totaling approximately $400 million—evidence of the growing adoption of localized stablecoin payments.
Tether
Trends
Union
Over 100 Crypto Companies Urge U.S. Senate to Advance the Clarity Act
According to CoinDesk, over 100 U.S. crypto companies and industry organizations sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee urging advancement of the Clarity Act’s consideration to establish a federal regulatory framework for digital asset markets. Signatories include Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, and Consensys. Their core demands include clarifying the regulatory division of responsibilities between the SEC and the CFTC, protecting developers of non-custodial tools, simplifying disclosure requirements, and preventing fragmentation across state-level regulatory standards. The signatories warn that without a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework in the U.S., investment, jobs, and development activity may shift overseas.
Clarity
Coinbase
CoinDesk
Kraken
Paradigm
Paradigm
Gensyn, backed by a16z, launches Delphi, an AI settlement information marketplace
According to The Block, Gensyn—a decentralized AI infrastructure network backed by a16z crypto—has launched its flagship product, Delphi. Delphi is an AI-settled decentralized information marketplace platform where creators can launch markets and earn a 1.5% fee on trading volume upon successful settlement. Delphi is currently open to all users for trading, but only invited creators may launch markets; mainnet launch is expected within the coming weeks. Built on Gensyn’s Ethereum Layer 2 network, the platform uses verifiable smart oracles to execute settlements. Gensyn reports that Delphi has already processed millions of dollars in trading volume since its testnet launch in December 2025.
Block
Ethereum
Gensyn
The Block
Crypto-related political groups have stockpiled nearly $180 million for the U.S. midterm elections
According to Bloomberg, the cryptocurrency industry’s political action committee (PAC) has amassed $180 million in funding reserves for the U.S. midterm elections—a sum even exceeding that of some major Republican super PACs. The report states that most of these funds were carried over from last year, with the majority held by Fairshake. Fairshake’s primary funders include Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz.
America Pac
Coinbase
PACMOON
Pactus
Ripple
AI16Z and ELIZAOS Creator Face Class-Action Lawsuit Over Alleged False Advertising and Unjust Enrichment
Cryptocurrency law firm Burwick Law has filed a federal class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) against defendants including Walters—the creator of AI16Z and ELIZAOS—alleging violations of consumer protection laws, false advertising, and unjust enrichment. Court documents indicate that the defendants allegedly leveraged the brand reputation of Andreessen Horowitz (“a16z”) to market the project, launching the AI16Z token on Solana on October 24, 2024, later rebranding it as ELIZAOS. The complaint alleges that the project claimed to deploy autonomous AI agents capable of making investment decisions, whereas operations were in fact manually conducted—and no revenue was generated during the litigation period. On January 2, 2025, the token reached an all-time high price of approximately $2.47, with a market capitalization exceeding $2.6 billion; it subsequently collapsed amid large-scale sell-offs by major holders. On-chain data shows that the most profitable trader realized gains of roughly $39 million.
Creator
District
elizaOS
Solana
AI-powered programming startup Cursor seeks at least $2 billion in funding, with a valuation of $50 billion
According to TechCrunch, AI-powered coding startup Cursor is nearing completion of a new funding round of at least $2 billion, with a post-money valuation of approximately $50 billion—nearly doubling its $29.3 billion valuation from six months ago. The round is co-led by existing investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with Battery Ventures and strategic investor NVIDIA also expected to participate. The round has already been oversubscribed, though final terms have not yet been finalized. On the performance front, Cursor projects its annualized revenue to exceed $6 billion by the end of 2026—representing at least a threefold increase over the $2 billion annualized revenue it disclosed in February this year. Regarding profitability, the company achieved a slight positive gross margin overall after launching its in-house Composer model in November last year and incorporating lower-cost third-party models (e.g., Kimi from China). Its enterprise business has already reached gross-margin profitability, while its individual developer accounts remain unprofitable.
Cursor
NVIDIA
Crypto markets are sluggish, and most top-tier VCs have seen a significant decline in their AUM.
According to Fortune, during the 2025 crypto market downturn, major crypto-focused venture capital firms—including Paradigm, a16z, and Multicoin—generally saw declines in their assets under management (AUM). Specifically, a16z’s four crypto funds experienced an almost 40% drop in AUM to $9.5 billion compared to 2024; however, the firm had already distributed capital to limited partners (LPs) at market highs, with its first crypto fund achieving a distribution-to-paid-in (DPI) ratio of 5.4—demonstrating standout returns. Multicoin’s AUM fell by roughly half from its peak to approximately $2.7 billion. Pantera Capital also completed exit distributions via the IPOs of five portfolio companies, including Circle and BitGo. In contrast, Haun Ventures grew its AUM by over 30% year-on-year to around $2.5 billion. Currently, institutions including Paradigm, a16z crypto, and Dragonfly are actively raising new funds, with a combined target size exceeding $4.2 billion.
BitGo
Circle
Pantera Capital
Paradigm
Paradigm
On-chain lending platform Votre closes $3.75M seed round led by a16z CSX
On-chain lending platform Votre has raised $3.75 million in seed funding, led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, with participation from MaC Venture Capital, Druid Ventures, and angel investors from Goldman Sachs, Harvard University, and OrangeDAO. Founded in 2025, Votre operates a non-custodial crypto lending platform on Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 network, enabling users to borrow USD—settled the same day—using Bitcoin as collateral, with loan sizes ranging from approximately $25,000 to $5 million. The funds will be used to scale technical infrastructure, increase platform capacity, enhance liquidity management tools, and strengthen risk and compliance systems.
Base
Bitcoin
Coinbase
OrangeDAO
Startup
OpenGradient Raises $9.5M, with Participation from a16z crypto
OpenGradient, a verifiable AI computation layer, has announced the completion of a $9.5 million funding round. Investors include a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, SV Angel, Foresight Ventures, Pragma, SALT, Symbolic Capital, Canonical Crypto, Black Dragon, NEAR, Celestia, Thanefield Capital, and angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase. The new funds will support the development and expansion of a decentralized infrastructure network for hosting, executing, and verifying AI models—enabling open and auditable model execution.
Celestia
Coinbase
Coinversation
Foresight
NEAR Protocol
OpenGradient