Crypto is boring right now, and AI is hot, so it’s no wonder that a growing list of digital asset VCs are expanding their focus beyond blockchain. San Francisco-based Framework Ventures is the latest investor to join the trend, and the firm announced on Friday that it raised $400 million for its fourth fund.
Framework cofounders Vance Spencer and Michael Anderson declined to name their LPs but said contributors to their fourth stash of capital include funds of funds, an Ivy League endowment, sovereign wealth funds, and nonprofits. The VC held $1.28 billion in assets under management in December 2025, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The firm plans to use its new capital to invest in what Spencer and Anderson called “frontier technology,” a sweeping term that not only includes crypto but also AI, robotics, and energy, said the duo. While it may seem like Framework is jumping on the AI bandwagon, the VC is actually following the shifting interests of its network of founders, said Anderson.
“We can see these founders leading us in this direction,” he added. “We should pay attention.”
Although crypto boomed shortly after President Donald Trump won the election, the market has petered out over the past eight months as Bitcoin approaches lows not seen since 2024. Meanwhile, AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI continue to balloon in valuation as VCs hope for historic returns when and if the leading AI labs IPO.
Amid the crypto downturn and AI boom, Framework’s competitors have shifted focus. Paradigm, one of the largest VCs in digital assets, is reportedly raising as much as $1.5 billion for a new fund that will not only focus on crypto but also AI and robotics. And Haun Ventures, founded by a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm, has also expanded its mandate, raising $1 billion for a second fund that targets not only blockchain but also AI, financial services, and alternative assets.
Launched in 2019, Framework Ventures made its name as an early backer of protocols in DeFi, or decentralized finance. Although Spencer and Anderson were alumni of Big Tech firms (Netflix and Snapchat, respectively), the duo quickly won over crypto’s anonymous “degens”—industry slang for degenerate traders. Their firm were early backers of the crypto lender Aave and the blockchain data network Chainlink, both of which have grown to become dominant protocols in DeFi.
Framework also grew, raising $100 million for a second fund in 2021 and then $400 million for a third the next year to invest in crypto. But now, the VC is touting its non-crypto bets, including the robotics data startup Mecka AI as well as a stake in the public mortgage issuer Better.com. The fund has already deployed about half of its fourth stash of capital, said Anderson.
Inevitably, as AI saturates every nook and cranny of Silicon Valley (even the billboards), investors who got their start in crypto can’t help but keep up. In fact, Framework has hosted reading AI research paper reading sessions at its San Francisco office on the weekends, said Anderson. “Just because we’re crypto,” he said, “doesn’t mean that we haven’t been paying attention.”
See you next week,
Ben Weiss
X: @bdanweiss
Email: benjamin.weiss@fortune.com
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