a16z’s Latest Report Shows Strong Ties Between Crypto and AI Users

Crypto investment fund a16z has published its annual State of Crypto report highlighting the hottest trends in the digital asset industry.

According to the venture capital behemoth, there is a heavy overlap between crypto users and AI users, with the number of visitors to websites like Chatgpt similar to those of top crypto websites. “Crypto builders also have strong ties to AI," wrote the firm, with 34% of crypto projects claiming they are using AI regardless of the category they are in. The figure is up from 27% last year.

Another data point highlighted by the report is an all-time high in crypto usage, with monthly active addresses topping the 220 million mark, which a16z says is “reminiscent of early internet adoption.” That represents a 300% increase since September 2023.

The power of memecoins can also be gauged in the report, with Solana topping the list for most active monthly addresses at 100 million. In second place are chains from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem at 54 million, led by Base with 22 million.

At the core of this growth lie stablecoins. a16z claims these assets have found product-market fit, adding data that shows that the number of monthly stablecoin-sending addresses has continued to increase even as spot trading volumes drop.

U.S. Elections and ZK Proofs

It should come as no surprise that the U.S. campaign trail has become one with the cryptocurrency industry.

Donald Trump has embraced crypto to such a degree that, along with his sons, he launched a new DeFi project dubbed World Liberty Financial that raised $12 million in just 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris made the headlines for her controversial policy to create a safe space for crypto investing for black men – effectively racializing a crypto investment thesis.

Nevertheless, a16z reports that crypto is penetrating beyond the slogans of White House nominees and has been affecting key swing state voters. “Two battlegrounds expected to be among the tightest races in November — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — have seen the fourth- and fifth-biggest jumps in crypto search interest since the last election in 2020,” reads the report.

Another exciting trend pointed out by A16Z is that ZK proofs may be the endgame for blockchain scaling, privacy, and interoperability. This comes at a time when the average amount spent to verify ZK Proofs on Ethereum is nearing its all-time high. More than 1.5 million ETH, or $4.2 billion, has been spent to date.