Entropy, a decentralized custody startup that raised $25 million in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2022, is shutting down and returning capital to investors, founder and CEO Tix Pacific announced at X.
Pacific said the decision came after four years of construction, “several pivots, and two rounds of layoffs.” The company was recently developing a crypto automation platform, described as similar to N8N or Zapier but designed for crypto, that uses automated signatures using threshold cryptography, trusted execution environments (TEES), and secure computation through AI integration.
“After the initial feedback request revealed that the business model was not venture-scale, I was once again left with the choice to find a creative path or pivot,” Pacific It is written. “After four hard years working in crypto, I decided that I had already done the best I could: it was time to close up shop.”
Entropy raised its $25 million seed round in June 2022, with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Ethereal Ventures, Various, Coinbase Ventures, Robot Ventures, Inflection, and the Comaraby Fund. The company also raised a pre-seed round of $1.95 million earlier this year in January, bringing its total funding to nearly $27 million.
Pacific, a self-taught cryptographer who previously worked at NuCifer, founded Entropy in 2021. The founder’s unconventional background drew Entropy’s attention when he first picked it up: Pacifica is a college dropout, a transgender advocate, and a self-described “anti-capitalist anarchist.”
The startup was originally positioned as a decentralized alternative to centralized crypto custodians like FireBlocks and Coinbase. Entropy leverages multi-level computation-based cryptographic techniques to allow users to accumulate and manage cryptocurrencies in blockchains while enforcing their own rules for interacting with funds, such as time-gated constraints.
Despite their capitalist politics, the Pacific found a home in crypto. “I’ve never felt like I’ve been in a place where it’s been more acceptable for people to be so different.” told TechCrunch In 2022 “If you go to a [crypto] Conference, it’s just full of weird people. “
Pacific thanks A16Z Crypto and GuyVolt for their guidance throughout the winddown process.
“I’ve never lost once in my career. I’ve only ever dropped out of college, so that makes another thing,” Pacific wrote. “It’s challenging, but I find comfort in the fact that a career is a process: the goal is not a destination, but a journey of innovation.”
Entropy’s shutdown adds to a broader trend of crypto startup shutdowns in 2025, according to data from BlockPro. In 2025, the number of crypto venture deals fell by about 60 percent year-over-year, from more than 2,900 in 2024 to about 1,1200 transactions, according to data from BlockPro.
Looking ahead, Pacific said it plans to take a break before moving away from crypto entirely. “My time at crypto is coming to an end, as I find myself particularly attracted to pharmaceuticals: I want to innovate on hormone delivery, especially for women who experience menopause and trans-trans for HRT,” he wrote, adding that he will spend time validating research on the development of new estradiol drugs.
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