Venture Capital Firms Shift to Long-Term Ownership, Embrace Tokenization

Venture capital is undergoing a significant transformation, evolving from a high-risk, high-reward game of early-stage investments into a more calculated and powerful strategy. Leading firms are now adopting private equity playbooks, expanding into secondaries, launching evergreen funds, and acquiring real-world businesses. This shift is redrawing the lines between venture capital, private equity, and institutional asset management.

Lightspeed’s decision to register as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) marked a pivotal moment. This structure allows firms to hold long-term positions, operate across asset classes, and pursue liquidity outside of IPOs or acquisitions. Firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Thrive Capital, and General Catalyst have already begun to adopt this model, expanding into areas such as crypto, wealth management, and late-stage investing. General Catalyst, for instance, acquired a hospital system and rebranded itself as a transformation company.

As firms shift toward long-term ownership and private equity-style operations, they face the challenge of liquidity. Startups are staying private longer, valuations are increasing, and secondary markets are expanding to fill the gap. Firms like Lightspeed are hiring Wall Street talent to lead their secondary strategies, indicating that liquidity is becoming an essential infrastructure layer. The current system, however, was not built for this level of demand.

Tokenization offers a solution to this liquidity challenge. Tokenized equity and on-chain cap tables provide the flexibility that traditional structures struggle to offer. They allow firms to fractionalize ownership, create programmable vesting, and potentially unlock liquidity without waiting on a public exit. For employees and early investors, this could mean access to a real-time secondary market. For firms, it creates a new channel to manage positions, price discovery, and long-tail ownership.

Andreessen Horowitz’s early entry into crypto has given them a strategic edge. Through a16z Crypto, they have actively shaped token networks, held governance power, and designed liquidity pathways that do not rely on IPOs or acquisitions. Their crypto playbook mirrors the broader venture world’s shift toward long-term control, platform operations, and dynamic ownership structures. Tokens are not just a workaround; they are a faster, programmable version of the same ownership evolution redefining venture capital.

The shift toward tokenization is about aligning the infrastructure with the internet economy. In Web3, tokenized assets and on-chain governance offer similar flexibility to Web2 platforms like Shopify and Stripe, but for ownership itself. Venture firms embracing these tools are extending traditional finance, not abandoning it. Just as software ate the world, programmable ownership may transform private markets next.

However, the path to tokenized ownership is not without challenges. Regulatory clarity around securities, custody, and secondary trading is still evolving. Most firms are moving cautiously, aware that the infrastructure is ahead of the rules. But the momentum is hard to ignore. As more capital flows into illiquid assets and more firms seek flexible, tech-enabled structures, the pressure to modernize regulation will only grow.

The lines between venture capital, private equity, and digital assets are blurring. What began as a workaround for slow IPO markets is becoming a reimagining of ownership itself. The next generation of firms will not be defined by what stage they invest in, but by how they manage, hold, and unlock value across time. Whether it comes in the form of tokens, secondaries, or something entirely new, one thing is clear: the future of capital is not just about access. It is about architecture.