Capital Is Moving Onchain While AI Scales Globally
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- 3 min read
This week overview (May 4 - May 8, 2026)
A16z’s new $2.2 billion crypto fund reflects growing conviction that the next phase of crypto growth will come from stablecoins, tokenized assets, onchain lending, and products built on top of blockchain infrastructure rather than speculative consumer cycles.
Bitwise is entering the tokenized fund market through the acquisition of Superstate’s onchain arbitrage fund, highlighting how tokenized investment products are evolving into programmable capital market infrastructure integrated directly with DeFi systems.
Moonshot AI’s $2 billion raise at a $20 billion valuation shows accelerating investor demand for lower-cost, open-weight AI models as China pushes to build a parallel AI ecosystem competing with frontier U.S. labs.
Bullish: Building the Infrastructure Layer for Tokenized Capital Markets
Bullish has agreed to acquire Equiniti from Siris in a $4.2 billion transaction, combining a blockchain-native infrastructure platform with one of the largest global transfer agents serving nearly 3,000 issuers and 20 million shareholders. The deal, structured through a mix of assumed debt and stock, aims to create the first fully integrated provider spanning token design, issuance, compliance, and shareholder recordkeeping, addressing a key gap as capital markets move toward tokenized securities.
“Tokenization is a once-in-a-generation shift in how capital markets operate, the defining infrastructure trend of the next 25 years," said Tom Farley, CEO of Bullish.
By merging regulated transfer agent services with end-to-end tokenization capabilities, the combined entity is positioning itself to operate as core infrastructure for blockchain-based capital markets, with the transaction expected to close in early 2027 pending regulatory approvals.
Andreessen Horowitz: Expanding Capital Into Onchain Financial Infrastructure
Andreessen Horowitz launched a $2.2 billion fifth crypto fund. The firm argues the current cycle is less about speculative excess and more about adoption layers that continue compounding through downturns, particularly stablecoins, tokenized assets, onchain lending, and decentralized market infrastructure. Usage trends are increasingly behaving like network effects rather than trading cycles, with stablecoins becoming embedded in global payments, savings, and cross-border settlement.
The fund is aimed at startups building practical products on top of this infrastructure layer, from tokenized finance and digital property systems to autonomous agent economies where software can transact and coordinate directly onchain.
Bitwise: Expanding Into Tokenized Fund Infrastructure
Bitwise is entering the tokenized fund market through the acquisition of Superstate’s $267 million crypto arbitrage fund, marking its first major move into onchain investment products. The fund, which uses a cash-and-carry strategy across spot and futures crypto markets, will continue operating on Superstate’s blockchain infrastructure while integrating with DeFi protocols like Aave for collateral deployment.
Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise: "Capital markets are shifting on-chain. Traditional institutions and crypto-native institutions are increasingly using tokenized funds."
Superstate is pivoting toward infrastructure through FundOS, its operating layer for onchain investment products. As tokenized real-world assets surpass $30 billion globally and major firms like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton deepen exposure, tokenized funds are increasingly evolving from niche crypto products into programmable capital market infrastructure.
Moonshot AI: China Scales the Open-Source AI Race
Moonshot AI raised $2 billion at a $20 billion valuation, underscoring how aggressively capital is moving into China’s open-source AI ecosystem as demand for cheaper, adaptable models accelerates globally. The Beijing-based lab behind the Kimi series has now raised nearly $4 billion over the past six months, with backing from players including Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan’s venture arm.
Founded in 2023 by former Meta AI and Google Brain researcher Yang Zhilin, Moonshot gained traction after its Kimi models approached frontier-level performance while remaining open-weight and significantly cheaper to run than systems from OpenAI or Anthropic. The company’s latest model, Kimi K2.6, is already among the most-used models on OpenRouter, while annual recurring revenue reportedly surpassed $200 million in April, driven by API demand and paid usage.
Recent activity across crypto and AI shows capital concentrating around infrastructure, distribution, and scalable platforms. Firms are increasing exposure to tokenized financial systems, onchain fund structures, and blockchain-based market infrastructure, while AI investment continues flowing toward open models, compute ecosystems, and high-usage platforms.