a16z’s Chris Dixon Says Finance Was Always Crypto’s First Act, Not Its End Goal

Dixon says crypto must mature through finance before non-financial use cases can scale.

Chris Dixon, managing partner at venture capital firm a16z, says growing criticism of crypto overlooks how new technologies mature. In an X post, Dixon said claims that non-financial crypto use cases are dead, including “read, write, own,” misunderstand the industry’s current stage. He added that finance was always meant to come first, serving as an early test for blockchains rather than a developmental endpoint.

Finance Laid Crypto’s Foundation, Says a16z’s Dixon

Dixon stressed that blockchains introduced a new capability rather than a single product category. Networks now allow people and capital to coordinate at internet scale while embedding ownership directly into systems. 

The a16z partner added that crypto was not expected to produce every use case at once. Finance was meant to come first because it aligns closely with how blockchains work. Financial activity depends on shared rules, transparent settlement, and trust-minimized coordination. And blockchains support those needs better than most early internet tools. 

Besides, several decentralized finance platforms and applications benefit from open infrastructure and programmable ownership. For that reason, finance became the most practical place to test whether blockchains could work at scale.

According to Dixon, that view shaped investment strategy at a16z crypto from the start. “Many of our investments have been explicitly financial: Coinbase, Maker, Compound, Uniswap, and Morpho among them,” he noted.

Dixon has repeatedly argued that blockchains could turn financial infrastructure into a public good by allowing the internet to handle money natively.

To support this approach, he mentioned that funds at a16z crypto typically run for more than 10 years. The a16z partner maintained that new industries rarely develop on short timelines. And as a result, early stages often appear slow and uncertain even as steady progress continues in the background.

Dixon Says Payments and DeFi Must Mature Before Crypto Expands Beyond Finance

The a16z partner mentioned that infrastructure typically precedes new application categories in the development order. Early internet history clearly shows that pattern. Basic connectivity and networking protocols predate social media and streaming platforms. Only after large numbers of people came online did new economic and cultural models emerge.

Dixon believes that cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies may follow a similar trajectory to the internet. Generally, widespread adoption likely requires hundreds of millions of users interacting onchain through financial tools first. 

Wallets, identity systems, liquidity, and basic trust need to be in place before. And afterwards, areas like media, gaming, or AI can grow onchain. But for now, those foundations are still forming through payments and decentralized finance. As a result, many non-financial crypto applications remain dependent on progress in financial utility.

Unfortunately, years of crypto-related scams and failed projects weakened confidence in tokens. Years of regulatory pressure have further dampened the appetite for these assets. 

Dixon acknowledged that these problems made it harder to form real communities of owners. Market skepticism during recent downturns also reduced activity. As such, experimentation has been limited to financial use cases.

Digital Assets Need Policy Clarity and Time to Reach Its Next Phase

Policy plays a key role in rebuilding trust across crypto markets. With this in mind, Dixon noted that:

• For more than five years, a16z crypto has pushed for clearer rules around tokens.
• Clearer regulation gives builders direction while protecting users.
• Risk-based guardrails can restore confidence in digital assets.
• Measures such as the CLARITY Act seek to introduce standards already seen in traditional finance.
• Subtle progress in regulatory efforts eventually results in rapid acceptance, as seen with stablecoins.

Essentially, Dixon described crypto as a long-term effort where progress comes after extended groundwork. He compared it to artificial intelligence, which took decades of research before major advances emerged. 

Internet commercialization also required years of technical and policy development. According to Dixon, crypto fits that same pattern where difficult early stages make later progress possible.

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