CoinDesk
Framework Ventures closed a $400 million fund to back startups using blockchain as financing infrastructure for AI compute, robotics and energy, co-founder Michael Anderson told CoinDesk. The San Francisco-based firm will deploy capital across tokenization, stablecoins and frontier technologies, betting that the next wave of crypto venture returns comes from real-world industries rather than crypto-native speculation.
Why it matters
The pitch is a deliberate break from the 2020-21 cycle. Anderson argues that period was the aberration, not the baseline, and that founders today increasingly come from traditional finance, energy and industrial tech rather than anonymous crypto-native backgrounds. Recent bets underline the shift: TVL Capital, founded by ex-Morgan Stanley digital assets staff; Mecka AI, which supplies training data to frontier AI labs; and Plasma, a stablecoin-payments banking platform. "We have the capital onchain to finance this industry," Anderson said, pointing to more than $300 billion in stablecoins now circulating as a lending pool that did not exist a few years ago.
Market impact
The concrete plays sit in three verticals. In AI infrastructure, Framework sees tokenization unlocking cheaper financing for GPUs and individual servers that traditional securitization cannot package cleanly. In energy, portfolio company Daylight finances residential solar through a distributed energy network, while Uranium Digital is building a tokenized marketplace for physical uranium. The bet is that stablecoin liquidity can serve as collateral rails for asset-backed lending in sectors where bank capital is constrained, with the broader industry now mirroring the same playbook across cross-border payments and tokenized traditional assets.
Frequently asked questions
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What is Framework Ventures' new $400M fund targeting?
The fund will deploy capital across startups using blockchain as financing infrastructure for AI compute, robotics and energy, spanning tokenization, stablecoins and frontier technologies.
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Who is Michael Anderson and what is his argument?
Anderson is co-founder of Framework Ventures. He argues the 2020-21 crypto cycle was the aberration, and that today's founders are increasingly using tokenization and stablecoins to solve real-world capital formation problems rather than building for crypto users.
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How would tokenization help finance AI infrastructure?
Framework believes tokenization could unlock cheaper financing for GPUs and individual computing hardware by turning those assets into blockchain-based collateral, which traditional securitization markets struggle to package into investable products.
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What are some of Framework's recent investments?
Recent bets include TVL Capital, founded by former Morgan Stanley digital assets staff; robotics startup Mecka AI, which supplies training data to frontier AI labs; and Plasma, a stablecoin-payments banking platform.
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How large is the stablecoin capital pool Anderson cited?
Anderson pointed to more than $300 billion in stablecoins circulating onchain as a new source of capital for asset-backed lending that did not exist a few years ago.
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