Exclusive: Top crypto VCs like Paradigm and a16z see portfolio values shrink amid market downturn and distributions to investors

The biggest names in crypto venture weren’t immune to the sudden collapse in the digital asset market in 2025. Top outfits like Paradigm and Pantera Capital saw their assets under management shrink amid the downturn, according to previously unreported filings I obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cryptocurrencies are volatile, sometimes rocketing up in price with one tweet from one volatile man. (Elon Musk, President Donald Trump, or Binance cofounder Changpeng Zhao… take your pick.) And veteran crypto venture capitalists have weathered their fair share of bear and bull markets, watching their holdings soar in value during the NFT hype cycle of 2021 to only see their portfolios plummet in the ensuing “crypto winter.”

In other words, short-term changes in the value of a crypto venture fund’s portfolio aren’t usually a sign of performance. And assets under management are poor barometers of a venture fund’s success, generally. Ultimately, top-notch investors are supposed to exit companies and give money back to their limited partners.

Behind the curtain

Still, digging into crypto VCs’ holdings provides a glimpse into their funds’ inner workings. 

Take, for example, a16z crypto. The total assets under management for its four crypto funds plummeted almost 40% between 2024 and 2025 to $9.5 billion—even as its parent Andreessen Horowitz saw its holdings balloon past $100 billion, according to data from the SEC. 

That decrease is partly because the venture giant began to distribute capital back to investors from its first three funds, according to sources familiar with the matter, who spoke anonymously to discuss private business dealings. One source told me that a16z crypto timed the distributions to coincide with the 2025 crypto market’s highs. In fact, the net DPI, or distributions to paid-in capital, for a16z’s first crypto fund was 5.4, according to Newcomer. Those returns are stellar compared to those from other VCs who raised in 2018, per data from Carta.

Pantera Capital also distributed capital back to investors in 2025 on the back of five portfolio companies that went public, including Circle and BitGo, said another source familiar with the venture’s operations.

Other crypto investors likely saw their holdings fall because the markets turned sour. Multicoin, especially, has been at the whims of crypto’s booms and busts. The VC also runs a hedge fund, and when digital assets were all the rage in 2021, it saw its assets under management almost triple to nearly $9 billion from the year prior. After the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in 2022, the investor’s portfolio plummeted and then rebounded in the following two years. It has now plunged again: From 2024 to 2025, its assets under management more than halved to nearly $2.7 billion as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin nosedived beginning in October.  

And only one top investor saw its stockpile grow. Haun Ventures, the outfit founded by former a16z partner Katie Haun, saw its assets under management jump more than 30% year-over-year to almost $2.5 billion. While the venture investor has made some well-timed bets (including on the stablecoin startup BVNK that Mastercard agreed to acquire for up to $1.8 billion), Haun Ventures was also raising a new $1 billion fund in 2025, my former colleague Leo reported last year. (We will miss you, Leo!)

Other peers are also seeking capital. Paradigm is looking to drum up as much as $1.5 billion, a16z crypto is raising up to $2 billion, and Dragonfly just closed a $650 million fund. And, perhaps next year, the portfolios of these other crypto venture investors will grow—if the crypto markets revive themselves after a dreary winter.

Spokespeople for Paradigm, Pantera, a16z crypto, Multicoin, Dragonfly, and Haun Ventures all declined to comment.

See you tomorrow,

Ben Weiss
X: @bdanweiss
Email: benjamin.weiss@fortune.com
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com